Point of View.

February 17, 2014

We said “Happy Holidays” in December. Did that include today?

In our generation, a new service became a growth industry. Aggregators (aggregate: a whole formed by combining several disparate elements) don’t create things; they simply bring things created by others together. Their contribution is the energy found in unifying otherwise disconnected pieces.

A task now frequently performed by websites, aggregators lump stuff together…

In the distant past of my childhood, February was a great month for school kids. Super Bowl wasn’t born until I was in high school, and it took awhile to become a “national holiday.” Back then, Christmas was still Christmas, and it stood firmly on a particular date – December 25th – allowing New Year’s Day to occur – like clockwork – one week later. No variance for Leap Year or what-falls-on-Monday issues: you could take it to the bank (which would be closed because of the holidays!).

Ah, February: two days off, always ten days apart: Lincoln’s Birthday, on the 12th; Washington’s Birthday, on the 22nd. Two great presidents; two great days of recognition; everyone agreed… until the aggregators showed up.

Lincoln and Washington have run out of political capital. The modern world has lost its commitment to ancient history (ancient history: anything that happened before the Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan). They’ve been aggregated into Presidents Day – not an official federal holiday – and their individual birth dates now bow to “the third Monday in February” (by declaration of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed by Congress in 1971 – back when Congress still passed stuff).

It was really critical to get away from these one-day-per-person calendar commitments, to presidents. We needed some free space: without some breathing room, there would be no room for Martin Luther King, Jr. day on the third Monday of January (Reagan signed the bill in 1983), or Cesar Chavez Day on March 31st (a state holiday in California, Texas and Colorado). In 2008, then-Senator Obama called for a national holiday honoring Chavez; in 2011 – as president – he proclaimed March 31st as Cesar Chavez Day (not a national holiday; that takes Congress. Instead, he used his pen).

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation that was sent to him by the United States Senate, calling for a day to be set-aside for fasting and prayer (click here to read it). The nation was faced with a daunting battle between northern and southern states; hardship marked the daily reality for most Americans. Confronted by conditions that they were unable to resolve through human ingenuity, the Congress and the President – together – recognized the need to seek assistance from God.

The 62nd Annual National Prayer Breakfast was held in Washington two weeks ago, on February 6th. There was a fair amount of praying, a bit of speaking (this year, featured presenter was Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the USAID). Noticeably absent was a call for fasting – demonstrating our culpability before God for violating His principles, and suffering negative consequences as a result – by the President, or any of the Beltway dignitaries in attendance.

Lincoln faced the rage of war, within America’s borders. We face war on a global front, focused on Afghanistan, but subject to random attack anywhere in the world where America’s interests are opposed by terrorists. We hear Climate Change, and are pointed toward carbon footprints rather than toward national moral cancer. Drought, historically, brought farmers to their knees; today, it brings them to their lobbyists as they seek disaster funding from Congress. Economic crises, employment erosion and future shortfalls in entitlements should bring thoughtful people into an appeal for divine intervention; instead, it sets the stage for the 2016 elections.

I wonder: would the 44th American President sign the Proclamation issued by the 16th? And… would Americans be willing to fast and pray, instead of taking the day to ski or surf?

Bob Shank

January 13, 2014

Who’s calling?

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was a scientist – and, a tinkerer – whose parents were both deaf. He’s most remembered for the telephone (patented in 1876), but he saw it as a source of uncontrolled intrusion and interruption on his scientific work, and refused to have one in his personal study.

Today, telephones are ubiquitous; wired networks have given way to cellular coverage, and the ringtones run from sedate to seductive. Whatever the alert, these days, most people stop a moment before answering: their eye is drawn to the screen to answer the question, first: who’s calling?

This is a big week for new books. Robert Gates – former Washington insider, in successive administrations – has captured attention for his backward-looking journal: Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War. He’s rattling the political world with his word pictures of what happened – and, when – behind the closed doors of “the most transparent administration in history.” The cable heads are buzzing…

On the other side of the bookstore is a quieter volume, delivered by a journalist whose work is still world-class, but who has aged past the teleprompter: Jane Pauley is signing copies of Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life.

Reporters watch for stories, and then tell them to an audience with an interest in the subject. As the pitch for her book confirms, “Jane is not an advice giver but a storyteller. Here she tells her own and introduces readers to the fascinating people she has featured on her award-winning Today show segment, Life Reimagined Today.”

At 63, Pauley is in the middle of the Boomer contingent who are coming to grips with life in the 21st Century. Alongside husband Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), she is living the story, herself. In a world where career gets you to the party, but leaves with someone else… who are you, after the party is over?

The pitch: “In 2014, every Boomer will have reached the milestone age of 50. For most, it’s not an end, but the beginning of something new…” Jane has lived that reinvention, and – in Your Life Calling – she’s telling her story, as the solo performance supported by the choir of others’ stories retold from her occasional work on Today.

Get her book: you’ll hear quotes from lots of interesting people, and you’ll get inside scoop on Jane’s journey, as well. One voice you won’t hear: it’s the Caller.

Sometimes, folks import words from elsewhere, and use them without realizing that they’re doing the best they can, but missing something important. I mean, come on: to suggest that early-life participation in the pay-for-play working world is simply the opening act to something far greater in scope and importance to something that emerges later; that’s no small premise, is it?

Pauley incorporates a concept that has its genesis in the Christian camp. Before the Reformation, the use of calling was restricted to the participants in the priesthood. After Calvin, the notion was expanded to include everyone, with specific emphasis on one’s career. The etymology of our word vocation is from the Latin word for calling. The conversation requires recognition of an Initiator who places the call; to assume a unique, personal assignment – not chosen or crafted, but discovered through half-a-lifetime of exploration and experience – falls apart if life is disconnected from a Larger Story, and an involved Creator. What’s a calling, without a Caller?

Kudos to Jane Pauley for recognizing the obvious: life carries potential for significant impact, all the way to the departure from the stage. The end of career is a milestone… but the end of life stretches out to the horizon. She writes of the importance of finding one’s calling as the next great frontier.

I wonder if she’s heard about The Master’s Program, for men and women who agree?

Bob Shank

January 6, 2014

What’s new?

It’s been a miserable six years, hasn’t it? Historians have attempted to name the storm that moved into place in December, 2007: Great Recession; Lesser Depression; Long Recession; take your pick. There’s no name to give to the last 72 months that will make it feel any better.

The Economists (do you know one of those?) say that it “ended” – in America – in Q3, 2009. That’s what their numbers say. Take a poll among your peers; for many/most of our contemporaries, the storm may have ended some time ago, but the cleanup from its devastation continues today. The economic factors may say it’s over, but the emotional effects continue to mark daily reality.

For the last six years – an eternity, in the modern culture – survival has masqueraded as success. “I hope we can just hold on” has moved into the place where vision used to draw people into action. “Just keep doing what you’ve been doing” has replaced the efforts once directed by strategic plans. In the real world of daily, personal life, too many people have lost ground… and would count it progress to simply regain what they once took for granted.

Welcome to a New Year. It’s never been 2014 before; “Lucky ‘13” is no longer the calendar mark for our journey. May I be so bold as to ask the question: What’s New?

If you have to strain for an answer that contains only a modicum of truth, you’re proving my point. We’ve had hope and anticipation wrung out of our hearts by headlines, and it’s time to put them back into place. If you’re traveling life’s highway with God as a Navigator, your GPS screen is always plotting a course to a place you’ve never been; prior destinations are never the default!

Give yourself some space to think about it; don’t take my word for it, take His Word as the basis for this challenge.

Start with the Gospels. When Jesus was doing his ministry: New wine. New teaching. New garment. New covenant. New tomb. He wasn’t visiting old and tired models that had already been tried and proved insufficient. If you were with Jesus, you’d expect the unexpected. He didn’t come to model mediocrity or to live His life in the straight-jacket of tradition.

As the Epistles of the New Testament described life for the followers of the New Covenant, consider the descriptors: New life. New king. New way. New body. New creation. New attitude. New self. New order. New birth. New command. As John’s view of the future was framed in the Revelation: New name. New song. New heaven. New earth. New Jerusalem.

The last words of the Lord Jesus Christ, heard by John as He declares at the end of Time: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:5)

What’s new? Ask Jesus that question, and get your pen ready; He isn’t into vintage or remodels; He only does new. Ask the followers of Jesus – in fact, ask yourself: is your answer markedly different than His? If so, how’s that working? Isn’t it time to approach life – New Life – the way He did?

May I push you on this? If the recessive environment of our culture over the last 72 months has wrung the optimism out of your psyche, you need to spend more time in the New Testament than in the newspaper. If a God who makes all things new hasn’t been allowed to be Himself, working through you… you’re missing the best of what’s possible.

New visions. New strategies. New actions: if you’re working in synch with Him, you’d better have an answer. These are key parts of your travel pack as you journey into the Great Adventure of a New Year, with Him!

Go ahead, ask me: What’s new?

Bob Shank

January 2, 2014

What are you becoming?

I wrote to you on Monday – hours before the end of another year – and challenged you to assess your progress in 2013 on three fronts: believing, being and becoming. A year without movement on those issues means a year of possibility, now squandered.

If your relationship with the Heavenly Father – given to you as a gift by His Son, the Lord Jesus – is foundational, everything else in life flows out of those three action verbs: believing, being and becoming.

How do we make that three-part agenda come into prominence? There are three specialists we all need to get there: teachers, who help us know what to believe; disciplers (in the world outside the faith, they call them “coaches”), who help us figure out how to take what we believe and to be; and, mentors, who help us become – in the future – the full-grown version of the person God designed.

Most people are pretty familiar with the Teacher role; they experience it on Sunday morning, when their pastor – or, his designate, for the week – delivers the goods: they open the Bible and make truth clear to the congregation. That teaching experience isn't like a college classroom: the Bible Teacher measures success by beliefs established – or, confirmed – through his teaching. It's essential…

Discipling happens in a smaller venue, with a much more intimate audience. The Discipler takes what you believe, and helps you see how to put it into action in the nitty-gritty assignments of life, both at home and beyond. Because most of us spend the largest share of our “beyond” time pursuing our profession, Disciplers help us figure out how to build career activities on the foundation of our beliefs.

Mentoring is the ultimate. The Mentor affirms your beliefs, and will probably spot-check your being… but his/her ultimate contribution is to see beyond the demands and distractions of today, into the immense potential of tomorrow. Most people applaud their Teachers (and they've had a few); they revere their Discipler (their contribution was incredible)… but they struggle to identify a Mentor, because they're still nebulous about the question of their future potential, by God's design.

The confusion is so extensive that, in the world of 2014, people confuse the specialties. Coaches are often called Mentors, because people don't understand the distinction between the rich – but not redundant – contribution of each of these specialties, to a life lived to the fullest extent possible.

Isn't it about time for you to understand how to open the horizon of your life, to consider all God is prepared to do in, for and through you? Are you content to just be the best you can be today, or are you ready to think in terms of that plus setting your sights on all He has prepared for you, this side of Heaven? You've been – and, continue to be – well taught; you've even been disciple/coached in your Christian life. But, have you ever been mentored? And, is it is possible that God wants you to become a Mentor – as a part of your best-life future – even if you lacked having that service provided to you?

You owe it to yourself – and, your Father in Heaven – to explore the rich power of Mentoring as a part of your Christian faith journey. What would it mean to start a new year with a new understanding of what could be over the horizon/around the corner, as you add becoming to your believing and being?

Friday evening and Saturday daytime, January 24/25; the Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton; a stellar line-up of presenters and workshops who will pull back the drapes on Mentoring, and make the contribution of that specialty come alive, for you. Whether you're looking for a Mentor – or destined to become a Mentor – this is an experience that is unlike any past experience.

Stop thinking about what's next… and come face it with anticipation! Register here:
    www.thementorconference.com
and plan to join me in Fullerton, just three short weeks from now!    

Bob Shank

December 30, 2013

    Let's have dinner… and talk about death.

    There's an invitation you're not likely to turn down! In reality, it's a suggestion offered by The Conversation Project to encourage people toward meaningful interactions. Their premise: too often, discussions revolve around trivialities, important to no one, rather than to substantial matters that are germane to all. They're really serious; their website: deathoverdinner.org.

    If that's a non-starter for you during this end-of-2013 week – colliding with the start-of-2014 festivities – let me offer an alternative: Let's have dinner… and talk about life.

    Same assumptions: too often, we waste precious minutes talking about things not worthy of our bandwidth, and miss the chance to invest time in the things that give human experience deep meaning. The talk-about-death folks offer suggested agendas on their website; let me give you some topics that are worthy of your consideration as you examine life in a meaningful manner! You may not have anyone around your parade-and-game buffet who want to take up these themes… but that doesn't mean you can't have an important interaction with yourself along these lines!

    Life, for all of us, is experienced on the long track of time. We're all moving forward, but we have past, present and future realities that define our journey. To embrace life means that we stop to look to the past, examine the present, and anticipate the future. Frame your thinking in those time files as you explore three overarching categories…

    Your progress in believing. No one arrives on the stage – in the scene called “life” – devoid of history. There are important things to know – and, to trust – that are requisite to playing the unique role that writes you into the drama. Education is about picking up the best of the past, allowing you to write your contribution to history during your brief appearance. In this era, education has exploded… but the knowledge of Truth has declined precipitously. In the last year, how much have you discovered about God – Who He is, what He's done in the past, and what He's promised to do in the future – through your intimacy with His Word, the Bible? If 2013 did not deepen your intimacy with the Divine, it was a lost opportunity. How much progress have you made in believing?

    Your progress in being. Your part in the drama played out in the last year has cast you in relationships, on multiple fronts. The certainties of life are your roles; the dynamics of life are found in the way you fill them. The script places you in two sets, constantly: home, and work. Family ties and career connections consume the majority of your waking hours. Your greatest challenges – and your greatest celebrations – are sourced in relationship to the people alongside you in those two continuing acts. The experts in human behavior study how the past impacts the present; you've found that in your own life laboratory. For you, in 2013: how has your belief impacted your being? Living life, in real time, is the only credible way to demonstrate your beliefs. The only part of the Bible you really believe is the part you obey: how is obedience to Scripture refining your roles at home and at work? What's changed in 2013 – validated by the people in your life – through your knowledge of God? What's new, for you, in the being portion of your life?

    Your progress in becoming. Children don't spend much time with introspection and self-examination. Appealing to their future is futile: they live in the constancy of the present. It's alarming when the grown-ups who control the systems fail to cultivate a sense of consequence: maturity presumes awareness of tomorrow. The great contribution of the Christian faith is a rock-solid grasp of the future, disclosed by the God Who controls it. The amazing opportunity given the adopted children of God is the invitation to be transformed – certainly beyond death, but also this side of it! – into the fully-functional reality of God's creative genius, embedded in our holy DNA! In 2013 – and, into 2014 – how much are you leaning-into the transformation that delivers you into your future as a grown-up version of the person God made you to be? What's coming into view, for you, as you become your real self?

    Three powerful perspectives; your answers are the measure of a year well lived. Is it worth pondering, as you prepare to invest the next 6000 waking hours of 2014 in light of Eternity?

Bob Shank

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas from the Shank Family!

You’re looking at the guest list for Christmas, in our world. Daughter Shannon is on the left, with Bates, and their sons Jackson and Houston. That’s Erin on the right, with Jason and their three: Max, Cate and Avery. We’re waiting on our 12th member: Erin and Jason’s adoption from South Africa – likely, a little guy under six – who will come when the government protocols have been exercised.

Like you, we’re preparing to celebrate Christmas. For many, they view it as a “religious holiday.” What they don’t realize is that Jesus came to earth – born, lived, died, resurrected, returned to heaven – on a mission that would, forever, make religion obsolete (“no longer produced or used; out of date”).

Religion is an attempt by people to connect with God, and it always presents a process by which a person ultimately achieves the approval of a distant deity. Uncertainty accompanies religion; under its codes, you never know – this side of death – whether you’ve managed to earn an invitation to Paradise.

Christmas celebrates the retirement of religion, and the launch of life in its place. Rather than going to visit God in religious devotion, God came to visit us in daily reality. Paul offers the meaning behind the mother and the Magi: “ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4-5). The Law was the religion; the Son was the replacement.

The culture is wrangling over religion, while the people who have a relationship with the Son live above the fray. Christianity is listed among “The World’s Great Religions,” but that’s an inclusion through ignorance. When you’re alive in Christ, you get it; when you’re dead in sin, religion is the best you can do on your own. That’s why God brought the Solution we could never conceive; when the virgin conceived, His breakthrough was set in motion…

So, join our family – and the Family of God, through adoption – in remembering again the profound promise found in the Child Messiah, the King worshiped by wise men and feared by kings, the One who came to eliminate the oppression of religion and replace it with the freedom of faith!

May His birth influence all that you do as you end 2013, and anticipate 2014,

Bob Shank

December 16, 2013

    Have yourself a merry little Christmas…

    Recognized in 2007 as the third-most-recently-performed Christmas song in America, it’s a piece of advice that runs in the audio background of our crowd-intense December wanderings.
    Written by Hugh Martin, it was introduced in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, sung by Judy Garland. It really broke into cultural mainstream when it was redone later by Frank Sinatra, with modified lyrics (“…if the Lord allows” became, “…if the fates allow.” Martin was a Christian, and wrote with a faith-based view of life and Christmas not shared by Frank Sinatra).
    The lead-line – and, title – are haunting: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas…” It presumes the ability to self-initiate the factors that combine to create joy that lasts longer than a latte, and is founded in the people around the tree instead of what’s under the tree. For “…troubles to be out of sight” means that something more compelling has moved into view, that overshadows the gloom of “reality.”
    I’ve been moved all week by a fleeting news item that popped up from Northern California. Jackie Turner is a 26-year-old honors student at William Jessup University who posted an ad on Craigslist that has gone viral: “I am looking to rent a mom and dad who can give me attention and make me feel like the light of their life just for a couple of days because I really need it.” She’s soliciting a family at Christmas time, and can pay – at most – an hourly rate of $8.
    Today, she’s a presidential scholar with a 4.0 GPA, but her childhood was marked by physical, sexual and emotional abuse. She disappeared into the streets and was dissipated by drugs, gangs and crime; she was arrested, convicted and incarcerated for grand theft, and spent a year in prison.
    Upon her release in 2010, Jackie decided to go to a camp for troubled teens called Christian Encounter Ministries. She met Jesus… and her life experienced a dramatic turn.
    Today, she has a Heavenly Father, but she doesn’t have an earthly family. "I’ve never felt the touch of my mom hugging me and holding me. I don’t know what it’s like to look in my dad’s eyes and feel love instead of hatred."
    Her ad – and the, unsought publicity – have resulted in numerous offers by families to join them during Christmas, without charge. In addition, Jackie is now hoping to arrange a meeting for all the people who have answered her ad with the same need, so no one would be alone this holiday season.
    Humanity had not taken out an ad in Craigslist, but the universal need 2000 years ago was unmistakable: everyone was lonely. The essential need for authentic connection – to be yourself, in a setting where an accepting embrace was the result of honest transparency – is built into the fabric of every person. What God designed into His creation – continuing connection with Him, and with one another – had been shattered in Eden, and impossible to reclaim until Calvary.
    “Rent-a-family” is no solution. You can’t pay for intimacy that satisfies, but you can receive it as a gift. The kind of reciprocal love that satisfies the soul was the underlying agenda that set God into action, in an intergalactic mission that transported one person – the Lord Jesus Christ – from Heaven to Earth, with a landing spot chosen eons earlier, in the zip code of Bethlehem.
    John didn’t give us shepherds and wise men, or angels and innkeepers; his account was the story-behind-the-story: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-4, 14)
    It’s #1 on every Christmas list: we need someone. Holiday loneliness gets 3.4 million Google hits; the real solution has just one: it’s Jesus, sent to take “alone” out of play. God’s plan: No more Jackies…    

Bob Shank

December 9, 2013

    What’s on your Christmas wish-list this year?

    One tragedy of contemporary American life is the nature of The List. Scan it, quickly: for most people, the things on The List would fit in the trunk of your car, or – in the age of wide screens – the back of a large SUV. In the first third of life, products prevail.
    In the second third of life, products begin to wane in wonder: it’s hard to fit any more stuff in the modern home. Once you have the new generation of stuff, the appeal of the latest-and-greatest begins to moderate. Smaller and faster are the primary enhancements, and – at some point – you reach small enough and fast enough, and the cost of marginal improvement is no longer appealing.
    The maturing list moves to experiences. Bucket Lists are not shopping lists: dreams are no longer marked by some assembly required or batteries not included. Places to go; things to do; mountains to climb; books to read; people to meet: doing has now trumped having as the marker for the Good Life.
    Today’s Wall Street Journal devotes its optional section – beyond the news and market reports – to their occasional Encore emphasis. The cover article that sets the tone: “The Case for a Midlife ‘Gap’ Year.” Stephen and Susan Ristau – both around 60 years young – are the poster kids for the feature emphasis of the whole section. Married 28 years, both employed in responsible executive/ management roles, they were ready for something more than the gadget upgrades – and travel upgrades – to mark their life progression. What fits on the third third list?
    Sell the house, put some of the stuff in storage… and take a break. As the sub-head for the article summarizes, “More Baby Boomers – burned out or trying to plan their futures – are taking a career break to reflect, re-energize and restart their engines.” Or, as the Ristaus said about themselves, they were looking “to bring a sense of adventure and newness to our lives.”
    The Gap Year has become an occasional cultural solution for the nearly-adult high school grad who wants to clear the decks and breathe deeply before starting down the demanding path of an undergraduate college experience. A time-out to make sure that the destination – and, the outcomes – make sense is what makes the Gap Year something besides an indulgence for the affluent.
    Various examples are offered by the WSJ editorial team; life in the 21st Century doesn’t offer many natural breaks that allow a healthy reconnoiter for the highly responsible. As you ponder the premise – against the backdrop of stories that sound hauntingly familiar – something in you may long for the luxury of a break in the action of the interconnected, 24/7/365 life.
    For many career drivers, the Crisis of 2013 is deciding what to do with staff when Christmas lands on Wednesday. Open on Monday, chain them to their monitors until noon on Tuesday, and wait for the lame excuses – “I think I caught something from all the kids” – when the day-after-Christmas mall assault decimates the office team ranks for the last two days of the fractured week?
    Gap Year. Why does it sound so appealing?
    Turn the Manual back – find “Christmas” in Matthew’s gospel, and veer left, all the way to the opening pages of Genesis. Look again at the pages torn from the Creator’s work calendar: He spent six days in high-productivity activity – making everything we see as “Universe” – and saved the best for last: humans were the crowning achievement.
    Then, He took a break. He would later put the instructions in print: He calls it Sabbath. One day every week; a Gap Year every seven. All of the “re” activities – refresh, renew, replenish, reconsider, revise, relate, re-energize, and more – the things we never have time for are given special time.
    Take another look at your list: consider giving yourself a special gift over the next month. You need some Sabbath time: no one can put it under your tree, but you can put it in your calendar. The challenge is my gift, to you…

Bob Shank

December 2, 2013

    They could all be wrong… but they can’t all be right.
    When notable people have different opinions about the same thing, the listening world is faced with a choice. If the subject is abstract theory, it can be a game; if the point of conflict is a philosophy that drives choices and the actions that follow, it’s not a game; it’s life.
    Welcome to December. A verb that is relegated to birthdays and random events moves to center stage: Give is the common theme, all month long. Employers debate bonuses; shoppers walk by Red Kettles at malls; neighbors who don’t know one another by name make bulk-buys of jams or chocolates to exchange on the porch. “ ‘Tis the season…”
    The culture-wide focus on giving may be a year-end phenomenon, but the practice has become a continuing dialog among the well-to-do. Business moguls whose lifetime of earning and accumulating propelled their rise on the Forbes list of the most-wealthy are now debating the merits of generosity.
    Bill Gates broke ranks when he – as the richest American – declared the end of his serious getting, and the launch of even-more-serious giving. Warren Buffett joined his philanthropy circle, and – together – they birthed The Giving Pledge: “…a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.” (givingpledge.org)
    Pointed principally toward billionaires, the Pledge asks their commitment to give at least half of their net-worth to charity, in life or in death.
    Buffett spoke recently at the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. His comment: “If you have trouble living on $500 million, I’m going to put out a book: How to Live on $500 Million.” (He might autograph a copy if you’ll sign the pledge). They’re working the crowd for sign-ups…
    Scott McNealy – cofounder of Sun Microsystems, and recurring entrepreneur in the tech world – has responded as an Evangelist for Capitalism. He is unrestrained in his public disdain for philanthropy: “Imagine if they had taken their tens of billions of dollars, chopped it up into $5 million chunks and pledged it to a business plan, sponsored by an MBA graduating from an MBA school…” Carlos Slim – the world’s second-richest man – sings harmony with McNealy and the anti-giving choir…
    For people with something to give, the choice of counsel is challenging. McNealy: Create Jobs. Gates and Buffett: Alleviate Suffering. There’s a third perspective worth hearing, from a Man whose birthday is the highpoint of December. His comment, about the billionaire debate: “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” (Luke 16:8)
    The well-funded are shrewd, but the Savior is even more strategic: “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) “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) Creating jobs and alleviating suffering are great… but, if someone misses the chance to go to heaven, what will you think 100 years from now?
    When you have something to give, what should you do with your money? Once you’ve checked-off the personal holiday stocking crowd – the folks around your Christmas tree – how do you engage the world beyond? McNealy: Create Jobs. Gates and Buffett: Alleviate Suffering. The Lord Jesus: Populate Heaven. They could all be wrong… but they can’t all be right.
    Most people are frozen in the face of competing counsel; they just spend on themselves what could have been invested (making jobs for the people who produced what they consumed).
    I’ve heard the arguments, and I’ve made my pick. The Giving Pledge devotes 50%; the Gift of God was 100%: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” (John 3:16).
    When you have more than you need, and are ready to invest: populate heaven by making God’s gift known to people who are waiting to hear. Give is a verb; this is the month to get busy…

Bob Shank

November 25, 2013
   
    History runs on a straight line; but life seems to be a carousel.

    “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way…” (Charles Dickens; the opening words of A Tale of Two Cities, in 1859).
    Every day’s headlines are a surprise, but it sure feels like we’re going around in circles. The circumstances are constantly changing, but – after awhile – life can feel like it’s a song that’s stuck in the chorus. We seem to be going in emotional circles here. Why is that?
    Western culture has an economy dependent on well-supplied people wanting more. Most of us don’t struggle with survival; our lives rise and fall based on our ability to meet the levels of personal preference and cultural desirability. Enough isn’t enough; more is the minimum for satisfaction. That’s problematic: there is no upper limit on the more gauge.
    Dickens could have been writing about our world; 154 years have passed, but the human condition hasn’t changed much. It was the best of times: the Dow ended last week at 16,064 – the highest mark in history. Publicly-traded corporations are doing great, while people are despairing and disillusioned. Companies are sitting on cash; families are scrambling for Christmas money. It is the best of times, for some… and the worst of times, for many more.
    Wait: time out. It’s Thanksgiving week, celebrated at the latest possible calendar date. We’ll gather around tables on Thursday, reaching for the right words to describe our perspective about life, circa 2013. What will we have to say, when asked: “What are you thankful for?”
    Here’s some advice, from Solomon’s wisdom: “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)
    If these are good times, for you: be happy. Don’t let the conditions around you rattle your ability to enjoy the provision of God on your behalf. When you report your gratitude on Thursday, don’t hold back. It’s okay to celebrate your circumstances.
    But, if these are bad times for you: disconnect your emotions and, instead, speak from your intellect. “Consider this” is Solomon’s counsel to calculate reality. God is in control, and He holds your future… and, if you’re in a relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus, you are part of something that stretches from here into Eternity. Current conditions are not the final status report.
    You may not get a chance to say it to the folks around your table on Thursday, but you can find personal solace in Paul’s informed perspective: “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.” (Romans 8:18-21)
    Best of times? Be happy. Worst of times? Be thoughtful. The game isn’t over yet; today’s scene is not the final act in the drama of your life, or of history. The One who wrote the story is starring as the Hero, and He is weaving the plot to an ultimate conclusion that will have everyone on their feet: “the glory that will be revealed in us!”
    For that, we can give thanks Thursday… and, every day! I’m grateful for the chance to challenge your thinking on Mondays. May you and yours find power in gratitude this Thanksgiving!
   
Bob Shank

November 18, 2013

    Build the platform; launch the payload.

    Sounds like NASA talk, doesn’t it? It isn’t rocket science: the reason you build a launch platform is to put something into space.
    Last Thursday/Friday, I was in Vancouver (Canada), speaking at the Entrepreneurial Leaders Conference (go to site for info). The focus of the event was to equip, connect and inspire Christian entrepreneurial leaders. The Master’s Program in Canada was one of the sponsors; I was there to help my Canadian colleague, Chris Hornibrook, to expose leaders north of the border to TMP.
    The main speakers included business school profs, notable Canadian business icons… and two imports from the U.S: me, and Mark Burnett. One of those needed no introduction.
    Survivor. The Apprentice. Shark Tank. The Voice. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. People’s Choice Awards. When you’ve made your mark in Hollywood as an Executive Producer with a portfolio of multi-season network hits, doors open and iPhone photos digitize the moment – everywhere you go. What was Mark Burnett doing at a Christian business leaders’ event in Vancouver?
    The emphases were compelling; the fast-pitch speakers addressed the leadership challenge found in both Career, and Calling. Being the innovative risk taker – the classic distinction of entrepreneurship – is the natural pursuit of these unique champions, whether going for market share in the commercial arena, or pursuing “fruit that will last” on behalf of the Kingdom.
    Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel), were both on the program in Vancouver. Their contribution was not theoretical; their journey fit the bill, perfectly.
    Years of professional pursuit and achievement in broadcast entertainment have this dynamic couple at the level achieved by few: they meet the metrics of success. They’ve also created a strong marriage, founded on a common personal faith in the Lord Jesus. Their entertainment products have been G/PG rated, allowing them to maintain integrity in the work that bears their names. But, was doing their career in a Christian manner enough to satisfy their appetite for Eternity?
    Burnett gave a powerful picture of the risk they embraced when – together – they exposed their vision for The Bible, bringing the story of the Scriptures into a 10-hour miniseries, designed to introduce  people who are biblically illiterate to the greatest story ever told. Both Mark and Roma used the C-Word – Calling – to describe their drive for that production.
    Turned-down by the networks, they took the concept to the History Channel and got the go-ahead. A budget of $20 million; filming in Morocco; the challenge of compressing thousands of years and hundreds of stories – from 66 books – into a cogent handling of the inspired text: would it fly, with the fickle television audience?
    The Bible became the number one new series on cable television in 2013; it has now been seen by over 100 million viewers. According to 20th Century Fox, The Bible ranks as the top mini-series event – ever – in the first week of release.
    They overshot the footage for the New Testament story of Jesus, and had to leave much of what they created from the Gospels out of The Bible because of the time constraints. What do you do with too much of Jesus unseen by the audience?
    Well… you push your chips back to the center of the table and take another risk: Son of God – the movie – will come to theaters in late February (click here for information). Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the success of The Bible has the potential to make Son of God even more powerful than The Passion of the Christ was, ten years before. What if people could meet Jesus at a theater?
    Build your platform, in your career. For many, that will allow you to find – and, exploit – a Calling that brings even greater meaning and purpose to your marketplace pursuits. From Apprentice to the Master; from Carpenter to Messiah: there are great examples to challenge your thinking…

Bob Shank

November 11, 2013

    Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
    That was the opinion of Charles Caleb Colton, long-dead British cleric, writer and collector, who was well known for his eccentricities. I guess we can feel good… right?
    His observation comes to mind as I see the headline over a story syndicated by the Associated Press, and bouncing around on-line, on Veterans Day. The headline: “Atheist ‘Megachurch’ Finds a Home in L.A.” The lead: “It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any megachurch. The only thing missing was God…”
    Only in America: in a companion story – posted on website AlterNet – they aren’t hiding their source of creative genius: “Atheists and non-believers are taking cues from Bible readers: convening large gatherings filled with music, inspiration and reflection… On Sunday, hundreds of people (400) attended such an assembly in Los Angeles. Similar assemblies have been held around the country, including San Diego, Nashville and New York…”
    The Gallup Research Organization regularly asks Americans if they attended church last weekend; the answer – in multiple surveys – hovers around 40% (118 million). But, Americans tend to overstate their performance sometimes; more rigorous sampling suggests that 20% (60 million) may be more accurate. And, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a church is not a megachurch until it has a sustained weekly average attendance of 2000 adults in its weekend services.
    So, the national press spots 400 people together – once – on a Sunday morning under the banner of atheism, and they grant them “megachurch” status (I guess the atheists have a handicap of 1600 on the Sunday morning golf god course). A few thousand atheists is newsworthy; tens of millions of Christians is not.
    What are those godless people doing when they get together? One of the founders of the atheist church movement, British comedian Sanderson Jones, says, “If you think about church, there’s very little that’s bad. It’s singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people – and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of that is not to like?”
    Apparently, it’s the God part that’s not to like. Paul saw this day coming: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God –  having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
    the “form of godliness” means the search for the effects of knowing God – the distinctives that mark the church, the Body of Christ – but the rejection of the power it takes to replicate it. The atheists can duplicate the activities that they observe in a church building, but if they reject the supernatural power of the indwelling Spirit of God in the people inside, they’ll be wasting their efforts…
    While the atheists are trying to imitate the Christians, the Christians are living to imitate the Son: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” (Romans 5:1-2)
    Interesting: while growing numbers of younger Americans say they are abandoning “organized religion,” but maintaining their “spirituality,” I wonder: what’s going to happen now that the other side is regrouping as “organized non-religion?”
    I’m sticking with the flawed church that’s following the scarred Savior; it’s still the best meeting on Sunday morning…

Bob Shank

November 4, 2013

    Follow the Leaders.
    Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Leaders go up-front; followers behind. Without someone going before them, most folks slow down, measure their steps and hedge their bets. Risk rises when you are stepping on fresh ground; conscious deliberation is needed when you have no one leading the way…
    American families have always had prime-time models to invite into their living rooms; for 30-60 minutes, once a week, they would show the home audience how it’s done, for better or for worse. Over the decades, the names have come and gone: the Ricardos (Lucy and Ricky), the Nelsons (Ozzie and Harriott), the Waltons (John and Olivia), the Bunkers (Archie and Edith), the Bradys (Mike and Carol); all made their mark on American family life.
    Fast forward, to a new Millennium: scripted comedy and drama have given way to “Reality TV.” No longer the brood next door: now we have extended – and, extraordinary – family characters who come from the extremes into the mainstream.
    Among the most known/most watched in the current mix: the Kardashians of Southern California, and the Robertsons of Northern Louisiana. Both have fathers with a background in sports, and strong matriarchs who embody the family values. Adult progeny who make their parents proud by living out the family’s values. The West Coasters prey – a lot; the Southerners pray – just as frequently. One exemplifies what it means to be “famous for being famous” (see Wikipedia); the other has become famous as hard working, average Americans who cling to their guns and religion and “got lucky” while working and living a boring, moral, faithful-to-their-beliefs life.
    Offer me a seat at either family’s table, and I’ll be the clean-shaven old guy sitting between the camo-clad Robertson brothers (most likely, the senior siblings: Phil and Silas).
    I’d ask Si about his recent endorsement of Operation Christmas Child, the massive outreach effort sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse. Shoeboxes of practical gifts for kids find their way to the front-lines of need and disaster. Over 100 million boxes have been delivered – along with the Story of Christmas – to children in need of a Savior, since 1990. Watch the video to see Si packing his OCC box!)
    During the next few weeks, families, churches and companies all over America will show their heart for the less fortunate – and, their strategic interest in the Great Commission – by packing boxes and promoting the effort with their family and friends. Explore your options to be involved on the Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child website; it’ll put the heart back into your Christmas preparations!
    One more suggestion: this Thursday – November 7th – is Billy Graham’s 95th Birthday. In classic Billy Graham style, he has a gift for us. It’s called My Hope America, a 30-minute special that will be aired on the Fox News channel at 10:00p (Eastern)/7:00p (Pacific). I’ve seen it three times; expect a deeply meaningful time with a man who has spoken truth to the world for over a half century.
    Do you have influence – with people in your social network, your professional relationships, your church connections – whom you could leverage for goodness’ sake? I would encourage you to take the bold step of pointing folks who trust your opinion to watch – or, TiVo for later – this historic and moving moment with a man who has counseled presidents and premiers, and has shared Truth with more people – live – than anyone, ever. Click here to check out the preparations for this national broadcast.
    If I could snag a seat at a family table, I’d head for the Robertsons… and send my regrets to the Kardashians. We need some leaders in our culture right now; whose direction seems safest, to you?
Bob Shank

    Saved by the internet.

    Maybe; or, maybe not. Al Gore’s invention (“During my service in the United States Congress, I took initiative in creating the internet…”) has a checkered history. It has become as ubiquitous as Big Macs in the world of 2013, but it’s simply a tool.
    Gore claimed (partial) credit for the web; it’s hard to find anyone who will take credit for the Affordable Healthcare website experience on Opening Day. The digital clipboard – where the new “sign in, have a seat, and the doctor will be with you in a few minutes” offer was supposed to welcome people to our newest medical fix-all – was Dead on Arrival. The healthcare.gov website is in the congressional morgue, in the middle of a CSpan obituary at the hands of a bunch of angry committee members.
    Some websites work like a fine Swiss watch. Silk Road had that kind of reputation… until it was interrupted by the FBI.
    Instead of eBay, Silk Road was eBad. The primary product available on the site was illegal drugs – LSD, cocaine and the like – but the product mix had expanded to include other hard-to-find items like fake IDs, hacking software and automatic weapons. Purchased with the web’s cross-over, untraceable currency called BitCoin, goods were then shipped to the buyers door through conventional delivery providers.
    Silk Road’s mastermind entrepreneur was Ross Ulbricht, a 29-year-old Bay Area tech genius who was AN unremarkable “regular guy” to his two unsuspecting roommates. Since the site went live, authorities estimate Ulbricht’s take – in fees, as a middle man – at about $80 million. He’s busy now on the other coast: indicted in New York for narcotics trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking; and in New Jersey for hiring a hit man to take out a hacker who was messing with him. (Maybe, after he’s convicted, he could work on the healthcare.gov site – instead of the prison laundry – and get it up to speed?)
    And, then, there’s Walt Wilson. He has an interesting mix of past-life assignments, from his stint in the US Marines to his early career experience with Apple Computer as managing director of US Operations. Four decades of experience – working mostly from Silicon Valley – kept Walt on the front line of the digital frontier.
    Before the internet replaced direct human interaction, Walt saw the potential to exploit technology with theology. Paul wrote to the sophisticated Christians who lived in the Capitol of the World, Rome: “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:13-14) If salvation is the objective, communication is the imperative. How could the followers of Jesus use the world wide web to get the word out, about Jesus?
    Global Media Outreach is Walt’s baby. In less than a decade, they have seen over 88 million people indicate their decision to follow Jesus Christ from their various websites (track ‘em on their dashboard, GreatCommission2020.com). They match inquirers from around the world – many from some of the world’s most closed countries – with “online missionaries” (Christians just like… you) who meet the inquirer via a website, and usher them into early steps of the faith.
    Saved by the internet? The internet cannot save anyone; I just said that to get your attention. The internet may kill some careers in Washington in the near future; the internet will put Ross Ulbricht in publicly-funded housing for 25-to-life; the internet will be the street corner where millions of lost people heard the Gospel, met Jesus, met a Christian half-a-world away, and caught a bus to Heaven.

    What world-changing idea has been sparked from your day job that could be a game-changer against the backdrop of Eternity?

Bob Shank

October 21, 2013

    I wonder if they’d miss me?
    I’m on my way – somewhere over Arizona right now, in a 767 heading eastbound – to convene The Master’s Program groups in Charleston and Charlotte (our two current outposts for TMP in the Carolinas). My Charlotte contingent will assemble on Wednesday – all day – at the Charlotte Country Club. How far is that from the North Carolina Museum of Art? Could I duck out of my own event?
    I don’t normally find myself plotting a visit to a museum – let alone an art museum – but their special exhibit – now, ‘til January 20th – is worth the exception. “Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed” is the banner outside the complex.
    Twenty-two Porsches – from the 1938 Type 64 to the 2010 Type 911 Sport Classic Carrera – on display (with, I’m sure, the “Do Not Touch” signs appropriately placed). My flight back to SoCal isn’t until 5:25p; my group adjourns about 3:30p… what are the chances I could make my flight?
    Why is a guy who drives an old-guys’ Toyota Avalon even imagining the Porsche pilgrimage? It’s all about high school…
    My first car was the parent-approved ’63 Plymouth Belvedere – with the 426 Hemi engine and the push-button automatic tranny – that didn’t draw attention, but sucked premium gas like I drink Starbucks coffee. My money; dad’s approval. That lasted about six months…
    Based on my appeals for a more frugal operating cost, I negotiated permission to buy an imported car with four cylinders and a manual transmission. Never bargain from ignorance: my dad didn’t understand in ‘69 that a ’59 Porsche 356B Coupe was not an “economy car…”
    Again: my money ($1600), dad’s sign-off… and the Porsche became my field office. When Cheri and I were married, I sold it for $1300 and bought the new Chevy…
    If only I had held on to that simple, yellow, inverted bathtub. Now worth at least 25x what I accepted for it in ’71, it would have been a smooth financial play. But, even more: it would have had a place at the North Carolina Museum of Art (virtually) as a head-turner in ’13.
    I think about that sometimes when I consider value decisions that I make today, and what I’d give someday to reverse them, if I had the chance for a do-over.
    That’s why I drive that Toyota. I went back and forth a few times over the options. I could have made the case for a spiffier ride; the folks who see me around town wouldn’t have blinked if I had ratcheted-up my brand choice a few notches. But, I had to consider the options…
    It’s always about the options. The Law of Limited Resources says that the decision to buy one thing means that you won’t be able to procure something else. Choices do matter; you reach a point where you hit the bottom of your bucks barrel and have to say, “No.”
    When I was a teen, my car was the most important thing in which I could invest my limited funds. I’ve grown up a bit since then; my values have shifted gears considerably.
    The Porsche gallery would be worth a visit; a stroll down Memory Lane would be an hour’s diversion, but I’ve traveled down the road of life – and wisdom – a ways since then. Today, the thing that catches my eye is people.
    Every time I make a decision about the expenditure of hard-earned capital, I have to make a value call: what’s really most important, to me? It’s people; not just now, but for 1000 years from now. The great advice from Jesus haunts me: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it (the money) is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (heaven).” (Luke 16:9)
    In ’69, I put my money on Porsche; in ’13, I’m putting it on People. I think I’m making better deals now. The 25x possibility was great; the 100x guarantee is even greater…

Bob Shank

October 14, 2013

    Where’s Warren Weaver when you need him?
    He’s been dead for 35 years, but his perspectives are spot-on for today. Weaver’s degrees – bachelors, masters and PhD, all from the University of Wisconsin/Madison – pointed him toward science as a life-pursuit. His signature work may be his 1948 paper on the difference between Disorganized Complexity (DC) and Organized Complexity (OC).
    To simplify his perspective (for my understanding!), he posits Disorganized Complexity as a system with zillions of disconnected parts, operating in random fashion, and their interaction is chaotic and predictable – not based on intentional engineering, but through probability and chance computations. By contrast, he saw Organized Complexity as a system wherein the interactions between the myriad parts are anything but accidental: these functions allow the overall entity to interact with other entities in a wholly intentional basis, based on the intelligent design of the systems’ creator(s).
    Low-level creators produce systems that promise much, but deliver dysfunction: the high-minded propositions found in their Rube Goldberg-styled monstrosities flounder and fail when you flip the switch… and the glossy brochure and benefit bullet-points burn up in the collapse that follows.
    The highest-level creation presents a face of simplicity, with an image of OC behind the curtain that causes the informed observer to marvel at the genius behind the synchrony. Simply turn the key and put it in drive… and you’re on the highway with a smooth acceleration that won’t put ripples on the surface of your latte.
    When Organized Complexity collides with Disorganized Complexity, sparks fly.
    Example: The Organized Complexity of the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Disorganized Complexity demonstrated in the current interactions of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.
    Example: The Organized Complexity of the human body, and the Disorganized Complexity of the Affordable Care Act.
    Example: The Organized Complexity of the Gospel, and the Disorganized Complexity of Religion, in all of its worldwide cultural variations.
    We’ve reached a place in human progress (?) where we are capable of conceiving and creating amazing – complex – breakthroughs: things that break when we’re through creating.
    We’ve unlocked the atom… and, now, we can’t control the exploitation of nuclear technology in the hands of evil extremists.
    We’ve created the best government model in the history of human community, and we cannot seem to harness it at home or export it abroad.
    We’ve sophisticated medical care to the highest level of prevention and intervention ever imagined, and we’ve disheartened doctors from the calling that drew them into practice.
    We’ve designed an international financial community that presents instant commercial global interactivity, and we’ve taken down world markets through bogus transactions by a few sophisticated manipulators who leave rich while wreaking havoc on the masses.
    We’ve sophisticated science to the point we can explain creation, and we’ve dismissed the validity of the Creator who should be applauded for His amazing works.
    The thoughts of a wise man who saw the collision between OC and DC: “I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted… Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
    For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 1:13-15; 12:12-14)

Bob Shank

October 7, 2013

    “Why can’t we all just get along?”
    Rodney King was beaten by four Los Angeles police officers when they stopped him after a high-speed car chase in 1991; the beating was caught on video by a nearby resident, and it “went viral,” before the internet.
    The officers were ultimately charged, tried, acquitted… and the ensuing riot in downtown Los Angeles – from April 29 to May 4, 1992 – left 53 dead and thousands injured. During those difficult days in LA, Rodney King voiced his now-famous plea: “Why can’t we all just get along?”
    King died last year, or he could go to Washington and make the same request. The police tape in the Capitol Mall is keeping the crowd from forming, but the unrest in DC rivals the restlessness in LA that sparked the mayhem, over 20 years ago…
    Rancor has supplanted reason; rather than being politicized – which is normal in our democratic process – shrill voices have become polarized, with no apparent common ground to be found. Even within the parties, the “big tents” seem to have collapsing poles; the infighting has gone extra rounds…
    Almost 2000 years ago, a potential schism had emerged in the early days of the Church. What had begun as an uprising within the staid Jewish religion was breaking out of its ethnic boundaries: gentiles – non-Jewish people – were aligning themselves with the followers of the One who was being called the Messiah – or, the Christ – promised by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
    A self-appointed committee of enforcers – made up of men who were part of the Way (that was the Jewish name for the new movement) while still card-carrying Jews – came to Antioch. Antioch was the first gentile city with a church – they had already been rebranded as Christians– and these guys felt like someone had to rein-in what was happening. Their irritation: these “Christians” in Antioch hadn’t become Jews before they accepted Jesus! There was an “order” to the spiritual journey – in their view – that had not been respected and followed. Jew first, then Christian…
    Paul and Barnabas were back from their first missionary journey; they were the first leaders of the Antioch church, though they were – themselves – lifetime Jewish leaders before their inclusion in the faith-in-Jesus community. When they heard the demands of the men who were more defined by the Law than by Grace – that the new Christians must be circumcised for their faith to be a saving faith – they were incensed. They would not concede the point: they were sent to “Washington” (Jerusalem, actually), to get the matter settled, once and for all.
    The Council at Jerusalem brought the apostles and elders together to find consensus. Debate preceded the decision, but they reached agreement about the matter; they sent a letter to the church in Antioch – and, to all gentiles who would follow – with this conclusion: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29)
    The Law that mandated behavior for Jewish life had just been streamlined for the new era; in a statement that was both concise and conclusive, the dispute had been dismissed. We’re living, today, in the freedom of that well-crafted concession…
    Quick: send your congressional representative and senators a cut-and-paste version of Acts 15. If the leaders in Jerusalem could find compromise on something far more crucial than anything on the table today in Washington, maybe we could invoke the same Holy Spirit to help guide our way out of this mess…

Bob Shank

September 30, 2013

    We may be on a roll here.

    Last week, I challenged the thinking of Cal Berkeley philosopher Samuel Scheffler in his play-on-words, emphasizing the “Importance of the Afterlife” to find meaning in what would otherwise become mundane. In his “death ends it all” system, if there are no progeny, there is no purpose. Life is important – today – based on its effects on those who will live, tomorrow.
    The world may be glued to the tube watching the infighting in the US Congress, and the looming threat of a government shut-down… but the Beltway Bullies are getting a little tiring in their continuing inability to make government work. The cover of Time magazine this week is far more compelling: Can Google Solve Death?
    The American government is out-of-green, and their ability to open the doors next week is in question. Over at Google, they’re sitting on $54 billion in cash reserves, and Larry Page – co-founder and CEO – is giving large amounts of his time and creative capacity to what they call “moon shots:” the high risk/high rewards initiatives that most companies would never attempt because the financial returns are not certain, and soon.
    As Time put it, “Last week, Apple announced a new iPhone; what do you do this week, Google? ‘Oh, we founded a company that might one day defeat death itself.’ …It’s a lot easier to take Google’s venture seriously if you live under the invisible dome over Silicon Valley, home to a worldview whereby, broadly speaking, there is no problem that can’t be addressed by the application of liberal amounts of technology and everything is solvable if you reduce it to data and then throw enough processing power at it…”
    Beat cancer, and you add three years to American life expectancy. Page wants more than that, and it grows out of his personal commitment to “10x Innovations:” to press for breakthroughs that allow outcomes that are 10 times greater than in those already in the marketplace.
    Time is out to sell magazines, so their sensational cover offer – “Can Google Solve Death?” – isn’t really what Page is trying to do. He’s pursuing longevity, not eternity; he hopes to delay the inevitable (“unavoidable; impossible to avoid or prevent”), not to defeat it. He’s bold… but he’s not an idiot. No one can defeat death… can they?
    If Page met Paul, they could make death their point of engagement. If Paul spoke at a TED conference – with presentations limited to 18 minutes, on hot topics that keep bright minds awake – he could just read from his argument in his letter to the Romans (the 5th-8th chapters). In that concise conversation, he addresses death 25 times!
    He’s wrapping-up his presentation on the subject when he arrives at this incredible summation: “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” (Romans 8:9-11)
    Google loves to go places no company has gone, and do things no collection of out-of-the-boxers have ever attempted. The reality: someone has already solved death, and His solution is offered without charge to anyone who is willing to accept His terms and conditions. Click here…
    Solve death? Jesus has already done that! There’s no money in that niche; you cannot charge for heaven, and you cannot buy your way in. What an incredible bargain; what an amazing grace…

Bob Shank

September 23, 2013

    The Importance of the Afterlife. Seriously.
    You don’t find an article headline like that in USA Today; it won’t be the lead story on Entertainment Tonight; to read beneath a lead like that requires that you’re holding Christianity Today… or, the New York Times Sunday Review. It was the NY Times who gave Cal Berkeley philosopher Samuel Scheffler the space to summarize his scholarly book, Death and the Afterlife (Oxford University Press; 2013).
    The opening lines draw you in: “I believe in life after death. No, I don’t think I will live on as a conscious being after my earthly demise. I’m firmly convinced that death marks the unqualified and irreversible end of our lives…” Given that summation, what else is there to say on the subject?
    His argument – two pages in the Times, 220 pages in his book – is that life finds meaning, not because of the hope to be somewhere next, but because there will be people on the planet after our demise who will be around to take advantage of the works we leave behind. If you knew the earth would be devastated by a meteor strike 30 days after your death, would you spend your last days as a scientist finding a cure for cancer? Confidence in the extended horizon of mankind’s existence on the planet is enough, according to Scheffler, to motivate the continuing advancement of one’s life mission, despite the personal countdown clock that marks every person’s End of Days.
    Scheffler’s premise gives necessary propulsion to environmentalism. Protecting the planet’s ability to sustain life is an obvious underpinning to the meaning of life for the person who must invest their limited time and creative energy in bettering a place that must continue to exist for the benefit of the generations who will follow. If this is all there is… you have to ensure that it will always be.
    Fisherman-turned-philosopher Simon Peter wrote the counterpoint to Scheffler:
    “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
    But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
    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 3:3-13)
    Peter could have crafted a headline for his essay: The Importance of the Afterlife. Seriously.
    If you trust human intuition, you must embrace Scheffler’s essay to maintain the incentive to be anything but a cynical, self-serving fatalist. Simon Peter spent 1000 days with Jesus, who claimed to be the only one who had ever come from heaven to earth to inform Earthlings about what was to come (John 3:13-14). Peter knew what he was talking about; he witnessed the testimony of Jesus.
    There is an Afterlife. Scheffling argues meaning-in-life through affecting future lives, on Earth. Peter argues meaning-in-life through affecting present lives for the future, in Heaven.
    One of them is right…

Bob Shank

September 16, 2013

    You cannot lead from behind.
    If Google is any measure of a topic’s level of interest, there are 80.3 million posts that are exploring the concept right now. It’s a hot headline this morning…
    The idea isn’t revolutionary: the word picture provides more-than-adequate portrayal of the posture. Spot the crowd; see where it’s headed… and, then, send suggestions to the front – from the rear – about what they should be doing as they proceed.
    Allow me to expand the Google universe to 80,300,001: you can attempt to manage from behind, but you cannot lead from behind.
    “Lead from behind” has all of the power of “love from afar;” the only way to make a convincing case for either one is to redefine the verb – lead, or love – to allow for the deviant definition. Myriad dictionaries provide a harmonious reply to the query: to go before, or in advance is real leadership.
    The phrase has found its way into cover stories recently as seldom-neutral news sources have been surprisingly candid in their assessment of America’s “leadership” in the Syrian crisis. We had eight years of leadership by a president often called – without intent to flatter – the “cowboy;” we’re now seeing the contrast offered by a president whose background is “community organizer.” One led from the front; the other leads from behind. Where in the formation does the leader belong?
    In the marketplace, the real leaders are the entrepreneurs who position themselves on the front line, and are the inspiration for all who come behind. They are the ones most likely to take the first salvo of opposition fire, and are at risk of suffering wounds if the enterprise falters or fails. Their home equity likely capitalized the company, and they live or die with the cause.
    The big boys – the CEOs of companies in the headlines, and traded on the exchanges – call themselves leaders, but it’s often a ruse: they play the part of managers. “Failure” for them means the loss of billions in market value, followed by an early dismissal, coupled with a severance package that pays them millions to head to the Hamptons and write a book. Managing from behind pays well, insulates the King from mortal wounds… and manipulates the rooks up on the front lines who are – in the caste society it fosters – expendable.
    The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus advances with a leadership model that is clear and compelling: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ,” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Hear that: “follow,” not, “here are my orders, from back here where it’s safe.” Both of those leaders died for the cause…
    And, in the future, the story’s climax includes a dramatic battle scene: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Revelation 19:11-14) Where are the “armies?” Following the leader, emulating his actions…
    I avoid politics like the plague; there is no benefit in me using my weekly conversation with you for petty partisan wrangling. But, when the world’s discussion regards the nature of leadership, the public discourse has found its way into my space… and I feel compelled to weigh-in.
    In the Christian world, we often talk about a particular kind of leadership: it’s Servant Leadership we advocate. The essence is simple: the Servant Leader never asks another to do something that the Leader is unwilling to do. Look at Jesus; look at Paul: if you want to get it right, mimic their model. It’s proven; it’s refined: it’s leadership, in action… from the front.

Bob Shank

September 9, 2013

    “Rich people tend to be…”
    The way you complete that sentence has profound social, political and spiritual implications!
    David Wolfe is the rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles; in yesterday’s LA Times, he was featured in their OpEd section, under the headline, “The Compassion Deficit.”
    A thoughtful and well-researched essay opened with these words: “We know that wealth does not always make people happy, but does it make them kinder? Studies suggest exactly the opposite. Instead of being more magnanimous, the rich are more likely to lie, cheat, steal and – in general – display less compassion than the poor. And this finding remains consistent even after controlling for gender, ethnicity and spiritual beliefs.” Near the end of his challenge, he makes this statement: “One of the glorious paradoxes of psychology is that once we understand our natural tendencies, we can successfully fight them. I am privileged to know some very wealthy people who are paragons of generosity and empathy…”
    His observations of stinginess at the front edge of the socioeconomic bell curve are supported by all of the contemporary empirical evidence; it’s foolish to deny the facts. Because of the insular nature of privilege, people who have climbed the ladder can live above the clamor that characterizes the crowd who dwell beneath them. That’s why the game-changing impact of the Gospel – and, the profound agenda for personal transformation that follows the redemptive beginning – has the potential for the dramatic overhaul that allows the followers of Jesus to break loose from following their peers.
    John the Baptist was putting the Jewish community of the 1^st Century on notice for what was coming, in Christ; he shocked the crowd with disruptive challenges: “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’ ‘What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’ Even tax collectors came to be baptized. ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘what should we do?’ ‘Don’t collect any more than you are required to,’ he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’” (Luke 3:7-14)
    Truth from God – in that event, delivered through John’s messaging – is foundational, and has equal bearing for everyone, up-and-down the societal segments. But the application of that truth becomes very specific to one’s situational assignment: the crowd – the broad populace – had their marching orders, as did the tax collectors and the soldiers. Each player in the game comes to the field with his own particular action steps: when the play commences, some block, some fake, some run a pattern and catch the pass. Truth in action becomes a personal challenge…
    Left to themselves, crowds don’t share their shirts and food with the needy. When they’re doing what comes naturally, people with power – in John’s audience, the tax collectors – will use that power to serve themselves. The occupiers – the Roman troops who oppressed Israel – were out for themselves, and abusing human rights. When a relationship with Jesus becomes personal, those consistent manifestations of self-serving human behavior are transformed by the Power of God.
    Rabbi Wolfe reports that, in America, rich people tend to be selfish. The Apostle Paul – an informed Jewish voice from another era – says that, in the Kingdom, rich Christians should be generous (1 Timothy 6:18). It’s one or the other: aligned with the culture, or aligned with the Christ.
    This week, you and I are completing that sentence. How will our lives finish the thought?

Bob Shank

September 2, 2013

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Happy Labor Day!
   
    Okay, the origins of the holiday are woven into the union movements of an earlier era; when the holiday was proposed – nearly 130 years ago – the majority of American workers were still in farming, factories and mining. Today, the predominance of employment is service and knowledge workers, with more people packing key boards than tool belts. The day set aside to honor the honorable – the people whose efforts combine to create the most functional society in human history – is fitting.
    We – the team who gather under the banner of The Master’s Program – are taking the day off, as well. Our work – the service we provide – places us in connection with people within the context of their career engagement. From the Point of View – this commentary that challenges the topics of our culture from a biblical worldview – to our quarterly session days for TMP – when we mentor cohorts of men or women whose influence through their leadership is enhanced in keeping with knowing and pursuing their Kingdom Calling – we come alongside our customers in their Monday-Friday life.
    What does it mean to be a Christian in the marketplace career context? For some Christians, that question never seems to come up; they assume the form most likely to characterize their profession, and their faith is a non sequitur. Life, for them, is compartmentalized: their Sunday experience never invades their Monday reality.
    There are serious followers of Jesus who ponder the premise of their professional life, seeking to connect the dots of their overarching faith with an overdemanding workplace.
    Tim Keller – the pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan – has written a compelling argument for the importance of work to the believer: it is Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. In it, Keller explores some of the underlying drivers that Christians bring to their working life: how could my career – which consumes the largest slice of my time – be done in service to God?
        – To further social justice in the world?
        – To be personally honest and evangelize my colleagues?
        – To do skillful and excellent work?
        – To create beauty?
        – To be motivated to glorify God and to engage and influence culture?
        – To work with a grateful, joyful heart despite the circumstances?
        – To do whatever gives me the greatest joy and passion?
        – To make as much money as possible, so that I can be as generous as possible?
    The best answer? All of the above. Keller explores the dignity and meaning of the workplace for the Christian who is serious about making all of life a service to others, and an altar to the Almighty.
    In The Master’s Program, we are ministry specialists: we help Christian leaders explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling. In that pursuit, coming to understand that the Call to Faithfulness that is embedded in one’s marketplace role is an essential element to embrace.
    I hope you’re experiencing some renewal and refreshment from your workweek norms on Labor Day. Maybe this has been a day allowing some self-time; perhaps you’ve planted yourself on a beach or by a pool to get the last of the summer vibe before you have to hit the pavement tomorrow.
    Fire up your Kindle and download Every Good Endeavor. Be reminded of Paul’s challenge: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

Bob Shank

August 27, 2013

    The debate rages: is it quality, or quantity? What’s the objective?
    If you live in the “developing world” (our euphemism for billions whose needs are great, and whose supplies are minimal), quantity is the hands-down winner. If you live on one meal a day, anything that fills your stomach and satisfies your hunger pangs is welcomed. If you reside in one of the Top-10 zip codes in America, waiting weeks for a reservation in a 5-Star restaurant featuring a famous chef is the quality answer to “what’s for dinner?”
    Food is a pretty effective metaphor; among 7+ billion people on the planet, it’s a great equalizer.
    Bizarre foods or Whole Foods: the details may vary, but protein/carbohydrate/fat are the common denominators of human existence. If you want to make a point, paint the conceptuals with imagery from consumables.
    It’s not surprising to see how often Jesus uses a food term to paint a spiritual picture: “ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples… You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you,”(John 15:8, 16).
    That’s a pretty powerful pronouncement, at the center of what’s often called the Upper Room Discourse. Two TED Talks – the modern conference phenom featuring speakers who make power points without PowerPoint, in less than 18 minutes – are archived in the Gospels: the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Upper Room Discourse (John 15:13-16). In both of these banquets of eternal truth, fruit is on the menu.
    A little agricultural common sense for people who – for the most part – are far from the farm: the only reason you have a pear tree is for the pears. Decorative gardens don’t feature banzai Bartletts; they are planted for the purpose of producing fruit. Farmers nurture orchards for something other than reducing carbon footprints: they’re looking to put 53 pounds of fruit in a bushel and go to market.
    Paul used the fruit term as well, writing to his friends in the church in Galatia. He referred to the character qualities cultivated by God in the believer as the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23).
    Why take five minutes out of your busy day to play word games? What am I trying to get you to think differently about? What’s the bottom line?
    You’ll say – or, hear – that today, undoubtedly. In a work week jammed with activity and chatter, you’ll probably need to cut to the chase and make your time count. That’s what Jesus did…
    Bottom line: you’ve got a life; it’s one per customer. One time on the Earth track, and then you’re done. Once you’ve come on the team – through your redemptive surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ – you’re given a jersey, and a place on the field. It’s the final contest; how do you score?
    Fruit. Produce fruit: fruit that will last. Fruit that will glorify God. It’s why He chose you. It’s what He appointed you to do. It’s the bottom line of life. Fruit.
    Quality fruit, or quantity fruit?
    The Fruit of the Spirit is all about quality (Galatians 5); you’re the tree, and the Spirit produces character in you that makes your productivity – as a tree – world-class. Who gets the credit for the cultivation of love/joy/peace in the life of the Christian? God does…
    The Fruit of the Spiritual is all about quantity (Matthew 13:23). The believer who has been transformed by God is now appointed to bear fruit. In God’s orchard, that’s measured in people. “Go… make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19). Who gets the credit for the production of disciples? You do…
    Bottom line: God does the quality, in us; we do the quantity, in others.
    How’s it going in your part of the orchard?

August 19, 2013

    Most of us spend most of our days, lost in the micro… and blind to the macro.
    In baseball, there is a strategy called small ball. The idea is simple: lacking any home-run hitters, the team relies on getting runners to first base. A steady flow of successes – without unfortunate “outs” to interrupt the plan to populate the bases – should ultimately force runs across home plate. With no expectation of anyone stepping up to swing for the fences and put the fans on their feet, small ball doesn’t excite the audience, but it can ultimately win the outing.
    What do you do if everyone on the team is only focused on getting to first base? It’s an important element of the game, but to win the World Series requires an overarching sense of purpose that sees October as the prize, even before Spring Training convenes. The leaders must see past first base…
    The Christian experience can quickly erode to micro living, without a long view that anticipates and actualizes the macro vision. In the ‘90’s, the evangelical crowd centered on a bracelet that asked, “WWJD?” Acrostic for What Would Jesus Do?, the query was most often applied to the right response to getting too much change from the cashier, or stepping out of bounds without a penalty flag in a touchdown run at the championship game. The answer to WWJD? addressed micro questions, for the most part, and never encompassed the macro issues highlighted in Philippians 2:5-11 (look it up!).
    “What is God up to?” is a question we raise internally, more often than in a coffee-and-cake group on Wednesday nights. It’s a response to life’s unexpected interruptions – the fender-bender while on the way to an important meeting, or the diagnosis of a chronic – though, manageable – disease. We seek his purpose in small ball, micro scenes… and too seldom have in mind the home run play. What is God up to?
    “Cosmic restoration: nothing less adequately describes God’s mission. In fact, God has committed himself not only to re-create his universe to its original, spectacular condition but also – as the Bible’s apocalyptic literature attempts to convey – to display added, inexpressible magnificence in the coming new heaven and new earth. The God of the Bible is a big God, and his mission is a big mission.
    “God’s mission also concerns micro needs and situations. What happens to an infant, an elderly woman, a child fending for his own in one of the world’s countless urban slums, as well as any non-human creature, big or small, falls within God’s deep love and concern. You and I are dependent on God as our provider, counselor, and king. It is in very personal ways that you and I serve God, participate in his mission, and experience his ongoing presence,”   (from The Glory of God, by Christopher W. Morgan).
    Genesis 1 opens the Story of Everything with an amazing recounting of the Origins of all we can see. God is the ever-present main character, and his exploits – in summation – involve the output of the Creator’s workshop during a six-part cycle. What’s the purpose of the creation of the universe? Shocking: to provide a place for his ultimate work product – the human race – to call “home.” Man was not made to serve the environment; the environment was created to serve mankind.
    Adam and Eve blew it. They suffered consequence, and so did the environment. God hit the “reset” button, and Jesus came to Earth to put the New Plan in play. The Old Testament begins with Creation; the New Testament points toward re-Creation. The macro model is all things new… and the Great Commission is our assignment in preparation for that culmination of his Plan.
    So, a question I pose to myself – and, to you – as we ready ourselves for the re-launch that comes with Labor Day: are we just playing small ball, trying to get to first… or are we on the way to the World Series? What’s the Big, Holy, Audacious Goal (BHAG) that gets you swinging for the fences?
    Macro? or, Micro? That’s the constant challenge, today and everyday…
     
Bob Shank

August 12, 2013
   
    There are just 25 days left…
    “Until what?” is the reasonable question. It’s months until Christmas shopping closes; schools are already reopening across the country. No NASA launches in the new sequester era. What’s up?
    There are only seven times each year when the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) are offered; the first of this school year is October 5^th… and the deadline to register is September 6^th. Only 25 days left…
    The SAT is the live-or-die inquisition for teenagers hoping to head for college. This rite-of-passage is de rigueur for entrance into any undergraduate program. Grades are slippery; one high school’s “A” is another school’s “B-;” the SAT levels the playing field, allowing head-to-head comparisons across the spectrum.
    Measuring the ability to use what 12 years of classroom life has imparted, the SAT explores math, critical reading and writing skills in the student participant. With the max score of 2400, most colleges establish a minimum SAT to be considered for acceptance. Elite institutions pride themselves in ratcheting the numbers ever higher, in pursuit of the brightest and best in their incoming cohorts.
    While the SAT is presumed to measure the performance of the student, it also has the effect of evaluating the school system that produced them. Colleges boast of the high-caliber freshman class, based on SAT scores; shouldn’t the high schools find their value in the scores they enabled?
    What if there was a credible rating system for measuring the potential of Christians, as they navigate through their Sunday school systems heading for ever-higher level of Kingdom preparation?
    The assessment could share an acrostic; SAT would still work, but the meaning would be realigned. For progressing value in the Kingdom, the achievement would be Scripture, Attitude and Transformation (SAT); without those takeaways, no graduation is plausible.
    Scripture is foundational. God went to extreme lengths over generations to communicate his truth to mankind, and to see it archived in language that would allow it to be as dependable and powerful in 2014 as it was when he inspired human authors to capture his truth. Today, churches are the institutions tasked with raising biblical literacy among the people of God. How are we doing today, in passing the knowledge of the Holy to the current generation(s)? “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth,” (2 Timothy 2:15). An honest evaluation of church-goers would see a declining trend line…
    Attitude is next; “manner or disposition” is the issue. Human perspective begins flawed, and the warping continues through exposure to the culture. What agency is capable of realigning attitudes – among Christians – to a supernatural level? “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5). Talk about a challenge: be the best, but serve the least of these. Wholesome condescension, with purposeful intent. That isn’t taught in Division 1 schools…
    Transformation is the ultimate intended outcome; if we had valedictorians in Sunday School, this would be the qualifying criteria. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will,” (Romans 12:1-2). Ultimately, God’s appraisal of our maturity is based, not on what we know, but on what we do with what we know. Our life – transformed by truth – is what he intends, still.
    Elite Sunday schools are measured by the SAT scores of their students. Great churches aren’t ranked – by God – for great productions; they’re marked by great people. SAT matters…
     
    What’s your score?
     
Bob Shank