Point of View.

June 11, 2012

    So… it’s Friday night, and Cheri and I are in front of a dinner crowd of 150+ people, on the 67^th floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago… praying to commission a couple who are leaving business to become missionaries. There’s a story there…
    The convergence of real faith and real life is always the test of veracity. If a belief system only works when you’re in the religious building, it doesn’t pass the test. “Confirmation” isn’t a church event; it’s an ongoing evaluation that happens in life’s two working labs: at home, and at work.
    KeHE Food Distributors is not a well-known consumer brand, but they trade in familiar brands in a huge way. They connect the providers of food products with retail outlets that run from WalMart to Trader Joes, from Albertsons to Whole Foods. With $2 billion+ in annual revenues – and 4,000+ employees – they have a strong presence in their industry.

Continue reading “KeHE Cares”

June 4, 2012

     Some of these weekly missives – delivered as a “push,” or experienced as a blog (see pov.mastersprogram.org), land without fanfare. They generate little direct response – for the e-mail version, the “reply” reaction; for the blog, a “comment” – but stimulate thought, nonetheless.
     Occasionally, there's more reaction. That happened last week, with my advice, to give advice, to graduates. My opening challenge was for the now-launching, post-academic young adult to…

    Find your Context: Figure out where you live, and get established there. It's first; nothing tops this. Will your context be an industry? A company? A metropolitan area? A church? A group of friends? A family? The borders defined by your choice will narrow your field of view for your future choices; the quality of your life will be affected by your answer. Choose well.

    That concept has stimulated some interesting interaction, both through the digital/social media, but also as I've crossed paths with my Point of Viewers during this last week. “Could I unpack a little more on this 'context' concept?”
    Allow me to bottom-line it, and then circle back to get specific: we were made – “created” is the biblical concept – to be in community, not in isolation. Where will we find that “community?”

Continue reading “Where’s the pond?”

May 28, 2012

    Chances are, you’re not in your office today; rather, you’re participating in some activities in recognition of Memorial Day. Its origins trace back to the end of the Civil War, when the fallen were honored. Though focused on those who died, veterans and active duty are often applauded in church services and community events during this holiday weekend. I hope you took a moment to reflect…
    As you turn the calendar page, two big themes hover over the month that connects the Memorial Day holiday to the 4^th of July: like balloons tethered to June, “Dads and Grads” turn our focus from America to the American family. Kids finishing school – and, dads who helped them do it – are now in view. You’ve got big business demands as you wrap up Q2 of your work calendar… but, what will you have to give to the conversations surrounding your family relationships this month?
    In the next few inches, let me give you the framework for a Commencement Speech that you could give to a graduate you’ll be with during the next few weeks. They might not have listened to the dignitary who gave the Speech-of-the-Century at their stadium, but they might listen to you. Now that they’re packin’ an expensive degree (2011 average student debt: $23,000), what didn’t they learn?
    Here’s what you might say to enhance their chances for a desirable life: “Now that you’re one of us – the grown-ups, who are no longer defined by their campus and curriculum – how do you move forward?” Four key themes:

• Find your Context: Figure out where you live, and get established there. It’s first; nothing tops this. Will your context be an industry? A company? A metropolitan area? A church? A group of friends? A family? The borders defined by your choice will narrow your field of view for your future choices; the quality of your life will be affected by your answer. Choose well.
• Find your Career: What you do for money will, for most people, represent the largest slice in the pie chart of their time. The environment that surrounds you in your career will marinate you in values and philosophies that will define you, so your choice on this point includes more than just income and perquisites as factors in the formula. Recognize the tensions between this track and the other three.
• Find your Collaborator: “Mate” sounds way too biological; “Partner” sounds too politically- charged. Your spouse will become your most important relationship; it isn’t a part-time, or a revolving-door, or a limited-definition hire. Your covenant completer, your soul-mate, your human recruit to play co-star in your life story is a pursuit that is not delayed by incidental life issues. Don’t wait until your career settles, or until you can afford it; don’t ruin your future through intimacy compromises that offer short-term panacea for a deeper longing. Get married.
• Find your Calling: This one presumes that you’ve already found the Caller. God calls… but he waits for us to answer. Make faith a solid foundation for all of your life… but, as you progress in that faith, realize that God will allow you to feel a longing that is not satiated by Context, Career or Collaborator. Answering the “why am I here, really?” question is the Ultimate discovery that many/most never address. It won’t come easy… but the best things in life never will. Live – and, grow – through the choices in the Context, Career and Collaborator sectors, knowing that God is watching, and will reveal what comes next, when you’re ready…

    That’s my gift to the grads in your life, through you. In two weeks – before Father’s Day – I’ll give you some dad-thoughts to consider…

Bob Shank

May 21, 2012

    It all depends.
     
    I said, “depends,” not, “Depends.” That’s because “depends” means, “to be contingent; to be affected or decided by other factors.” If I had said, “Depends,” that would have referred to a brand of disposable adult diapers, which is a product with a growing market of aging but active adults whose personal purchases are not the subject of this column…
    “It all depends” is a phrase made famous by the 42^nd President of the United States, William Jefferson (“Bill”) Clinton. Abraham Lincoln gave us, “Four score and seven years ago…” John F. Kennedy challenged us to “… Ask not, what your country can do for you…” Ronald Reagan was abroad when he spoke the words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
    For Mr. Clinton, his testimony offered to a grand jury during the investigations that surrounded his impeachment included what may become his most memorable utterance. “It all depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is. If ‘is’ means ‘is, and never has been,’ that is one thing.’ If it means ‘there is none,’ that was a completely true statement…” (perhaps you had to attend Yale Law to fully understand the nuances).

Continue reading “It All Depends”

May 14, 2012

    Put that down!

    If you’re reading this Point of View on your SmartPhone, while driving, you should wait until you’ve come to a complete stop. Any use of any remote device while driving has just raised your odds of calamity by a 4x factor. You may be willing to take that risk… but have you asked the soccer mom driving next to you, with her car pool kiddos in the back?
    Medical research has confirmed what’s called the “cocktail party effect;” it’s your brain’s ability to zero-in on just one voice while tuning-out the blaring background. Their findings have determined that 2.5% of the populace is capable of what we’ve dubbed “multi-tasking;” the rest of us are subject to diminished capacity when we try to portray commitment while distracted.
    That’s a fact of life in the constant immediacy of life; it is equally important to consider when you ask – and, answer – the ultimate life challenge: who, exactly, are you?
    Identity is no small issue. For some, it’s found in their gender. Others find their best answer in their ethnicity or mother-tongue. Every four years, many put their default answer aside and adopt a partisan profile. Some friends are forever stuck in their youth and claim their alma mater’s banner. Some women leave their family badge on everywhere they roam; many men never remove their workplace uniform, with their earned rank as their mirror image.

Continue reading “Put that down!”

May 7, 2012

Help!
   
    Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to convey my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
    That concise appeal – delivered via a hologram, projected by robotic R2D2, in Star Wars: Episode IV (the first of the six) – made Carrie Fisher famous, at age 21. It was the high-water mark of her acting career; it's the role for which she's most remembered…
    She said a lot in eight sentences. She established her credibility through her father's history with Obi-Wan. She reported the circumstances of the conflict that was going on around her. She detailed the strategic Plan B that had come out of the battle… and then cited the urgency of her request. How important was Obi-Wan's reply? “You're my only hope…”
    Leia's message got Luke Skywalker on the case; what followed was the storyline for six blockbuster movies over two decades. From her desperation came the response that became the basis for the game-changer in the rebellion against the Empire.

Continue reading “Star Wars (the first of the six)”

April 30, 2012

    You just can't make this stuff up. Jeanne Phillips took over the keyboard from her mom, Pauline Phillips, on July 22, 2002 as the source of answers to the 5,000-10,000 people who issue pleas for help from Dear Abby. Yesterday's syndicated column had this earth-shaking query:
    "My cousin 'Linda' loves her cats. Last year, one of them – 'Wookie' – got very sick and she had to take him to the animal hospital. She sent a mass text message to all our family members indicating she would be unable to afford Christmas gifts because she had to pay a couple of thousand dollars on Wookie's vet bills. She continues to send updates on his health and treatment. Last week, I received an e-mail from Linda about a website she has established soliciting donations to cover her cat's medical expenses. Every day since then I have received a text or e-mail from her or her mother asking me to donate and to tell my friends as well. I'm sorry Linda's cat is dying, but I don't feel comfortable soliciting friends to donate money for a cat who will not get better. How do I politely ask her to stop bombarding me with these requests? I think what she's doing is a little tacky…"

Continue reading “Dear Abby”

April 23, 2012

    So… what are you up to, between now and “the end?” What are you planning to accomplish between here and heaven?
    Is there anything more important – for a Christian – to ask… and to answer? Life's biggest issue is to clarify – and, then resolve – our need for a Savior. After you settle the matter of your eternal destiny (hell, or heaven?), living under the Lordship of your Savior is paramount. How practical is that?
    For Paul, it was life's most important pursuit: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad," (2 Corinthians 5:9-10). He had tents to make, bills to pay, commitments to fulfill… but he knew what his priority was, every day, leading up to the Big Meeting.

Continue reading “Rich Saul”

April 16, 2012

    Long, long ago – in an America far, far away – restaurants served American food. I had my family with me last week – for Easter Break – and we were far enough away from home that we were Yelp-dependent at a few mealtimes. With the “$$” limitation (I didn't want to be a “$” cheapskate, but there are 11 of us, and “$$$” was a little rich for the one-check patriarch), I did “close to current location” searches. The result? Ethnic foods were the dominant option; not much American food nearby.
    These days, one of the most frequent compromises is fusion. Good luck finding “fusion” on a map; it didn’t exist 25 years ago. Technically, “Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s…” (Wikipedia). Fusion puts tacos and dim sum on the same menu – or, on the same plate – with no culinary conflict.
    It’s one thing to mix up your food; it's quite another to mix up your faith. What happens in the dining room will simply be a curiosity; what happens in the sanctuary could become an eternal disqualifier. Using a quirky buffet line for dinner is one thing; doing a creative hodgepodge of the holy is risking way too much to dismiss it as “personal freedom.”
    Last week, Andrew Sullivan wrote the cover story for Newsweek: “Forget the Church; Follow Jesus.”  Sullivan – self-described as British by birth, American by residence, politically conservative, Catholic, and openly gay – offers his perspectives as an author, editor, political commentator and blogger. His contribution to Easter Week suggested that the best approach to the Christian faith offer was to go a la carte: just Jesus, without church-on-the-side…

Continue reading “Fusion – A La Carte”

April 9, 2012

    Too frequently, I find myself defined by my pathology; sometimes, I think I’m pathetic. Voices that have been dead for decades still echo in my mind… when it’s quiet all around me. Does that ever happen to you?
    Some phrases haunt me; here's one I heard from the heavies during my upbringing: "No 'Buts'! I don't want to hear any 'Buts.' Just do it!" That must have come into the heritage somewhere back in the shadows of history; somewhere between Eden and Orange County, "No 'Buts'" became a mandatory mantra to get me out of the debate mode and into action.
    Maybe you heard the same thing (could we be – somehow – related)? Some words are marked, for me, for life; buts have a bad rap, based on my family history. But…
    I've been learning something about my other family – the one that adopted me, spiritually, when I was just a child. In this Family of God environment, I've discovered that our Father – the One in heaven – has made the “But” word part of His affirming operating style. Whassup?

Continue reading “But God…”

April 2, 2012

    Getting started: Have you noticed how my Monday missive is “different?” It comes, in part, from my desire to offer something different to you on Monday than the rest of the incessant intrusions – portrayed as “news” – that are jamming their way into your e-box. The commitment: Point of View is an Election-Free Zone (EFZ).
    Most news outlets are operating with an All Election/All the Time assumption. Latest Polls compete with Stupid Gaffes for lead story status. March Madness/Final Four gave temporary relief; the Mega Millions lottery scam was like a Super Bowl commercial, but now we’re back to the gridiron, watching the teams as they battle on the field. They call it “politics,” but in a courtroom, they would argue it as defamation of character…
    This morning’s USA Today carries an editorial by Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, under the headline, “Romney and the Evangelicals.” Rather than a group defined by purpose and passion, Evangelicals have become a voting block whose loyalty – from Primaries to General – is being polled and projected, sought and bought.
    We’ve just come-off one of our culture’s big weekends: yesterday was both April Fools Day (that’s for Atheists) and Palm Sunday (an event for Christians). The term has no occurrence in the Bible; rather, it’s the heading given to the first day of Jesus’ Passion Week, marked by what we call the “Triumphal Entry” (another not-in-the-inspired-text designation).

Continue reading “A Missional Community”

March 26, 2012

    The clock’s ticking; can you hear it? At midnight tonight, you’ll only have 432,000 “ticks” left until the end of the first quarter of 2012. Midnight Sunday marks the moment of truth, for many…
      In the Magic Kingdom of Corporate Life, time is punctuated on a fiscal clock. “Tax Years” take the place of real years, out in the “other world.” Kids are raised to get into the alternate reality through their classroom years; “Academic Years” break from the calendar confines to begin in September (or, thereabouts) and end in June (or May, if you’re closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific).
    Fiscal Years are created in Board Rooms, under the influence of CFOs. An argument is made that the peculiarities of an enterprise make it better to reset the corporate calendar out-of-step with the ball drop in Time Square. Even when that re-alignment is made, it normally shoves the new reality into sync with a conventional calendar’s quarters. March 31 will finish a quarter; whatever its relationship to a Fiscal Year – 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th – it incites an emotional reaction in the person who lives with one eye on the countdown clock. Up there – at the end of the field – is the Objective Eye that rules your life: points on the board, and seconds on the clock are the crucial factors in the formula of success.

Continue reading “The Clock is Ticking”

March 19, 2012

    “Why don’t you get a room?” If you weren’t a student of the culture, you might not get the implications of that expression of disdain, most often pointed toward a couple who are caught with excessive PDA (that’s Public Display of Affection!).
    It could have been the motto for the website Priceline – known for featuring William Shatner as the “Priceline Negotiator” until his character was killed-off in a fiery bus crash – in their effort to connect consumers with off-price hotel rooms from unreserved inventories.
    With Spring Breaks underway across America, and Summer Vacations just over the horizon, people are in a planning mode for their short escapes. In the “good old days,” holidays meant climbing in the family car and road trips, with the middle of the front seat stacked high with fold-up maps and AAA motel directories. Sundown meant watching for motels at or near the off-ramp, offering teaser rates in neon… and the promise of a pool. We’ve come a long way…
    Nowadays, folks don’t risk facing dusk without a reservation. Taking your chances for an overnight solution – especially when you’re in unfamiliar territory – is not a smart strategy in the internet age. Anticipating coming need – and exploring available options, complete with consumer reviews and objective ratings – can happen on your smart phone while waiting in the barista line for your morning latte. Reservations for a top-rated room – and for dinner nearby – are a point of assurance as you move through the day. Why take chances when you can make plans for paradise?

Continue reading “Get a Room”

March 12, 2012

    Where is “Orange County?” That would be a killer question on a game show; the answers would be all over the map.
    Reason: because Orange County is all over the map! New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Indiana and California would all be right answers. The Real Housewives of Orange County (California) could get lost on the way home from a “botox” clinic if they tried to abbreviate the address in their GPS…
    For the last half century – before Housewives and Choppers broadened the brand – Orange County (California) was an incubator for new and innovative Christian ministries. Leaders rose from obscurity to celebrity as they told the old, old story in new and revolutionary ways… and neighborhood names became American – and, then, international – images of Christianity in a new era.
    The last few weeks in Orange County (California) have been tough ones for some of those well-known notables. The newspaper inches have told stories that didn’t make the Sunday bulletin.
    One pastor started a ministry in Orange County on the roof of the snack bar at the Orange Drive-In in 1955. His ministry built a church which subsequently became a landmark; recent financial challenges led to bankruptcy, the sale of the iconic campus to the local Catholic archdiocese… and as of this weekend, the resignation of the entire ministry staff of the remnant church, including the founder. Tough times never last, but tough people do…
    Two couples launched a Cable TV network in Orange County in 1973. In ’75, one left the ministry to start their own network; but the other couple persevered. Organized as a church – they have no elders, but that means no 990 financial disclosure forms like “normal” ministries file – some of the broadcast behemoth details are now being exposed in court by a relative. Until last fall, she was the network’s CFO; she is now charging the ministry’s attorneys for complicity in allowing gross financial abuses by/for the leaders. They will all have their day in court…

Continue reading “Revealed or Eternally Blessed”

March 5, 2012

    Would you allow me a little bit of confession? I’ve heard it’s good for the soul.
    You can tell a professional fisherman by the brief time it takes him to clean his catch. For the casual recreational fisherman, it’s like a high school biology exercise to perform the task. I’m like the pro with a local newspaper: I can gut a city rag in about 10 seconds, with the color ads, Sports Section and classified advertisements all in the can before the remaining 60% (by weight) is readable.
    Not the Wall Street Journal. Every page, for me, is likely to have some treasure that can be carried away for unintended use. Even the Classifieds grab my attention with WSJ…
    That happened on Friday, with a large-spread color photo covered with the headline: A French Chateau in Texas(if that isn’t enough irony to get you to linger, you need more caffeine!).
    Shirley and Alan Goldfield spent a year to design and five years to build their dream house on 39 acres. In 2000, they moved in. With only 48,000-square-feet, the two of them have squeaked-by with her two-story closet, their two elevators, and the two-lane bowling alley. Just 32 miles from downtown Dallas, it is a little bit of Louis XIV in the land of Louis L’Amour. It was their “dream home,” but they put it on the market two years after they occupied it.
    Built for $46 million, it was listed in 2002 for $69.9 million, a year after Mr. Goldfield retired as the CEO of CellStar Corporation, a cell phone distributor. They’ve played caretaker as they’ve tried to sell it for 10 years; it’s now set for auction on March 30^th with a reserve of $10.3 million.
    Why sell? “I want a quiet lifestyle,” explains Mrs. Goldfield. Built for entertaining – the third floor ballroom, with catering kitchen attached, is comfortable for 150, while 450 can mingle on the veranda – they now prefer to spend their time at their Colorado condo.
    “I won’t miss the responsibility of taking care of it,” she explained to the WSJ reporter. “The more you have in life, the more you have to take care of it.” (If you want to bid, contact Sotheby’s.)
    All that space, for just two folks. This week, my wife Cheri is in Johannesburg, South Africa (with six women) visiting her “second homes.” She was introduced to Ryan and Gerda Audagnotti through their time in The Master’s Program in Southern California; they are ex-pat South African business people who saw the problem of children orphaned by the HIV/AIDs crisis in their homeland as a Kingdom opportunity, and launched Acres of Love as a group home solution to the need. “Forever families” place committed house parents – some with kids of their own – in a house then filled with abandoned kids with no other place to receive the care God intended for them.

Continue reading “A French Chateau for Two in Texas”

February 27, 2012

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Equality is a magnanimous objective; no one would risk being named as the one who wants to deny equality among people, in American culture or politics. In fact, no famous person would expect to retain their status unless they signed the petition calling for equality… right?
    Last night, at the Oscars, there was an expected wall of separation in place. The Red Carpet was reserved for the crowd arriving with tickets – dropped at one end of the Red Carpet by black limos – and sought by Ryan Seacrest for inane comments on their way in the door. Behind the Rope Line were the press and the proletariat; the Great Unwashed watched it from their living rooms, live, on ABC. Where was the equality? The Elite gathered under the care of Billy Crystal: “So, tonight, enjoy yourselves because nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues.” A comedian, making serious sense…

Continue reading “To Be Rich and Powerful”

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    With the disappearance – or, the decline – of most local newspapers, the Wall Street Journal has been tasked with the assignment to become more than an office rag for the One Percenters. In publication since 1889, it is America’s largest circulation daily paper. The Saturday/weekend edition moves to broader spectrums of life’s experiences to treat themes broader than just business and politics.
    It was intriguing to open the Review section on Saturday while hearing the live broadcast of Whitney Houston’s funeral in New Jersey. The lead story – and two pages – offered “Religion for Everyone,” which allowed Alain de Botton to give a preview to his soon-to-be-released book, Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believers Guide to the Uses of Religion (Pantheon).
    Botton is a 42-year-old Swiss native – and, Sephardic Jew – whose atheist philosophy has found a home in London. He has a high regard for some attributes of religious faith while having no need for any theology to go with it.
    He leads the article with a mild lament; it reads like the obituary for spiritual life: “One of the losses that modern society feels most keenly is the loss of a sense of community. We tend to imagine that there once existed a degree of neighborliness that has been replaced by ruthless anonymity, by the pursuit of contact with one another primarily for individualistic ends: for financial gain, social advancement or romantic love. In attempting to understand what has eroded our sense of community, historians have assigned an important role to the privatization of religious belief that occurred in Europe and the U.S. in the 19 th century. They have suggested that we began to disregard our neighbors at around the same time that we ceased to honor our gods as a community…”

Continue reading “Why God Wrote His Book”

February 13, 2012

    “So… are you ready for the Big Day?”
    Nothing could be more impossible to sort-out, without context. What – exactly – is the “Big Day?”
    If you’re Rick Santorum, it was last Tuesday, when his David v. Goliath(s) challenge landed a sling stone in the forehead of his opponent(s) in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
    If you’re the New York Giants, it was eight days ago… when their 2011 season reached the zenith, in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLVI (note to educators: NFL football is – singlehandedly – keeping the study of Roman numerals alive in America).
    If you’re a commercial musician – a minstrel-for-hire – it was yesterday, at the Staples Center. The Grammys were their corporate – and, for the winners, personal – Big Day!
    If you’re one of the estimated 24 million unemployed/underemployed in America today, it would be the day they start a job they believe to be a “fit” (rather than an only-for-the-money concession).

Continue reading “Make Every Day the Big Day”

February 6, 2012

    “So, who are you ‘for?’” It’s 2012, and that question is bouncing around regarding presidential politics, but for the last two weeks – unless you were in Florida or Nevada – Super Bowl trumped Super Tuesday as the context.
    I’ve been all over the country leading local Master’s Program sessions since the AFC and NFC berths to Indianapolis were secured. Being a SoCal guy – we have to travel to San Diego or San Francisco to find an NFL outpost! – I have no hometown loyalties to draw me into Super Bowl XLVI. I do, however, come loaded with conflicting relationships…
    I was in Manhattan the morning after the Giants squeaked past the 49ers, in San Francisco. George McGovern – Chaplain of the Giants – is in my TMP group in New York, and had flown all night to be with us for Session #9. He came straight from the airport.
    The networks had covered the apparent details of New York’s march to the Championship, but George had some locker room insights about the team’s journey through the end of the season and to the threshold of the Big One. It was reported in the local newspapers, so I can tell you what George said.
    It was Christmas Eve – going into their game against the Jets – when Gian Gonzalez, a teacher from New Jersey, came in to speak at the Giants’ pre-game chapel. He challenged the men in the room (about half the team) regarding their “real-life” roles as husbands and fathers. He encouraged them to be “all in” (a transferred-concept from Atlantic City poker tables). All in; they got it…

Continue reading “Super Bowl Sunday”

We call this weekly piece the Point of View. At least, that’s what we call it. But, when I run into the folks who read it, they often say, “Hey, I read about that in your newsletter!” Newsletter? (“A bulletin issued periodically to the members of a society, business or organization.”) Don’t really care what you call this, as long as you read it!
    In the last six weeks of 2011, you heard from me with two recruitments woven into my weekly musings: I shared our year-end financial challenge (twice), and I twisted your arm to spend Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with us in Orange County, for a never-before event called the Issachar Summit.
    Allow me to fall into newsletter mode, so we can turn our attention from recent-past to near-future. I asked you to move from passive reader to active engager over the last couple of months; what happened? Glad you asked…
    First, our ministry/non-profit end-of-year appeal: friends like you helped us to end the year in a squeaker. It was like a come-from-behind Broncos finish: our contributions exceeded our expenses by a .07% margin. In the fourth year of the Great Recession, that’s a blessing from God… and, our donors. For your prayers – and, if you were among our contributors, your gifts – we say, “thanks!”
    And, last Monday was a day of amazing dimensions. We convened on a cool and drizzly morning with 320 men and women on the campus of The Crossing Church(thanks to our hosts, Tim Celek and his great staff team!). The speakers/presenters came from international settings; their Kingdom roles as ministry leaders/marketplace leaders with Kingdom initiatives/foundation leaders with strategic investments in Great Commission efforts made the mix of messages an edge-of-your-seat experience. (relive it, vicariously, at www.issacharinitiative.org)

    We explored the current boundaries of the “Go into all the world” effort that was launched by the Lord Jesus, the day of his Ascension: today, about 3000 tribes/people groups remain unreached. The potential to finish the task in our generation was confirmed, over and over again. The assembled crowd was asked to join forces with a common declaration: that we would say, Our Lives will Count for Zero:

• Zero languages without the Scriptures
• Zero people groups without Disciple Makers
• Zero people groups who have not heard the Gospel
• Zero oral learners without an oral Bible
• Zero villages or neighborhoods without a Church

At the end of the Summit, we collected anonymous response cards, answering this challenge: “By 2025, I commit to giving and/or mobilizing $ ________ to help “reach the corners” (the support of those five “Zero” initiatives, among the remaining unreached people groups) and finish the task of the Great Commission”
    They were collected, cumulated… and, before we adjourned, we shared with the 320 attendees the results of the 187 cards that were received. Would you like to read what they heard?
    There were 21 cards that indicated increased percentages of contributions to these emphases in the next 13 years. And, there were 141 cards that stated specific dollar commitments to give – or, to obtain – in the next 13 years. From 139 of those cards, the total commitment was $ 4,639,116,527 (that’s $ 4.63 billion). There were two additional cards that recorded extraordinary numbers that would be possible, from a Forbes 400 lister. In deference to the exceptional nature of those two, we did not include or announce them, but we trust that God may well be doing something within His potential in those two respondents’ lives.
    If you helped our year-end, thanks. If you attended the Issachar Summit, thanks. If you were one of the informed commitments to the challenge, thanks . What a way to end – and, to start! – a year!
   

January 16, 2012

    This may be “your year.” Many religions have written – or, unwritten – bucket lists for pilgrims. For Muslims, it’s a trip to Mecca. Catholics long to stand in St. Peter’s Square, in Rome. Calvinist Protestants book a trip to Geneva; Jews head for the Wailing Wall. There’s something about blending adventure and faith that stretches the devout…
    One trip that many Christians place on their future horizon is a journey through the whole Bible, getting on the boat at Genesis 1:1 and disembarking at Revelation 22:21. If this is your year, this is a big week for you! Get Netflix to send you a copy of Cecil B. DeMille’s signature movie – The Ten Commandments – and watch his reenactment of the story you’ll be revisiting, from the opening chapters of Exodus. Why do we need to know all of this ancient history, anyway?
    “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope,” (Romans 15:4). It’s there for a constructive benefit: when we consider how God has worked in the past, we get a better sense of what’s going on as He works in and around us, today… and that gives us the hope we need to get through our own wilderness moments!
    As Moses approached his 80th birthday, his memories were too painful to mention. Saved by his birth mother’s resourcefulness from an ethnic-cleansing order of Pharaoh, he had spent his first 40 years as a Prince of Egypt, though a son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As an up-and-coming man with a position of privilege, he had intervened to save a Jewish slave being brutalized by his Egyptian handler, and killed the abuser in the process. He tried to hide the body, but his action was discovered, reported… and he became a fugitive from Pharaoh’s forces.
    Arriving in the wilderness, in the region occupied by Midianite Bedouins, he endeared himself to a sonless sheep magnate and gained a wife, two sons, and a job tending his father-in-law’s herds. For 40 years, the man with a bright future had lived the life of an expatriot, with no hope for a future that was any different than his current, less-than-he-had-hoped experience.
    Until he met the bush – or, should I say, – The Bush. Far from the home tents, tending sheep in uninhabitable desolation, he saw a natural phenomenon and got closer, to get a look: burning, but not consumed. A voice – the Angel of the Lord, Jesus before Bethlehem – has come for a meeting, with him. It wasn’t on Moses’ calendar, but it was certainly on God’s…
    The notes from the meeting are in Exodus 3 and 4. The executive summary: the people of the Promise – the family of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob – had multiplied in number (from 70 to 2 million) over their 400+ year sojourn in Egypt, and their grief had grown at the same rate. Originally honored guests; now, enslaved workmen, feared by the Pharaoh. Moses saw one Jewish man abused and intervened; God saw the whole of Israel’s family in that condition, and was ready to intervene.
    Why share that with Moses, the man who was furthest from the epicenter of the crisis? Just one reason: God was sending him to be God’s instrument of salvation from oppression, to lead them out. The Promised People, returning to the Promised Land. How would God’s plan be actualized? By one man fulfilling his Calling…
    The start of this familiar story is forgettable: just another Bedouin shepherd, encountering just another desert deity. Mid-story, they’ve progressed to I AM – God’s name for Himself – to “I’m not!” – which was Moses’ self-description, when confronted with God’s assignment for his future.
    The story blasted into hyperdrive when Moses progressed from, “I’m not!” to, “I am, because you’ve given me everything I need to execute the orders that have come from I AM!” All of the miracles that followed – for 40 years – came from Moses’ consent to live out his calling…
    By the way: the Bush still burns… and continues to call. Have you reached the “I AM, and, because of Him, I am!” moment, in your story?

January 9, 2012

    The next few weeks may be the most important among all of the remaining weeks of 2012. Allow me to make my case: we have an almost unconscious willingness – between the post-holiday back-to-work moment and Super Bowl weekend – to consider new designs and directions in the year that lies open in front of us. Call it “wet cement;” we act as if there is still time to give new life to the 11 months that are on the near-term horizon.
    Take the wheel, and steer your life the way you want to go in this fresh year of opportunity… or, let the culture set your coordinates and go along for the ride. If that’s your decision, you’ll be in the back seat for this journey, and you’ll be consigned to day-old headlines as your morning porridge. Ten months of presidential politics; 12 months of European financial/debt crisis; daily concerns over a 28-year-old son-of-a-mad-man whose video games have real nuclear warheads; the back seat chatter will be bleak.
    Get out of the back seat; regain control. Get a look at the map for the next 357 days (leap year!) of your journey. How would you like to remember this year, among all the rest of your life-years?
    Here’s a tip, from an aging friend to an aging friend: don’t be crazy. How so? “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (Albert Einstein)
    Most security addicts think that it’s crazy to try something new. Einstein would say that it’s crazy not to try something new, if the results you are realizing from what you’re already doing aren’t enough to be satisfying and fulfilling!
    Einstein – Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1924 – is one reliable source; God is even better: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland…” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Continue reading “The next few weeks”

January 2, 2012

Dear Marketplace Friend,

    Welcome to 2012! According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Recession began in December of 2007; the same 90-year-old, independent, non-profit, non-partisan group declared the Recession “over” in June of 2009. So, here we are, 30 months into the recovery; feeling better, yet?
    I’ve decided to opt-out of the national funk (“a state of depression”) that will be agitated and aggravated during the next 11 months of presidential campaigning. Do you feel the longing to recover from the recovery?
    In my lifetime, I’ve become more and more drawn to trend lines to understand current conditions. Status reports are of limited value, in my view: the greater analysis is the tracking of the trajectory. Beyond “where are we now” stats, I need to know whether we’re on our way up, or on our way down… and, in either case, what is the current pace of change?
    National macro views aside: how are you doing today, one day into a brand new year? If you gave an objective look at the quality of life issues – which are, potentially, very different than the spread sheet stories – that define your life, where were you at the start of the Great Recession, where are you now… and, where will you be when we swear-in the winner from the Presidential Derby in 54 weeks?
    My claim: we have limited power over the hard numbers, but significant control over the more meaningful life stories that are underway in our personal dramas.
    While we listen to the amped-up articulations of primary candidates who are drifting from early-primary state to state, what are your proposals – for your life – to raise the quality of personal experience in a frightenly-fractured society that is searching for a Savior? What are you planning to do in 2012 to enable the “life to the full” (John 10:10) that Jesus said He came to enable?
    Scrap the anemic New Year’s Resolutions; that 10 pounds isn’t going anywhere, and your fantasy about taking a year off to travel with Anthony Bourdain – or, Bill Gates – isn’t going to happen. Why not think like the leader you are, and outline some initiatives that will point your trend line in a north-bound trajectory?
    Initiative (n): “a new action or movement, often intended to solve a problem; the power or opportunity to win an advantage; the ability to use your judgment to make decisions and do things without needing to be told what to do.” As my Master’s Program colleagues hear me say, so often: initiatives are the primary mark of leadership: no initiatives, no leadership. Without initiatives, you are left to manage today’s plateau. With initiatives, you climb to higher ground. Yesterday’s initiatives led to today’s reality; tomorrow’s reality will be a lesser version of today… or, an initiated future, undertaken today. Your trend line for tomorrow is set by today’s initiatives!
    Let me give you some seasoned counsel, on the threshold of a new year: give yourself the gift of some individualized leadership in the four key Realms of Life. Ponder a new pursuit – just one – in each of your crucial environments: Personal (your body, mind, soul and spirit), Family (that’s spouse and kids), Professional (your career and the stewardship of your resources) and Kingdom (your influence with believers, and your influence with not-yet-believers). What “new, to you” achievement would you be ready to give strategic energy and engagement in 2012, with the intent to shift your personal trend line upwards… at an accelerated rate?
    Dream it; plan it; do it: that’s the way accomplishment finds its way into your story. You have it in you to pull it off. Here’s an offer: give me the 10-words-or-less description of each of the four initiatives you have – one in each Realm – and I’ll initiate follow-up with you every 90 days to see how it’s going. Are you ready to invite God into your life to the full initiatives, for His glory?
     
Bob Shank  

December 26, 2011

    Breathe deeply; cool your jets; calm yourself: it’s almost over. Whether yesterday was defined by tinsel or tension, the ribbons and wrapping are jammed in the recycle bin, the leftovers are in the fridge… and your attention can now turn to the after-agendas.
    It’s a standard reading among the limited Christmas passages: “ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.   And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2:11-12)
    The Magi – wise as they were – had their own great time at the 1 st Christmas crèche, in the house where the no-longer-infant Jesus was housed with his mother. The gift-giving tradition was set in motion by their acts of homage, but after they finished the Christmas service – complete with worship and the offering of their treasures – they had to go back to reality: “they returned to their own country…”
    If the Incarnation was celebrated back-to-back with Independence – before, or after July 4 th – it would be a bit easier. As it is, closing down Christmas is packaged with closing down a year. Some folks will use today’s federal holiday as a bargain bonanza, chasing the “after” sales with a vengeance. Others are under-the-gun: for them, 2011 is an unfinished work demanding a month’s work in a week.
    Wouldn’t it be wonderful to clear some piles from your virtual desktop and come into the New Years Weekend with a sense of accomplishment?
    There’s a good chance that your work-related necessities are no bigger today than they will be next Monday. If they require actions by others, you’re probably incapable of closure: the most you’ll get is an out-of-office automated response. If you’ve imposed your own “by year’s end” deadline, lighten the load: give yourself an after-Christmas gift of pressure relief. Chill… it’s good for you.
    If you’ve got other life-stacks that are calling your name, it might offer some balance to your sense of meaning and purpose to turn your attention there!
    Some fitting foci for this special week: if you could score a game-winning field goal in the final minutes of 2011, would it be worth a shot? What are some worthy considerations, now that it’s two-minute-warning time?
   
1) If you’re married, think about scheduling a weekend, early in the new year, to deepen your relationship with your life partner! Modern marriages are often dehydrated by holiday demands; give your mate the gift of a relational oasis, out there on the schedule horizon! (A possibility: click here to explore an amazing DreamMaster weekend on Coronado Island!)   

2) If you do a bunch of your Kingdom giving during the last week of the year, consider the story of the widow (Luke 12:41-44) and think about arranging your year-end giving in a way that will capture the attention of God. Do you think He provided for the widow, after she made her extraordinary contribution? (A possibility: click here to consider a year-end gift to the mission of The Master’s Program.)

3) If you aspire to make new years better than last years, plan to invest in some personal experiences that will create new capacities in you. Declare yourself – and, the potential of your life – to be “in process”… then, make sure you find some ways to advance the process! (A possibility: click here to consider participation in the Issachar Summit in three weeks!)

   Dream with your Best Friend; Invest in Eternity; Strategize the Completion of the Great Commission. Talk about ending the year on a high! May your 2011 finish well… and your 2012 begin with a burst!
       
Bob Shank

December 19, 2011

    A big week ahead. Two notable deaths, and one notable birth; how do you handle those inevitabilities while trying to celebrate “the holidays?”
    Hold the presses for the obituary page. The world lost two icons within the space of days. Kim Jong II – the dictator/god of North Korea – is finished. And, Christopher Hitchens – the apologist-in-residence for the emerging atheist class of Western Civilization – has completed his earth years. The world-wide press coverage says, about both, that they are “dead.”
    Kim Jong II maintained the information black-out in North Korea that had begun under his father’s regime. The “official” North Korean account says that “ …at the moment of his birth, a bright star lit up the sky, the seasons spontaneously changed from winter to spring, and rainbows appeared.”
    Kim Jong II; dead, at 69. Known for his oppression of anyone associated with the Christian faith, he has passed from a world where he could command and control to a new era, for him, where he has no power to command and is in no position to control. Where is he now?
    Christopher Hitchens: dead at 62. Some have already splashed the question around the ‘net: “Do you think he might have changed his mind, at the end?” For the man who called himself an “antitheist” (atheist – the one who maintains that there is no God – was not enough to fully describe his disdain for the Divine; he wanted to be understood to be an outspoken opponent to the very possibility of Providence), he wanted to be sure that no one would speculate that he could ever change his mind. He issued a plea asking people to forgive him if he did make a deathbed conversion, arguing that if such a thing happened, it wouldn’t be him speaking but a “half-demented” entity racked by pain and riddled with drugs. How did he view the message of the Incarnation? “What kind of designer or creator only chooses to ‘reveal’ himself to semistupefied peasants in desert regions?” He was a man of words; what would he say, if he were to stand before the Word?
    Two deaths; one Birth. How do they relate? Is there a connection?

Continue reading “Kim and Chris (and Christmas)”

December 12, 2011

    Not much left of 2011, is there? We’re both pushed – you and I – to make some pretty big things happen between now and the time the crowd cheers the end of ’11 and the start of ’12.
    Some of our to-do is personal – the paraphernalia of holiday celebration is daunting! – and some is professional. You’ll be at parties feigning fa-la-la while checking e-mails; shopping for friends and family will converge with gift-match challenges for work-related colleagues. In the midst of the melee, you’ll keep reminding yourself of The One.
    That’s The One whose entry into History we’ll be recognizing on the 25th. Retailers will cringe at saying, “Christmas;” you and I will boldly recall that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” In the midst of the Yule yore is the timeless Truth; his name is Jesus Christ.

Continue reading “Ending 2011”

December 5, 2011
   
    America is a unique-in-history culture; that’s an indisputable reality. One of the distinctions of our niche in civilization is the imprint made on each generation by the prime-time television that serves as an electronic distraction while mom makes dinner.
    Our firstborn joined the household census in February of 1974; six months later, a family moved into the neighborhood, on NBC. The Ingalls – the “typical” American frontier family – became a part of our developing story. Pa Ingalls (a signature role for Michael Landon, who both directed and starred) was a paternal model and reinforcement for me, in my start-up years as a dad. Charles (pa’s name, away from the house) was also a daughters-only dad, so we had parallels. Little House on the Prairie was next door to little-house-in-Orange-County. They lasted for seven years on NBC; you can still catch them on the Hallmark Channel…
    Models help frame our thinking about who we are. That’s why I’ve come to appreciate the only New Testament couple whose story emerges from the mostly-men Kingdom expansion. Aquila and Priscilla are like 21 st Century global business partners whose energy for their career and their calling was remarkable.
    We make a point to highlight their bios in Session #4 of The Master’s Program. Paul met them in Corinth (Acts 18), where they became business partners (career), hospitality providers (virtual family), and ministry colleagues (calling). That relationship helped Paul get the church established in Corinth, then Ephesus, and – likely – Rome. They found time alongside their professional demands to host church plants in their home (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:3) and exercise their significant personal ministry skills in fine-tuning some of the emerging leaders in the movement (Acts 18:26).

Continue reading “Issachar Summit”

November 28, 2011

    Can you feel it? The trajectory of the cultural flow has made the full-on, year-end shift. We’ve passed the Thanksgiving marker; we’re now headed for Christmas. In an economic climate dependent on the recovery of consumer confidence and spending, retail sales will tell the tale of recovery…
    But, it’s Christmas! The timeless headlines – unhindered by the politically correct redefinitions – recount the details of Jesus’ birth. Stables, shepherds, wise men, angels; they’re all there. It takes a more profound filter to sort out the meaning from the news. Paul does that, when he writes: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God,” (Galatians 4:4-7).
    Christmas? Great story! The effects of Christmas? An even greater story! The Christmas story recounts the birth of God’s Son. The effect of Christmas is our adoption as sons/daughters of God. Without the First Birth, there is no Second Birth.
    For the next few weeks, you and I will stretch our creativity to discern “just the right gifts” for the people we love. I wonder: as God considers His gift-list, what gift would He want to send to 500 million people He loves… who have never had the chance to hear about Christmas?
    There are millions more who live in cultures where the Good News is available in their language, and access to the headlines about the First Advent is there through missionaries or internet connection. But there are still over a half-billion people – who are in the “God so loved the world that He gave His Son” roster – for whom the message of Christmas, and the carriers of that message, have not yet arrived.
    “When the fullness of time came,” Jesus came to humanity, via Bethlehem. When will the fullness of time come for Jesus to come to the rest of humanity? Do you and I have any part to play in determining the answer to that question?
    You’ll spend days focused on the Christmas gift question between now and December 25^th. Are you willing to spend a day with me on January 16^th to focus on the gift of Christmas, and how we might arrange delivery of that message to the 500 million who have nothing to celebrate next month, because they’ve never had access to a 2000 year old story?
    On Monday, January 16^th, we’re convening a conversation involving some of the most dynamic leaders on the front-lines of the Great Commission to allow us to hear about the last frontiers for the Christmas/Easter message (that’s the Gospel); men and women whose careers span from marketplace to ministry, but whose convergence involves the last outposts where God’s gift of His Son has not yet been delivered.
    January 16^th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Dr. King had a dream; it has been fulfilled. Jesus – the King of Kings – had a dream, too: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come,” (Matthew 24:14). When will Jesus’ dream be fulfilled?
    My gift/invitation to you, for Christmas: join us for that day-long event in Orange County. All of the program folks are coming from afar, at their expense, to meet and talk with you. Click here to go to a page telling you more and giving you an on-line RSVP opportunity. It may be the most strategic Kingdom conversation you’ll ever engage.
    God sent His Christmas gift, to you. He encourages “re-gifting:” when will we pass it along to the last people to get the word? You accepted His gift, for yourself. Will you join us to think about how we can help make the same offer available for the people who have never heard about Christmas?
   
Bob Shank

Continue reading “Because you are”

November 21, 2011

    Lots to do this week. At the office, you’ve got to pull a rabbit out of the hat: it’s the holiday magic, to get a week’s worth of work done in three days, so you can leave Wednesday for the “long weekend.” At home, you’ve got to make room for Big Bird (the turkey) and the Out-of-Towners (the other turkeys) who will all find places around the table on Thursday.
    And… if you have a minute to spare, you can take a shot at becoming famous – at least, in the Andy Warhol sense. In 1968, he declared that, “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Good Morning America is offering to give you the first 15 seconds of that timeblock, on Thanksgiving morning: respond to their on-line query – “What Are You Thankful For? Tell GMA in Three Words” – and, if they like your answer, they’ll include you in their holiday hash.
    The good folks at ABC – and, most Americans around festive feasts on Thursday – don’t get it. They’re using Modern Math, and the formula fails because it’s missing a critical factor. Read on…
    Archers are not notable because they fire arrows; their prowess is measured by how often they hit the target. Quarterbacks don’t win the game based on passes thrown; they succeed because of the ones that are caught. I cannot claim to be a “loving person” if there is no one to whom my love is bestowed. Gratitude is empty if it only recognizes the gift, but never mentions the giver.
    From Paul, to the Romans: “ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.   Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:21-22) How do you track the decline in human wisdom? One key marker: the creation – that would be people – migrate from knowledge of God and gratitude toward him toward the foolishness of denying his existence and involvement in our life experience…
    The American tradition says that Thanksgiving is an “official” day for gratitude within our culture. The Christian tradition says that life should be marked by daily recognition of the provision of God in the abundance we enjoy: “ Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,   always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20) Who is the target for the thanks we project?
    Thanksgiving is great; don’t get me wrong! But, the unsophisticated practitioners who will crowd the tables on Thursday will be proving their ineptitude in the practice of gratitude! As you exercise your influence in the festivities, make sure you show them how it’s done! What’s the secret?

Continue reading “Thanksgiving 2011”

November 14, 2011

    It’s almost a religious appeal; the only clue that it is not is the fact that they’re buying full-page color ads in major newspapers, nationally (religious movements cannot write that kind of check). Expect to see it prominently positioned, in a periodical near you…
    The scene is festive; there’s a mom and 6ish daughter, in winter attire, with baby-girl stretching to insert an envelope into a red mailbox, with the SANTA MAIL sign on the side. The star-studded headline, across the skyline backdrop: Believe.
    Ever since Miracle on 34^th Street became a two-hour staple in the holiday run-up, Macy’s has owned the Santa Claus brand. The first department store to feature in-house Santa Claus – seated on the Throne of the North Pole – they have been able to leverage the “what do you want Santa to bring you this Christmas?” query to produce cheer at the register. Today, you can find Kris Kringle at the 800 Macy’s stores spread from sea to shining sea…
    One of the great mysteries of parenting is answering the recurrent question about the kids and Santa. Do you give them a front-row seat in the fantasy, early-on, to allow “visions of sugar plums” to delay their grasp of reality? If they buy it, when do you burst the bubble you blew with the disclosure of the truth? Do their beliefs in the Festive Fat Guy start big, and shrink… or, do they start small, and inflate? Is it something to manage… or, do you just go with the fanciful flow and accept the results?
    The intellectual culture is far more comfortable with tolerance about Santa belief than they are about a dedication to the Divine. Belief in Santa Claus – especially at Christmas time – is far more reasonable than the leap of faith to celebrate belief in the One whose birthday creates the revenue.
    Belief is a category, with varying degrees of intensity. Understanding – and, incorporating – belief will get a boost during the Thanksgiving-New Years span as people make their semi-annual pilgrimage to church.
    Grown-ups have reached their conclusion about Santa; unless they’re the stars of Miracle, the Guy with the Sleigh is an apparition. It’s tougher for those adults to set their status as it regards the Baby in the Manger – who became the Lamb on the Cross. For them, “Do you believe in Santa Claus?” is easier to answer than, “Do you believe in Jesus?”
    Some come to the Christmas Eve service under mild duress, but accepting the Lord Jesus as a theory (“a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation”). They’re covering their bets… and playing-along with the family as they try to recreate a Norman Rockwell painting.
    A stronger affirmation comes from the people who have reached the station of belief (“a state of mind in which trust or confidence is placed on some person or thing”). The debate that attends theory has, for the believer, passed. No longer exploring options, the believer has concluded the facts and no longer spends time considering the alternatives. Those folks are at the same Christmas Eve service, but they’re singing in the choir…
    The people who are most dangerous are the ones whose belief has deepened to the point of conviction (“the state of being convinced”). Theories are wet cement; still pliable; beliefs are set, but often passive. Conviction is belief with legs: it agrees with the believer, but is driven to action.
    Theorists and believers will mingle around punch bowls during the next few weeks, and they’ll hoist a few as a toast to the Baby Jesus. The Convicted Core will use the next month to engage people whose interest in Christmas just might open the door to a discovery of the Savior.
    This is the annual window of opportunity. Will you use it… or lose it?
     
Bob Shank