How the Best get Better – “Will it make the Boat go Faster?”

Twenty years ago, the British Rowing Team was preparing for the 2000 Olympic Games to be held in Sydney. They hadn’t won a gold in that competition since 1912; no one considered them to be contenders, and they knew it. To step-up, their standards would require a new team strategy


Come Summer 2000, their strategy was tested. When the Games concluded, the British Rowing Team had heavier carry-ons than when they came down-under: each member of the team had a gold medal in their possession. Their approach to the Olympic Games proved to be effective.

The team realized that they didn’t have coaches and trainers with them, 24/7.  If they were to become world-class champions, some new disciplines would have to be adopted by all and practiced by each.

They developed a one-question consideration to every decision they made. This allowed them to measure every situation, decision, and obstacle without getting derailed as most people do. With every decision or opportunity, they would ask themselves, “will it make the boat go faster?”

Opportunity: go to a late-night party the night before a major training event. Ask the question: “Will it make the boat go faster?”  Opportunity: eat a high-carb/high-calorie donut. Ask the question: “Will it make the boat go faster?”  Opportunity: head for the coffee house or gym before sun-up. “Will it make the boat go faster?”

Those personal evaluations were conducted constantly as Team UK prepped for their upcoming battle in Australia. What they did for the United Kingdom was all-consuming; success or failure would be announced for all the world to see and hear when the awards ceremony would declare victories and pass out the medals. Every decision made on the way to that final determination would be proven valuable when/if the results bode well. “Will it make the boat go faster?”

It’s easy to applaud that process – visualize the awards ceremony; create a strategy for achievement; develop disciplines to implement the strategy; compete against significant opposition; win the prize – when it comes to the Olympics. It’s interesting: that was the metaphor used by Paul to depict what it means to strive and succeed on behalf of the Kingdom.

 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Every opportunity, all the time, warrants a check before the decision: will it make my life and service more productive, for Eternity?

Olympic gold has no value comparability to Kingdom crowns. Forever makes any decision made today far more worthy of disciplined self-denial, if it leads to redemptive results


The Master’s Program exists to help the Kingdom’s Best get Better. Already all-stars on their local “club teams” (i.e., their church), our community has the potential to compete on the Olympic Stage (the broad footprint of God’s world-wide Kingdom). That requires a new vision; new strategies; new disciplines: we coach leaders like you “to run in such a way as to win the prize
”

Will you win the prize?

Bob Shank

Jesus – Invest two hours: Eternity in return

Have you seen Jesus? (Note: this is not an April Fools ruse
).

That’s not a rhetorical question: in a real sense, he’s missing
 and it seems that the trail has gone cold.

It’s not Jesus the person; it’s Jesus the painting. Called Salvator Mundi (the Savior of the World), it is believed to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci. It dates to c.1500, and it was one of fewer than 20 surviving paintings by da Vinci. It last sold at auction in November of 2017 for $450 million: the highest price ever paid for a painting. The buyer – a Saudi prince with a six-word name – was presumed to be acting on behalf of Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (whose street cred has plummeted after the death of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey).

In Abu Dhabi, there is a museum that is a licensed partner of the Louvre in Paris. With flourish, it had been announced that Salvator Mundi would be placed on display last September. That exhibit was cancelled without explanation, and inquiries about the painting have been refused by the United Arab Emirates culture department. No one knows where Jesus is


Let’s be clear: there’s Jesus the painting (missing), Jesus the person (back on his throne in Heaven, but returning one day), and Jesus the movie. All three are amazing; Magi with privilege and resources committed themselves to travel internationally to see him in person – when he was very young – and returned home celebrating their good fortune. Jesus the movie?

In 1979, Warner Brothers produced Jesus for general release. As a commercial project, it suffered a loss, but the production – using the Gospel of Luke as its basic screenplay – was intended (by God) for greater purposes.

Bill Bright – founder of Campus Crusade for Christ – used funding provided by Gospel Patrons Bunker and Caroline Hunt to secure the rights to the film for distribution in other languages.

Now, forty years later, the Jesus Film is a phenomenon without equal. It has been translated into over 1,750 languages, viewed by audiences of over 8.1 billion, and more than 572 million decisions to accept Jesus as Savior (which is presented in the additional footage, at the end of the Story). These are recorded decisions, not hopeful approximations. It has been called, by prominent Christian leaders, “the most powerful evangelistic tool in the history of the Christian faith.”

A Saudi prince paid $450 million for a painting of Jesus, and that art is being hidden from the world. Over the last 40 years, Kingdom stewards have invested $450 million in the Jesus Film, and have been partners in what has been recognized as “the most viewed movie in history” (undisputed). Run the numbers: the cost-per-conversion has been confirmed (by independent audit) to be 85±.

Here’s the incredible fact: Americans watch movies constantly
 but most (even Christians!) have never seen Jesus!

A huge initiative launched yesterday: it’s called Show Jesus https://www.showjesus.com). Easter is just around the corner: the entertainment industry sees dollars, and “new versions” of Jesus life will be available on various online and cable services. Most are made by people who deny the Bible accounts and/or the deity of Jesus. Counterfeits are in wide circulation
 but the real deal is still the real deal.

Go to the website. Spend a few minutes to get educated about this incredible movement, from my young friend Levi Lusko (a high-impact pastor from Kalispell, Montana). Follow the prompts to expose the people in your social networks to Jesus. Nearly 600 million people have experienced the story of Jesus
 and will now spend Eternity with him, because of the decision his story prompted.

Have you seen Jesus?

Bob Shank

Has “lack-of-patriotism” become a “badge of courage”?

Here’s my informed opinion: you’re one of my friends who is not looking for something else to do. Your plate is full, and the requests for your time are backed up like planes waiting to land at O’Hare. Despite the jammed portfolio of mission-critical assignments into which you must devote significant attention, your participation and patriotism been demanded in a process that will require you to weigh-in on a historic decision, 19 months from now.

You’ve been named to be on the selection committee to decide the person who will be elevated to the CEO role that has been called the Most Powerful Position in the World. The men and women who have been self-nominated as contenders for President are already in circulation, hoping to create a dedicated army of voters who will make their aspiration their realization. You may still be dealing with campaign fatigue from the recent mid-terms, but the ramp-up to Campaign 2020 has begun in earnest, and is forcing the consideration of candidates into fabricated urgency.

At least 14 hopefuls are hitting the highway (including the Incumbent President, but not the still-wavering former Vice President). Between writing this Point of View and the moment you opened it to read it, a few more may have been added to the upcoming debate stages. As is always, the race is on among contenders to stake-out their place on a political spectrum that stretches from “Conservative” on the right to “Progressive” on the left.

Each day brings more “say what???” reports from town halls and union rallies as the hope-to-be-President competitors submit their wish-list of bullet-points from the revolutionary handbook(s). Replace capitalism with socialism (the opening bid for 2020 to win the hand of history); redefine the Supreme Court with term limits while expanding the panel by 70% or more; eliminate the Electoral College; drop the voting age to 16; allow non-citizens to cast ballots; and, from among their friends currently serving in Congress… use Impeachment as a reaction to simmering political differences rather than the checks-and-balances answer to “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The cheers are mounting from people who didn’t listen in high school’s American History class – or, disagreed then and now with the conclusion that America’s unique identity is worthy of sacrificial devotion.

The only “win” at the end of the campaign: to be the one for whom the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will administer the Oath of the President, in January 2021: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Fidelity to the Constitution for the President is not optional.

Years of time and millions of dollars promising to redraw the Founders’ blueprints that are embedded in the Constitution so that they could declare – before the nation, the world and the Creator – that they will “preserve, protect and defend” the very thing they’ve pledged to disrupt and dismiss. Is there any integrity dissonance there?

The same thing is happening today within the Christian movement. Has “lack-of-patriotism” become a “badge of courage”?

Denominational conventions are now erupting into conflicts between historic biblical standards and contemporary cultural aberrations. Leaders – and, congregations – that elect to adhere to God’s standards for life are now identified as purveyors of “hate speech,” and the modern progressive demand is to silence and demean people of faith for simply declaring the legitimacy of their God-given Truth.

Without the Constitution, America’s brand becomes an empty shell. Without the Scriptures, the Christian brand becomes an empty shell. True Leaders embrace the identity that flows from the tested-in-history documents written by their Founders, in both. Preserve, protect and defend is the Job Description of legitimate leaders; rebels set a course that leads to deconstruction, chaos and demise.

Who will prevail?

Bob Shank

Could your Calling come in a bottle of Guinness?

Let me lead off with a confession/reveal: though I’ve not employed 23andMe to examine my personal family history, I’m pretty sure that I have no significant link to Irish forebears. Both of our daughters were given names with an Irish lilt (Shannon and Erin), but the only “green” in our family hangs in the closets, and comes out on St Patrick’s Day (if at all).

That makes my high regard for Thomas Cahill’s book an objective conclusion. How the Irish Saved Civilization is my kind of history: he focuses on the significant influence exerted by people from a land walled-in by water, and allows a retrospective that shows how the impact of a few can have profound positive repercussions for generations.

Patrick (“Saint” was not his given name) was an English teen taken from his home by Irish pirates who took him back to Ireland and enslaved him. Six years later, he escaped and returned home. He became a cleric, established a life and ministry in England, but felt the call to return to Ireland, where his life and impact became legendary. He’s a key character in Cahill’s book; it’s a great read.

How the Irish drops the story off at the Medieval Europe off-ramp. Did the contribution of the Irish end there?

Run the clock forward a few centuries, and another great story unfolds in Ireland. In the 18th Century, the blood alcohol level in Ireland was at a dangerous peak. In that era, water-borne disease was rampant, and the technological sophistication that would lead to modern, centralized and safe water was still generations future. People knew that alcohol was “safe,” and – in the mid-1700s – Ireland was in the midst of a time called “The Gin Craze.”

Most people in Ireland hydrated using whiskey and gin as their preferred beverage, and the impact on society was inevitable. The British Isles were marked by poverty and crime; against that backdrop, the life of Arthur Guinness unfolds.

He was born in 1724; his father was an archbishop. He was inspired by the profound wisdom of English revivalist John Wesley (a contemporary): “Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” That motto became Guinness’ mission life.

Guinness was infuriated by the drunken stupor that he saw around him. He prayed fervently that God would do something to alleviate the alcoholism on the streets of Ireland. He felt that God was responding to his prayers when he formed his Calling: “Make a drink that men will drink that will be good for them.”

Though Arthur had children who bore his name, the Guinness name would be multiplied beyond his human progeny on the bottles that came from his brewery. Over the coming decades, Guinness’ dark stout beer became the alternative to the mind-numbing alternative represented by the hard liquor that had owned its consumers.

If the Guinness story ended there, it would just be a footnote in history’s pages. But the family culture that was founded in the scriptures and fueled by personal faith manifested across future generations in powerful ways. Arthur’s grandson Hendry Grattan Guinness became an evangelist in the category of D.L. Moody. Another descendent received five million pounds sterling as a wedding gift, then moved with his new wife to the slums, where he used that money in efforts to eradicate poverty.

God moves people of grace to become people of greatness, and the roles He has for them are profound and powerful. “Calling” is not a mystery beyond comprehension or discovery: it’s the secret behind leaving a legacy – within, and beyond a family – that will reverberate into Eternity.

Thank God for Patrick, and for Arthur, and for the Irish.
br />Bob Shank

What day is it?

“Beware the Ides of March.”

Most days are like nondescript puppies in a big litter; grouped into mutual obscurity made up of 24-hour periods whose names end in “y.” Tomorrow usually looks a lot like yesterday, but with a few more scars and wrinkles from what is likely to happen today. But, then, there are the exceptions


If you’re Julius Caesar, and it’s 44 BC (they didn’t call it “BC” back then, but we do, now; it used to mean “Before Christ,” but we’ve taken Him out of history, so these days, trendy culturalists have recalibrated the acronym to signify “Before the Common Era”), the caution sign would have been flashing red. Beware the Ides of March


William Shakespeare did in 1601 what movie producers do today: the message in front of the dramatic portrayal says, “Based on a True Story.” That language – approved by the legal department of the studio – allows a writer to invent script and scenes that have no historic basis. In Shakespeare’s play, it’s a soothsayer who warns Julius Caesar to call in sick on March 15th. There would be some guys at work on the Ides of March who would make the day stand-out for Julius: though beyond our modern imagination, there were players in the Senate who were out-of-sync with the Emperor (recently named “Emperor for Life” by the same body). Lots of intrigue came before the 23 stab wounds that ended his reign and made the day a turning-point of historic consequence


Some days you can see coming on a particular date (presidential elections; Super Bowls; Oscars); others are “out there,” but not yet calendared (the day the Bull becomes a Bear; the day Robert Mueller delivers his report). There are days that will stand out from all others; they become anchored in memory and highlighted in history.

The prophets of Israel whose writings have been recognized to be inspired by God – and included in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures – understood that some days are destined to stand out. Dozens of citations – from multiple authors – anticipated a future event they called the “Day of the Lord.” The features they described that would occur on that Day would qualify for “breaking news” and “headlines” in the modern media age.

The anticipation regarding that revealed cataclysmic destiny – not the demise of a corrupt politician, but the divine tipping point for all of humanity – did not fall out of vogue in the Christian era. When Paul wrote to his friends in the church he planted in Thessalonica, he made it a focus of their planning: “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you
” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-4).

So
 the Day of the Lord is still “out there,” and history is heading toward a change-point about which God has given warning and for which He has graciously allowed people to prepare. People who read the Bible as revelation have that Day as a Post-it-Note, ready to drop it into their calendar at the appropriate time.

That Christians would believe that is immensely troubling to modern godless minds. As the website Raw Story reports: “Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo are each a ‘genuine, end-of-days, believer in the apocalypse,’ and Financial Times journalist Edward Luce said their religious beliefs about the end times exerts a troubling influence on their duties
 Luce argued that both Trump administration officials were part of a ‘millenarian cult,’ and he worried their ‘militant creed’ would influence their public policies to spark a ‘final conflagration in which the righteous will vanquish the wicked.’”

Julius Caesar was (purportedly) warned about the Ides of March. Mankind has been (prophetically) warned about the Day of the Lord. If the warnings are valid
 what are we supposed to do?

“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober
 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5: 6, 11).

Awake, and sober,

Bob Shank

Lincoln was right (and so was Biden)

Okay, here’s a quick-answer exercise – from the news, and from history – that will paint an interesting picture of where we’ve come, as a nation, in 154 short years. Two quotes follow: who was the nationally-notable political leader who was willing to say:

“
a guy who’s a decent guy, our vice president
”

Quote from: ___________________________________

“With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Quote from: ___________________________________

Time! Here are the answers. Quote #1: Joe Biden, from a speech last week in Omaha. Quote #2: Abraham Lincoln, from his second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865).

Both were statesman-like declarations, recognizing that political activity within our nation will involve dedicated people with differing opinions whose right to those positions is sacrosanct, and that decency and decorum salutes the opposition on the playing field where ideas are contested.

Within days of Mr. Biden’s affirmation of Mr. Pence’s character, the demands of the digital universe were delivered as an ultimatum: publically denounce Pence because of his faith-based beliefs about personal values or expect rejection by the partisans whose support would be required to announce a run for president. The ransom note from the extremists produced his powerful retraction.

Just 42 days after Mr. Lincoln’s gracious expression of charity for a nation still reeling from a war that cost our still-young country the lives of 620,000 warriors in both grey and blue, President Lincoln was assassinated while attending a performance at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.

Written 65 years ago, it is still an accurate observation today: “Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.” (Albert Einstein).

Winston Churchill was right: “If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.” Ben Carson – once a candidate for his party’s presidential nomination, now a Cabinet Secretary, says, “Disagreement is part of being a person who has choices. One of those choices is to respect others and engage in intelligent conversation about differences of opinion without becoming enemies, eventually allowing us to move forward to compromise.” Mr. Churchill and Mr. Carson seem to be in agreement on that basic tenet of life in a world of constant conflict.

The Christian faith is the underlying foundation for life for people who have accepted the offer made by the Lord Jesus, which the Scriptures characterize as “The Gospel.” Paul reiterates the exclusivity of that belief system, in Ephesians 4: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Good people can disagree about politics and policies, but the ranks following Jesus are not split by spiritual differences proposed by human wisdom. Like Lincoln, they join forces behind the divine revelation of the God who created the universe and intervened in human history. Lincoln called it “the right.” He wasn’t talking about a political spectrum; rather, he recognized the reality of absolute truth, from God.

May we embrace grace and decency in an era bent on destruction instead of debate


Bob Shank

You’re heading for your own Red Carpet… and award

And the award goes to…

The New Green Deal was running in the red last night as the movie world parked their Prius and Tesla fleets, dialed-up their carbon footprints and rolled the limos toward the Dolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. All 3400 seats were full of self-congratulatory professionals from the entertainment industry, assembled for the 91st annual reenactment of the Academy Awards.

One of the four majors (EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), it drew the big names from the Left Coast as they sat spell-bound for nearly four hours as 24 categories were highlighted with statues. They’re still counting the eyeballs, but 20-30 million people with little to do stayed home to watch…

My money is on the bigger event tonight at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Orange County Athletic Directors Association is hosting the dinner honoring the Athletes with Character. At each high school in the county (sixth largest in America), the Athletic Department nominates a male and female athlete who consistently manifests Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Caring, Respect, Fairness and Citizenship. They gain the agreement of the school’s administration, then submit the names to the OCADA. Tonight, these young men and women will be recognized for their character. (Disclosure: Cheri and I will be there watching as one of our grandsons, Houston Reese, receives that honor).

In Nature, it’s Survival of the Fittest. The pecking order in the wild is known as the Food Chain: at the nightly dinner table, someone is in the chair, and someone else is on the platter. Win/lose is life and death. In the bush, there’s no drive to succeed; it’s all about staying alive. The Grizzly Society holds no banquet to recognize Best Salmon Catching Technique at the Rapids; the Lions Club never hosts a luncheon to spotlight the lioness named as Female Director of the Year for gazelle hunts. The Award Season is clearly of human creation…

There is something in our essential DNA that points humans toward recognition. Evolution presumes that man is just one of Earth’s species, fortunate enough to avoid the saber-toothed pack and then hang around long enough to create the internet. The revelation of the way things really are (the Bible) tells us that man was made in the image of God, fell to the deception of the Devil, and awaits the ultimate Awards Ceremony where we – individually – will discover the ultimate value created by the investment of our life.

We make the Final Judgment a compelling element of the Gospel: John offers a literary postcard of the fateful moment when people who never said “yes” to the salvation offer by Jesus will be remanded to eternal custody in the Lake of Fire (read it for yourself: Revelation 20:11-15). Heaven’s courtroom is not a venue you need fear if you’ve experienced the gift of forgiveness and inclusion in the Lamb’s Book of Life (vs 15).

But there’s more: the staging at the Dolby Theater for the Oscars last night will look like a cheap carnival corner compared to the Bema: the Judgment Seat of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:10). When God rolls out the awards for Life Well Lived, the experience will be unlike any recognition event you’ve ever seen.

Gold trophies and bronze plaques won’t hold a candle to the immense endowment of Eternal Rewards. A dramatic portrayal of that future extravaganza captures the gravity of that future scene: The Bema is offered by TMPer Joe Mayers to groups and churches to make tomorrow’s moment more real. Click through and see the summation (or video): it’s far more important than Entertainment Tonight’s coverage of last night’s Red Carpet.

“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” (Jesus; Matthew 16:27).

The Oscars are the Little League; the Bemas are the Big League. Will you be nominated for any awards at the Bema?

Bob Shank

What would you do with a year’s pay on Presidents Day?

Happy Presidents Day.

If you have time for catty conversation – and chose to speak that greeting in the barista line this morning – the person waiting for their Carmel Macchiato might respond with, “President? Which one?”

The implication: lots of people these days have a hard time separating respect for the position and the person in the position. Today – Presidents Day – is a holiday for many, a workday with overtime pay for some, and a day of public protest for others. It’s hard to get everyone on the same page…

For people working today – and included in a collective bargaining agreement – they’re likely receiving higher-than-normal wages. For a significant number of those, it couldn’t come at a better time.

The latest stats are troubling: a few days ago, Barron’s reported on the current economic status of people in America. Most are working, and most feel upbeat about the financial climate surrounding them, but the numbers tell another story. Here’s one low-light of their findings: 29% have more debt on their high-interest credit cards than they have savings in the bank. Only 39% say they have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency room visit or a critical car repair.

When “savings” is the category, the recurrent question arises: how much is enough? Statistics may not lie, but they can be disconnected factoids lacking emotional gravity. At what age? At what income level? For what purpose? The variety of qualifying clarifiers can take you down rabbit trails that lead nowhere, and reduce the conversation to trivial irrelevance.

For people committed to setting resources aside for the future, a new set of challenges are on the table: In what asset class will their reserves reside? Cash? Stocks? Bonds? Private equity? Commodities? Real Estate? How liquid need they be? What are the future gain/loss possibilities in each category? Having abundance is great, but it introduces a myriad of additional considerations.

Turn the clock back a few bull/bear/bull cycles, and imagine a culture where the uncertainties of living in an occupied country – under the control of an often-brutal empirical power – was the setting. Add one more factor with significance: the person in the story is a woman, at a time/place where men were profoundly advantaged. Here’s the story:

“While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume?  It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ And they rebuked her harshly.” (Mark 14:3-5).

Mary was single, and middle-aged. No one “needs” perfume worth a year’s income: she was holding extraordinary wealth in a highly-transportable form. Currency is bulky, and – potentially – subject to devaluation (have you read about the inflation rate today in Venezuela?).  She was a savvy businesswoman; how else could she amass that kind of discretionary wealth?

Wealth demands decisiveness, and often is evidence of extraordinary wisdom that is not commonly practiced or understood. The backstory of that container of nard is not insignificant.

The buzz in the back of the room challenged her decision: there were public charities that would have been better recipients of her largesse. She could have retained it for herself without raising any debate among her peers. She made the move that made her famous: she decided that an investment into the Kingdom efforts centered on Jesus was the most informed move she could make.

Jesus weighed in: “‘Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing
 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’” (Mark 14:6-9).

Smart people are still making shrewd decisions today. They’re transferring assets from earth to heaven by repurposing abundance for Kingdom impact. Jesus loves spotlighting prudent moves that make faith come alive!

What are you doing with your nard?

Bob Shank

Sorry Forrest: Love is not a box of Valentine’s chocolates

America is a diverse culture with one common denominator: holidays.

Think about it: we’ve gone from a “melting pot” to a burning caldron. In the old days, you didn’t lock your front door; today, you can have a doorbell that’s really a video camera – with a live-feed to your mobile – so you can call the cops 24/7 to bust the guy who’s casing your place to rob you.

Holidays call “time out” on the battles we fight for market share or seats in Congress. This week, it’s the día de San Valentín (day of Saint Valentine): hearts and roses, bottles of wine and reservations for dinner will flow as America flirts with a relational dimension that is on the endangered emotions list.

Back in grade school – in an earlier, simpler era – it was common for mom to buy a Valentine box for her kid to take to class. Before class, the tradition was to “pass ‘em out:” a remembrance was put on every desk, without separating the bullies from the darlings. Warm wishes – printed hugs, courtesy of Hallmark – made the day “special.” Playground rivalries deferred to expressions of regard


Psychology Today provides assistance to the big people who have grown out of the simpler “everyone is my Valentine” era. “How to Manage Your Enemies” (March 9, 2013) helps high-capacity office pros differentiate between friends (“unconditional trust”) and enemies (“unconditional mistrust”), and how to work alongside – or, around – them.

Before PT waded into that difficult land of turf wars and take-no-prisoners competition, Jesus recognized that interpersonal relationships were going to classify others on a spectrum of positive-negative designations. If life requires that you reset your relational posture based on their place on your friend-enemy rating system, the ability to be genuine will be sacrificed quickly. What’s the best baseline to adopt for healthy relationships to be maintained with everyone in your community? Listen in:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:42-48).

There you have it: the perfect approach is to do what comes naturally with your friendlies: love ‘em. Then, when you’re confronted by your enemies: love ‘em. Everyone who interfaces with you is supposed to find the same point-of-contact: a genuine affection that is not contrived, but conditioned. It isn’t what you do to gain advantage: it’s who you are, to show whose you are.

How do you kick “love” into high gear? Here’s the checklist that Paul gave the Corinthians – and, us – to get it perfected:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres
” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

So… suppose you get your upgrade on a long-haul flight, and the person you’re most likely to despise (professional, political, cultural) sits down next to you. What’s your best game-plan for the next four hours? What if you want to be a Christ-like Kingdom champion rather than a gladiator in the modern ideological arena?

Be patient; be kind; don’t be proud; don’t dishonor them; don’t be angry; don’t list their failures (based on your criterion); believe that they could be better
 if someone was to show them how.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Bob Shank

The game is not over…

Put the Buffalo wings down and step away from the game.

It’s Game, over, this morning… but the effect lingers on. The contrast between the Super Bowl and the State of the Union (the political competition) is stark: a recent survey of Human Resource pros says that 27% of employees have missed work the day-after the annual NFL extravaganza. The majority of those corporate hall monitors believe that the next Federal Holiday should be Super Bowl (with SB Monday “off”). The morning after the State of the Union will probably be just-another-day…

It’s already a holiday, at churches. On any typical Sunday, the national worship attendance is 20% of the population. In America, men are outnumbered (51%/49%); at church in America, the gender ratios are exaggerated: women hold a 61%/39% superiority any given weekend. For the annual Super Bowl Sunday service
 those numbers oscillate. Where are the men?

The ballots are still being counted, but over 100 million people parked in front of televisions – from bedrooms to bars – to watch Tom Brady do it again. Over 100 players on the field last night in Atlanta, but only one has six Super Bowl wins credited to his offensive leadership. Love him or hate him, you have to recognize talent, whether grudging or gleeful: 10 points in the final minutes of the 4th Quarter – after an anemic scoring performance from both teams, over the prior three hours (minus myriad commercials and half-dressed B-List halftime musicians) was enough to get the crowd on their feet and tuned-in. The last moments of the last quarter of the last game of the year are electrifying


Paul the Tentmaker is in the Christian Hall of Fame. Brady may make it to the NFL shrine in Canton, Ohio when his time comes, but the Apostle Paul’s statue is already in the entry lobby of the virtual biblical museum. Though his writings provide snippets (“verses” in Sunday School jargon) that are memorized by women around the world, his target audience was very co-ed. Though there was no American football in the 1st Century Roman Empire, athletic competition was already a widespread phenomenon. Running was the contest that crossed cultures, and provided a constant metaphor for Paul’s spiritual coaching. Is this Scripture, or Sports Illustrated?

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9).

“Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.” (Galatians 2).

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5).

 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4).

It’s Game over, for the 2018 NFL season. But, it’s Game on for the march toward the completion of the Great Commission. Some Christians are watching the action on religious television; some have season tickets at their church, and attend occasionally/frequently to catch a few series of downs. For you (and most readers of this weekly challenge), you’re on-the-field, and in the middle of the fight. The Kingdom is destined to win; the warriors who suited-up and played a part will leave with their ring (for us, it’s crowns). Super Bowlers wear those rings for life; Kingdom Commissioners will wear their crowns for eternity.

The stands are jammed with a home-town crowd cheering you on:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us
” (Hebrews 12).

Score!

Bob Shank

How smart people become fools

Leaders are readers
 and lifelong learners.

If you’ve been around this weekly conversation for awhile, no part of that first line is foreign to you; it’s at the core of this Monday missive. Only the arrogant end their continuing intake of wisdom from reliable sources: the leader who has a future is the woman or man who makes finding and downloading great insight an ongoing habit of life.

I’ve always been intrigued by an enterprise that advertises frequently in the Wall Street Journal. TheGreatCourses.com is a perfect-for-the-times service. Founded 25 years ago by Tom Rollins – at that time, a law student at Harvard who needed help to prep for a vital exam – to help busy people gain valuable sophistication, their concept was simple: find the top 1% of college professors who could communicate their subjects well, and make the service available outside the conventional classroom

Over a quarter century, over 19 million courses have been audited by their customers. Their half-page ad in the WSJ Weekend Edition caught my eye with this week’s featured course: How Jesus Became God.

Taught by Bart D. Ehrman, the 24 lectures come from Ehrman’s 2014 book, sporting the same title. Ehrman is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His own story is important to note: converted to faith as a teenager, Ehrman attended Moody Bible Institute, finished his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College, and pursued his PhD at Princeton Theological Seminary. Paralleling his academic journey, he describes his movement from “born again” to “liberal” to – finally – “agnostic atheist.” From that personal belief foundation, Ehrman has served Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at UNC, and his numerous books – both popular and academic textbooks – spring from his rejection of the divine inspiration of the Scriptures and of the deity of Jesus.

I’ve decided against The Great Courses from Ehrman; I found a synopsis of the subject written by an eyewitness in the 1st Century that has been read by a far broader audience than Ehrman will ever reach. Here’s Paul’s take: not on “How Jesus Became God,” but, “How God Became Jesus:”

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even     death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is   above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and    under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

If you’re looking for a good book to pursue in the next couple of weeks – while you’re decoding the outcome of Rams vs Patriots in the Big One – you might want to get your hands on a new one by Dan Buttafuoco, a practicing attorney who has taken on the task of putting the Christian faith on trial, analyzing the evidence for the New Testament’s reliability and the claims that it makes about the Lord Jesus. The title is a virtual summation: Consider the Evidence: A Trial Lawyer Examines Eyewitness Testimony in Defense of the Reliability of the New Testament. The review in TownHall makes the case; it would be worth the time and money


The assaults on what we believe have always been present, but their intensity is building and their mainstream validation is elevating them. Leaders are readers
 but it’s important to be very discriminating about who you’re reading and where they’re leading.

Bob Shank

When our dreams match God’s dreams…

Most American holidays look back: a day denotes a happening, or, a date marks a birthday or beginning. Though today – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – was chosen because of proximity to his b’day (January 15), the focus of the day is far more forward than past.

Dr. King’s most historic manifesto was his address to 250,000 people assembled in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963. That message – given the title, “I Have a Dream” from the closing refrain – has been ranked the most important American speech of the 20th Century. His grand conclusion:

“And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

King’s vision – his dream (every leader has one) – was not a day when differences wouldn’t exist; his view of the future anticipated a new era when those differences wouldn’t matter. For Dr. King, the world – his world – was separated by categories that were secondary when measured against the primary qualifier: freedom. To be free would mean that the lines between people that had become chasms and bred chaos would be bridged by the superior status of true freedom: not dismissing definitional individuality, but embracing those facets of fascination in a day still future when those peculiarities would be celebrated instead of separated.

Will that day ever come?

We long for it: in this country, on this planet, in our lifetime. It’s a goal that brings some people together, arm-in-arm… and causes others to take up arms to deny the dream. Wars wage today, with that concept as the point of conflict. There is, however, hope on history’s horizon.

John the Apostle was allowed to see into the future, into the Reign of King Jesus. The Revelation he had of our coming days tells us that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream would be fulfilled:

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (5:9-10)

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (7:9-10)

They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (15:2-4)

Before the throne of God – in Heaven’s Kingdom – differences of tribe and language and race and culture will not disappear… but will inform the richness of redemption, when men and women whose eternal status will be anchored by their place among the saved, and the mission launched by Jesus designed to populate His eternal domain with people from every corner – and, tribal group – of human existence.

Free at last; thank God Almighty, (we will be) free at last…

Bob Shank

Where do you stand?


Yesterday, there was a battle underway, so where do you stand?

I’m not talking about Chargers vs Patriots, or Eagles vs Saints: for too many Americans, those conflicts captured their full attention on the Lord’s Day. We’ve got more nail-biting coverage next Sunday, leading to the Super challenge on February 3rd
 but those are merely distractions, set against the backdrop of the Epic Battle of our day. What could be bigger than the annual contests of the NFL?

Today – right now, in our lifetime – the Battle for the Bible is where the action is. The other side – the god of this age (so named by Paul, in 2 Corinthians) – is working overtime to marginalize the Truth and, in the ideology vacuum, replace it with heresy. Am I over-reacting?

If the basis for our faith – the Bible – is under attack, maybe the safe strategy is to head for a place where you can take refuge. If there’s safety in numbers (a common assumption), find a really big church and hunker down.

Right now, the two biggest churches in America are Lakewood Church in Houston and North Point Church in Atlanta. With weekly attendance of 43,500 (Lakewood) and 30,629 (North Point), there are hordes of people hungry for the holy showing up and fighting for parking, confident that they’ve come to a place where they can settle in for a download of spiritual substance. Bigger is better
 isn’t it?

The main guys who head those two churches are both sons-of-pastors; their reputation – and audiences – extend far beyond their church campuses and congregations. They speak; they write; they are among the most influential of this generation’s Christian voices. Leaders that prominent must be aware of – and, somehow involved in – the Battle for the Bible. Where are they in this debate?

I’ve met Joel Osteen, and he’s a really nice guy. But where is he regarding the integrity of the Scriptures and the boundaries of orthodoxy? A few years ago, in an interview with the Washington Times, Joel shared this insight: ““I believe that [Mormons] are Christians
 I don’t know if it’s the purest form of Christianity, like I grew up with. But you know what, I know Mormons. I hear Mitt Romney – and I’ve never met him – but I hear him say, ‘I believe Jesus is the son of God,’ ‘I believe he’s my savior,’ and that’s one of the core issues.” I don’t expect a volunteer working in the children’s ministry at Lakewood to understand the essential differences between the Christian faith and a worldwide cult, but I do expect the senior pastor to grasp the biblical differences


I’ve never met Andy Stanley, but his street cred as a founder/pastor has made him a model and mentor for the next generation of aspirational church leaders. He’s done some amazing work in one of America’s most influential Christian hubs
 but has created a firestorm because of his call for Christians to “unhitch” from the Old Testament, suggesting that the Ten Commandments are now null-and-void, and the only currently applicable truth for Christians is Jesus’ commandment to “love one another.” So, in the bookstore at North Point, do they only sell New Testaments?

It’s a tough conversation, but crucial for each of us to consider: are we serious about treating the word of God with integrity? Paul counseled his ministry protĂ©gĂ©, Timothy: “
from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Read the whole chapter. When Paul cited “Scriptures,” he wrote before the canon of the New Testament had been completed: he was referencing the Old Testament. What was his view of its importance?

My friend Roy Peterson has been the president of the American Bible Society – a 200 year old ministry based in Philadelphia – for five years. He started his career life in the marketplace; he has been president of Wycliffe Bible Translators and The Seed Company on his way to ABS. Last year, he framed a requirement for staff members at ABS to maintain lifestyles in keeping with the standards established by the Scriptures they – as a ministry – exist to extend. That mandate has created a virtual firestorm – both inside and outside the organization. How important is it to accept – and, to adopt – Truth, as presented in the 66 books that claim divine inspiration?

It’s time – it’s always time – to take a stand, in this battle. Where do you stand?

Bob Shank

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

We’ve arrived
 at the beginning.

Here we are: New year. New horizons. New expectations. New focus. New energy. New opportunities. Amazing how a revision in the calendar can cause an intellectual and emotional reset on life. Everything that was operative – and, restrictive – about the things that surrounded you before the holidays has now faded into recent history. Today marks a shift


How will 2019 be different than 2018, for you? What will you be revisiting and recounting in 50 weeks – as you head into Holidays 2019 – that will memorialize this oncoming year as a significant time of initiatives and achievements deemed meaningful in the long-game of Eternity?

In my world – including this weekly thought-provoking conversation we have through my Point of View – we use and hear the term “Kingdom” a lot. It denotes the things that have to do with the strata of life devoted to the work given to us by Jesus Himself. He told us to pray using a powerful appeal: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
” (Matthew 6:10).         

Though the Lord’s Prayer anticipates the day when that request will – literally – be answered with the return of the King and the establishment of His everlasting jurisdiction, the balance of Jesus’ three-year ministry instructed people (and, us) in the way to prepare for that inevitable future reality.

Though the Kingdom has not yet come, we are called to devote our lives to preparing for the day when His Kingdom has come, and – across the face of the earth – every person will be as righteous as God and as faithful as the angels, spending every moment of each day in sync with their Savior.

How much “Kingdom work” will find its way into your priority list this year? Will your agenda include God’s agenda, for you? Before we can even evaluate that question, we need to clarify what “Kingdom work” really looks like. If followers of Jesus – like you, like me – have a Kingdom Calling
 how do we evaluate the activities that are reasonable within that Scope of Work?

Last March, the Barna Group released a report on American Christians’ understanding of the Great Commission:  Jesus’ directive to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28). Their findings were sobering: 51% were unfamiliar with the Great Commission; 25% had heard the term but were unclear what it meant; uncertainty kept 6% from answering; only 17% could recount what it meant and why it mattered. When assessed demographically, the younger generations were most likely to be clueless. The oncoming wave of American Christians lacks a basic understanding of the mission


In his book Kingdom Conspiracy, Scot McKnight commends a Chicago congregation that opened and operates a laundromat, health facilities, a gym, and a pizza joint for their neighbors. He sees these activities as examples of “church mission” and therefore “kingdom mission” (p. 98).  He calls that the work of “skinny jeans evangelicals,” more focused on social justice than personal conversion. In this new era of relevance and cultural nuance, has the Kingdom of God been reimagined as just another NGO active in community development?

In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ strategic directive to His followers – given as He prepared to return to Heaven and entrust the mission of the Kingdom to them – He clarified the practices that would result in disciples: “
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
” (28:19-20).

As we devote the next 51 weeks of 2019 to the myriad demands that compete for our attention, make sure that your Kingdom work is given priority. Your Calling will denote your personal and precise participation in processes that make disciples, worldwide. If laundromats, health facilities, gyms and pizza joints are your end-game, these Monday discussions we have may be unsettling


Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing,

Bob Shank

Ditch the NYR (New Year’s Resolutions) burden: there’s nothing there

I hope I’ve gotten to you in time.

If you’re under the influence (of the culture), you are probably feeling some pressure to come up with your version of the annual to-do list to upstage all former to-do lists: we call ‘em the obligatory “New Year’s Resolutions (NYRs).” Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year to “do better” (no evidence that it worked). Romans started their years with vows made to their god Janus (one of their many; they were polytheists, after all) to clean up their personal act in some specific way.

Polls say that Americans in the upper reaches of the socio-economic bell curve are more likely to declare resolutions than those less fortunate. “Goal setting” is meaningful banter at drop-the-ball parties that are long on toasts and short on substance. A government-sponsored survey last year found the three most frequent Resolutions: 1) Eat better; 2) Exercise more; and, 3) Spend less money. Any evidence – at the end of 2018 – that those widespread “commitments” produced any change?

We owe nothing to the Babylonian or Roman pantheons of pathetic divinities; we can – instead – tune in on the One True God as the only Deity worth impressing. He never asked us to make resolutions, but He did invite us to embrace a revolution: to bury our “old self,” and – instead – acquire the attributes of the New Self. That eternal you was birthed at the moment of your personal redemption, and will live forever in the presence of the forever Creator.

God lives in community: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He invited Adam and Eve into that intimacy
 and asked so little from them to sustain that connection. One forbidden fruit: they opted-out at Eden, and left the legacy of anti-community into which all humans have been born.

The Father sent the Son to resolve the conflict that is the toxic deterrent to divine and human connection: the blood of Jesus is the antidote to sin, and through it we can become different: “you were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds;and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24). God has only authentic relationships: no facades or fakery allowed. What does it take to be “like God” and “be made new?”


The verses that follow are worthy of a quiet contemplation during this downtime week: you’ll find it in Ephesians 4:25-32 (click to see it). How do “old-selfers” become “new-selfers” in a way that demonstrates the powerful God-sized revolution made possible by Jesus?


That passage gives these quick instructions for lifetime vitality in the relationships that will stretch into the eternal horizon. Better than seven days with Dr. Phil, here’s Dr. Paul (writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit) on improving relationships:

  1. Build healthy relationships with honest conversations (vs 25)
  2. When you’re upset, either resolve it or retire it (vs 26-27)
  3. Be known for giving more than you take (vs 28)
  4. Use good words to build great people (vs 29)
  5. Constantly monitor your status with God-on-board (vs 30)
  6. Offload the residue of your old human self (vs 31)
  7. Upload the reflection of your new heavenly self (vs 32)

My advice: ditch the New Year’s Resolutions. They’re proven to be worthless. New approach: establish your New You Revolutions
 and become even better at helping your relationships reach new heights in 2019! \\

Bob Shank

Read this before Christmas dinner

Merry Christmas!

One quick thought, and then you can get back to your Christmas focus. I want to remind you of an important grammar point that is most important against the backdrop of this holiday.

Hope: it’s essential, for life. With it, you can tolerate and succeed against all opposition. Without it, you cannot continue another day. What oxygen is to the body, hope is to the soul. Hope is one of the foundation stones of the Christian worldview; it is a starring concept in the Christmas story.

Here is the Christmas conjugation of the verb to hope:

Past tense: He came. God’s promise of a Messiah was first declared in the Garden of Eden; His solution for sin would be the One who would someday come to destroy Satan and restore the relationship that was severed by Adam and Eve’s willful violation. Thousands of years passed
 but God had not forgotten. The promised Messiah was born in Bethlehem; the details surrounding the epic event have been revisited in your hearing for days now, leading up to this moment. It’s history: He came.

Present tense: He comes. Across the Muslim Mideast, there is a recurring miracle that mirrors the angels with the shepherds, or the Magi with the star. Today, thousands of men and women raised and held captive by Islam have become followers of Jesus with an incredible common testimony: Jesus appeared to them in their dreams – for many, the visitation happened numerous times – pointing them toward a place or a person who would give them the truth about Him. My friend Tom Doyle – working as a missionary for nearly 20 years in the region with his wife, JoAnn – has captured vignettes of these people’s accounts in his book, Dreams and Visions. For these former Muslims, Jesus is more compelling than the unceasing call to prayer coming from their local mosque minaret: when Jesus appears, He calls them to Himself. He’s current: He comes, still.

Future tense: He’s coming. The First Coming was promised throughout the Old Testament. The Second Coming is promised across the New Testament. For Christians, Christmas is the First Advent; His return is the Second Advent. Another great term for that event: The Blessed Hope. It’s God’s way of punctuating history; it will be the Game-changer of game-changers. When He came (past tense), it was an arrival missed by everyone except the few in and around Bethlehem; when He Comes (future tense), every person on the planet will be aware of the awesome reality that will affect them – and, everyone – in an eternally significant way. He’s the Future: He’s coming.

There’s your grammar lesson for Christmas. Be the tutor for the folks around your table as you prepare to enjoy the festive meal and conversation. Help your family to be ultra-informed: Christmas is one installment of a continuing drama with past, present and future dimensions. We’re in the cast, along with the shepherds and Wise Men: don’t lose track of the next act! He’s coming back!

Merry Christmas!

Bob Shank

 

We’re still waiting…

Does he have a crown on his Christmas wish list?

It was 100 years ago – in July of 1918 – when Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed in Yekaterinburg, Russia by Bolshevik revolutionaries. Though he had abdicated his throne a year earlier, the group that would later become the Communist Party in Russia wanted to assure that there would be no chance of his return from exile and return to power.

There is momentum afoot in Russia to rekindle the monarchy. A conference was held outside Moscow recently – attended by hundreds of the country’s top political leaders and Russian Orthodox priests – where the dream of restoring the throne once held by the Romanoff blood line was the focus. The movement – called the Double-Headed Eagle group (from Russia’s coat-of-arms) – is clear about their dream. Andrey Afanasiev, an on-air personality for a radio station dedicated to the state church, says: “What has Russia done in the last 30 years? It has resurrected an empire and chosen an emperor (Putin).” In a conversation with Lt. Gen. Leonid Reshetnikov last year, Mr. Putin described the idea of a return to monarchy as “beautiful.” With his current term as president set to end in 2024, plans for his future – beyond term limits – are timely


In the United Kingdom, Prince Harry – who is  fifth in line  to the British throne – has said that he does not think anyone in the royal family wants to be king or queen, but that the family of Queen Elizabeth II will carry on the succession out of a sense of duty. “We’re involved in modernizing the British monarchy. We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people. Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I don’t think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.” (from an interview with Newsweek, June, 2017).

There’s no consternation that competes with distaste for government. A population that is out-of-sorts with their rulers will spin out of control quickly. This year, “Christmas in Paris” has dropped out of favor for the international elite community as the protests by the Yellow Jackets over gas taxes has created an inferno that is now burning on the streets of the French capital. President Macron is trying to quell the conflict, but there are constitutional limits. If only he were the king


In the heart of every person there is a foundational conclusion they must reach: are they rebels against all authority?, or, are they simply awaiting the right authority? Would a legitimate sovereign with integrity command their respect and loyalty? The cynicism from life and history has numbed many to the possibility that someone with integrity could ever be found to assume absolute power. Term limits are the governor on governments: hope inaugurates, but, then, experience impeaches. The revolving door of reality nominates candidates who promise to make dreams come true but whose fallen nature then becomes their operative dysfunction. Will anyone – ever – measure up?

You’ll hear the story retold in the next few days: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed
 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” (Matthew 2:1-3, 11)

Nearly 1000 years earlier, King Solomon had written about the future Messiah: “May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.” (Psalm 72:8-11).

People are still looking for a king worthy of their adoration. Russians are flirting with Czar Vladimir; Brits have a symbolic sovereign who lacks governmental punch; Americans hope to find their messiah every four years. The longing remains unsatiated; it elevates the hope of Christmas above any other holiday, around the world.

The King came to set his monarchy among men in motion, 2000 years ago. He’ll be back in the future (soon?) for his final victory and the establishment of his everlasting reign. As the angel told Mary, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33).

We’re waiting


Bob Shank

Hallmark and Heaven are in cahoots…

Feliz Navidad, y Prospero Año Nuevo.

We’re seeing the resurgence of the Post Office; this is their big month. Our home mailbox should have a “No Vacancy” sign; Christmas Cards now outnumber new credit card offers in the stack.

Lots of photo cards; we get to see everyone in our relational world, at least once a year. That made the multicultural greeting on one stand out; the expression in Spanish speaks to our changing culture, here in California. Translated: Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year.

Prosperity is a safe invocation; everyone wants God to grant it. It means “flourishing,” and if it could be gifted, it would be on most Christmas wish-lists. Amazon doesn’t sell it
 but God offers prosperity as a destination in life’s journey with Him. The Scriptures are like a modern mapping app; they lay out the milestones that mark the path. Will your spiritual GPS take you to Prosperity?

The trip starts at Hopeless: you don’t go anywhere with God until you recognize the fallacy of traveling alone. “Dead” is His diagnosis of the life without Him; until you realize the futility of going without Him, your only destination is deficiency and destruction. You’re well past that starting line


The next milestone is Surrender: He demands what He deserves, and that’s utter allegiance. He wrote the contract for salvation; we sign on His terms, with no amendments allowed. With no claim of power to challenge His requirements, you must accept His death and resurrection for yourself.

The trip crosses over the border from death to life, and Confidence is the new territory. The guarantees that came with Surrender begin to crystalize: He will never rescind the promise of life – everlasting – with Him, beyond death. There is no U-turn provision in the journey; you will be waved-through the guard gate of Heaven someday. That’s a wow


But, wait: Heaven is still over-the-horizon. You’re not even close to the end of the road, and there are side roads that present multiple diversions. What’s the best route to take, beyond Confidence?

Too many people miss the long stretch called Faithfulness: that’s the daily exercise: check the map, and follow it explicitly. The life map is the Scriptures, and God gave it as explicit counsel for the moment-by-moment navigation of the adventure. He doesn’t present a buffet of options; rather, a systematic itinerary that points your way to ultimate living. Faithfulness – some call it Obedience – is not an occasional exception
 but, rather, a resolute lifestyle. That’s a long parkway


As life’s road-trip continues – and you set the cruise control on Faithfulness – you see yourself in a new environment. This is new country – called Generosity – and you find yourself making frequent stops to assist people you meet along the way. Fix a flat? Share a gallon of gas? Pass an extra sandwich from your lunch basket? Give directions for the person who looks lost? You no longer look at those requests from a position of deficiency; you feel the wind at your back and the sufficiency of what you packed for the trip. You can share without the risk of going without. A feeling of gratitude – for the Giver – can’t be explained, but it’s sure enjoyed. When you siphon off a gallon – while watching your gauge rise toward “full” – the peace you feel makes the trip a delight. Generosity isn’t just “Giving Tuesday;” it’s the constant, defining outlook of the Faithful


The road sign confirms the last leg of the jaunt: it’s Prosperity, and when you look out the window, it’s everything you always wanted
 but thought impossible. Everything you long for – this side of Glory – surrounds you. The invitation to Prosperity is spread across the Old Testament – mentioned 84 times – as the byproduct of obedience. Follow the map
 and you’ll get there.

Merry Christmas
 and a Prosperous New Year. What’s your next phase, to get there?

Bob Shank

It isn’t over; it’s never over

The End? Or, the Beginning?

On Friday, President George H. W. Bush died. He was 94 years old; his lifespan exceeded that of every other man who has worn the title of President in the United States.

From Saturday’s account in the New York Times:

    His longtime friend and former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, arrived at his Houston home on Friday morning to check on him. Mr. Bush suddenly grew alert, his eyes wide open.

    “Where are we going, Bake?” he asked. “We’re going to heaven,” Mr. Baker answered. “That’s where I want to go,” Mr. Bush said.

    Barely 13 hours later, Mr. Bush was dead… As the end neared on Friday night, his son George W. Bush, the former president, who was at his home in Dallas, was put on the speakerphone to say goodbye. He told him that he had been a “wonderful dad” and that he loved him. “I love you, too,” Mr. Bush told his son. Those were his last words…

Last words? Most Americans still believe in Heaven as a real place; surveys that describe Heaven as “a place where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded” find 70% in agreement. Clearly, President Bush was among that majority; it’s where he wanted to go.

Only a fool would want to go anywhere else, and Mr. Bush was no fool. In his life, he chose to believe what Jesus said about Heaven:

    No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:13-16)

George H.W. Bush believed that Jesus Christ was the One who came from Heaven; his belief in Jesus was all that God required for him to be accepted into that astounding eternal destination.

When he arrived there, he may have met another American whose death is in the news. John Allen Chau was only known to the world because of his death; his life had been – to modern thought – unremarkable.

Just 26 years old, Chau was driven by the instruction by Jesus to take the Gospel – the Good News that saved George Herbert Walker Bush – to a remote, isolated tribe of people living on an island off the coast of India. Insulated from contact with the outside world, the Sentinelese have never been presented with the opportunity to hear about God’s love for them, and that He had sent His Son to be their Savior.

Before Bush’s death, headlines were proclaiming: “Isolated Tribes Need Protection from Western Arrogance” (New York Post). India – whose territorial claim on North Sentinel Island has never been recognized by the tribe who are its only inhabitants – passed a law making contact with them illegal. Anthropologists decry any effort to bring western contact to the isolated group; fears of disease for which they have no immunity are offered as the foundation for their “do not contact” mandates.

News Flash: people on North Sentinel Island are dying from the same condition that inflicts people on Staten Island: God calls that terminal disease “sin,” and the only antidote is the Gospel. Chau died trying to save the Sentinelese; their “defenders” are ensuring their eternal damnation.

For the followers of Jesus, their end here is followed immediately by their beginning there, in Heaven. The Lord Jesus celebrated the transition of a former president and a faithful missionary into his presence, with equal embrace and commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant…”

Helping people toward great beginnings,

Bob Shank

High Priority: Revised Holiday Schedule

The Holidays.

When you score an entry in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, you know you’ve created a unique meaning while using the simple building blocks of common vocabulary. “The” is a definite article: it sets up what follows as unique and significant, measured against all others. “Holiday” is another basic language marker that has come to apply to any day one doesn’t have to work, despite it’s origins as a contracted form of “holy day,” based on religious terms.

The Holidays: “a time from November until the beginning of January during which many holidays are celebrated.” (Merriam Webster) Based on that decisive declaration, we’re now traversing – together – through The Holidays.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are the cultural Big-Three. For Christians – living from our Scriptures while living in our society – the believers’ Big-Three aren’t confined to the six weeks at the end of the year. Thanksgiving and Christmas are in the running for Hallmark and Heaven, but culture’s #3 – New Years – fades when Christians’ #1 – Easter – is put on top of the stack, driving Thanksgiving and Christmas down the ladder


There’s another issue we need to address. American life has been whacked. As one astute observer put it, Americans are people who “worship their work, work at their play and play at their worship.” With the controlling influence afforded work and play, the “federal holiday” schedule has become more defining than an informed understanding of our need to take time-outs and reset our navigational gauges.

You’re probably looking into 2019 already, getting things on the calendar that will be prioritized as you manage the precious commodity of time. Let me give you the holiday schedule that isn’t embedded in the one you are working with – electronic or printed – but can transform your life:

Thanksgiving: while many look for Pilgrims or Presidential Proclamations to validate Thanksgiving, it is – for Christians – founded in instructions given to us centuries earlier. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; 2 Corinthians 9:15)  Think about what you did last week: family and loved ones around a table, eliciting input from all about the ways God has favored and blessed them, allowing gratitude to be freely expressed. When should that happen? In America, it’s the 4th  Thursday of November. For Christians, Thanksgiving is every day.

Easter: the name itself has murky origins from sources other than Christian tradition, but recalls the week framed by Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) and his Resurrection (Easter). The most defining reality of the Christian faith is the Gospel of Salvation, played against the backdrop of that moment in time: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared
” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). Jesus’ resurrection happened on Sunday; Pentecost happened on Sunday. Within a short period, the emerging church began their weekly gatherings on the first day of the week. For Christians, it’s Easter every Sunday.

Christmas: detailed in Matthew and Luke’s records of Jesus’ life, the day celebrating the birth of Jesus has become a confusing blend of cultural consumerism and religious devotion. For Christians, it’s an opportunity to bring the conversation back to consider the birth of history’s most awesome figure: “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman
” (Galatians 4:4). The birth of Jesus – Christmas – is an annual reminder of the Incarnation. How many people around you know that?

Happy Holidays! Thanksgiving every day; Easter every Sunday; Christmas every year.

Bob Shank

The most important question you’ll ever answer to Jesus

Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

That’s an incredible question – wrapped around an offer – that would be amazing coming from anyone; it’s even more astounding when it’s posed by Jesus. How would you reply?

It happens twice, recorded back-to-back in Mark 10; each offers a weighty insight about what people can hope for when they encounter Jesus, and what it takes – from them – to go away satisfied.

Bartimaeus was easy to miss. He was a fixture on the streets of Jericho: a blind beggar who was always looking for charity from people coming past. One day, he changed his tune: his pointed appeal was powerful. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The crowd in Jericho saw Jesus as a celebrity; Bartimaeus – who couldn’t see – understood him to be the long-awaited Messiah, who had more to offer than shekels. Jesus heard his shouted declaration, called for him to approach and asked the question: “What do you want me to do for you?”

He didn’t propose a settlement; there were no dollar signs in his reply. “Rabbi, I want to see.” He was more insightful than most of the seeing people in the crowd. If Jesus is offering, go for the win: he needed to be made whole. The result? “‘Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.’”

People who are broken come to Jesus, ask for him to act in mercy, and are never disappointed. That’s where life – real life – begins. Instant transformation: “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus
”

Change of scenes: just before that astounding story in Mark 10 is an encounter between two of Jesus’ followers who were in training to lead. James and John were hoping to cut an insider deal.

“Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

These brothers were two of twelve who had been selected by Jesus for training that would lead to significant assignments when he triggered his succession plan, but they sensed an opportunity to trigger a coup against their 10 colleagues. They knew that Jesus was heading for power
 and their human view assumed that backroom deals would elevate the elite and favor the bold. Would it work?

Jesus had made them whole; since becoming followers of Jesus, they knew he had authority. He asked them the question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Why not go for greatness?

His answer probably shocked them: “To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” What they heard made them inquisitive; what the ten heard made them indignant. Jesus did what great leaders do: he got everyone in the same room and laid out the game plan. “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them
 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus asked Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” He came to be made whole, and Jesus granted his request. The prerequisite was simple: his faith triggered the solution.

Jesus asked James and John: “What do you want me to do for you?”  They came for greatness in the Kingdom, expecting that it would be granted as a political favor. Instead, they heard that greatness is open to anyone whose faith catalyzes extreme service to others, modeled after the Master whose example would be the extraordinary exception to the way people in earthly kingdoms vie for power.

Jesus is still asking the question: “What do you want me to do for you?” What are you looking for? Wholeness is a gift through faith; greatness is a reward for works of service.

Do you have what it takes to get what you came for?

Bob Shank

How do we say “thanks” for sacrifice?

This is the “holiday edition” of my Point of View.

Since 1954, November 11 has been deemed “Veteran’s Day.” A fitting tribute to the living men and women whose history of military service and sacrifice has made America’s continued experiment in freedom possible. Memorial Day honors the fallen; Veterans Day recognizes those who remain among us.

Since 2015, Veterans have been honored by The Master’s Program. Through the vision of our ministry partner Phil Brown, graduates of TMP have been encouraged to provide scholarships to warriors whose service careers were nearly – or, recently – finished. Their transition into the civilian community means a significant shift – for most, occurring in the middle of life’s calendar – and a loss of missional identity. Almost 100 of these brave and self-sacrificing heroes are being served by TMP, in recognition of their service to us all.

Some of these TMPers are men whose active wartime assignments are past, and their current duty focuses on assisting long-serving military professionals with their re-entry to the American culture. Their discovery about their peers: their primary challenge is not PTSD, though that issue grabs headlines. Their new reality: their time in the armed forces was not a career, but – rather – a calling, and they were transformed from ordinary citizens to extraordinary warriors to fulfill that trust. Their time in uniform comes to an end
 but their core identity – as warriors – is not terminated.

The Warrior culture is foreign to American culture. For years, these men awakened each day with clarity of mission, certainty about the role they play in a larger battle plan, and confidence that they are part of a Band of Brothers who live to close ranks around one another for protection and victory. They return to their homeland – and to civilian life – without the cultural oxygen that once filled their Warrior lungs: no mission, no role, no Band of Brothers. Strangers in the country they gave their youth to protect and to serve.

What do these Veterans say about The Master’s Program? The training we (America) invested in them to represent the country made them formidable for the national mission; the training we (TMP) are providing to them now is allowing them to represent the Kingdom, making them formidable leaders for the spiritual mission.

These amazing men and women represent a thin slice of the American population, but their potential for high impact in their next life – beyond their military years – is immense. We’re already seeing incredible outcomes as these modern-day centurions uncover and unleash their Kingdom Calling


Two statistics have cast a shadow over these patriots’ return from active duty: the incidence of divorce and suicide (often linked, in that order) is disproportionate compared to the civilian population, and calls for intervention. Just three years into our service focus on these high-value participants, we’re seeing their time in The Master’s Program as a powerful counteractive force that neutralizes those two destructive decisions.

We have more Veterans on a waiting list for The Master’s Program; they’re waiting for scholarship funds to become available ($3600/year for three years). In many cases, a single sponsor has adopted a Warrior; in others, a cadre of contributors have been aggregated to provide that amount.

The Warrior’s wives are the unsung heroes; a handful of spouses have been funded to participate in The Master’s Program for Women ($1500/year for three years). Allowing these women whose family sacrifice has often gone unrecognized or applauded to experience the same transformative breakthroughs that their husbands are reporting puts them in sync with their mate in ways that ensure their partners-for-life commitment.

Cheri and I have seen this impact, firsthand. We’ve adopted four Warriors – and two Wives of Warriors – to provide them scholarships in TMP. If you’d like to make Veterans Day a moment of recognition that goes from an empty Hallmark card to a powerful Heavenly calling, click here to join us in moving men and women from the waiting list to the enrollment rosters of The Master’s Program.

They’ve put their skin in the game to save our skin; is it time to say “thank you” in an eternally strategic way? Click here to cast you vote for a Veteran!

Bob Shank

The most important election in your lifetime?

Tomorrow is the most important election of your lifetime.

That must be true. Donald Trump, Cory Booker and Barack Obama have all said so in the last few days. Candidates –  and those pounding their drums – have all been saying so. It must be true.

Run the clock back to this same date, in 2016. Two years ago, it was the most important election of your lifetime. Proof: Franklin Graham and Hillary Clinton said so. It must have been true.

If you slept through 2016 – and wishing you could get some sleep right now – you could think you were having a dĂ©jĂ  vu moment: in 2012, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Jon Huntsman, Bill O’Reilly and Newt Gingrich – among others – were hitting the same talking point. “The most important election of your lifetime…” Wow; what a momentous occasion! Should you take the day off to drink it all in?

Run history’s clock back 3000 years: the Jews had been living in the Promised Land for 400 years. Their nation was not perfect – they were still living in a fallen world, awaiting their Messiah – but their government was simple. Jehovah was their King; their Law had been delivered, in writing, through Moses. Their human leaders were judges – one at a time – who represented the King in oversight of the people as they administered justice by applying the Law to life. Heaven on Earth: no elections…

They couldn’t leave well-enough alone. The other nations had kings (with palaces and taxes, and abuses of power, and privileged progeny who believed themselves to be gods and goddesses); envy overtook them. They appealed to their invisible King for a human king, so they could fit-in…

God answered their prayers. “They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, ‘Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.’ Then the people shouted, ‘Long live the king!’ Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.” (1 Samuel 10:23-25). God chose their king: it was Saul…

Who picked him? The story continues: “Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God – good!” (1 Samuel 12:13-14). God chose Saul… and they chose him. Popular ballots put him in office, but God had chosen him before the people weighed-in. That’s Sovereignty in action: God is in control.

That’s the way it will work, tomorrow. God has already determined the outcomes… but we’ll cast our ballots to play our part in the drama of history (a chronicle that has already been published in Heaven, with the final chapters – which reside in our future – already printed).

Here’s a bit of perspective: tomorrow is the most important election in your… week. Do your part and vote. Then, go home… and be at peace. God has already orchestrated the outcomes.

What was the most important election in your lifetime? It was the one when God elected you to be part of his forever family, waiting to join him in his eternal Kingdom. Listen to the way Peter described you and me: “To God’s elect… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:1-3).

From one election winner to another,

Bob Shank

Report from the Front

He’s back…

Last Monday, I was writing from Jerusalem – just outside the walls of the Old City, about 200 yards from the Jaffa Gate.

Our contingent of collaborators – drawn from our national contacts in The Master’s Program and The Barnabas Group – were amazing. Three dozen Kingdom leaders – most were marketplace players whose Calling is now operative as their driving force, alongside their continuing career involvement – who had the chance of a lifetime. How so?

The reality of (eternal) life is a game changer. When you take the Bible at face value, your perspective undergoes a profound shift. People who live strategically – leaders – think in terms of a time horizon that is different than that assumed by the majority. Most people – managers and followers – live in short blasts that are inherently tactical; they never orchestrate their life to play beyond the visible short-term. Proof: most Americans have made no credible provision for life beyond their active years of employment (retirement). They live in a virtual day-to-day delusion, assuming that things in the future are beyond their conception or control. When the inevitable future arrives, they’ll be unprepared


In Israel, we were exposed to the current circumstances, but we were viewing them against the backdrop of a rock-solid knowledge of a future that the Scriptures portray with certainty. What did we discover after 10 days on-the-ground on the front lines that are almost constantly in the headlines?

Some conflicts cannot be resolved. This week, hopeful people in America are asking what it would take for Capitalist Conservatives and Socialist Democrats to find common ground and work together. The same yearning is expressed by those who call for a Two State Solution that would bring the Palestinians and Jews into a peaceful coexistence. The clash has a 4000-year history; the origins are as old as Ishmael and Isaac – sons of Abraham, through whom 12 Arab tribes and 12 Jewish tribes were sired – and will never be reconciled at a bargaining table. Israel has accommodated Palestinians within their nation with significant rights and protections; the Muslim world has, for the most part, called for the eradication of the Jews and the Nation of Israel. Irreconcilable differences…

The Tomb is still empty. Last week, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition – and the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic institutions (along with some lesser Orthodox minor partners) – maintain an edifice said to be built on the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion and his brief burial. That building is a place of tribal warfare between those disparate sects, and a tourist target that makes the shops in the Arab Quarter of the City feel like a Christian Science Reading Room.

We finished our journey at the Garden Tomb. The site was unearthed 150 years ago, and it fits the biblical accounts (not the source document for the conflicted shrine in the City). Joseph of Arimathea was the 1st Century version of Air BNB: he allowed Jesus to crash for the weekend at his place in the cemetery. You’ve seen pictures; it’s a surreal experience to stand inside that hewn cave and to see the place where the body of the Savior was probably reanimated – from death to life – and from which the Victory over sin was declared in power and magnificence.

Contemporary scientists look to the future and prophesy the destruction of Earth’s ecosystem and the need to find a new home for humanity elsewhere in the solar system. Christian Bible teachers look to the future and accept the declaration of the Creator: His Son is coming back – landing on the Mount of Olives – to establish His everlasting Kingdom of Righteousness. When?

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12).

Bob Shank

It isn’t Santa who’s coming to town…

The land of Israel is almost surreal.

I’m sitting on the terrace of the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem; 200 yards away – to the west – are the walls of the Old City, and the Jaffa Gate. It’s 5:30am, and in an hour, the sun will come up over the ancient skyline.

A few months ago, I invited you to be here with me; there are 36 of us here – on Day #7 of our 12 day adventure, and today we’ll be in Masada and the Dead Sea, with a stop in Jericho before coming back to this week’s “base camp,” here in Jerusalem. Tonight, we’ll see the Western/Wailing Wall before turning in. Wish you were here…

This year is the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel. That commemoration has increased the tourism as people come to celebrate what no one believed could happen. The Holocaust had been Hitler’s attempt to destroy the Jews; as of 1948, his Reich was in history’s dustbin, while Israel was back in the land God had promised them, 4000+ years before.

Though Israel was back in 1948, their national boundary did not include Jerusalem, their ancient capital. It remained a divided city, split between Jordan and Israel. Under Jordanian control was the Old City, and the Temple Mount…

The Six Day War in 1967 ended in an epic victory for Israel. The cherished portion of their beloved city was reclaimed, along with the still-disputed West Bank, establishing the borders that have been intact for 51 years.

That’s all history – ancient and modern. It’s what the tour guides repeat on buses as people discover that the Bible stories they heard in church – and the places they couldn’t adequately conceive from the maps behind their New Testament – involved real people in real places, experiencing a Real God who has made clear His plans for His Chosen People, in their own Promised Land.

Tom and JoAnn Doyle are leading our trip. Far more than tour guides, their ministry – Uncharted – works across the Mideast region bringing the Gospel to groups who are at war with each other, but are discovering peace with God as the ultimate solution. (Full disclosure: Uncharted operates today under our ministry umbrella).

Tourist visits to Israel focus on the past, and there’s lots of that here. Holy Land trips – usually organized by church groups or ministry enterprises – drive the same routes as the tourists, but add the future to the accounts of the past. The Bible isn’t just a reliable summation of history, it forecasts the future that really matters. The small print involves nations like the Roman Empire and the United Kingdom, Russia and America, and all of the other states who imagine themselves to be great. The large print – in God’s book – keeps the attention on Israel, and God’s inevitable direction for the future of the world, played out on the stage of this eternally strategic plot of land.

In the modern American church environment, prophecy is seldom the focus in the Sunday morning series. If Christians hear “Armageddon,” the term is more likely describing a massive correction in the stock markets than a future battle that will pit all nations (ours included, if we’re still around) against Israel the Underdog… who will be on the brink of defeat when the Army of Heaven – led by its King – arrives to declare His return and to establish the Kingdom that we’ve been asking for since the Lord’s Prayer was initiated.

The last few generations of American Christians have each had an author whose writings point readers toward the prophetic mysteries of the Scriptures. Hal Lindsey did that with The Late Great Planet Earth, nearly 50 years ago. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins created the fiction-based-on-Bible-prophecy Left Behind series that delivered 16 books over 12 years – beginning in 1995 – to rekindle fascination with the future, speculating on the placement of the key events that – together – frame the headlines of the days that remain between the often-difficult now and the incredibly-awesome then, which is the Second Coming.

Today, Joel C. Rosenberg is the voice-in-print calling the shrinking community of Bible believers in America to keep an eye on what’s happening in Israel. Moving the American embassy to Israel’s real capital – Jerusalem – is part of a much larger narrative that culminates with the “okay, now I get it!” declaration that the Revelation of John was tough to understand as a predictive narrative, but will become the road map for current events in the not-too-distant future. Joel has written both fiction (engaging) and non-fiction (scholarly) treatments of Bible prophecy; visit his homepage to explore them.

Is “Bible Prophecy” the class you skipped on the way to the “practical” parts of God’s word that helps you with your own daily demands? Do you stumble in ignorance to describe the nature of your eschatological understanding? Are you Premillennial, or Post? Do you view the 70th Week of Daniel as a past occurrence, or the future Tribulation? If you see it over the horizon, is it linked – in your beliefs – with Jesus’ return for His Church? If those certainties are lined up alongside one another, are you Pre-Millennial/Pre-Trib? Or, Mid-Trib? Or (God help us), Post? If you’re Post- or A-Millennial, does that make your lifetime mission a personal pursuit of the Dominion Mandate, or the Great Commission? Are we – the followers of Jesus – here to conquer, or convert?

We’re destined to meet here – in Jerusalem – in the not-too-distant future. If that will be your first visit, you’ll miss the speculation of end-times order and the drama related to the culmination of history that is available now.

Your faith is real, I don’t doubt that… but, inevitably, it is drawn in chalk and pastels as a “once upon a time” story that seems at times to involve fantasy. When you come to the Land of the Bible, you find yourself cast in the most fascinating story ever written. God allows the fools to flex their muscles in the palaces of power; He’s coming back to set the record straight and to establish His never-ending reign over the rebel planet that needed a Savior, and got Him when He came the first time.

Shalom; I’ll get back in my groove next Monday and write from American soil!

Bob Shank

Righteous is as righteous gives

It must be a big, big deal.

I’m not sure that everyone in your circles today is inspired to earn this designation. In fact, it’s often used in a derisive manner, for people who reject a certain high-bar moral or ethical standard. At a time when people with character deficiencies win awards and elections, it may be more of a liability – in the minds of many – than an asset. Depending who reports it – or, claims it – it can be bona fide or phony. Despite the cultural conflict regarding its formula, there is a longing within most people to both be around – and, to be – what it portrays.

What is “it?” It’s righteousness: to be found righteous.

Nearly 500 times in the Bible – over 150 times in the New Testament alone – it comes up as a principal focus and definition, both for God and for the people who are in relationship with him. On occasion, the adjective attaches to religious people who live to fulfill their own concept of what righteousness is. On those occasions, Scripture calls them out as opponents of God and his truth. Real righteousness – the kind that qualifies for recognition in heaven – is modeled first by God, and then by those who replicate it in their own lives.

If there was a righteousness meter, designed to sense and measure the presence of righteousness in rank-and-file humans, what would it take to set it off? What are some indicators of that quality-of-life that would certify that the individual is on the righteousness spectrum?

David came on the stage about 3000 years ago, but many of his insights were included in the inspired Word of God. Here’s an interesting observation from King David, near the end of his 60-year life and 40-year reign over Israel: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.” (Psalm 37:25-26).

How do you spot a real-deal, righteous person? One of David’s key qualifiers: generosity.

Then, as now, extremes portray strongly the existence of core differences. David saw the generous person in a positive light; the opposing model has no compelling value. Ask any reasonable person their aspiration: if the options are generous or selfish, which would score the most hits?

Solomon grew up under David’s influence; that nurture, his father’s lifestyle, and God’s gift of wisdom all converged to shape Solomon’s declaration in Proverbs: “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:24-25). In his opinion, there was no contest: life’s winners are all generous, from the heart. Lacking that, you lose


That shouldn’t be a surprise. God the Father, righteousness in all that he does, is generous: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The Father is generous: he gave what he loved the most to those he loved the most.

The Son exists in sync with the Father. His outlook: “
whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28).  To be great in Jesus’ Kingdom – with promotions awarded in keeping with righteous living – would mirror the generosity of the King who came, not to take, but to give


It’s a constant challenge: does my practice of generosity demonstrate the righteousness of God?

Bob Shank

Which best seller is the best?

Which best seller is better?

“What kind of God wants you to be poor and miserable?”

If there’s anyone who can ask that question and get a positive response, it’s Oprah Winfrey. Though her beginnings were meager – born into poverty in Mississippi to a single mom, raised in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, and then sent to live with her father in Tennessee – she rose through the crowded ranks of media voices to become a cultural icon. Through her signature program – named for her, broadcast in the late-afternoon slot across America for 25 years – she became one of the most influential thought leaders of the 21st Century. Her titles include “first black multi-billionaire” and “greatest black philanthropist in American History.” She is a voice of authority for millions.

That clip is the lead-in for a 30-second commercial on Sirius (satellite radio) pitching the Joel Osteen channel. Oprah attended Lakewood Church in Houston – regularly cited as America’s largest church – to experience the effects of Osteen’s up-beat message. Often (accurately) linked to the “Health and Wealth” movement within Protestant Pentecostalism, Joel seldom navigates into the defense of theology, preferring to keep it positive – all good, all the time – and motivate his listeners to pursue their personal aspirations.

“God wants you to have a big life,” Osteen reminds his flock. “That is his blessing. God has a big dream for your life.” Who couldn’t get on-board with that kind of promise? In a world that seems to be full of trial and travail, the author of books like Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps…, Become a Better You: 7 Keys…, Good, Better, Blessed, You Can, You Will, The Power of I Am, and Think Better, Live Better must have found the answer(s). With publisher advances of $15 million, the evidence is clear: it works (for him). In America, success sells…

Sirius satellite may have some competition in the “modern theology” niche; the Fall Season has launched in American prime-time with a slew of new offerings. Among them, God Friended Me has landed in a coveted Sunday evening timeslot on CBS. The plot is clever: a young man – son of a pastor, mom died when he was eight in a car accident after beating cancer, now an outspoken atheist producing a podcast denying the existence of God that he hopes to be picked up for national syndication – receives text alerts from God, asking him to accept Him as a friend. Once he hits “accept,” he receives heads-up messages about random people in advance of some tragic twist, allowing him to intervene as hero.

The best seller in history is the Bible, and the first words written that would become part of that 66 book collection – claiming to be “inspired by God” – were these: “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East… (Job 1). The 42 chapters that follow the introduction would never find their way into a modern motivational podcast. Was Job just a “negative thinker?”

Now hear this, from the Savior who knew that his followers wouldn’t always be popular: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:10-12). God promises prosperity and happiness, in heaven; it may not happen here.

If we need a friend, God has already friended us. Proof, before Facebook: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you…” (John 15:13-15). If you need a friend, check out Jesus’ offer:

  1. accept the promise of His redemptive sacrifice as the ultimate act of friendship; then,
  2. do what He commands, to realize the full value of the relationship.

Modern people need to hear some good news: maybe that Good News isn’t modern…

Bob Shank

What if you could help them Think Different?

 “Hi Bob. You don’t know me, but I read your newsletter
”

I was in an airport – waiting to board my flight back to Orange County (home) – when that chance encounter took place. He knew me
 but I didn’t know him.

How did he get on the distribution list for the Point of View? A friend from his Convene group had pointed him to our website, and he had subscribed (clarification: this is not a newsletter; rather, it’s a weekly commentary on what’s happening, written from a biblical point of view).

The Point of View – delivered as an outbound blog posting every week – is the current version of what started at the Fax of Encouragement in 1989, that was sent every Monday to a few hundred people. Today, PoV lands in about 5000 e-mail boxes, across the USA and assorted countries beyond. Apple Computer used the advertising slogan Think Different from 1997 to 2002. That’s been my objective for the last 25 years, with nothing to sell.

The Christian experience has always been served by leaders whose letters have been broadly circulated. Peter opened his first epistle with that reminder: “ …writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours! ” (1 Peter 1:1-2, The Message).

We’re living in a world – and, embedded in a culture – that is message-loaded: the barrage of propaganda from worldviews that are competitive with and contrary to the Truth we have from God is unrelenting. PoV starts the week with a conversation that challenges some hot topic in the headlines… and resets the conversational table with another perspective can have great value.

That’s our task: Think Different. Like Peter’s audience of exiles, we’re all living in this world on a temporary basis, waiting to be taken home to Heaven – permanently – where we’ll finally fit-in.

If you appreciate this time we have together every Monday – and, if you sometimes forward to friends – I’d like to ask you to expand our reach and extend your influence.

The Challenge: forward this edition of PoV to your friends, along with a note explaining that you’ve arranged for them to receive a free subscription to my weekly commentary.

The Point of View can be a fresh perspective on a subject that’s in play in the office this week… or a conversation starter among Christian peers who Think Different, together. Pastors quote from it; friends re-send it to their groups. How might it serve your friends as they process life in a world without a biblical moral compass?

This offer has no inherent limits: forward it to 10 – or, 100 – friends you’d like to add to the weekly distribution. Be generous; be strategic: who are the men and women in your world whose influence you’d like to influence?

Next week, I’ll be back in my normal commentary mode. Why not get some friends and/or colleagues into this dialog?

Helping leaders Think Different,

Bob Shank

PS: Watch for a special invitation this week from my next-gen ministry partner, Noah Elias,  inviting you to check-out our new platform, www.masters.life/start.  Click on the link for a preview!

How we can change the nation

All election, all the time. Is that a blessing?

Welcome to the next 43 days of the American reality show. The “big choices” will be ours on November 6th: The confirmation process for the Supreme Court justice is the dramatic War of the Titans leading up to the winner-take-all contest that is just six weeks out


Some are wearing “Make America Great Again” caps; others are saying that America was never really that great. Patriotism is claimed by all; acting out that assertion – and choosing candidates based on their promises – is the citizens’ responsibility. What else can one person do to change things?

A short course – on one page – about what we can do to bring back “God Bless America.” Our flag salute says we’re “One Nation, Under God,” but in God’s vernacular, we’re “under God” in one of two conditions: we’re either under His Blessing, or under His Curse.

Psalm 1 kicks-off Israel’s Hymnbook with a short-but-catchy tune about living under God’s blessing. It’s worth a read; the opening line says a lot: “Blessed is the man who…” It paints a clear distinction between people who look to godless sources for “wise counsel,” and the people who listen to God for their key inputs. Blessed people are listening to different voices than the cursed crowd…

“But wait!” you say. “I’m a Christian, so I can’t be cursed!” Sorry, my friend. All Christians are saved, but not all of them live under the blessing of God. Proof? The Old Testament ends with it


According to Malachi, “I the Lord do not change…” Point: this isn’t “old;” it’s timeless. Going on, “…Return to me, and I will return to you…” Point: action is needed, on our part. Back to Malachi: “…you rob Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings…” Clarity: the tithe is 10% off-the-top of gross income; offerings are the over-and-above the tithe, and it’s the giving that denotes generosity. The person who is tithing is not generous; he is faithful. Obedience is critical.

Malachi goes on: “…You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing Me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse… Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven…” Insight: the only other time the term “floodgates” is used in the Bible is back in Genesis, talking about Noah’s deluge. Two citations: Genesis cites God’s overwhelming judgment, and Malachi promises God’s overwhelming abundance. Wow. He finishes: “…and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it…” (Malachi 3:6-12).

Two pictures: the curse, and the blessing. These are God’s people, but they are living like the godless because they are not being obedient. Don’t mistake God’s grace – His unearned favor, which is the basis for your eternal salvation – and God’s blessing – His provision for His children who choose to be obedient to His clear instructions, which position themselves through their faithful disciplines to receiving God’s blessing. Grace is a gift from God; blessing is earned from God.

National statistics are sobering: among Catholics, 2% are tithers. Among Pentecostals, the number rises to 11%. The Evangelical community “wins” at 24% who meet the minimums. Whoopee!

Evangelicals are the leading losers; we only have 76% who are living without God’s blessing! A huge “ah-ha!” moment: there are only two zip codes among God’s people. You’re either blessed, or cursed. What does it mean to be “cursed?” You’re living outside God’s blessing.

Most Christians in America are suffering under the same effects as the godless around them. Why? They have chosen to live like the other side; they consider obedience to be optional.

We’re 43 days from the Election, but we’re 98 days from year-end. Here’s a challenge, from Bob-o to you: God invites us to “Test Me now, and see…” If you’re among the majority who are living outside the blessing, why not test God? Give Him the first dime from every dollar, now ‘til New Years…

At our house, about 35 years ago, we tested God; He passed the test. We’re blessed and generous. Government doesn’t bless us; God does. Are you blessed, or missing out?

Bob Shank

It’s about time

What time is it?

Don’t ask Phil Connors that question: for him, it really didn’t matter. In the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, Phil was stuck in a strange time loop, repeating the same day, continuously. If life isn’t moving toward some significant futuristic horizon – if every day is just a do-over – then asking the time, as if the answer would spark some urgency, is meaningless.

According to the Bible, there is a day when urgency would be dismissed: “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.” (2 Peter 3:3-4). The “last days” would be “days without end,” according to scoffers…

Are these the “last days?” A generation ago, that question was frequently posed in and around the Christian community. Sunday morning sermons on prophecy were not uncommon; speculation about some of the milestone markers related to the End Times could keep small groups in heated exchanges long after the coffee and desserts had disappeared. These days, that discussion has mostly disappeared…

If you’re feeling under the weather, a trip to your primary care physician could become a pop quiz: he/she will pose a series of questions seeking the presence – or, intensity – of symptoms that will, upon completion, allow an accurate diagnosis and subsequent prescription.

Here are some markers that Scripture aligns with the progression of the prophecy clock. For each, think about your lifetime: has this increased (+); decreased (−), or remained constant (=) ??

  • Decline of unity and commitment in Christian community; false teaching.  + − =
  • Claims of faith, but character that mirrors the culture.  + − =
  • Extensive travel, and expansion of information.  + − =
  • Intense persecution, especially toward Christians, that threatens extinction.  + − =
  • Belief that creation lasts forever, without any Creator or conclusion.  + − =
  • Earthquakes, natural disasters and threats of cosmic catastrophes.  + − =
  • Conflicts between tribal groups, and wars between countries.  + − =
  • Deniers of divinity who live with no moral boundaries or sense of accountability. + − =

Click here for the biblical citations from which that summation of symptoms is extracted. You tell me: are these on the rise, on the decline… or holding steady? In the few decades of your adult life, has the movement foretold across millennia been in keeping with God’s projection, or not?

When Peter looks at the clock – and the careening culture that seems destined for a future collision – he says it demands a personal determination: “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 3:11-13).

So… what time is it?

Bob Shank