The missing message – and ultimate solution from Somebody

Somebody: do something…

Unless you live in Broward County, Florida, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School would have never crossed your mind. But, since last week, the public high school has become a national flashpoint for an ongoing political debate. The cry for action is emotionally charged: Somebody: do something…

In crisis, everyone moves into natural response mode. Politicians give speeches; Presidents tweet; members of Congress propose legislation; law enforcement professionals expose security flaws and suggest strategies; Students plan protests and call for action. Somebody: do something…

In the face of tragedy, there is a strata of citizenry that runs across the matrix of all of the aforementioned polarized positions: self-professed Christians. If faith is more than a demographic – if the Christian faith gives us access to truth that is sourced in God and foundational in providing understanding for the most unthinkable crisis – then finding some basis for the disruptions of life in what we deem a “civilized society” is the believer’s default.

The question is resonating: why did Nikolas Jacob Cruz walk onto the campus of his former school with an AR-15 rifle and kill 17 people? And, more urgently: how can we keep it from ever happening again? Somebody: do something…

Regarding the “why” question: here is some background that applies to this malestrom that must be understood:

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5).

“He did evil, because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 12:14).

“For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water.” (Isaiah 32:6).

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person…” (Matthew 15:18-20).

In the space of a tweet, here’s the truth: the unredeemed heart is evil; it looks away from God, who is holy. A society that elevates adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander will be an environment that fosters murder. When faith in Jesus Christ is called “mental illness” by talk show hosts while Christian Clubs – and Bibles – are banned on school campuses, lone gunmen will come in their place. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…” (Isaiah 5:20).

Somebody: do something. “Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure – you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts. My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.” (Psalm 7:9-10).

Christians: why not propose God – and, holiness – as the solution?

Bob Shank

What’s the point of Wednesday, Valentine’s Day? Lust?

Lust. It’s on the menu for this week… but most don’t know what they’re talking about.

For the last few months, lust – past and present – has been in the headlines. Out of control people with power over others – mostly men, just a few women – have been exposed for their histories of sexual abuse and exploitation. Lust doesn’t live in the same universe with love.

Love is in the air; Valentine’s Day is an apolitical, weather-insensitive fact of life. Radical swings in the stock market may affect car sales and home buying, but the annual date night scheduled for Wednesday will not be affected by any market correction.

Flowers. Chocolates. Stuffed animals. Restaurants. Spas. Any gift or service that might solve the “what am I going to get her?” dilemma is ripe for retail exploitation. And, if the holiday is, for you, a table-for-one moment, E-Harmony and Farmers Only are standing in the wings to connect you to your ideal match, so that – if successful – you can join the gift-buying frenzy next year.

They don’t know what they’re talking about. It isn’t about a cheap – and, frivolous – throw-away token, accompanied by a Hallmark card. If you don’t know love, you cannot convey it.

In modern culture, circa 2018, lust lingers on the fringe of many relationships, often posing as love. Lust approaches other people with plans to take; love redefines a relationship, as it comes only to give. Lust leaves the other person diminished; love leaves the recipient benefited. The +/- measure is the emotional metric that registers… the morning after.

Our culture is “lookin’ for love, in all the wrong places.” Some men grew up with a secret stash of Playboy under their bed; some women find fantasy – though not fulfillment – in Harlequin paperbacks or The Bachelor tv program. Date nights in the new era could end up in a dark theater, going love-blind with Fifty Shades of Grey. Porn sights are top-draws on the internet; the futile alternatives are emotionally empty.

This is nothing new; the genuine article is portrayed in timeless insight from the Source whose motives are always selfless. Most Christians go to 1 Corinthians 13 to explore love. That’s great… but in the Upper Room – the night before he became the ultimate Valentine gift – Jesus addressed love 24 times. Listen to some of his highlights (from John 13-16):

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. (13:1) 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (13:34-35)

“If you love me, you will obey what I command… Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (14:15, 21)

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” (14:23-24)

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (15:9-10)

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (15:11-13)

Harlequin – the trashy paperback provider of fantasy lust for love-starved women – has nothing on the Author of Love. The modern romance novel portrays relationships very differently than the God who came to demonstrate the Real Deal. “God so loved the world that He gave…” (John 3:16) is, perhaps, the most remembered line of the New Testament.

Oh, by the way: did you notice the overwhelming – and, obvious – coaching offered by Jesus about the if/then status of real love? “If you love me, you will obey…” Claims of love for God are untested until validated by volition: “prove your love by doing what I’ve told you to do.”

With Jesus, every day is Valentine’s Day… and all He wants is action.

When winners become losers instead of valuable

No one left early.

Super Bowl 52 is now in the books. It will command headlines today as the drama that took place in that majestic new stadium in Minneapolis is hashed and rehashed on sports pages and football blogs, as writers and hacks give their opinions on what happened.

As is often true, it was a game of quarterbacks. One of them registered 505 passing yards and three touchdown passes; the other came up short with just 373 in the air – with three touchdowns as well. And, a phenomenon unique to this Super Bowl: both quarterbacks tried some sleight-of-hand. Each team ran a play with their quarterback playing the role of receiver. The guy with the 500+ yards in the air bobbled the ball; the runner-up in passing yardage made the catch, which made a touchdown. It was a 60 minute face-off: Brady vs Foles.

But duels don’t win wars. The winning quarterback – according to the stats – was on the losing team. Brady was named the Most Valuable Player in the NFL – for the season – but the quarterback who was the runner-up in stats took home the Vince Lombardi trophy… and was named the Most Valuable Player of the night.

The only stat that mattered last night in Minnesota was the score when the clock ran out. Eagles: 41; New England: 33. Game over…

Life doesn’t pass without effects. Whether it’s 60 minutes on a football field, or 80 years on planet Earth, there are inconsequential minutes that produce no results… and there are actions and outcomes that prove meaningful and become historic. Each play – each day – starts with the same potential for impact, but most don’t make their way to the edited highlight reel that archives the unforgettable moments that made the difference.

The Super Bowl captures the attention of the culture, but every day of our life is being reviewed by the Official in Heaven, who never misses a moment. Life’s scoreboard will tell the tale; the stats will disappear, but the plays/days that mattered will never be forgotten.

From the Head Coach, to his 12 leaders-in-training: “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19:28-30)

Each of those twelve men had a moment when their options were before them, and they made a judgment call. Would they stay on their prior course – living already-full lives that had no surplus of time and energy – or would they make the decision to align with the man and movement that claimed historic significance and eternal potential?

Here’s the principle: in life, the great breakthroughs always come at a valuable price. Both-and is our preference; either-or is the inescapable reality. You can play for the stats… or you can go for the win and be valuable in God’s Kingdom. The choice to favor individual records over team victory will get some ribbons… but it’s a decision that can prove costly. Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first…

Your life – today, and every day – is valuable and will be played with the clock running. Most plays will be forgettable; a few will matter. The ones that matter will either matter here, now… or later, there.

You’ll make that valuable choice…

Trouble: if you’re a leader, you can expect it…

The morning newspaper used to be a ritual for many/most people (especially leaders): spend a few minutes getting up-to-speed about what happened in the prior 24 hours – while they were focused on their own domain of engagement – and, then, get back in the game. News, weather and sports


The paper-at-the-door is so old school. Today, headlines hit mobile devices with no concern for interruption. And, unless it’s an Amber Alert or a robo-call announcing impending disaster, the teaser looks more like yesterday’s tabloids than today’s thoughtful update.

What are the filters that determine what’s newsworthy today? First, the subject must be famous: average people don’t get the coverage, unless they’ve decided to incite indiscriminate death. Then, the priority points toward trouble. “Difficulty or problems” is Webster’s brief on trouble. The last sort on trouble: was it a virtual ambush, or self-inflicted?

Trouble that results from bad acts – whether intentional or accidental – stirs no sympathy. Moguls who use privilege as a license to be abusive have always been problematic: everyone knows a villain or two, and their demise draws applause. Criminal behavior has statutes of limitation and rules of evidence
 but when public acceptance or reputation are the issue, those conditions don’t apply: sins of the past live in the shadows, ready for the revelation that often carry a virtual death penalty. No one mourns when someone has a head-on collision with the consequences for their own misbehavior


The trouble that comes looking for you is entirely different. Often, it rises to the level of tribulation: the distress or suffering that comes from oppression or persecution. Whether claimed or not, the status of victim is granted by the onlookers; they know it’s “not fair.”

From our earliest days, most sane people plot a course that seeks to avoid trouble. Life is tough enough without making it worse by setting cause-effect calamity in motion. The Dumb Tax is collected daily; living in a way that mitigates that fee is the path called “wisdom.”

It’s those dreaded tribulations that keep you on your toes. When word comes that a friend has encountered hardship that was not the result of their own bad acts, it stimulates a compassion that picks up the phone rather than setting up an auto-block for their private line. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity” (Solomon; Proverbs 17:17).

Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas both died in 2014, but their co-authored book, Geeks & Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders lives on at Amazon. Published in 2002, their observations are timeless. One finding at the core of their treatise: every leader, regardless of age, has undergone at least one intense, transformational experience – what they call a crucible. “These events can either make you or break you. For emerging leaders, they do more making than breaking, providing key lessons to help a person move ahead confidently.”

When God walks us through His Leadership Hall of Fame – in Hebrews 11 – He points out the sign in the exhibit that explains the tribulation/trouble in each display: “… others were tortured and refused to be released … some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about … destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them.” (vs 35-38). Leadership disallows the “opt-out” feature for tribulation


I want to avoid dumb-trouble; no sense bringing it on myself. I’ve learned, however, that there is a brand of tribulation and trouble that can’t be avoided… if you expect to lead.

You’ve learned that, too, haven’t you? Hang in there, friend. Just the other side of that kind of trouble comes credibility; you cannot achieve that distinction without it.

Bob Shank

What’s your rate?

Did you rate a team in the preseason?  The wait is over: it’s New England and Philadelphia. The dream-above-all-dreams in Minneapolis became a nightmare yesterday, when the Vikings left the Eagles’ home field in defeat. The Pro Bowl in Orlando will be next week’s fix for the pigskin addicts who are gearing-up for Super Bowl LII.

It will be all-Super Bowl, all the time for the ESPN cult until February 4th.  We don’t call it “Super Bowl” for nothing: the World Cup gets a bigger international audience, but don’t tell that to red blooded Americans. Time stands still on the last NFL day of the (playing) year. Every Pop Warner kid, all of the high school wannabe’s, the college athletes: they all fall asleep with visions of heaven someday
 as long as “heaven” involves a game watched by hundreds of millions, and a ring that proves that they made it to the top of their competitive heap.

A few years ago, there was a team watching the NFL playoffs with stopwatches instead of nachos, commissioned by the Wall Street Journal to dissect the game clocks. The question: on average, where did the time go? How was the time broadcasting the contest on the field really spent?

Here are their findings:

Average Broadcast Length: 185 minutes
Average Time in Commercials: 60 minutes
Huddles or Stand Around Time: 75 minutes
Replays for the TV Audience: 17 minutes
Cut-aways to refs or coaches-in-headsets 13 minutes
Actual Playing Time: 11 minutes

At what rate do those guys in helmets get paid for their work? The average salary in the NFL last season was $ 2.1 million (not including signing or post-season bonuses). If a team goes to the Super Bowl, they play 24 games in the season. Do the math:

24 games  x  11 minutes per game  =  264 minutes of playing time
$ 2.1 million average annual pay  /  264 minutes  =  $ 7,954/minute of playing time

The rate formula’s assumption: the player would be on the field for every play of the game, which never happens. The pay meter is running – for every player on the field, on the bench – if the team is playing.

That’s good work, if you can get it! Listen, those pros work for decades to get a shot at those minutes, and their intense preparation – off season, preseason, and during the season – is not factored into that equation. But when you want to boil it down to the nubs, it is interesting that the time that really matters is when the ball is in play. All of the rest points to those moments when the outcome is determined, and win-or-lose hangs in the balance.

Here’s the point: there are some moments in life that mean more than others. Most of life’s minutes are spent; some are invested. Most hours are wasted; some are spent getting ready for something that never happens, and a few really prepare for the moments when win/lose, success/failure are on the line.

How do you score in the Savior’s Super Bowl? Eternity’s touchdowns are marked by people added to a roster called “The Lamb’s Book of Life.” Populate Heaven, and the team scores. What’s your rate? Participate in the play – whether you’re carrying the ball or blocking on the line – and you did your part.

Are you on the field in the Great Commission Stadium? Or, watching from the stands?

Bob Shank

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Will your birthday ever be a holiday?

Would you like your own holiday like Martin Luther King, Jr? It’s simple: start a significant Movement… and, then, be willing to die for it.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, recognizing his birth on January 15, 1929. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the unelected yet undisputed leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America; his approach was nonviolent, and his message was instructive and inspiring. Martin Luther King, Jr. is most remembered for his “I Have a Dream” speech before 250,000 people, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. It is remembered as the “defining moment of the civil rights movement.” Sadly, he was assassinated five years later; Martin Luther King. Jr. was 39.

Movements are mysterious; they’re much more difficult to identify and quantify than organizations. Organizations are legal entities; when formed, they have articles of incorporation, officers, a board… and a virtual birth certificate. They file tax returns; their activities are measured – numerically – and tracked for growth and decline, profit and loss. They have competition; they employ staff; they reward shareholders: you know what they’ve accomplished, and they live-or-die based on empirical factors. They may make some – the fortunate – wealthy; at best, they’ll do no harm while they create value for their owners and employees.

Movements live in a different atmosphere than organizations. They have no official birth date, and – if effective – they are able to live beyond the lifespans of their adherents. They’re impossible to audit, because their success factors are not subject to inventory and headcounts. Their successes include visible and invisible outcomes; they are likely to spawn additional spin-off efforts that gain traction and go places that the original movement would have never reached. They change the world.

Movements come in two basic types: oppositional, and propositional. The Oppositional stands against something… but, often, fails to say what they’re for. Occupy Wall Street was oppositional. They knew what they were against, but it’s not clear what they were for.

Propositional movements are defined by a message that inspires loyalty and sacrifice. Though they may require protest to gain audience or demonstrate the power of their followership, at the end of the day, they have a truth that they’re calling into action. The Civil Rights Movement was propositional; they embraced the best of what America declared itself to be and had yet failed to put into reality.

Today, you’re probably on modified assignment: your office is closed to the public, even if you’ve snuck in to get some work done. Schools are closed; banks are shuttered; mail won’t be delivered; government workers aren’t working. The day has been set-aside to remember the leader of a Movement. The Civil Rights movement resulted in accomplishments in America… but the movement has not gone out of vogue, because we still have corrections and improvements to make until we get to the day when all men and women who have been created equal are equal – before the law, throughout society – and we reflect the highest ideals expressed in what our founders wrote.

Today, the leaders of another Movement are meeting in Houston; as Dr. King said in Washington 55 years ago, they have a dream for a future that is dramatically different than the current reality. They recognize that the documents inspired by their founders portrayed a reality that has not yet been achieved, but they’re committed to progress toward the achievement.

The founders were the leaders inspired by the Lord Jesus Christ. Their documents archived Jesus’ declaration that the Gospel would go to every people group, drawing people from every language (7000+ at last count) into His Movement. To accomplish that – in every generation – would involve people finding their divine assignment and fulfilling it.

In Houston this weekend, scores of leaders from The Barnabas Group, The Master’s Program for Women and The Master’s Program are mobilizing to unleash Christian leaders into Kingdom Leadership. A bold initiative that has been accelerating for 20+ years, and is at a Tipping Point.

Would you pray for us as we conspire to inspire? We have a Dream…

It isn’t over until it’s over – and it’s not over yet, especially for Early Adopters

Late to the party? You might as well stay home; you’ve probably missed the good stuff


It’s not likely that you’ve read the book – Diffusion of Innovations – but you’ve probably heard the concept, and used some of its verbiage.

Everett Rogers – professor (emeritus) at the University of New Mexico wrote the book in 1962, but it was in its fifth printing in 2003, just before his death. His premise: new concepts that ultimately gain wide acceptance are not universally embraced upon introduction. Over time, there are five waves of engagement: Innovators (2.5%), Early Adopters (13.5%), Early Majority (34%), Late Majority (34%), and Laggards (16%).

Innovators attend the invitation-only events that offer the privileged few a chance to see the Next Great Thing (NGT) before it hits the showrooms. Early Adopters know an Innovator – based on their insider tip about the NGT – and use their network connections to wrangle a first-generation delivery before the lines form for the release. The Early Majority lines up outside the retail showroom to get their hands on the NGT and impress their friends. The Late Majority – friends of the Early Majority – wait for the lines to disappear and the second operating system update before they order theirs. Amazon Prime delivers their package the next day, but when they flash it at the office, no one is impressed. The Laggards remain clueless until the next version of the NGT is already in the hands of the Innovators to place their order…

Where, in that academia-meets-marketplace adoption curve, does risk abide? It’s pretty obvious: the Innovators and Early Adopters are the entrepreneurs who embrace risk as the price of leadership. If you have a long-term allergy toward taking chances, you’ll do life in the Late Majority crowd, claiming superiority over the Laggards but missing the returns reserved for the risk-takers.

I know you’ve already put Christmas back into storage and you’re in the office this morning, but the Catholic and Orthodox communities didn’t finish their annual Birth of Jesus focus until yesterday, when they celebrated the Epiphany. Don’t miss that separate-from-the-manger moment


Most of us have the Reformation buffer, distancing us from the liturgical Christian world. The Feast of Epiphany recalls, among other things, the arrival of the Magi to worship the Child King.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi (wise, royal elites) 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.’” (Matthew 2).

The Christmas crĂšche had been disassembled; the Shepherds had returned to their sheep and the family had moved out of the stable and into a home. A star visible in lands east of Israel had captured the attention of erudite philosophers – with power and resources – and they undertook a significant journey to seek and secure a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When a future royal is born, you send a card and flowers; these high-level dignitaries committed massive time and resources to find and worship an extraordinary child whose future put him above the common political power structures.

The Shepherds were Innovators; but the Magi were Early Adopters. They embraced risk in pursuit of a high return. Interesting: they invited Herod to the pre-release party; he tried – but, failed – to shut down the competition of the Christ Child before the NGT got out of hand…

The Laggards will wait to get on-board until it’s too late: “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).

Hey, Magi: we’re still in the Early Adopters category, and we’ve been given invitations to distribute to the Majority. It’s crucial that they get in to meet the Son of Man before he returns as the Son of God.

Bob Shank

2018: Use It, or Lose It

If you use the approach that got you here, you’ll likely stay here
 and you’ll never find out what could have been possible.

This week, you have an opportunity that won’t be yours much longer, so use it. You have the calendar for a new year open before you, and it’s a canvas on which you can create a masterpiece year that will be featured in the gallery of your lifetime. Which is better: another bucolic scene with grazing sheep? Or, an epic painting that captures the conquest that changed the course of history?

Forget everything you ever learned about Time Management; what you learned about Time Management (TM) was simply a clever way to rearrange the clutter of demands that you call a “life.” Hit the “delete button” and get ready for a reset.

You’re ready to use Time Leadership (TL). Management maintains status-quo; leadership initiates powerful change. TM was a means to squeeze more from hours and minutes; TL will change the way you allocate days. With TM, your smallest unit was a half-hour; with TL, you work with half-days: morning (breakfast-lunch); afternoon (lunch-dinner), and evening (dinner-bedtime). You have 21 half-days every week, and they are the blocks with which you build the cathedral you call “life.”

You have three varieties of half-days possible, though you’ve probably allowed one type to dominate your life. The three variations to use are:

  • Sabbath: lacking in most stories, these are the scheduled periods of rest/renewal/restoration/ relationships that were modeled by God in Genesis 1, and mandated by Moses in Exodus 20. You need 15% of your half-days set-aside for things that begin with “re-” These are high-value times; plan to invest them well!
  • Focus: these are the closed-door, phone-off, single-emphasis segments (half-day: three hour minimums) that are game-changers. “What is he/she doing in there?” is the mystery for the  managers: it’s your Bat-cave, where – in seclusion – leaders conceive and pursue the initiatives that put points on the scoreboard and wins in the season record. At work, at home, in the realm  of the Kingdom: anywhere you’re leading, you must allocate Focus time. Without it, your claims of leadership are unfounded; with it, you’ll give propulsion to the dreams that become your greatest achievements, and make the most powerful memories.
  • Buffer: these are the “between” times that just happen, without intentionality. No effort is required to have a Buffer day; in fact, most of 2017 was – by default – Buffer, for you. It’s a Buffer day when you show up – door open, phone blazing, in-box growing – and become reactive, from start to finish. You’re serving the agendas of others, not your own. To-do lists at work, and honey-do lists at home plot your itinerary. You’re a fireman, at best. If you have no plan for leadership, there’s a lot to manage
 and you’ll stay busy doing things that won’t be remembered in a week. If you’re looking for historic, iconic wins, you won’t find them in a Buffer day: it’s an environment guaranteed to stifle leadership and squelch initiative.

Open your calendar; spread your months before you. This is an action challenge: where will your Sabbath times be protected? Where will your Focus be dedicated? Your new year will be invested or spent, based on the presence of Sabbath and Focus. Without them, Buffer will squander 2018


While your calendar is open, here are two Focus opportunities to use. Career Focus: May 2-4 is our Leadership Summit, in Newport Beach. You belong there! Family Focus: October 17-27 is our Kingdom Leaders Strategic Experience in Israel. More than a “Holy Land Tour,” we’ll see both the past and present in the place central to the Author’s story of history. You and your spouse belong there!   Book those two experiences now
 or, Buffer will beat you, and 2018 will be yet-another calendar page stacked onto the ho-hum pile of your personal history


I’ll be with you – every Monday! – as we navigate through a new year, together!

Be careful with your after-Christmas sails

As you wrap-up 2017 and point your bow into 2018, which way is the wind blowing?

What a year. A contested election; storms, floods and fires from coast-to-coast; a stock market climbing to historic highs; leaders in every sector toppled by revelations of past indiscretions; consumer confidence is “up,” while unemployment is “down;” a tax bill is passed, and offshore corporate capital makes plans to come home: has this been a good year for you?

You don’t live as an “average American.” In case you wonder about the folks next door, here’s their current debt load, before they add this year’s Christmas/after-Christmas spending (as reported on Sunday – on Christmas Eve! – by the Motley Fool):

Credit Cards: $15,654
Mortgage: $173,995
Auto Loans: $27,669
Student Loans: $46,597

For people with those monthly payment demands mixed in with their Christmas cards, there will be little peace and joy at the kitchen table as they do what they can to close their 2017 checkbook.

If those numbers tell the story that swirls around you today, I just prayed for you. Folks who receive and read this weekly blog aren’t likely to be in that cash-strapped category. More likely, you have a history of following biblical principles in your financial affairs, and God has been faithful. Tithe on your gross; manage your consumption; maintain reserves to smooth over the potholes; live beneath your means; avoid unnecessary debt: God’s wisdom has made you wise.

The Scriptures use metaphor to make spiritual concepts come to life. One analogy used frequently portrays the power of God likened to the wind: “The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” (Psalm 135:6-7)

During Jesus’ three years of ministry, he proved that wind is under divine influence: “In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’” (Luke 8:25)  

When the Lord Jesus sent his promised Holy Spirit to his followers – at Pentecost – wind was a part of the spectacle: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting
 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
” (Acts 2)  

Have you felt the wind at your back this year? Have the last 12 months been, for you, a time of unusual prosperity? “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do?…” (Luke 12). His abundant harvest opened options for him, at year’s end; he was at a fork in the road, and he chose the path of the fool rather than the fast-lane of faithfulness.

He built bigger-barns. He missed the wise option: bigger offerings. The wind of God’s blessing had made his year a “best-ever,” and the decision he made to hoard his prosperity shifted God’s power from a tailwind to a headwind. God didn’t take long to indicate his opinion: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (vs 20)

Big Lesson: don’t mess with the God who controls the wind. The same power that delivered prosperity can bring calamity, determined by what we do next.

It’s the last week of 2017: if your sails are full of God’s wind-of-blessing, make the right moves that keep His wind at your back, sailing into 2018. By God’s design, great harvests were to enable great generosity; they were never intended to fill ever-bigger barns


Is it a Wonderful Life? You decide.

This month, millions of wonderful people will watch George Bailey – alone, on the bridge – as he looks back and wonders if his decision about his life’s direction was wrong and not wonderful.

He’s only 38, but he’s given the best years of his life to the people of Bedford Falls as he operated the family’s Building & Loan. His arch-enemy – the scheming and ruthless banker Henry Potter – was always lurking in the shadows. George’s Uncle Billy is a scatterbrain; he loses the B&L’s bank deposit at Potter’s bank, driving George to the bridge. Potter’s brutal comment – “You’re worth more dead than alive” – makes his life insurance benefit a possible solution to the B&L’s shortfall. The bank examiner is coming to check the books: will he shut them down because they’re insolvent?

Would the world have been better off without George’s life work for the community at the Building & Loan? Maybe it is time to end it all and let his insurance proceeds cover Billy’s goof; lucky for George, Clarence – the apprentice angel – is there to help answer that question


This month, millions of people will watch Mary of Nazareth – in a stable, at the manger – and see a doting mother with a child she knows will become famous. She heard it from an angel: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Mary doesn’t end up on a bridge; instead, she finds herself in a crowd, at a public execution, with her adult son on a cross. He was supposed to be the long-awaited Messiah – with the promise of an eternal kingdom – but his public acclaim has turned to shame as he hangs naked between common criminals. Watching a divine plan unfold – without yet knowing the full story – the justice system of heaven recognizes that the Lamb of God is worth more dead than alive. Christmas – his birth – didn’t save anyone, but Easter – his death and resurrection – could save everyone.

From the bridge, Clarence is able to show George the alternative past, and how life would have been for Bedford Falls had he never grown up to serve the town. He sees what evil would have done without his intervention, and becomes convinced that his life had meaning.

From the cross, the Lord Jesus knew the past and future, and how life would have been for all humanity had he never come to offer himself as sin’s sacrifice. He knows what evil would have done without his intervention, and knows that his death had meaning.

I’ve been on the bridge the last few days. That’s not unusual; every year – during the last few days of December – I go to the bridge. Uncle Billy “lost” the Building & Loan’s capital; for 11 months every year, our TMP capital erodes by funding ministry without sufficient donations to cover the cost. Wonderful? This year, our shortfall was $350,000. As of today, about $150,000 has come in to restore the reserves


What do I think about when I’m on the bridge? The question George wrestled with is always on my mind: was my decision to create The Master’s Program the right move? Would the world have been better off if we didn’t exist?

Haven’t you asked that question, for yourself? Doesn’t the Enemy look for opportunities to catch us all at our moments of self-evaluation and accuse us of failure? Potter is channeling the Enemy when he derides George: “You’re worth more dead than alive.” Is he right?

Since we started The Master’s Program in 1997, we’ve helped thousands of men and women increase their positive impact on people, with effects that stretch into Eternity. This weekly Point of View, our multiple programs – for men and women – that help them discover their unique Kingdom Calling; everything we do seeks to serve that end. We’re a non-profit ministry, and – for most of the year – we consume our reserves. Like George Bailey in the movie, we are rescued – every year – by the community we’ve served in the past who come alongside us to close the gap…

It’s a Wonderful Life, for sure: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (John 15:16). I know he chose us, and I know we’ve born fruit. We’re asking in his name
 and we’re trusting that he will provide what we need, through friends like you.

If you could help us with the last $200,000, click here and see your options.

Thanks for being my Clarence,

Bob Shank

You’ve been appointed – chosen – have you heard?

Chosen… for a purpose.

Great things are usually the result of important things done – over a long period of time – that mature into magnificence. Three years of day-after-day work in the neighborhoods of Judea and the rural areas of Galilee had led to a Passover Feast in a borrowed banquet hall in Jerusalem. Jesus capped it with this: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last…” (John 15:16). Chosen… for a purpose: “…go and bear fruit.”

In God-talk, fruit represents people brought into his family, here and now, so that he can one day bring them into his Heaven, there and then. The Apostles were not the “end of the line;” his investment in them would result in a historic impact on people who would one day populate Heaven. We’re here – all of today’s followers of Jesus – with a spiritual lineage that traces back to the Twelve.

You’re saying, “Wait, Bob; that ‘Upper Room’ scene is part of the Easter story!” Big picture: Christmas was the opening act in the drama; the Upper Room sets the stage for the sequel: what comes next – the expansion of God’s redemptive solution to mankind’s hopeless condition. That’s the epic in which the Apostles and we have been appointed by God to play our parts. Chosen… for a purpose.

Jesus left carpentry when he was 30 to spend the rest of his life helping 12 business leaders find their calling. I left the construction industry when I was 31 to spend the rest of my life helping business leaders find their calling. This ministry structure is 33 years old; we launched The Master’s Program 21 years ago to help leaders find and fulfill their Kingdom Calling. Everything we do is directed toward that outcome: that they – you! – would realize that God has appointed you to go and bear fruit that would last. We help 3rd Soil people become 4th Soil producers, and show those 4th Soil producers how to go from 30x to 60x, and – ultimately – 100x returns.

You know us; every week, I share perspectives about life and leadership, offered from a biblical Point of View. You know about our principal focus, in The Master’s Program: we help Christian leaders explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling. For 20 years, we’ve been sending TMP grads into a 100x high-impact future, to change their world and build God’s Kingdom.

It’s December, and you’re on lots of lists. Great ministries look for generous people like you who can partner with them as you – and, they – head into the year-end. Cheri and I are on those lists as well; like you, we give generously to ministries that are producing Kingdom fruit.

Most ministries raise money all year long; we don’t. We serve leaders – like you! – all year, but we focus our fundraising to December, when most of our friends do most of their giving. We expend reserves for 11 months, and restore them in the 12th. This month, it will take $350,000 to restore our reserves and end 2017 at breakeven, ready to keep our ministry efforts uninterrupted into 2018.

Peter Drucker made this observation about Bob Buford, almost 20 years ago: “Your fruit grows on other people’s trees.” He was right. Bob echoed that to me, early in TMP’s run: our fruit grows on other people’s trees. Jesus’ fruit grew on the Apostles’ trees. Our fruit grows on your tree.

Here’s my encouragement to you, as you prepare to finish this year with generosity: 1) give to the point of sacrifice (that’s God’s counsel, echoed by me); and, 2) include The Master’s Program among your Kingdom investments. God has appointed you to participate in bearing fruit!

Make a year-end Kingdom investment with us: you’ll see results here… and, you’ll see rewards, there. How would you like to own a share of the harvest of 2000 TMP Graduates? Click here to see options (online credit card, mail a check, make a stock gift).

Chosen… for a purpose. You were chosen. We were chosen… to help you produce fruit.

Bob Shank

If you’re looking for hope at the Convention, it’s been canceled

If you were planning to head down-under for the Convention, it’s off.

From the Atheist Foundation of Australia website: “We regret to advise that the 2018 Global Atheist Convention, ï»żReason to Hopeï»ż, has been cancelled. If you are a ticket holder, you are entitled to a refund (including fees) and we will be in touch with you directly. The Convention Committee secured Victorian government funding, a great program of speakers and the same venue that housed the successful 2010 and 2012 conventions. With those elements, the AFA proceeded with the Convention. However, ticket sales have been substantially below expectations and below the levels for previous conventions, so, unfortunately, the Convention cannot proceed.”

The marketing for the get-together was spot-on: Reason for Hope was a catchy theme, and a play-on-words. With faith in human reason – which, in their view, puts the dependence on deity out of play – hope is founded in logic, not divine intervention into a fallen world. Those might be their private views, but they won’t get a public hearing in Melbourne, come February


Whether Australia or America, the atmosphere of a culture must have a sufficient dose of hope to sustain order in a world of chaos.

The Barna Group and the American Bible Society conducted a national survey earlier this year. Their finding: Americans overwhelmingly believe their country is in a state of moral decline – due in part to corporate greed, the entertainment industry and a lack of Bible reading – but they still have faith that the U.S. can change its ways. Hope springs eternal


Americans are more confident that the Bible can bring hope to America (70%) than the president of the United States (30 %).

“The Bible remains a hands-down winner of hope for Americans,” American Bible Society President and CEO Roy Peterson said in a statement. “Those who are opening up the Word of God are discovering it to be a guide to help make sense of life and a source of eternal hope.”

The Program for the convention had Richard Dawkins – noted atheist academician from London – as their headliner, so cancellation wasn’t for the lack of celebrity. Dawkins has the right mindset: “It’s a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge and power couldn’t think of a better way to forgive our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so he could forgive himself.” (from a radio interview, 9 April 2012) He’s the author of the book, The Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science and Love.

The source of the quote is not clear, but the wisdom resonates: “Man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only a second without hope.” If it’s that critical – and won’t be delivered in Australia in February at the Convention – where can we find hope?

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5)

Biological life requires air; the composite is about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. Without it, we die. Eternal life requires a different formula, including faith, peace, grace, love and hope. People gasp for meaning without that profound compound of life-sustaining elements.

For integrity’s sake, if they’re going to put hope in their program, the atheists in Australia ought to schedule the Apostle Paul at their next convention; he can read from his letter to the church in Rome and deliver on the promise.

Bob Shank

How do you pray for a zillionaire like Bezos?

It’s on Bezos’ calendar every year, Cyber Monday, and I’m putting Jeff Bezos on my prayer list.

Tradition used to be the domain of religious practice; in the 21st Century, the number of people self-identifying as “religious” is dropping, but the number of people baptized into Consumerism – at birth, it seems – shows no signs of decline. Two of Consumerism’s holy days have bracketed the weekend: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The worshipers on Friday flocked to Amazon to pay their respects – and, to leave an offering. Their $5 billion spike in Amazon revenues raised Amazon stock by almost $30/share; in the process, Bezos’ personal net worth exceeded $100 billion (that’s $100,000,000,000). Today’s Cyber Monday – dedicated to online shopping “deals” – will favor Amazon and lock his gains in place. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are now in Jeff’s rearview mirror…

Bezos is on top the Forbes list, but he’s missing from the Gates & Buffett list: he has opted-out of their Giving Pledge: “a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back.” (www.givingpledge.org)

There was a really rich guy who lived 3000 years ago: “King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. They all consulted him, to hear the wisdom that God had given him.” (2 Chronicles 9:22-23). There was no Forbes list yet, but – had there been – he would have topped it.

Solomon was wise; he knew that, even as the world’s richest man, he still needed something that money couldn’t buy. It drove him to pray: “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die:  Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.  Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9).

Even wealth beyond measure cannot buy two things that are critical for life: truth – without smoke and mirrors – and a grip on reality. Rich guys need prayer…

“Give me only my daily bread.” The wealth portion that God allocates to every person varies based on capacity: “He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand.” (Matthew 25:15). Then, he steps back to watch what they do with what they’ve been given.

Solomon knew that there were ditches on both sides of the wealth highway. On one side, the poverty ditch is where one crashes when they believe that they’ve been shortchanged in life, and plan to get justice through exploitation. Take what belongs to someone else, and call it “even.” That criminal cohort includes Bernie Sanders… and people who don’t tithe: “I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are cheating me. ‘How?’ you ask. In the matter of tithes and offerings…” (Malachi 3:8).  Shortchanging God is a Kingdom felony.

The ditch on the other side of the wealth highway is where high-functioning atheists end up. Affluence and faith can be like oil and water, separating over the question of how one became rich: “I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” The “self-made man” is in the ditch.

How do we stay on the highway, making progress toward our eternal destination? Avoiding the lies and staying in the lane are prayer requests, for sure. As we move into year-end calendar territory, here’s a cultural certainty: in December, you’ll write more checks than you deposit. Consumers and Christians both open their wallets for five weeks, and money takes wings…

Consumer spending makes Bezos rich the next day; Christian giving makes Christians rich on That Day: “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” (Matthew 25:19).

My prayer, for me: “Protect me from lies… and keep me out of the ditches…” How ‘bout you?

Bob Shank

Shout it out

Shout what out? Allahu Akbar!?

In the explosive tension of modern international reality, to hear that shout – if you’re on-the-street in any nation connected with western civilization – you’ll probably grab your companion(s) and run for cover, fearing imminent attack. The Arabic call – translated “God is Great” – often precedes a martyr’s act, seeking divine favor in return for self-sacrificial mass murder.

How clever of the Evil One to turn truth into terror with a shout. God is, in fact, great… but it’s Jehovah, not Allah, whose greatness is the ultimate truth. Noted atheist Christopher Hitchens wrote God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything in 2007. Upon his death in 2011, he discovered the truth, too late for it to change his eternal status. If he could, what would Mr. Hitchens shout today?

This week, in America, we seek to highlight a value that has become diminished in the contemporary culture. Why is Thanksgiving disingenuous today? The continuum that produces that characteristic – and, that gives it outlet – has been broken.

Thanksgiving is on Thursday; the entire week presumes to focus our national attention on gratitude. How widespread this week – or, anytime – is the experience of genuine thankfulness among the rank-and-file citizens who will take Thursday and Friday “off” – with pay – though wading through the weekend as unsophisticated bystanders as the gratitude parade goes by?

What is the process by which appreciation is legitimately felt and expressed? Here is what births gratitude, and where it leads.

It starts with God is Great. Jehovah is the ultimate Source; he is dependent on – and beholden to – no one. He exists in eternal self-sufficiency; he has need of nothing and no one. He – God who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is the One True God who is above all, and in all.

God’s greatness results in God’s Grace. Because God – the Almighty who presents what can be known about him in his Eternal Word, and through his Eternal Son – is great, he chooses to demonstrate his greatness in his Grace, which is the favor he provides on all of mankind but focuses specifically on those who respond to his offer of salvation through faith in the work done by the Lord Jesus to resolve the problem of sin and death through his death and resurrection.

When Grace is received and understood to be the ultimate gift, the only rational response is Gratitude: when the Holy God pours his Grace on his unholy, rebellious creation to bring life from death and hope from futility, Gratitude becomes the genuine expression from the redeemed to the Redeemer. Thanksgiving is the irrepressible answer to the call of God to enter into his family through faith.

Gratitude leads to Generosity. When Gratitude is flowing – not forced by a round-table ritual while waiting for a holiday feast, but by a heart-felt expression that cannot be throttled – it must have an outlet. One of those is the expression of Generosity which answers the need for actions that flow from all that precedes. Generosity distributes the benefits generated by this profound succession that is sourced in God and ultimately benefits all who will become recipients of his original intent.

God is Great. God’s Greatness distributes Grace. Grace changes everything, and stimulates Gratitude. Gratitude cannot be contained; it demands Generosity. Miss any step, and the process fails. Any attempt to complete the path to Generosity without the prior provisions will be an inadequate attempt to create a godless alternative lacking legitimacy in the end.

The cry of the terrorist is Allah is Great, and it results in death and destruction. The shout of the redeemed is Jehovah is Great, and it results in Grace, Gratitude and Generosity.

Keep the turkey in the kitchen until you can make the case with the sheep around your table on Thursday: God is Great, Greatness gives Grace, Grace evokes Gratitude, and Gratitude fosters Generosity. You’ll be standing out from a society unacquainted with the Great God Jehovah!

Bob Shank

King of Glory: what do really smart people talk about?

King of Glory convention. Were you invited?

The annual WE Summit – hosted a week ago in Beijing – was hosted by Tencent Holdings, an innovative holding conglomerate active in all of the high-tech, media-embedded, global-explosion categories that explain its $476 billion market value. Active video gaming, they own the world’s most popular multiplayer online battle arena – 200 million smart people play monthly – called King of Glory.

Seven thousand Tencent employees are members of the Communist party in China (23%of their personnel), and their Summit is a gathering of scientific geniuses. The program lacks an opening or closing prayer: in that gathering of the brightest minds, there is no heart for God.

English Physicist Stephen Hawking was on the Summit platform. Still active at 75 despite his long battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), he issued a dire warning through his speech generator: in just 600 years, overpopulation of the Earth will cause the planet to become an uninhabitable fireball. The solution: invest in his enterprise – called Breakthrough Starshot – that hopes to blast a tiny spaceship to Alpha Centauri. A trip that would take 20 earth years – if traveling at the speed of light – a few pioneers seeking a conducive planet in that distant system where humanity could start over. His message was clear: if we don’t leave Earth soon, increased energy consumption will soon kill us all.

The crowd assembled for the Tencent WE Summit were – by all indications – resolute in their core belief that there is no God, and that faith is the opiate for the intellectual lightweights whose lack of genius finds solace in things they brand as “spiritual.” Devin Patrick Kelley would have saluted that atheist ideology, but he had other plans, at the 1st Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

It’s not a new debate: is there room for God, in a world of really smart people? “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 53)

The cultivation of human intelligence often happens with no recognition of the human heart. Hard science has a difficult time with human emotion, but so much of life springs from the heart, including the evil that makes no intellectual sense: “Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure – you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts. My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.” (Psalm 7:9-10)

The crime scene has been scrubbed in Texas, but the “why” is haunting the officials who are trying to come to grips with what motivated Kelley in his murderous rampage. Here’s God’s take on the ultimate cause for the unthinkable: “…just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.” (Romans 1:28-29)

The irony is thick: the godless Chinese company corrupting millions with virtual violence they’ve labeled King of Glory sponsors an annual evangelistic campaign to affirm the top-tier atheistic atheists and to recruit more to their ranks – with their live and YouTube-available sermons – as they offer hope to humanity: a trip for the next Adam and Eve to Alpha Centauri, to replicate the race. Stephen Hawking is their Billy Graham: invest in his spaceship; it’s our only human hope.

It’s no wonder that God speaks to the heart; he knows that both mind and heart are vital for life. The King of Glory’s offered Heaven – not a distant planet that might have the right atmosphere – and there’s room for everyone to make the move.

When we arrive, who’s waiting there? The shocker: it’s The King of Glory.

Bob Shank

Scarcity…Faith says “yes” when the inventory says “no”

We’re coming off an epic week.

Thousands of people braved weather, traffic and crowded schedules to stand in line for their shot at the new iPhone X, released for purchase by adoring Appleites last Friday.

Who would pay $1000 for the newest and coolest mobile device on the planet? Answer: more people than would have the chance. All projections agreed that first-day consumer demand would exceed Apple’s supply, causing thousands to deal with delayed gratification as they remembered to reset their clocks with the end of Daylight Savings Time (an automatic feature on most any digital device).

Scarcity is an economic principle: it refers to limited availability in the face of greater demand. Products and services can both be framed in scarcity; most people live most of their life expecting it, and experiencing it. When created artificially, scarcity is a proven way to manipulate and control people as they scramble to secure their supply at the expense of the person behind them in line.

Here’s an intriguing reality: scarcity controls people, but it never touches God. He lives above limitations; he exists in the dimension where there is always enough, with reserves left over.

There’s a story from Jesus’ years of public ministry that is so familiar that it has likely lost its potency with us. Labeled “The Feeding of the 5,000,” it was cited in all four Gospels as an event worth including in their executive summaries of the greatest life ever lived.

Pretend you’re hearing it for the first time. From Matthew’s account of the scarcity:

…the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

“Bring them here to me,” he said.  And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:13-21)

The need was food for 12,000+ hungry people; the supply was a lunch bag with five small loaves and two dried Tilapia (the native fish from the Sea of Galilee). The instruction from Jesus could not have been more clear: “You give them something to eat.”

The pushback was immediate: the 12 Apostles knew that their inventory wouldn’t allow them to fulfill the order, so they dismissed God’s will for them as fanciful, but impossible.

Feeding the crowd, overcoming scarcity, was inconsequential; teaching these Kingdom leaders a lesson they would need for the rest of their lives as they pursued their Calling was the big take-away. What was it?

Here it is, for them and for us: when you finally get clear about what God wants you to do, expect your resources to be inadequate. That’s where faith comes in: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)  God uses our scarcity to prove his sufficiency!

So… where is the fear of scarcity holding you back from the power of obedience? Faith is the bridge from what you have to what you need, and it’s the basis for God’s miracles in your life!

Bob Shank

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July… Luther’s original 95 Theses

It might be worth taking the day off to celebrate Martin Luther.

Tuesday is a really big day. Say that to a culture obsessed with the macabre – with modern cult television series featuring zombies/walking dead/vampires/werewolves/witches – and attention shifts to Halloween. You can expect to find Costume Tuesday across the retail/commercial landscape this week, but that’s not the remembrance I’m addressing today…

Tuesday, October 31 marks the 500 anniversary of an event that triggered the theological earthquake that was heard around the world: on that date – in 1517 – a 34-year-old priest named Martin Luther nailed his epistle – the “95 Theses” – onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and set in motion what history has long since branded as “The Reformation.”

How can one man’s grievances against the institution of power that was the Holy Roman Church catch fire and capture the minds and hearts of billions – billions – of people, over five centuries?

The movement that grew out of Luther’s labors came to include additional, like-minded leaders – some of whom emerged separately from Luther’s efforts, others on the heels of his momentum – who put their own lives at risk for the cause. Martyrdom is never one’s objective, but it is a powerful affirmation of commitment when the desperation of despots is exercised to quell opposition. Many died because they knew it was worth it. What was worth dying for?

Five tenets ultimately came to summarize what Luther’s original 95 Theses (about 2700 words – think five of my weekly Point of View narratives) called out. The tenets:

1. Sola Scriptura: the Bible Alone. The ultimate authority available to us – all of us – is the Word of God. The enemy’s strategy has been to promote human authority while dismissing the veracity of the Scriptures. The Reformation stands on the Bible Alone.

2. Sola Gratia: Grace Alone. God’s grace is the currency of redemption; we bring nothing of value with which we can transact our salvation. Without His unmerited favor – poured out to us by Christ at the Cross – we have no hope for standing with God.

3. Sola Fide: Faith Alone. There is no work, no contribution, no effort by man that can trigger the benefits from God that result in redemption. Faith is the only catalyst to unleash the abundance of salvation that God wants to pour out on the world He loved enough to sacrifice His Son.

4. Sola Christus: Christ Alone. There are no angels, saints or church leaders who stand in the intermediary position between God and men. Appealing to anyone but the Risen and Glorified Son who is the Savior is disallowed; our Advocate and Priest is the Second Person of the Trinity.

5. Sola Deo Gloria: to God Alone be Glory. Mankind stands before the all-powerful God who is the only being worthy of praise and honor and adoration. All that is thought, said or done in this life,
or in heaven, has validity only insofar as it directs homage to Him and Him alone.

Tuesday marks five centuries since young Martin put his professional future – as a priest of the Catholic Church – and his mortal life – as a prophet who was speaking truth to power – in the crosshairs. We are where we are today – as people, as Christians, as a culture – because of Luther and the Reformers who worked to recapture the essence of what God had revealed, from the beginning.

Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratia. Sola Fide. Sola Christus. Sola Deo Gloria.

Latin is no longer the language of the elite; today, English is the trade language of the world. The Bible Alone; Grace Alone; Faith Alone; Christ Alone; to God Alone be the Glory.

I can’t wait to meet Martin Luther – in the meet-and-greet of Eternity – to say, “thanks!” for his willingness to explore, expose and exploit his Kingdom Calling…

Bob Shank

Culture – a heresy formerly known as “common sense”

Culture? The symptoms are undeniable, and call for radical treatment.

If your doctor were to say that to you in his/her examining room, only a fool would challenge the diagnosis and charge the doctor with malpractice. The wise patient would seek a treatment prescription designed to conquer the conditions and to restore health.

Two social doctors – Amy Wax, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Larry Alexander, professor at the University of San Diego School of Law – opened their op-ed piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 9th with this cultural diagnosis:

Too few Americans are qualified for the jobs available. Male working-age labor-force participation is at Depression-era lows. Opioid abuse is widespread. Homicidal violence plagues inner cities. Almost half of all children are born out of wedlock, and even more are raised by single mothers.   Many college students lack basic skills, and high school students rank below those from two dozen other countries.

Those are not societal sniffles that will pass with a good night’s sleep; they represent a troubling collection of conditions which, if not righted, represent the systemic decline of America’s historic strength. They go on to describe what they characterize as “bourgeois values” that were normal:

That culture laid out the script we all were supposed to follow: Get married before you have children and strive to stay married for their sake. Get the education you need for gainful employment, work hard, and avoid idleness. Go the extra mile for your employer or client. Be a    patriot, ready to serve the country. Be neighborly, civic-minded, and charitable. Avoid coarse    language in public. Be respectful of authority. Eschew substance abuse and crime.

Who could oppose that honest reflection of American middle-class values, from a generation back? Answer: everyone in the academic elite and politically correct community. In National Review:

In an interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian, Wax called Anglo-Protestant cultural norms “superior” and said that “everyone wants to go to countries ruled by white Europeans,” though “bourgeois values aren’t just for white people.” She clarified that she doesn’t think white people are superior, instead claiming that “bourgeois values can help minorities get ahead,” according to the    student-run newspaper, which reported that some of her previous lectures have opened her up to   criticism.

Throwing caution to the winds, they challenge the core tenet of multiculturalism: “All cultures are not equal,” they write. “Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy.” Unless America’s elites again promote personal responsibility and other bourgeois virtues, the country’s economic and social problems will only worsen, they conclude.

The backlash charges against Wax and Alexander – by the Penn graduate students union – were immediate, and predictable: Racism. Xenophobia. Sexism. Homophobia.

America’s “bourgeois values” are superior because they are, essentially, Christian values. Thus, a    bourgeois culture is superior because it is essentially a Christian culture, and that ultimately is why    the left attacked Wax’s and Alexander’s piece. As The Miracle and Magnificence of America – and any other sound account of U.S. history – reveals, America was founded by Christians and upon Christian values and principles. The death, disease, and moral rot so prevalent in much of America   today is there because many of us have abandoned these values and decided to make our own rules.    (Trevor Thomas, in American Thinker)

The front-lines of the culture war surround us; the contemporary college campus – whether public or private – is the indoctrination center for the Burning Man ideology that now embraces the antithesis of what Wax and Alexander call bourgeois values, but we would recognize as biblical values.

If you have a son or daughter heading into college, forget the US News and World Report rankings of schools for consideration. Average compensation for graduates is not the litmus test for the place you’ll entrust your progeny for indoctrination; worldview is first-and-foremost in your search. Unless the values espoused and celebrated align with the Scriptures, your role as parent is going to be compromised: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)”

On the front line, and firing against the enemy assault,

Bob Shank

What would you grab before you go?

It was just another crazy week… once I grabbed my travel bag.

I boarded my flight in Orange County – my local airport – last Monday morning, headed to Minneapolis, through Dallas. Tuesday morning was an introductory briefing for the new cohort for The Master’s Program in the Twin Cities, and – beginning Tuesday evening – I would serve as the emcee for the annual forum of the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX), a consortium of ministries working to launch 5 million churches by 2020.

About the time my first flight left, the Canyon Fire 2 began its destructive march, about 10 miles northeast of our home. By the time my second flight landed in Minneapolis, Cheri answered the robocall with the mandatory evacuation order: “put what you need in your car, and leave now…”

As I hustled from the gate to baggage claim, we were on the phone together: what should she get from my office? What did I have in the “essential” category? For her, family pics and a few heirlooms from her childhood were it. For me, tax returns and records were critical. In the back of her Explorer was 46 years of life together. Daughter Erin and her family – three blocks away – were under the same mandate; they all headed to Daughter Shannon’s house – three miles away – and became fire refugees.

I did the news search from 2500 miles away and got an update. The fire – driven by 25-40 MPH Santa Ana winds – was burning fast, toward the southwest, in the general direction of our neighborhood. I called the GACX leadership – 18 hours before the Forum convened – and obtained their gracious relief from my role with them. The next morning, I was back to MSP airport making my appeal – and throwing my 9 million mile American Executive Platinum status around – to get a flight home.

Word was out; a friend from the east called to tell me that their network news led with the Canyon Fire 2 story, featuring live helicopter coverage over the fire and naming my street. Air tankers were dropping retardant two blocks away; prayers were being lifted from two thousand miles away. It was a battle, fought on the ground, in the air and – known to us, but not the fire or news crews – in the heavenlies.

I landed at 3:30p on Tuesday; by 5:00p that evening, the mandatory evacuation was lifted. When we drove back to our home, there were six fire trucks/crews on our block. The bottom of our street – six doors down – is an entrance to a county wilderness park, with thick natural vegetation that had never burned. Though burning on a wide front, the path toward our home – through Peter’s Canyon Park – was a critical grab for the firefighters: they stopped the fire 175 yards northeast of our home, with the wind driving it directly toward us. Yay, fire crews; yay God; yay, friends who prayed!

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

That’s Peter, doing a robocall: all of what you see around you will be consumed by fire. What are the essentials to grab? What will you grab on your way out the door, to rescue from the inferno?

Here’s the best advice: grab as many people as you can possibly persuade. The fire of judgment is real, and it will come without warning. The people are the valuables in need of rescue.

There’s no time to lose…

Bob Shank

The shooter’s motive was…

Motive. Why?

The investigations in Las Vegas have moved past the what and how questions surrounding Stephen Craig Paddock’s attack on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. It’s been seven days, but no manifesto or suicide note has emerged. Social media postings are – apparently – non-existent. A secret circle of malcontents with a plan isn’t lurking next door on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. What drives a person with no known history of violence to the brink?

In The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm described extinction fantasies as an aspect of “necrophilism,” which can feed malignant aggression. People with a “necrophilous character” are guided by a set of values that glorifies death and demolition.

Malignant aggression, according to Fromm, is rooted in the desire to make a distinct mark on one’s world. Such people often have dreams about dismembered parts or rooms full of corpses. They have trouble relating to others and tend to feel bored. Preferring dark colors, they’re often obsessed with devices of destruction or role models who carried out large-scale slaughters. They feel a smirking superiority toward others, often being insensitive about tragedies that involved a loss of life (from Psychology Today).

The intense investigation into Paddock’s behavioral motivation will consume thousands of hours and, ultimately, come to an inescapable conclusion: human beings are capable of unspeakable evil. Where does that come from?

In a confrontation with the religious leaders at the Jerusalem temple, Jesus revealed a fact that is timeless. To them – men who had not killed 58 people and injured hundreds more – he said: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44).

Less than one year ago, the story of Desmond Doss came to the American cinema screen with the release of Hacksaw Ridge. He was a Christian – deeply committed to his Seventh Day Adventist beliefs – who was a conscientious objector, unwilling to carry a rifle but assigned to the 77th Infantry Division as a medic, though taunted and demeaned by the men in his unit.

During a massive Japanese counterattack at the Battle of Okinawa – in April of 1945 – PFC Doss heard the cries of wounded and dying men at the top of the escarpment where the front line battle was raging. As his unit retreated, Doss ran into the fire – unarmed – to save the fallen. Before it’s over, 75 soldiers were rescued – singlehandedly – by Desmond Doss. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty.”

Paddock’s motive – at the core – was sourced in his father, the devil, whose desire is death and destruction (see Jesus’ quote, above). Doss’ motive – at the core – was sourced in his relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul made the reason clear: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

World War II is history; the War between Good and Evil is the frontline we occupy, today. People around us are under attack by the Evil One, and crying out for rescue. Most of the troops in the Army of God are running for cover; some are running into the conflict to “rescue the perishing and care for the dying.” Why?

Christ’s love compelled Desmond Doss. His battle cry was clear: “Save One More!” For us, it’s the same. Save one more. What if someone had shared the Gospel with Paddock?

Bob Shank

Horrific. Yet you have the Ultimate Solution.

Horrific.

There are no words to describe the scene last night. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is a marketing offer; it has no enforceability this morning. What happened when Stephen Paddock – at this point, known only as an apartment manager in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada – unleashed hell on the Route 91 Country Music Festival in an open lot adjacent to the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel will be told and retold today, and the days to come.

Holed-up in a 32nd floor room at the Mandalay, Paddock became infamous for the carnage in the crowd last night. On a warm autumn evening, over 22,000 people were enjoying the last act of the three-day festival when the first shots from the automatic weapons were – at first – mistaken for fireworks by the audience.

Las Vegas police SWAT eliminated Paddock in his hotel room, where he had established his orchestrated and well-supplied vantage point, 400 yards from the killing field where he sprayed hundreds of rounds, killing at least 58 people and injuring hundreds more. Stories of valiant concert goers and first responders will be told as the on-scene reports find their way into the media.

Paddock may have left a manifesto… or, we may never know the real motivations behind his sinister yet strategic behavior last night. How does society defend against the unimaginable? What will we “learn” that will change the trajectory of future madmen whose vision is to create a nightmare for a culture founded on the very freedom that allows the nefarious acts that will preoccupy the nation’s attention today?

“Darkness” is the metaphorical description of the mindset that allows a mass assassin to construct a plan that will inflict death without discretion. Who is capable of that kind of aberrant behavior?

Paul recognized that darkness can only be suppressed by light. His mission – and, ours – removes the conditions that can lead to evil outcomes: “…since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-6)

Commentators and talking heads with advanced degrees will offer their perspectives on prevention as they fill hundreds of hours on cable and satellite channels, dedicated to deconstructing tragedy. Most will have no touchpoint in truth; their contributions will be made with no evidence that a society in which spiritual darkness is embraced and advanced can resolve its deepest deficiencies.

The only, ultimate solution: darkness is, at its core, the absence of light. The light of the Gospel unleashes the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sole expression of the Eternal God available for mere humans – capable of death and destruction, because of darkness – to be transformed.

Radical? When faced with radical evil, radical redemption is the only real antidote. What happened in Vegas will not stay in Vegas; may God comfort the grieving… and bring His light into the darkness.

Bob Shank

Just do it. “Yeah, but…”

“Yeah, but…,”

It’s probably illegal to fish for that response to a direct order in a job interview. There are certain things you cannot ask of an employment prospect. Are you pregnant? How old are you? Are you in debt? Do you drink or smoke? Who did you vote for? Those are verboten questions…

Jesus was in a three-year interview with 12 guys, trying them out for historic positions in his international startup, with plans to make them initial stockholders in the most successful enterprise launched in the history of mankind. The crucial quality he was looking for: unrestrained faith in him; when he asked them to do the impossible, he expected them to act as if it was reasonable. Reason: he would never ask them do to anything that he wasn’t prepared to resource for them.

It’s midway through their 36 month field trials, and they had seen Jesus do amazing, inexplicable things. He wasn’t a one-trick carnival huckster; every problem seemed to bring yet another opportunity for him to create outcomes that left solutions in his wake.

The four biographers whose books lead-off the New Testament all included their account of this event in their stories (that’s of note: only two included Christmas!):

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:14-21)

The Feeding of the Five Thousand: in the interests of accuracy, the headcount that included women and children probably pushed the crowd north of 10,000. Once you’re in miracle territory, what’s a few thousand more?

The setting: away from town – and all basic services – with a crowd too big to address without a sound stage. A line-up of sick people getting their moment with the Master; drive-through healing.

I’ve heard Christians ask it, for years: “What is God’s will for me?” That’s a risky question; people who get their answer are faced with an intriguing conundrum: when you know what he wants you to do… will you do it?

Thousands of hungry people. A compassionate and magnetic grassroots celebrity whose fame has grown around his abundant provision of generous solutions for needy people. He has his posse of 12 followers who handle the details. His direct command to them: “You give them something to eat.”

Simple instructions, but their reaction is telling: “Yeah, but…” There it is! “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish.” John’s version of the story carries an interesting footnote: the 5/2 wasn’t even theirs: they lifted it from a kid whose mom sent him to the meeting with lunch-for-one in his bag. Jesus reaction to their reaction: “Give me what you have…”

The great take-away: once you know what God wants you to do, just give him what you have. Here’s a principle: God’s will for you will always require you to defy the “Yeah, buts.” If it makes sense, it doesn’t make faith. Just give him what you have, and watch miracles happen.

Where are you stalled today, halfway between knowing your orders and a miracle-in-the-making? Drop the “Yeah, but…” and get ready to pick up the left-overs!
Bob Shank

What if you run out of money?

What do you do for an encore? Pass out some money?

Great achievements can become great distractions. String a bunch of once-in-a-lifetime moments together – in a short period of time – and you could almost get a pass on being productive.

This morning after Hollywood’s television community passed around their Emmy trophies, most of them are probably sleeping in. I’ll bet that the gowns and tuxedos from last night’s red carpet aren’t crowding into Starbucks as they open this morning in Beverly Hills…

Peter and John could have stayed home after two weeks of once-in-forever experiences, capping two months of drama. Passover in the Upper Room, Judas’ cowardly sell-out and Jesus’ arrest/trial/ execution had them slammed to the mat. Three days of mourning and shock, then Jesus shows up alive and delivers the Ultimate Pivot. During the next month, he had stepped in-and-out of their paths on his own terms, but – just two weeks before – he met them on the Mount of Olives, gave them their final instructions… and got on the express elevator heading back home, to Heaven.

Ten days later – in the Temple, surrounded by thousands of Pentecost worshipers – the promise Jesus made as he ascended was realized: the Holy Spirit was delivered to the followers of the Son, and Peter’s explanatory messages brought 5,000 new members into the now-official community of faith.

How do you follow that spectacular zenith of supernatural demonstration? What do you do for an encore?

“…Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” (Acts 3:1-10)

The Lame Guy was an honorable beggar: he came to work every day with his Styrofoam cup, hoping that compassionate people would give him a day’s worth of shekels, so he could return the next day and do it again. He had no idea what was going to happen after his car pool dropped him off…

Peter and John were marketplace guys who had just finished three years in the first Master’s Program (Jesus was the Master; he helped them find their Kingdom Calling). Confession: I don’t believe they had no money. They knew that was all the Lame Guy was expecting… but he wasn’t expecting enough.

In the marketplace, Cash is King. Capital throws its weight around constantly. The Bottom Line is the bottom line, every second of the day. To say “I’ve got no money” is the declaration of defeat.

Peter and John were anything but broke: they had two power sources that made bucks and Bitcoins pale in comparison. The Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (the official name of the Messiah) and the on-board presence of the Holy Spirit were the game-changers the Lame Guy never imagined.

It’s still happening today, in the places where graduates of The Master’s Program encounter real need. The assumption is predictable: all they have is money, so that’s all they’re asked to give. After three years with the Master, they know how to address the real problem with real power, and offer solutions that money cannot buy…

Bob Shank

 Will Millennials “Get it?”

“I know stuff Millennials don’t know. I do stuff Millennials don’t do. I do it because I see things differently than Millennials, and it’s my job to help other people know what I know, do what I do, and think the way I think…”

Those are Paul’s thoughts, summarizing his written comments to the believers in Corinth:

So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others… If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for   themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God…” (2 Corinthians 5).

In each generation since Jesus, that’s been the ongoing challenge: pass the truth along; model transformation; adopt a radically different world view. Accept the assignment: God is counting on each generation to be his spokespersons – “ambassadors.”

This weekly missive is called Point of View; from the beginning, that has come from this passage: “…from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view…” Truth changes your perspective about other people, which informs what you say and do with them. It makes you radical in the eyes of people – even most Christians – who have not been impacted by truth. “Out of our mind?” Perhaps; but that’s only because thinking like Christ makes you extraordinarily exceptional…

In every generation, that assignment is passed from Radical to Radical. You know the transfer has occurred when the new generation has become, themselves, extraordinarily exceptional. Their words and actions are demonstrating a revolutionary world view – sourced in God, not the culture – and the role of Ambassador of Heaven becomes an accurate explanation of what’s happened.

Speaking of generations, I’m a Boomer (we’re currently 53-71), and my primary audience has always been my Boomer peers, and our Buster progeny (they’re currently 38-53). The Millennials (now 20-38) are the generational storm surge: they outnumber Boomers and Busters, and are our future. The task of impacting thought, word and deed – qualifiers for every generation to assume the Ambassador mantle – is daunting. What’s our strategy to ensure the Kingdom legacy transfer?

I put you on notice last week: watch your inbox for our promotional campaign for Master’s OnLine (MOL). It’s the vision of my Buster protĂ©gĂ©, Noah Elias (click to watch his intro video) to transfer what he learned with me in his two trips through The Master’s Program to the next generation.

Young adults (Millennials) don’t flock to old people (Boomers, like me), but they’ll listen to the contemporary leaders (Busters) who are willing to share their life hack (if you have to ask, you’re not one of them!). In MOL, Noah sets me up – as his life hack guru – and joins me to pass the torch.

If you’re a Boomer or Buster, two critical agenda items for you: 1) make sure you’ve been transformed, ala Paul’s blueprint (above); and, 2) figure out how you can help pass that same thing to Millennials (our Kingdom assignment).

Do you have any 20-38 people in your life who need that? Are they worth your tax-deductible scholarship in MOL ($1000/year) to make that happen?

Bob Shank

Relay winners know how to pass the baton to a thirty years old

What happens when people turn 30 (thirty)?

“Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt.” (Genesis 41:46).

“David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.” (2 Samuel 5:4).

“Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph…” (Luke 3:23).

At 30, people of remarkable potential often break from the pack and begin the pursuit of their lifetime impact season. What were they doing – during their 20’s – that allowed that to happen?

According to lifehack.com, there are 11 Things Successful People Do by Age 30:

  1. They learn how to handle their finances
  2. They know how to fail faster
  3. They start their own business
  4. They challenge the authority
  5. They organize properly
  6. They maintain important partnerships
  7. They rely on persistence
  8. They actively work on their flaws
  9. They become calculating and resourceful
  10. They figure out how to adapt
  11. They ask for a second opinion

Most 30 year-olds haven’t cleared that bucket list. Today, the median income for 30-year-old men is $30,510, while the median income for 30-year-old women is $21,473. On average, 30 year olds have held 7.5 jobs. They have a 24 percent chance of being promoted in the next year. They’re moving through the milestones, but most are feeling left behind. Since college, they’re navigating on their own.

In early 2015, Noah Elias and I launched a project designed to serve Millennials – the pre-30 adult community – called Master’s OnLine (MOL). It is a bold project – underwritten by the Kay Family Foundation and other visionary TMP partners – allowing these high-value up-and-comers to experience TMP on their terms: wherever, whenever, delivered in a TED-talk styled video each week, for three years. Mentoring – the 11-point plan, and more… from a biblical worldview.

Two waves of beta participants – 63 men and women, from three generations – have helped us refine the experience. Their personal stories are compelling; MOL has clarified their focus and accelerated their journey. It is possible to transfer wisdom using technology to build relationships…

It’s great to have an 11-point plan for success; but, who will help the in-process not-yet-leaders work through the process? What’s the value of mentors who know how to succeed, but – then – to help them push through earthly success to eternal significance?

This Point of View – the first week of September, 2017 – is alerting you to a series of email invitations I’ll be sending you in the next few days announcing the official launch of Master’s OnLine. We’re open for business, and ready to serve!

In the pre-launch groups are solo Millennials, husbands-and-wives, father-son combos; the weekly personal experience – formatted for the mobile device in your pocket or your purse – is the basis for conversation and application among growing adults of every season.

Why am I pitching you about MOL? Two possibilities: you could enroll and continue your journey toward your lifetime calling; and/or: provide a scholarship to a Millennial you’d like to see navigate through their 20s without compromising their lifetime potential. Watch your incoming email!

Bob Shank

Dealing with the deluge…rainfall

“On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights…” (Genesis 7:11-12)
That’s the way it feels today in south Texas. Folks in/around Houston are dealing with epic weather conditions. Records abound: rivers cresting higher than they have in over a century; the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in over 50 years. Steve Bowen, chief meteorologist at reinsurance firm Aon Benfield, said: “What we’re seeing is the most devastating flood event in Houston’s recorded history. We’re seeing levels of rainfall that are unprecedented.” Houston – the fourth largest city in America – is underwater.

Rain is a good thing; just ask any community in the midst of unyielding drought. The average annual rainfall across America is 40 inches; Texas’ – as a state – averages 35. Houston’s average over the last 30 years is over 52. Some forecasts project 50 inches to fall from Hurricane Harvey, in a week.

We have hundreds of friends in our Master’s/Barnabas network in the Houston area; I’ve talked with some of them in the last 24 hours. Whatever you’ve seen in news reports doesn’t come close to depicting the devastation across the region. Local, state and national resources are moving to intervene.

What can you do? Pray, first and foremost. Ask for God to protect and provide for the people in the path of the storm. Then, do what you can do: go online right now to www.samaritanspurse.org. On top of the homepage is the red banner, “Responding to Hurricane Harvey.” Click on the “Donate Now” button and be generous. I’ve served on the board of Samaritan’s Purse for 24 years; you can trust them to put your contribution to good use, and they’ll do it in the Name of Jesus.

“…The floodgates of the heavens were opened.” That was the headline as Noah’s ark was provided for the rescue of man and beast. In the midst of historic calamity, God always pivots to provide for his purposes.

There are only two places in the whole of Scripture where that phrase is used: in Genesis, to explain the deluge of Noah, and in Malachi, to size-up God’s response to faithful stewardship. Listen to the promise of God (which has never been rescinded):

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 3:11-12)

Most cities learn to live with their rainfall averages. Phoenix gets 8 inches/year; Miami gets 62; Los Angeles gets by with 13; New York runs on 50. Each figures out what to expect, and they get by. The same is true for people and their income: they have up years and down years, but – generally speaking – they learn to get by, without expecting crisis or windfall to catch them unawares.

God claims to be behind the provision of liquidity – both rainfall and cashflow – and he says that he controls the valves that determine what comes into play in the lives of people who live under his heaven. Insurance companies will call Hurricane Harvey “an act of God;” when better-than-expected financial conditions come raining down, who’s behind that?

This may be a year when the faithfulness of God – toward you – has been evident. Is that an accident? Or, is your current status an indicator of his blessing… and your opportunity to reciprocate?

Bob Shank

Racing to Darkness; It’s No Metaphor for the Eclipse

This is the day we’ve all been waiting for…an eclipse.

If your workforce punches a clock – with the assurance that they’re being productive while they’re on-the-job – this may turn out to be a low impact day for you. Wherever you are (if you’re reading this within the continental United States), TES (Total Eclipse Syndrome; my diagnosis) is likely to derail your team’s output today.

The Main Event (the total cover-up of the sun, by the moon) will last less than three minutes; the phenomenon will begin in Lincoln Beach, Oregon at 10:16a, with the final showing in Charleston, South Carolina at 2:48p. Between those moments, the attention of 330 million people across America will be drawn to the skies (or to the “live” coverage on their screens).

You may not read this until it’s over; our digital distribution normally takes place during that time window. By now, you may be in recovery mode. It is, however, still the News of the Day.

The raw facts, without factoring in the human elements: a Total Eclipse hasn’t visited the Lower 48 for 99 years; Woodrow Wilson was President. Partial eclipses come-and-go with some occasionality; this one is the “big deal.” The match-up of the Sun and the Moon is curious: the Sun is 400 times larger than our solitary Moon (Jupiter has 66 of them), but it’s distance away from Earth is 400 times greater than the Moon. Those factors create the geometry that delivers a Total Eclipse: from ground level – all of the time – the Sun and the Moon appear to be the same size, allowing for the Moon to come between us and our source of life and energy, albeit briefly.

Every day of the year, the relationship between the Sun and the Moon is in flux. From ground level, the Sun can be counted on to do its thing every day. Summer and winter have different schedules, but Mr. Sun is dependable and delivers what we need from him with consistent faithfulness.

You wouldn’t know Moon if Sun was not doing its part. The light – all light – comes from Sun; without Sun, Moon would be dark and invisible. When Moon is in full exposure, we call it a Full Moon; when it’s fully blocked (it happens 12x year, but no one is racing to see the “full eclipse of the Moon” every month) it’s known as a New Moon.

What’s happening today? The usurper is blocking the source: Moon, who depends on Sun for light and energy, is (partially) blocking access to our mutual fuel source. If it were to continue, our ecosystem would collapse. Gratefully, it will be over in less time than a Super Bowl commercial break.

Today, you’re getting a preview of one of the elements in God’s cosmic game plan for the future. He has some extraordinary interventions waiting to be triggered in the days to come.

You’ve seen it in movie theaters: they run trailers that give highlights of the features that will be on the main screen, soon. Here’s one of God’s trailers (he calls it “prophecy,” from Amos 8):

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”

If you’re reading this before your zip code turns dark, make sure you use the right glasses to look up, or your eyes could be irreparably damaged. If it’s come-and-gone already, you’ve just had a preview of things to come.

One of these days, the God who created Sun and Moon will use them as part of his supporting cast for the final scenes of this epic drama in which he – the Sun – ultimately defeats the Moon – the One who blocks the Sun from earth view, pretending to be a light source while unable to sustain life…

Bob Shank

The Red Carpet doesn’t lead to the Pearly Gates

Life. Ballgames. Picnics. Beach parties. Movies.

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy…” The “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” are running down; there’s not much time left to do nothing. What are you doing with the last of your off days?

Hollywood rolls out some of their best stuff during summer; some of them catch fire and become contenders for the annual award recognitions, while others find their way into the DVD libraries without leaving many dollars in the box-offices. A Ghost Story – featuring Casey Affleck as a dead musician peeking in on the life of his still-living love interest – is on its way to obscurity (less than $1.5 million in ticket sales since its July 7th limited release).

It’s an interesting genre: Hollywood dramas performed against the backdrop of life’s end, and what comes after. USA Today ran a half-page with the Top Ten recent films attempting to portray what happens next. The notables: 1) Field of Dreams; 2) Defending your Life; 3) Ghost; 4) What Dreams May Come; 5) The Lovely Bones; 6) Heaven Can Wait; 7) Beetlejuice; 8) The Sixth Sense; 9) A Ghost Story; and, 10) Flatliners. You could host a Netflix movie marathon during Labor Day weekend featuring that line-up… and be no closer to understanding what happens after this life ends.

Movies don’t deliver; maybe the growing number of “non-fiction” books written by – or, on behalf of – people who have had a NDE (that’s the trendy acrostic for Near Death Experience) that they’ve lived to retell, and publish. Do a web search on that category, and hundreds of titles – most making claims of credibility based on the personal experience of the author/subject who “died” and, then came back – offer various accounts of the Great Unknown.

At last count (a Pew Research study, in 2015), 72% of Americans believe in heaven; their definition is “a place where people who have lived good lives are eternally rewarded.” The movie depictions are fanciful, and the books recounting personal journeys – out-and-back – run from delight to despair as they describe the experiences of people who say they now know what lies beyond. Do they?

There’s a name missing from all of the movies, and many of the books: Jesus. God is written into a few of the cinematic stories, but his screen role is never in keeping with his scriptural revelations. The books tell stories that range from scientific agnostics to avid followers of Jesus; most often, the after-heartbeats-end accounts have no differentiations based on personal faith. Who’s to say what’s right?

Paul – a solid voice of dependable input for Christians – has an interesting perspective: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows.  And I know that this man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows – was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

Most scholars connect that account to Paul’s stoning and near-death experience (see Acts 14:19-20). He was “caught up to paradise,” but was not allowed to recount what he saw and heard. Though God used him to communicate inspired scripture, he could not give his first-hand version of the hereafter. Who’s the witness we’ve been asked to believe on that subject?

“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.” (John 3:12-13). If you’re curious about the Great Unknown, the only reliable revelation comes from Jesus.

Movies and books may be entertaining, but Eternity is too important to misunderstand. Who can you trust to guide you into the future?

Bob Shank

Succession Plan…What’s next, for you?

Could someone say, “succession plan?”

Put yourself in his place. You’ve grown up in the family business, and everyone has known – for years – that you would someday take the lead at succession. Your father – a nice guy – announces his retirement, in public (so there’s no turning back). He’s 96…

Finally, the chance for the promotion! Wait a minute; not so fast. Dad is retiring (in his sign-off, he gives no signal what he plans to do in his golden years), but Mom is the CEO, and has been for 65 years! Her dad was CEO before her, but died at age 56, clearing the way for her promotion, back in ’52.

Poor Charles. He’ll be 69 in November, but his mother shows no sign of stepping aside. Most of his chums from Cambridge had high hopes for him: he was the first heir apparent – in history! – to earn a college degree (Bachelor of Arts, with a GPA of 2.2; not the valedictorian). Now, those frat brothers are retiring, and Charles is still waiting for his first – and, last – promotion. The Queen’s still at it!

Succession

Tom understands. He started the New Millennium as a new hire, but has stayed with the same company for 16 years. He’s helped his team win the top honors in their industry five times over those years. In fact, he was the field manager who helped make the title happen. He’s only 40; how ignominious could the press be, to overlay his photo – taken at work, no less – with the headline: “Time for Brady to look at end game.” Five Super Bowl rings, and the fickle public is murmuring, “Next!”

And then it was Saturday, just two days ago. The Man they call “Lightning Bolt” was making his final appearance – at age 30! – in the event that he has owned since before the birth of the iPhone, but his Swan Song ended off-key: he was beaten in the 100 meters at the IAAF World Championships in London by Justin Gatlin, from America. No more races for Usain Bolt; he’s finished.

Prince Philip, retiring at 96. Prince Charles, hoping to change jobs and get his promotion, at 68. Tom Brady turned 40 last Thursday, knowing that #10 (Jimmy Garoppolo) is waiting to step in for #12. He’s checking the inflation on the team’s balls, wondering whether it’s time. Usain picked the wrong event if he was hoping to qualify for the pension plan: the victory lap at 30, but unceremoniously bested by the 35-year-old. What’s next for the Jamaican hero?

I sat recently with a great friend – a graduate of The Master’s Program – who could teach all of those guys a thing or two. My friend is nearing the end of his sixth decade – at a time when most of his contemporaries have hung the “Gone Fishing/Hunting/Golfing/Biking…” sign in their window – but he’s not writing his memoirs yet. In his ‘succession plan’, his energy is going into a serious pursuit of his coming season; if the strategic factors align, his name will be in national headlines as he engages what will be, for him, a move from serious past success into awesome future significance. He knows how to take all of his history and use it to set the coordinates for an even more amazing future.

Why? Because he believes that trophies are no match for crowns, and those eternal accolades are waiting for the followers of Jesus who figure out what God’s plan for their life here was supposed to accomplish… and that it isn’t over until it’s over. In the process, here’s the caption God puts under every scene: your life now is good, but the best is yet to come.

Listen: the average champion basks in the limelight, while living with the haunting sense that they have no hope for a better tomorrow. Sign some autographs; post some selfies on Instagram, and try to hold the attention of a fickle culture while navigating into the Great Unknown of the coming season.

“Why should I consider participating in The Master’s Program?” I hear that a lot. Here’s the best answer I know: we’ll help you maximize today, and to set a course for tomorrow that takes you ever closer to finding – and, exploiting – your God-Designed Potential. Finding your Calling is no incidental accident: after securing your Eternal Salvation through personalizing the Gospel, it’s the single most important pursuit of life…your succession plan.

Scroll down, below my signature: those are onramps for Master’s OnLine (good anywhere, anytime) and Introductory events around the country for live cohorts of TMP that are forming now.

Bob Shank

Are you the real deal with leadership?

Texans call it “all hat, and no cattle,” when referring to an unsubstantiated claim of leadership.

It’s colorful; it’s descriptive, and it’s going on, constantly. You know it when you see it: someone claims to be something that their performance does not confirm. Their rhetoric isn’t matched by their results; their claims fall short of their conduct; they pretend… but, they don’t produce.

Look around. How many people do you know who are introduced as “leaders”… but have no one following them?

Is leadership a title? Is it confirmed by having custody of a box in an organizational chart positioned above others? Is leadership locked to pay-grades? Can you assume that people who make more, lead more… and those who are lower on the income scale have no impact on those around them?

There are two measures of leadership. Classic power systems are built around command-and-control models. Hierarchies are top-down horsepower; they have power to dictate to their downline.

There has always been a less visible, but often more viable model of leadership: call it influence. “The capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behavior of someone” is the dictionary definition of influence. If that isn’t leadership, my thesaurus has a virus…

When you know what you’re looking for, leadership is easier to spot. Find someone who has a measurable effect on other people, and you’ve found a leader; evaluate that effect, and you’ll know whether they’re leading people toward their potential, or their demise.

Let’s test that premise. Here’s a moment in history, with scores of people in the mix. Can you spot the leaders in the scene?

Executive Summary: Jesus and his 12 Dwarfs Disciples are traveling; they stop at a well just outside Sychar – a town in Samaria, where they are likely not welcome (Samaritans had no dealings with Jews; it’s a long story). The 12 – all of them – went into town to get lunch, leaving Jesus at the well, alone and thirsty.

A woman comes to get water to take back to her home, and Jesus asks her for a drink. She’s shocked: he’s violating social protocols (Jews didn’t interact with Samaritans, nor men with women). He turns the conversation to spiritual thirst, and his ability to slake that longing with eternal efficacy. He discloses his knowledge of the woman’s tawdry past – five failed marriages; she’s now shacking-up with a guy – but he extends grace (a notable exception to Pharisaical style). She mentions the longing for Messiah common to both Jewish and Samaritans beliefs; Jesus tells her that he is the Christ.

Just then, the 12 leaders-in-training return from town – with take-out – and try to pull Jesus away from the woman to get it while it’s hot. He responds: they’re famished for food; he’s interested in impact. The unnamed woman leaves her water pot and heads back into town. She goes to the city square and makes a bold announcement: “Hey, everyone: out by the well, I’ve discovered the Messiah!

She’s the Pied Piper: the men of the city follow her out to the watering hole, and there she introduces them to Jesus. They listen, persuade Jesus to stay… and he spends two days addressing this town full of thirsty people with truth that hydrates them. Their summation, to the woman who previously wore the Scarlet Letter: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42).

Back to the Leadership Workshop: where are the Leaders in this story? Two stand out: Jesus, and the woman. He influenced her character, development and behavior; she influenced the character, development and behavior of the people in her city (the textbook definition of influence). The 12 went to town and brought back sandwiches; the woman went to town and brought back… the town.

Had you been in this scene, where would you have been? Buried in the details? or, Getting in front of a movement? Where is your leadership influence being demonstrated, today?

Bob Shank