2010 Thoughts and Reflections on Easter

Matt 21:12&13 – Cleansing of the Temple
“It’s a sad but true fact of the faith: religion is used for profit and prestige. When it is there are two results: people are exploited and God is infuriated.” In the temple, Jesus likely saw many things that bothered him and two are specifically mentioned money changers and dove sellers. Worshipers had to pay for things using temple money not Roman coins – so there was a pretty good profit made by charging fees and low conversion rates. Also, worshipers traveling from far away likely didn’t want to carry and deal with their own animals for sacrifices so they were paying exorbitant prices for the convenience of getting there animals right in the temple.

“It’s not difficult to see what angered Jesus. Pilgrims journeyed days to see God, to witness the holy, to worship His Majesty. But before they were taken into the presence of God, they were taken to the cleaners. What was promised and what was delivered were two different things. Want to anger God? Get in the way of people who want to see Him.”

“Christ’s passion on Monday is indignance.” You may not be one that emphasizes your profit more than the Prophet, but is there any way that you are getting in the way of God? Are you resisting His plan for you? Are you keeping a part of your self from Him – trying to hide or just not giving Him full authority? Is there someone that you know you need to have a spiritual conversation with and you keep putting it off? Is there a couple that you need to invite to church but you haven’t made the effort? Is the temple that needs to be cleansed today not in Jerusalem but in you?
Sources: Matthew 21:12&13 and And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado, Chapter 8.


Matt 21:18-22, Rev 3:15&16 – Where’s the Fruit?
Have you ever been really thirsty only to find a vending machine that’s out of drinks? What about opening a cereal box but when you start to pour it into your bowl you find out it’s empty? Have you pulled out a pack of gum then realized all of pieces are gone? That’s how Jesus felt.

Jesus, hungry and on his way to Jerusalem, stops for figs. Look at Matt 21:19, “found nothing on it except leaves.” It was a good looking tree, lots of leaves, full, and in a great location right by the road – but nothing of substance, no benefit, no help for others, not fulfilling it’s purpose. Max Lucado says “It’s all promise and no performance. The symbolism is too precise for Jesus to ignore. He’s not angry at the tree. He’s angry at what the tree represents. Jesus is disgusted by lukewarm, placid, vain believers who have pomp but no purpose.”

Consider Revelation 3:15&16 concerning the church in Laodicea. The Lord says that they are “neither cold nor hot.” They look fine, but are not satisfying. The church can’t bring warmth on a cold day nor cool refreshment on a hot day. The end of verse 16 translates literally “to vomit.” This church with no fruit is incompatible with the Body of Christ – vomiting is the bodies way of rejecting what it cannot handle. God can’t stomach a lukewarm faith.

Where does this leave us? Earnestly seek for whether you are hot, cold, or somewhere in the middle. Do you offer promising love but your worship falls flat? Do you look nice on the outside, but your insides are in turmoil? Do you perform the right acts, but your worship falls flat? Do you relate to others but can’t remember the last time you related to God? Lord, may we be open and honest about our faith and our relationship with you. May we be found hot and may our fruit be pleasing to you.
Sources: Matthew 21:18-22, Revelation 3:15&16, and And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado, Chapter 9.


The Depth of His Love
Saturday. No Disciples to be found. No healings or miracles. Just sneers on the faces of the religious leaders. Just tears on the cheeks of those who love Him.

Reminders of the past. The man who walked on water and calmed the storms didn’t stop the whip or the nails. The man who said that the Kingdom of God is at hand is now encased in a borrowed tomb. What had John the Baptist said three years ago, “behold the Lamb of God?” What had Jesus said a week ago about what would happen, He would “be mocked and flogged and crucified?” How had He known? How could He have allowed this to happen?

Jesus mentioned the sign of Jonah. Jesus mentioned that this temple would be rebuilt in three days. Jesus mentioned plainly that “on the third day He will be raised up."

Three days. Three days wrapped in linens and our sin. Three days lonely and loving. Loving? Really? Only His love for you allowed Him to fully express the depth of His love. Between the cruelty of his crucifixion and the radiance of his resurrection is silence. It’s the calm before the storm. The dark early morning, still and quiet before most of the world awakes. “Be still and know that I am God.” Be still today and consider the depth of His love.
Sources: John 1:29, Matt 20:17-19, Matt 12:38-40, John 2:18-20, Ps 46:10

These were primarily written for the Genesis LIFE Group of nearly and newly weds at Church at the Cross.

MLK Quotes and Speeches

I don't know why I haven't written about Martin Luther King, Jr. before but I have great respect for that man. It seemed appropriate for me this year to write about him and share my thoughts along with some links to relevant sites. Especially since my kids are out of town, I won't get to sit at our computer and let them listen to my favorite speeches/sermons like we normally do every year -- I'll use that time to write here.

I read a biography about MLK Jr. several years ago after being fascinated by his life for so long. The Biography was excellent and gave what I considered a fair treatment of Dr. King (sorry, I borrowed the book and can't find it on Amazon but it was written in the 1980s I believe). He was not a perfect man by any means but none of us should hold that against him. In my view, he was a man of action and integrity who stood by his convictions regardless of the cost, which are key traits I am trying to teach my boys as they grow into men.

Here are a few great resources that I have found with information on Dr. King:
* Standford research institute with some great links to speeches and sermons (check out the "Popular Requests" and "King Audio" links).
* The King Center in Atlanta founded by Coretta Scott King (the link is not working today perhaps due to high traffic).
* AfricanAmericans.com complete speech transcripts and key quotes.
* MLK Online has some good information and links.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from his speeches and sermons:

Address to the National Press Club, Washington, D.C. July 19, 1962:
"We are simply seeking to bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men no longer argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; the dream of a land where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality-this is the dream. When it is realized, the jangling discords of our nation will be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood, and men everywhere will know that America is truly the land of the free and home of the brave."

Great March on Detroit speech, Michigan June 23, 1963:
"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

March on Washington "I Have a Dream," Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day . . . sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood . . . . This is our hope . . . . With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day . . . . This will be the day when all God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, 'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.'"

Strength To Love, 1963 (applicable to anger):
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction . . . . The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

Strength to Love, 1963 (great quote about the church):
"The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

Strength to Love, 1963 (great quote for men):
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

The Drum Major Instinct, February 4, 1968:
"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve . . . . you only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."

I've Been to the Mountaintop, Memphis April 3, 1968, (the night before he died):
* "The world is all messed up . . . . But I know, somehow, that only when it's dark enough can you see the stars."
* "With this faith, I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope from a mountain of despair."

Collin's Baptism

Well, yesterday sure was special and we are very proud of our son! The only problem was that the microphone was not turned on so some of the congregation could not hear very well. Attached here is the video! Since the mic was not on, I added subtitles to the video (and the text below also). Feel free to turn your speakers up to hear better, but you may want to turn them down right after the baptism since the crowd went wild!



If you have a high-speed connection, here is a higher resolution version.

Here is what I prepared to say (but it's not exactly what I ended up saying):
Church family, this is my son, Collin Enright. A few years ago Collin realized that, like all of us, he is not perfect and he was separated from God since God is perfect. Collin believes that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection was God's perfect plan to make him Holy so that he could have a relationship with a Holy God now and forever.

So Collin, today I want to ask you: Do you believe that Jesus paid the price for your sin and do you want to follow Him as the Lord of your life? YES

Then Collin, based on your public profession of faith, it's my honor to baptize you, my brother in Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are buried with Christ in baptism . . . and raised to walk in a new life!

Church family, this is my son, and I am very pleased with him!!

16 things to look for in a Church

A blog that I just found by David Foster (I've never heard of him before now) posted a list of 16 things that we would look for in a Church he was visiting. Interesting list -- how does your church stack up? I think that our church does very well!

Here's just a few:
* . . . do the people on stage look real and engaged?
* . . . does the Pastor smile?
* . . . do I feel the presence of God?

Church Web sites are Broken

I found an interesting item on one of my favorite blogs -- Church Marketing Sucks (or Stinks, if you prefer). They ran a survey that simply asked the question "What's broken in your church?" and left an empty box for responses.

Aside from the basic "some of our windows are broken" answer, guess what got the most responses? The church Web site with 21% of the people who responded! Now obviously, the survey was strictly online and the site is used by people who care about church communications. So, it's a biased survey but still very interesting.

What can little ole me do to help the church body to improve in this area that's broken? Well, for starters the session that I've been asked to lead at the Church Leadership Conference is a start. I wonder if there is more that I can do?

In case you missed the above link, read the full discription of "What's broken?" from Church Marketing Sucks.

Godin on God

Seth Godin, interactive marketer, posts his thoughts about religions that spread (or don't) and the concept of ideaviruses. This is interesting to consider from an objective/secular perspective.

Church Leadership Conference

One of the reasons that I haven't posted anything lately is that I've been preparing a presentation. I have the priveledge this fall to have been asked to lead a break-out session for the Church Leadership Conference being organized and led by the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention (our state's collection of churches, the SBTC). I prepared and led a discussion on Effective Web Sites geared primarily at churches.

The Leadership conference is being held in three locations -- Euless (between Dallas and Fort Worth), Spring (north of Houston), and Tyler. The Conference locations and dates are as follows:

• Euless was held last Saturday, September 9th,
  
• Spring is on Saturday, September 23rd, and
  
• Tyler is on Saturday, October 7th.

If you are interested in more details, feel free to check out the press release or the accompanying Web content on the Conventions site.

The first conference was tons of fun and I had a good turnout at the sessions (3 sessions per conference). As is usually the case, my first presentation was the worst and my third run-through was the best. The SBTC recorded the sessions and they are planning to have the audio files available for download on the Conference Web site at some point (of course the taping was of the first session!). I am planning on looking into a file service so that I can share my presentation slides through this blog and I will link to the SBTC site once they get the audio available.

Katrina - Evacuation Strategies

One thing that was very interesting was how the families evacuated. We primarily worked with two large family groups, one of which was much bigger than the other. The smaller family group had around 14 family members who evacuated at once and the larger group had well over 30. The widespread understanding among everyone was that they were getting out of the city for 2-3 days and then were coming back home.

The smaller family group seemed to sense that it might be longer than that. Their evacuation plan was basically to take as many vehicles as they could and stuff them with important items before leaving town. The larger family group's plan was that the people were the most important thing and they all piled into as few vehicles as possible and got the heck out of there.

Needless to say that in the long run, the smaller family with more items, more documentation, and more vehicles ended up adjusting easier than the larger family who had fewer material possessions.

Not everyone in our group got to ride in a car out of the city. One gentleman in our group went to help some of his older family members evacuate and got stuck in the city through the storm. He woke up the next day and mistakenly thought that the worst had already passed. He remembers walking down the hall of the house and hearing what sounded like a stampede. He looked out the window and all he saw was water coming from the direction of the levy. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a loaf of bread and a jug of water and made it into the attic while the water was rising in his house. He finally made it to the Superdome and found some other family members there.

One lady joined our group when she ended up in the same general Superdome area as other members of the large family. She was alone and trying to sleep when one of the men came over to her and told her to get into their circle. You see, the men of the family were sleeping surrounding the ladies to protect them. Truly a horrible place with rampant crime, little food and water, false rumors being spread, and sick/dying/dead people just left in place.

Let me say that we love the people so much that God put in our path! Our lives have truly been touched and we have been changed for the better by knowing and befriending such great people. We watched the news from time to time amazed at some of the horrible things that were done and horrible attitudes displayed by some of the evacuees across the country. Yes, of course, we had a few individuals who needed the occasional "attitude adjustment." Our mindset was who wouldn't need a little adjustment after all that they had gone through. What great people we were privileged to serve!

Katrina - from the Motel to the Apartments

So, we committed to coordinating. What do we do now?

The first goal was to get to know the families and get them into the apartments and out of the motel. The majority of the evacuees signed their contracts with the complex within a few days but we realized that they couldn't really move into apartments with no furnishings -- no bed, no chairs, no nothing! The bedding seemed to be the highest priority. We had a lead from our church's newly formed network (see previous post) on some beds that were purchased in bulk and our church was promised an allocation of those beds. To make a long story short, several days went by with no sign of those beds and we made a decision to just move forward on our own.

It was a good thing that we did since the "beds" turned out (a week and a half later) to be futon mattresses with no frames. That would have been a big disappointment. However, we took money that was donated to our church for the relief effort, along with other money we could find, and purchased a bunch of beds (frames, box springs, and mattresses). I don't think that we ever made a spreadsheet so I don't know how many but they had to deliver them with 2 trucks that were full. We bought them on Saturday and determined that if we were going to get help with this it would need to be on a weekend. By the way, the company we bought the beds from is called Sleep Experts, a local family owned business -- thanks guys!

We decided to fast track this and get it done the next day. We talked Sleep Experts into it and asked for a specific time since this would require lots of coordination. Then, we put the word out that Sunday afternoon we needed all hands on deck including the evacuees to let us into the apartments to put the beds down. We made phone calls, sent e-mails, everything to get the word out. We made announcements on the stage in front of the whole church about the afternoon. The other challenging aspect of all this (which I didn't think of until Sunday morning) was the Dallas Cowboys were playing a 3:00 game which was exactly the time we had the mattress delivery! The turnout at the apartment complex though was totally amazing -- there were people from our congregation everywhere I turned!

After buying the mattresses on Saturday, Heather and I also worked hard to ensure that every evacuee family had a church family or Bible study class matched with them since this would be the perfect opportunity to start to build that relationship. We were still down a few church families heading into Sunday morning but our cry from the pulpit was effective and that afternoon we were able to match up everyone to my recollection. We really prayed over the match-ups especially since we did not know the evacuee families that well yet. The Lord answered our prayers in many ways. The vast majority of the families worked very well together and many are still friends to this day and keep in regular contact. In one pairing, both families had twin girls of a similar age. What are the odds of that? Just God.

After getting the mattresses moved in, we really challenged the sponsor families (the church members) to take the lead to get the apartments of their evacuee family furnished enough to move in. We gave them resource lists to find things and allowed the evacuees and our sponsor families to go through all of the donated items that we had in the apartment clubhouse. We had lots of "little things" like bedding, blankets, clothes, shoes, toys, etc. We relied on our network and the network of our sponsor families to find the big items like couches, dining tables, etc.! The amazing thing is that by the end of that week, the majority of the apartments were move-in ready! Can you believe that -- from nothing to fully furnished in one week!

Next Katrina post . . . Evacuation Strategies

Katrina - Our Response

After the Wal-Mart run and drop off for our first evacuee family (mentioned earlier), we went home and felt a little better that we had done something tangible to help those in need. So . . . why did I still feel restless? Why did I still feel like I couldn't mark that task completed?

In the meantime during that first week and a half, our Pastor and others in our church were coordinating with other local congregations and charities. Together they found many, many evacuees in our area that needed help. Working together across theological and denominational lines, they formed a very organized and effective consortium. Some churches stepped up and donated warehouse space to store food in one location and furniture and house wares in another location. Some churches short on funds and physical buildings offered their manpower to staff these facilities by sorting and distributing the goods. Some churches that were blessed financially started buying what was needed. Some churches blessed with the skills started working on resource lists, basic intake forms, counseling centers, job training and staffing locations, and on and on. Some churches like ours also offered to be a "host church" to take a group or several groups of evacuees under our wing long-term and partner with them through this ordeal.

When my wife and I heard about this long-term "host church" type of arrangement, we began to pray about how we should be involved. We learned that our church had agreed to "host" a group of evacuees and they were looking for families or Bible study classes to sign up to work with individual families of evacuees. My Pastor called and asked what role we might play in this relief effort. Our family discussed what a commitment like that would take and how it would affect our lives and busy fall schedule. We had a little baby, a 4 year old, and a 1st grader. We had no idea what "long-term" meant or exactly what would be required of us and no one could answer those questions. We called some friends of ours who also felt like the responsibility of hosting a whole family of evacuees by themselves would be a little overwhelming. So, both of our families agreed to share the responsibility of helping one single family of evacuees. It felt good to e-mail our Pastor and let him know that we were stepping up to the challenge and were willing to help by being personally involved in a long-term commitment with an evacuee family.

After a few days, we learned that one group of evacuees that our church had accepted responsibility for was a large group currently staying in a hotel. Someone working with them had found an apartment complex that was willing to allow them to move in on a temporary basis and sign short-term leases.

Throughout this time period, it seemed like we received many calls and e-mails from people asking about what to do and where to take items that they had gathered. My wife is a natural at this sort of thing and when we didn't know an answer to a question, she would find out and pass the word along. Not knowing what our evacuee family would really need, we decided to go ahead and start gathering things and working our contacts of friends and associates. Pretty soon, I couldn't park my car in the garage anymore it was piled full of stuff!

Finally, we got a call that we could take the items that we had gathered to a central spot for the evacuees that we would end up hosting as a church. We were told that the apartment complex had offered some storage space on their property even though the evacuees had not signed their contracts yet. At the complex, we mostly just organized our items in the storage area. There were lots of people from our church bringing lots of different items including food, water, bedding, pillows, blankets, towels, you name it and we had it. Just as it happened over the last several days, for some reason people asked my wife and I a few questions and we helped direct traffic a little.

Talking with some of the church staff that were there at the apartment complex, I learned that our church had actually agreed to "host" about 3-4 different groups of evacuees and others in the church had already started meeting the needs of some of the other groups. However, this group of evacuees was perhaps the largest group and the closest group in proximity to the church. Our Pastor said that he had been able to recruit one point person or one family to coordinate the other groups but had been unable to find anyone to coordinate this group who would soon move into the apartment complex. He asked me if our family would be willing to coordinate. Thinking back to the discussions that my wife and I had in trying to decide what we were able to realistically do AND knowing that the results of those discussions ended in us deciding to share the responsibility of hosting one evacuee family, I told my Pastor that "Oh no, we just can't coordinate all this besides we don't know how to do that. But, we are willing to host one family."

As my wife and I drove home from the apartment complex, I just felt strange. Restless. Anxious. Unfinished. I started thinking about the past few days. I was reminded of a time the day before when my wife had made a good decision about a donated item. I thought about a question that I had answered from another church member that seemed like the right thing to do and it had worked out well. I prayed right then and asked God why I felt restless and to show me what to do. I told my wife how I was feeling and she said that she felt the same way. We ended up deciding that like it or not, whether it's convenient or not, regardless of if we have the time or not, we already were taking leadership in a sense. We already were in this thing over our heads.

When we got home, I looked up my Pastor's cell phone number and called him to tell him that we would coordinate the group of evacuees moving into the apartment complex. So, that's the story of how one little family who started off sharing the responsibility of caring for one evacuee family ended up helping to coordinate an effort for around 36 apartments holding over 75 people hosted by over 25 families and Bible study groups in our church.

I talked with one of my dear evacuee friends tonight just to check in and see how she was doing since today is the official anniversary. Ms. D was very emotional today. She has been volunteering her time at a local charity and giving back to the community. She mentioned to me that when she started volunteering she didn't know what she was supposed to do. I counseled her on something that I had heard several times -- God doesn't care as much about our ABILITY as He cares about our AVAILABILITY. I was able to share that with Ms. D with conviction since my family lived that out. We had no idea what we were getting into and no idea how to do the job we had just volunteered for. However, we were obedient to His call and made ourselves available. It wasn't easy, but He was faithful to provide "all that we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).

Next Katrina post . . . to Apartments

Katrina - Slow Response and Leadership

We spent a good amount of time watching TV and checking out what was going on in both New Orleans and Mississippi (don't forget that it wasn't just New Orleans affected by this storm). Like everyone else, we were shocked by the slow response from those organizing the relief. Looking back I have not devoted much time to studying the research, analysis, and news reporting (those 3 are not always the same thing by the way) to have developed an educated opinion as to who was at fault for what. Because of that, I do not have a strong opinion positively or negatively toward any of the main characters (President Bush, FEMA's Michael Brown, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Governor Blanco, etc.). What I do have an opinion about is what I believe is to blame for the slow response in general -- weak leadership!

Personally, I do not believe that President Bush is specifically to blame and I do not believe that he is racist or that he did anything intentionally wrong. He may not have asked the right questions or pushed the right buttons to keep wheels moving however. In some information that I have seen, it seems like Michael Brown was sitting back waiting for something to happen rather than being proactive. We were also amazed at the inefficiency with which FEMA operated even months after the event.

Being administratively minded, I tend to place more blame on the local leaders. It's easy to say "get help down there" or "bring buses to evacuate." But it's another thing to know specifically what kind of help, where should they go, how should they get there, where are we evacuating people, where are the people who have already been evacuated that need help, etc. New Orleans is below sea level for goodness sakes, what is their disaster plan for a flood! Of course, the plan may not be on the same scale as reality but it's a starting point. I have a negative overall impression of New Orleans Mayor Nagin. I don't want to leave out mentioning that the leadership of Lt. General Honore seemed to be outstanding.

I am frustrated also by the lack of leadership in the non-profit sector. I have a very favorable impression of:
* the local churches, synagogues, and charities;
* the Southern Baptist, Catholic, and Methodist response teams;
* and the Salvation Army.

Surprising to me, the organization who was not impressive was the Red Cross! They were sitting on millions (perhaps billions) of dollars, resources, and volunteers and in my opinion they were unresponsive, unorganized, and squandered their resources. That is not to say that they didn't do anything right. We were just continually frustrated to hear what they were doing or not doing. Even on our grassroots level, we knew several things were a waste of time and money and not meeting the real needs of any of the people that we had daily contact with. We had donated to them during the tsunami in Indonesia but I don't think that I'll be giving them any more of our money after seeing them in action (more like inaction) during this crisis.

Next Katrina post . . . Our Response

Katrina Anniversary

Coming up soon is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I intend to use this forum to document some of my thoughts and experiences from the past year relating to Hurricane Katrina.

In the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures, the Lord consistently asked His people to remember their experiences by setting up memorials. One example is when Joshua and the people crossed the Jordan River. God told the people to pick up 12 stones (one for each tribe) from the river bed and set them up on the other side to remember how the Lord stopped the flow of the river so that they could cross on dry land. We have a nice box in our home that we call the "Joshua Box" where we write down the ways that the Lord has directed our family so that we will not forget His faithfulness. I would like to take the next week or so to make this a virtual Joshua Box as a testament to His faithfulness to His people.

Since the DFW Metroplex is far inland, typically the main thing that crosses our minds when we hear "hurricane" is that maybe we'll get some rain and we hope it doesn't do too much damage on the coast. Before Katrina's landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, we were much more aware due to the intensity of the storm and the possibility of having a few people in our area running from the storm. In the aftermath of the storm, however, my family was just like everyone else, riveted to our TV watching in horror how people were flooded out, stranded, in need of rescue, and then in need of the basics to survive.

The first few days, my thoughts were all external -- I hope someone can get those buses to the Superdome, what a tough job for the National Guard and Coast Guard, is the state of Louisiana able to get enough food and water for all of those stranded folks? Toward the end of that first week, we heard of evacuees in our area and my thoughts became internal -- what can I do to help, what food and water can we get to those folks, what other things do they need that we can get?

We sent some of our offering money to national relief that first week, but Sunday, September 4th was our first face-to-face interaction with evacuees. A resourceful church member had started calling hotels and motels in our area looking to see if anyone needed anything. She found some families in a motel and made contact with them. They didn't get out with much and our friend made a list of their needs. After e-mails, phone calls, and announcements in church that morning, they had their list completed in one day. When we went to drop off our donations after a Wal-Mart run, I looked into their eyes, talked with them, and played with their kids. That's when my thoughts became personal. What if this was me and my family? Where would we go and what would we do? How would I feel if I was unable to provide for my family and we had just lost every material possession that we owned?

We had no idea exactly what was in store for us, but my wife and I started talking and praying about what we should do and how we should respond. Little did we know that one year later our lives would be richly blessed by new experiences, new frustrations, new skills, new foods, new perspectives, and most importantly by new friends.

Next Katrina post . . .

Leadership in Ministry

One very interesting newsletter that I receive on a periodic basis is The Pastor's Coach from Injoy (John Maxwell's organization) written by Dan Reiland. The latest editions offered some very good insight into assessing leadership specifically from a ministry perspective. There are two editions of the newsletter that address this topic so here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.

Church goals

This is very interesting reading on the goals that we set as a church and how we evaluate our progress and success. It is from the Leadership Journal blog of Christianity Today which I try to follow regularly (but not always often).

The 3 Bs -- bodies, bucks, and bricks -- have always been questionable as to whether they are really a quality measurement of a church's success. Thank you to Jim Collins for encouraging us to look beyond our standard measuring sticks and be creative and innovative in how we judge success.

The best things in life are worth working for. This blog post doesn't give you all of the answers but encourages you to think outside the box and develop answers that are specific to your church body. In my opinion, that's the way it should be. In church life, we often try to pull best practices off of the shelf of business experience and try to force them to work in our churches. At times, this results in using a big hammer to make a square peg fit into a round hole and what we are left with is splinters! It's not fast and easy to take the time to think through our church strategy, goals, reason for existence, key competencies, etc. but we are called to excellence and excellence is not always easy.

Ordained as a Deacon

Wow, what an awesome and humbling experience! On Sunday night (4/23/2006), Memorial Baptist ordained me, along with several other men, as a deacon.

It was a great service with praise and worship, a charge from Pastor Gregg, and an awesome prayer time where all of the new deacon's and elder's were prayed over. To coincide with the ordination, our church allowed us each to select a new Bible that we picked out from Sonrise Christian Store. We had our Bible's available on a table for others to sign.

Most surprising to me was that our family drove in from Arkansas to be there! My grandmother, my mother-in-law, my boys (my baby girl is too young to understand it), our good friend Patricia, and our sister and brother-in-law with their kids from Arkansas all to be there -- what a blessing and an honor!