Act versus ReAct

These words have been ringing in my head the past week or so and they came to the forefront as I was sitting in our synod assembly meeting on Saturday and at church council meeting last night.

We, as a church, generally REACT.

Something occurs and we react. Our meetings and discussions are consumed by this occurred, now what are we going to do. We can almost phrase it as the following:

How are we going to react to the situation that we find ourselves in.

The unfortunate thing in my opinion is that normally, the react decision that we come up with is not that good. So, not only do we react but we react poorly.

I am struggling with coming up with situations that I can place out here to try to explain it in a clearer picture if those reading don't "track" what I am writing. The situation will not be in this post but it will be something that I will ponder and use for a future post.

Some way, some how, we need to ACT. Let us be on the forefront, make a decision and act toward a end in mind. Let us make a difference in our lives, our friends lives and the lives of our community.

As I sit here and am ready to go into staff meeting and then to work on a few projects this afternoon, a lot of what I am going to be doing is "reacting" to a few situations. Yes, things occur and we have to "react" at times, but the majority of things --- should be on the other end.

So, this afternoon, I am setting down some time/space to work on projects and plans are will be about acting and not reacting. As I do that, I think that I may have the following thought going through my mind:

Leadership is not about giving people what they want; it is giving what you as a leader know they need.

If Only .....

There is a house downtown that just went on the market. It is a house that I pass everyday walking to and from church. They had an open house today and I walked through it. It was beautiful and I was shocked to be honest with you. But, the living room, dining room and kitchen were excellent and it had a very nice half bath / laundry room off the kitchen.

Upstairs it had 3 bedrooms and a full bath. The bedrooms were not huge but they were good enough size and the colors and paint was very nice and there was a very large walk-in-closet.

There were small winding steps to a 3rd floor room that would make a very nice den/office/family room/additional BR or ....

The windows were good. It has a two car garage and a nice yard, even though the yard was behind the garage. The price is also very good.

If I had the money, we would make an offer today. This is where I get a little upset.

Our mortgage payment at this house with taxes and insurance would be less than our current rent. But, I do not have a down-payment and our credit is shot AND it has nothing to do with credit cards or outrageous school loans.

The house is beautiful and a very good deal at $ 88,000. I know some do not like the downtown area, but we do and if we could do it, we would.

Ugh.

The good thing is that we do like the house that we are renting though and we do live downtown already, if only ...... we would definitely make an offer.

Time to quit dreaming and time to quit kicking myself in the butt because I cannot do it. I just wish that I could do it for my wife and kids

Scriptural Thought

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Today, I am dreaming and imagining what would occur if we as individuals and then ultimately the church would be like if we lived this verse out as Jesus expected.

Stages of Life

The ReThink Group has three sets of curriculum. These curriculums are built around one strategy. Within this strategy, there are three stages of life, yet there is one end in mind.

Here is a breakdown of the curriculum:

Preschool

God Made Me
God Loves Me
Jesus Wants to be My Friend Forever

Children

I need to make the wise choices
I can trust God no matter what
I should treat others the way I want to be treated

Teens

I am created to pursue an authentic relationship with my Creator
I belong to Christ and define who I am by what He says
I exist every day to demonstrate God’s love to a broken world

As a church, we began with 252 Basics in January. It was a "quick" decision because of the resignation of the Children Director and I had to oversee the ministry. The CD had been writing her own curriculum and doing a rotation model. I could not continue with that and we have been laying the foundation for "orange", so we jumped in with it.

We will be adding the preschool and teens piece in the near future. Most likely we will be adding both of them come September. However, we will need to see what a few of the volunteers are "feeling" before we launch the Preschool model (piece).

The curriculums names are the following:

first look
252 Basics
XP3

Orange .....

Orange is a secondary color, created when you combine two primary colors. Those two colors are red and yellow. Thus, Orange is what red and yellow can do when they combine efforts. When you think Orange, you see how two combined influences make a greater impact than just two influences.

On the side bar, I give an explanation of the colors. Red ( the heart )is the home and Yellow ( light of God ) is the church. What we need to do and what the driving principle of Orange is about is to combine red and yellow.

When we combine them, the impact will be greater.

However, too many times the church is so accustomed to painting bright yellow that they have a difficult time thinking Orange. Rather then synchronize their efforts, they attempt to convince parents to start painting yellow.

I know that over the years, I have led ministries that were very dominant in yellow. There are many times that I wish that I could have a "do-over". There were times that we mixed and showed a splash of orange but overall, it was painting yellow and trying to make the biggest and best yellow that we could.

Yes, we made an impact. Yes, there were many teens that came that may have never come before but our influence and impact in the long run was diminished greatly because we did not partner with the parents and we did not use their influence. Not using a parents influence is a great mistake --- their impact is much larger then ours will be.

Tomorrow, I will share the dangers of not going Orange as I work my way through Think Orange by Reggie.

Dignity

Tune in to watch the ads (all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Fox News - Glen Beck
Mon., 5/11, 5-6 p.m.

HGTV - House Hunters International
Mon., 5/11, 10-10:30 p.m.

DIY - Kitchen Renovations
Tues., 5/12, 9:30-10 a.m.

HGTV - Designed to Sell
Tues., 5/12, 1-1:30 p.m.

CNN - Situation Room
Tues., 5/12, 6-7 p.m.

Fox News - Greta von Susteren
Tues., 5/12, 10-11 p.m.

HGTV - Designed to Sell
Wed., 5/13, 1-1:30 p.m.

The Story Behind The Ad

At around 5 p.m. every Thursday, rain or shine, the guests start arriving outside of Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, N.D., for a banquet. Volunteers -- the true cornerstone of the Trinity community -- begin to greet the guests, visiting with them outside the doors that open promptly at 5:30.

Regulars fill each other in on their weeks. Smiles are contagious. When the doors open, more volunteers will be waiting to escort guests to a table for a hot and delicious meal, free of charge.

Unlike most of the meals they've had this year, this one will be enjoyed on a beautiful table setting, complete with colorful decorations, menus and real china and silverware. Sometimes there's even live music provided by the Strolling Strings.

Hosted by churches and business groups from around the Bismarck area, and with dozens of volunteers organized each week by Banquet Coordinator Tudy Fennern, Trinity's Banquet welcomes any and all homeless and hungry members of the community with open arms each and every week. Founded on the belief that "the needy should never be served poorly," the Banquet's goal is simple: to nourish the body with food and the spirit with dignity and respect.

The tables, which seat eight, fill quickly with seven guests, escorted by yet another volunteer. The final seat remains open for one of the volunteers who has cooked and served the meal to join them in the family-style meal. The food is delicious -- prepared with fine, fresh ingredients, and perfectly spiced with compassion. As freshly baked and donated bread is broken, stories are exchanged. Laughter is shared.

And hope is restored.

The Banquet has served more than 58,000 meals since July 2005. It receives no state or federal funding -- it's a labor of love shared by Trinity and the Bismarck community.

The volunteers of Trinity's banquet return, week after week. "They say to me, 'I've heard about the Banquet and I'd like to serve,'" said Fennern. They come from churches and groups within the community, often hearing about it from a member of the Trinity congregation. They come from all walks of life. They get every bit as much -- if not more -- out of each Thursday's meal. Camaraderie. Conversation. The joy of knowing that they've not only helped nourish their neighbors' bodies with food -- they've nourished their souls with dignity, respect, and love.

The solution to hunger goes way beyond getting a person to their next meal. Every day, in ELCA ministries and companion congregations spanning the globe, people help their brothers, sisters, and neighbors, providing the food, shelter, education and resources to help eradicate world hunger. Find an ELCA congregation near you and join in.

Everyone who comes is welcomed with a smile and shown hospitality - it's not a handout.

Fighting Poverty: One Campus at a Time

Kudos To: Shin Fujiyama

I love to see and hear stories of individuals who truly want to make a difference in this world. He is an amazing young man. Thank-you Shin for all that you do.

From CNN

Shin Fujiyama's life has been highlighted by second chances.


Shin Fujiyama's organization, Students Helping Honduras, has raised more than $750,000.

Born in a fishing village in Japan, Fujiyama, 25, recalls a childhood dominated by health concerns. Doctors told his parents that he had a hole in his heart and "they didn't think I had lot longer to live." But during a later visit to the doctor, Fujiyama says, his family learned the hole had closed.

"Somehow I was cured and I became a normal kid," Fujiyama says. "And I had a second chance."

During his sophomore year at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, he volunteered in Honduras with a campus group and was struck by the extreme poverty he saw -- barefoot children collecting cans and sleeping in the streets. Fujiyama says he realized he could help give other children their own second chance.

Today, his organization, Students Helping Honduras, brings education and community projects to children and families in need through student service trips and fundraisers.

"Seeing the country and being able to make a difference really opened my eyes to a lot of things," he says. "I saw such a great need. I wanted to keep helping."

He started by telling his friends about his experience and collecting spare change at his two campus jobs, but Fujiyama found that organizing other students didn't happen so easily.

"When I had my very first meeting, I got all dressed up. And only two people showed up," he says. "I knew I had to keep fighting."

He enlisted his younger sister, Cosmo, then a student at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, to the cause.

"She's dynamite," he says. "When she talks in front of a crowd, she can move mountains. Knowing that she was behind it, I knew I could do anything."

Since 2006, the siblings' grass-roots campaign to help Honduras has grown to 25 campuses and raised more than $750,000 to fund projects, including the construction of two schools and the establishment of scholarships to help young women attend college.

Fujiyama says students are deeply committed to the organization because they are involved on every level: They raise money and then travel to Honduras to help build houses.

"We make friends with all the kids, all the families -- no matter where we're from. We've had people from all over the world come to Honduras with us. And it's a great network we've made," he says.

Demonizing ....

One of the quotes that I have come to appreciate and that I try to play out in my life is the following:

We need to be careful about demonizing those who don't practice church the way we do and learn from every version of church whose mission is to lead people into a better and more authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. God is bigger than our definitions or labels, and I am sure He is not worried about how your church compares to the one down the road.

I think that we really need to take a look at this statement, examine it and apply it to our lives as individuals and as churches. I think that way too many times, we are throwing each other ( individuals and churches ) under the bus.

We, truly, do have a common purpose and vision. We are wanting people to connect to a relationship with God.

The church comes in many different flavors. Those who are outside the church shakes their heads and laughs when they see us fighting and nit-picking with one another.

It is my dream that we can partner with one another and through the partnerships; we can bring the Kingdom of God to people that need him.

New Layout & Format

Over the last couple of days, I have been contemplating mt blog. I have decided that it is time to shake things up a little. Thus, I have made a few changes to the layout and format of the blog.

I have decided to switch to a 3 panel blog instead of a 2 panel blog. The left side of the panel will be dedicated to "orange" and blogs that I am connected with. The middle panel will be the section for the stories. The stories are going to become more focused. The following three will become more in-depth: church, family and advocacy.

The right panel will be dedicated to my family. It will have pictures and stories and highlights about them and our journey's together.

There are a few more things that I will be tweaking over the weekend and then on Monday, I will begin the process of shifting gears.

For now, I am headed off to my Meals on Wheels route for Wayne County. Have a great day.

Bridges Out of Poverty

The first meeting for the Circles Leaders (families) is tonight. I am so glad that we have 11 families who are willing to step up and say, " I want out of Poverty " and that there is a network that is going to surround them and help them in this journey.