Promises

An Evening to Remember

This was forwarded to me by an old friend: It is definitely worth the read:

What the Graham team continues to communicate with or without words

A few days ago I journeyed to The Cove—the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina—to participate in a small two-day discussion between pastors and business leaders. After dinner on the first evening, we guests were honored by a visit from Billy Graham, Cliff Barrows, and George Beverly Shea. Barrows is in his eighties, Graham his nineties, and Shea his hundreds (yes, he's 102).

For an hour the three men chatted back and forth, reminiscing on their 65-year partnership in world evangelization. Barrows and Shea sang a few of the songs that were often featured at Graham crusades in the past. They even coaxed Billy into joining them for one of them. The three told many stories and remembered "inside jokes" they'd played on one another. But always the focus of the conversation was their indelible joy over the tens of thousands who had crossed the line into faith in Jesus Christ as a result of their efforts.

Throughout the hour Barrows, Graham, and Shea expressed great affection and appreciation to each other in ways that made us all realize that each was conscious that there might not be another occasion quite like this one when the three of them would be together again. Aging at this advanced point, you must understand, makes moments like these precious beyond understanding.

Watch three men like this who have lived a lifetime of kingdom-service, and you are reminded of the words of E. Stanley Jones who wrote toward the end of his life, "My song is a life-song. Not the temporary exuberance of youth that often fades when middle and old age sets in with their disillusionment and cynicism …. No, I'm 83, and I'm more excited today about being a Christian than I was at 18 when I first put my feet upon the way." Ditto: these three.

As I listened to these remarkable old men speak of God's faithfulness in their lives, my memory went into overdrive.

My first experience with Cliff Barrows—music director and crusade coordinator—came when I was just 16 years old, a student at a New York boarding school. It was 1956, the year of Billy Graham's historic, four-month crusade at Madison Square Garden. On one of those days, a schoolmate of mine and I took the train into the city, found the "Garden," and sneaked in a side door. It was midday and the arena was empty except for one solitary figure sitting on the edge of the stage shuffling papers. It was Cliff Barrows.

When he saw my friend and me, he put his papers aside and swiftly walked in our direction. "I'm Cliff," he said when he reached us. "Welcome to the Garden. Where are you from?" We told him we had come to the city hoping to be part of the event that night. I shall not forget his response.

"Well, let's see how we can make that happen." He took us to the stage where there were three or four rows of chairs right behind the podium. Barrows pointed to those seats. "Where do you think you'd like to sit, second or third row?" We were astonished! And when we realized he was serious, we pointed to two seats in the second row. He immediately took paper and wrote, "Reserved for Gordon MacDonald." Doing the same for my friend, he placed the papers on the seats we had chosen.

"Now let's find a way to get you back into the Garden tonight," he said. Taking us to a small office outside the arena area, he spoke to a security guard. "These two young men need passes for the side door. Please make that happen." And the man did.

When Barrows left us in the following moments, he said, "Now, boys, pray for Mr. Graham tonight while he preaches. That's why I've got you up there."

 

And we did. I think I grew a foot taller and several years older that day, thanks to Cliff Barrows.

Some years later as a seminary student, I had my first chance to meet Mr. Graham personally. "Billy, I'd like you to meet Gordon MacDonald," my introducer said.

I was a 24-year-old scrawny, somewhat unpromising kid, struggling to pass basic seminary courses, and I was one of many being introduced to Billy Graham. What do I remember about that moment? That he fixed his piercing eyes upon me, extended his hand and said, "Mr. MacDonald, it's an honor to meet you." Mr. MacDonald! He addressed me as if I were a peer or someone "superior" to him. Oh, the dignity of the moment for me. For the space of about—I'm guessing—ten seconds, he connected with me and it seemed as if the two of us were the only people in the room. For weeks I bathed in that awesome moment in which this extraordinary man poured value into me. Such a tiny encounter: such an unforgettable moment.

I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but ever since that moment when I shook Billy Graham's hand, I have always tried to replicate that same sense of intensity of interest any time I have been introduced to anyone.

And now, the other evening, I sat and watched three very aged men do their best to make us, we visitors to The Cove, feel welcomed and honored. Their singing was a tad off key. Their words were halting as they taxed their memories for the right ones to express themselves. Their eyesight and their hearing were obviously impaired. Their physical limitations were apparent. But they filled the room with grace, and I was tearful and awed. They are still bringing people to Jesus.

When a godly person grows old—Simeon and Anna in the temple come to mind—and reaches the twilight in a life of faithfulness, there is no need to be musically on key or smooth with words. The fact is that one's Spirit-filled presence is all that is needed to bring others blessing.

When the evening was over, we milled around these three saints trying to offer appropriate words of thanks, snapping pictures with them and with one another, seeking to sort out our own thoughts about what it's like to occupy a small piece of holy ground (or floor in this case) where you are in the presence not of celebrity but of men who have walked with God.

Do you think any more like them are coming down the pipeline?

Gordon MacDonald | posted 5/24/2010

Part 2 of Step 1: We admitted we were powerless and our lives had become unmanageable

I grew up reading the New Testament as if it were a personal letter to me rather than to a group called to gather together to live out the Kingdom of God on earth. When “you” becomes plural the New Testament’s meaning shifts. In part that is why, “We admitted we…”

We admit a common problem. We admit two separate but connected truths. If someone misses one of these two truths, they are unable to take this step. Perhaps a story would help here:

Jesus was walking with his ragamuffin followers when this BMW 7 series pulled up. A young, good looking guy hopped out, not caring that he double parked and ran up to Jesus and got down on his knees before him.

“Good teacher, how do I to get to heaven?” he asked.

After Jesus finished setting him straight about calling him “good” (no one is good but G-d) he to obey all of the ten commandments and he listed the second half of them(He skipped the first four commandments that had to do with relating to G-d.)

The man responded as most good conservative Christians would, “I’ve kept all those commands since I was a boy” (or a “wee lad” if you are in Great Britain).

Jesus didn’t contradict him. Instead he stated, “You’re missing one thing. Go sell everything you have and give it away to the poor. Then come and follow me.”

In one fell swoop, Jesus made the claim to be G-d and let the man know that though he felt powerless over his eternal destiny, life was pretty good; too good to give up for something possibly coming tomorrow, and the man left to live his life in comfort and ease.

Lots of people can acknowledge powerlessness without acknowledging unmanageability. Many others can acknowledge unmanageability without acknowledging powerlessness.

In the West we’ve got it pretty good. Even the poorest among us live more comfortably than most of the rest of the world’s population. We have more wealth, and physical health than the world has ever known. We make Solomon look like a pauper.

Only those too weak carry the weight of their own shame or sin, or those so reprobate that they destroy their loves or their own lives seem able to admit their helpless estate.

Very few seem able to see the Matrix for what it is. Even fewer swallow the red pill and see the ruins that surround them. We live our lives in a fog that appears to be crystal clear. That fog hides the real and all too many live in a blissful unreality that ultimately damns them to an eternity of the same nothingness that haunts them from afar everyday of their fallacious lives.

Those that do break under the weight of the lie we all live, often are able to take this step. It is the first step back toward the Garden. It is the first step toward God.

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

Though I didn’t vote for you in the last election, currently I am grateful that you are our president, not because I agree with you so much but rather because I still feel – rightly or wrongly – that you mean what you say. It is rare to feel like you want to trust a politician but you engender that desire in me and I am grateful for it. Though I have to tell you that my trust is being challenged recently.

You won the Presidency because of your pragmatism. You won because politics is clearly broken and in you, we the people found a reason to believe that those same politics could be put back together again. Recently, for good reason (Your secret deal with Pharma for instance) that belief has been tested. You may not change the political landscape. Maybe you’ve given up. Maybe you never meant what you said.

You need to know that it is that realization that you aren’t delivering on the hope of change you offered that has shattered American’s belief in health reform. Government is broken and not just on the Federal level. Most of us simply don’t trust government at all. Let me try to explain…

I work for the government. I am privileged to drive a special needs school bus for Portland Public Schools. It may not be the most glamorous job, but I am paid to love and care for some of the most vulnerable and needy members of our society (well kind of paid – if you average my wages over the course of a year I make less than someone working full time at minimum wage). There are worse positions in which one could find themselves. Having said that, during my tenure at PPS at least three snapshots illustrate why people don’t trust government to manage their health care.

1.         My first year on the job one of our managers stated, “I’ve remade the wheel at least thirteen times. It is job security.” Advancement inour division seems to be made not on the basis of achievement but upon who is least likely to upset the apple cart; who will simply be a good soldier and allow everyone to be comfortable.
2.         In Portland special needs students are often transported from a block away from their neighborhood school across town to another school for no really good reason other than it is the “system” PPS has created.  Routes crisscross each other and are thrown together “willy nilly,” as if someone drew them randomly out of a hat. Busses travel needless miles because the system doesn’t demand efficiency and even works against it. We serve a broken system and the system is served by us rather than the system serving us. Bosses are more interested in the status quo than making things better. Government managers find it much easier to manage than to lead, and are unwilling or unable to lead effectively.
3.             In my small division of PPS we have ten administrators. The joke among the drivers is that the assistant director’s only job description is to mislead drivers and give us false hope, and attend meetings that everyone else managed to get out of. At the very least four administrators in our division are unnecessary. Meanwhile, while we all gag, our director announces that we are already running on a skeleton budget. It simply isn’t true.

        Mr. Obama, given these realities, why would anyone trust government with healthcare? It is a shame, because I believe that a single payer system is the only way to go, but as a group, we who work for the government are failing the people we are paid to serve. We haven’t earned the trust of the people. They have no reason to trust us with healthcare. Before you can embark on changing the private sector, you must re-invent the public sector and at this you are proving woefully inadequate. Secret meetings held after you promised transparency tend to dismantle trust. Broken local school systems destroy trust. 

        I supported Bush until I couldn’t deny his lies any more. Then I turned on him with venom  and anger. I don’t want to do the same with you. Change the public culture. If you continue on the path you are currently walking you will prove no better than he, and America can’t handle a repeat of his reign. We need healthcare reform and we won’t get there until you fix what is already broken.

10th Tradition Follows On

AA 10^th Tradition Short form: Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

And here is the text from the AA Big Book, the long form of the traditions:

No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues - particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.

Traditions 4, 6, and 10 fit together:  one purpose (tradition 4), do not lend our name to anyone or anything else, (tradition 6) hold no position on outside issues (tradition 10).

Many would say that in a democratic or republican society the church needs to take a position on such things as abortion, assisted suicide, gay rights (specifically gay marriage). Then they add gun rights, health care, immigration reform, etc… Somehow, all of these issues have made their way to the forefront of “Christian concerns”. We lost our

The 8th tradition wonders whether the message is diluted by profesionalism

In an editorial published in July of 1948, Bill Wilson wrote: “Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional. We define Professionalism as the occupation of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire. But we may employ alcoholics where they are going to perform those services for which we may have to engage non-alcoholics. Such special services may be well recompensed. But our usual AA ‘12^th step’ work is never to be paid for.”

The 12^th step states: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.”

In another article an alcoholic writes:

The 8th Tradition insures that anytime a newcomer reaches out for help, he will receive it, free of charge. Members freely share their own experience, strength, and hope with the newcomer and by doing so, help themselves by reinforcing their own recovery in the process.

It's how the 12 step programs work. Giving it away in order to keep it.

A 12 stepper in Portland Oregon is a gifted speaker, tells his own story well, and is in demand to travel to other regions of the country to tell his  story. It is not uncommon for him to travel to four to six conferences all around the country to practice his own 12^th step work, sharing his story of strength, hope, and love. He is not a wealthy man by any stretch of the imagination. In order to get him to Maine, the Maine inter-group paid for his airline ticket and covered all his costs. But he was not paid to travel 2500 miles across country for a long weekend. He did it because he wants to keep that which he has been given. He has a life now and he doesn’t want to lose it. He remembers the pain of life without recovery and he loves enough to want others to find a way of escape as well.

Meanwhile in Eugene, Oregon there is a hospital called Serenity Lane. It exists to help addicts and alcoholics begin a life of recovery. It is an intensive inpatient rehabilitation facility. One old timer in AA realized his son had a problem and checked him in to help him get a start. He paid the fees. No one in AA batted an eye that this old timer would pay professionals to help his son get clean.By doing so he didn't violate the traditions. He merely went outside of AA

It doesn’t really matter how it happens so long as it happens. “Just get clean. Just discover a life you never knew. Just find life! Do it here. Do it there. Do it hopping on one foot. Do it standing on your head. Do it wearing a toga or by shaving your head. Take a trip. Stay home. Lock yourself in a room by yourself or with a thousand others. I don’t care how you do it… just get clean!” is the cry of anyone who has been in 12 step groups for any length of time.

Most recovering alcoholics are partial to AA. After all AA is their life line. You can’t blame them for thinking that AA would be good for anyone with a drinking problem. Most however, are not arrogant enough to think that AA is the only way to stop drinking.

AA’s traditions are for AA. Others may find other ways. AA doesn’t have an opinion on what they do. They only know what they can and can’t do. And they have discovered that the power of AA is that they it is non-professional.

One drunk states it this way:

(W)e all know that if that were the case, that there were AA "professionals" the beautiful identification we drunks feel when sharing with and listening to one another might go down the tubes.

I couldn't trust authority when I was first getting sober and I don't think I am unique as a drunk. And who (sic) does an AA authority go to when he or she hits a wall? Certainly not a meeting full of the folks he has been practicing his profession on. Professional AA's just wouldn't work.

   Matt 10:5-10 states:

 

 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions…7 Go and announce…that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.* 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

9 "Don't take any money in your money belts—no gold, silver, or even copper coins. 10 Don't carry a traveler's bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. (Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. Emphasis added)

If an alcoholic wants so much to pass on the gift of life he has been given, that he will travel thousands of miles without payment to take the message of hope with him, why can’t Christians? We say we have life. We say we have hope. We say we’ve discovered: forgiveness, peace, joy, hope, love, and faith to name but a few and yet we require payment to share how to find them? How many pastors would stay on and preach if their church's decided not to pay them anymore? (I think both of my current ones would, especially since one only gets his car payment made anyway.)

The median income of a pastor in the US is over $84,400 annually. Long gone are the days of the Franciscans and their vow of poverty. If you look at any list of “professional” occupations you will find listed among their number, “pastors” or “ministers”.

The pastor shocked at the ramifications of this will turn quickly to 1 Corinthians 9 or 1 Timothy 5 and point out that Paul was clear that elders and preachers are to be paid, and the Timothy passage in particular seems to state that they should be paid well.

The quick and easy response is also to point out that Paul also argued that women should remain silent in church and that slaves should obey their masters. This would not be entirely fair, however.

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul is arguing for his own apostleship. The matter of being paid is not a question of right or wrong it is a matter of, “You do this for them, why not for Barnabas and me.” The letter to Timothy is not as simple. We do not have time to wrestle through the exegesis here.

Having said that, I believe with all my heart, that Paul did not foresee a world in which 95% of the church’s resources would be spent “reaching” the richest 5% of the world’s population here in North America. I do not think he foresaw pastors making well over the median income of the population base. I do not think he had in mind a professionalized clergy.

If he were writing today, I think he’d be aghast at how the average Christ follower felt unqualified to share the gospel because he was not a professional. He would be aghast at how much the gospel message cost, and he would go back to the words of Jesus, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

There is something ingenious to Bill Wilson’s vision of 12^th step work being forever non-professional. There is something extraordinary about the concept of classlessness in the fellowship that this tradition allows for and strengthens. These are ideas that are ripe for a 21^st century church. How much more powerful our message might be if it were removed from the clutches of greed and money and was re-rooted in the narratives of people finding life amidst the ruin of treacherous isolation and despair at the foot of the cross of Jesus. I want to go there.

The 7th Tradition

7^th Tradition: "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

Yesterday in the Oregonian Jason Quick wrote an article on Billy Ray Bates, the phenom that amazed Portland Trailblazer fans in the early 1980s. That was before drugs and alcohol destroyed his basketball career and his life. Now he lives and ex-felon, unemployed, looking for a hand out.

Addict / alcoholics have a habit of looking for hand outs, asking for something for free, thinking that the world owes them something, and when it's not provided for them they often explode into an all too recognizable black holes of need and desire. They fall further down into their hopeless pit of addiction and respond by picking up and using some more.

I groaned as I read the article on Billy Ray. I used to love to listen and watch him play. He was truly an amazing basketball player. But here he was saying to Jason Quick that he was a completely different person from the addict that went to prison still with his hand out asking for help… telling people that he felt that the Blazers owed him.

The 7^th tradition of AA has this tendency alcoholics have in mind. It is designed to help an addict / alcoholic see that they need to take responsibility for their worlds. It is a change to taking care of oneself rather than looking for others to meet their needs. It is practiced by the group and individuals learn that with others they can be self supporting.

The tradition is a tradition not a rule. When new groups begin, often another group provides seed money to help out until the new group can support itself. Recovering alcoholics and addicts can be some of the most generous people you'll ever meet, helping each other out before they are asked to

The book Growing up Holy and Wholly, compares growing up in an evangelical home to growing up in an alcoholic home. The church’s accretion over the years has given it a reputation for holding out its hand looking for help much like the addict does. In recent years people have come to view the church as being not unlike the beggar next to the freeway exit, playing on peoples’ guilt. While people should help. It is counter to the Spirit for them to be "guilted" into helping. And the church shouldn’t beg.

Recovering alcoholics give to an AA meeting because they know the meeting needs the money to survive. They also know where the money goes and that it will not be wasted. The money doesn’t go to line someone in powers pockets. The money doesn’t’ go to a beautiful new building, or a new roof for an old building. The money goes to help other drunks stop being drunks.

When people give to many churches they do not have that confidence. Today there is a clergy class that needs to be supported. There are buildings that need to be paid off, and debts that need to be satisfied.

Many missions require that  missionaries raise close to $100,000 a year to stay missionaries. The amount of money that American religious professionals "demand" is unconscionable by the world's standards. The average pastor in America makes over $84,000 a year, and that doesn't include his benefit package.

It is not uncommon for people making less than $2000 a month to be asked to give to a missionary or a pastor making over $6000 a month. It is no wonder people often decide to give directly where there is need instead of their local congregation. They figure if they can educate a child in Africa or the Dominican Republic for $30 a month, it is money better spent. They are probably right

Until many of the other traditions are followed it is nearly impossible to follow this one. The church needs to try, however. This is not to say that organizations and foundations shouldn’t give money to the Christian enterprise, but I wonder if maybe they should give to the para –church organizations and allowing the churches to be fully self supporting. Churches need to become fully self supporting once again, and where they are guilty of acting like addicts not in recovery, holding their hands out and looking for the “easy money” --  They need to stop.

Struggling with Tradition 6

Tradition 6 "An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.”

In the early days of AA a fellow had the idea of setting up a hospital to help drunks get clean. He took it to his AA fellowship. It was a great idea. It would house the medical community and give those who were sympathetic to AA a place to practice and point people to AA for ongoing recovery. This tradition stopped the fellowship from getting involved and a few years later when someone at the hospital almost single-handedly bankrupted the enterprise, AA’s name was not dragged through the mud.

An old timer in AA once said, if I wasn’t in AA I would never know so many millionaires. He wasn’t kidding. Many AA’s are successful type ‘A’ driven people who have made and lost millions and then made them back. There are successful AA doctors, lawyers, entertainers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and authors. AA has members working at the top of Wall Street as well as living on skid row.

These successes have great ideas and they continually bring them to the fellowship: “We could start a half way house for people on their way back into society… We could create a night club for drunks where they could gather to watch the game drink good coffee and eat good food, dance, and socialize… Do you realize what affect on the political process we could have by marshaling our members… we should create a law firm that not only defends drunks but points them on the road to recovery…” The list is endless. All of these could be really good things. AA has decided not to get involved in any of them, lest it detract them from their primary purpose. This single-mindedness has allowed AA to carry out its mission. THe church has approached it's mission differently. How is it doing?

So, individuals, often members of the fellowship but yet separate from them have put those idea in motion and although, many AA’s benefit from them and use them, they are not connected to AA. Oxford houses sprung up all around the country. These Sober living” houses are not connected to AA or NA but serve their members. When an Oxford house gets into trouble AA does not have divert any of its energy to deal with the problem. They don’t have to pay to help mitigate damages; they are separate and able to focus on their mission of helping drunks recover sanity.

This is a hard tradition. I do not think the missionary enterprise is un-biblical in its current structure. I do think that churches need to be involved with Rescue Missions, etc…

Having said all that, I wonder whether the church would be wise in today’s day and age to re-think lending its name and support to so many things. Many great enterprises are co-sponsored by a church, or group of churches. But should they be? There are others that I'm not so sure about. The Conservative Right is considered by many to be synonymous with evangelicalism. Belonging to Right to Life PAC has replaced baptism in many circles as the rite of initiation into the church. The anti-gay lobby wouldn't survive without the backing of conservative congregations

I’ve blogged else where about the chillingly excessive amount of funds spent on church buildings in the Western World. AA has none of those issues to worry about. Owning property would change its focus from helping struggling drunks to taking care of buildings. Maybe that is part of the problem with the church in the West. It has to concern itself with taking care of billions of dollars of properties and can’t focus its attention on loving and being love for a world that needs it. It has focused on fighting abortion or gay rights, or universal health care (I really don't get how fighting universal health care is a Christian value but somehow it must be) and has forgotten about Love and forgiveness. it has looked outside of itself for the problem and has found it. After all, it is much easier to deal with the problem out there than the problems "in here".

The first time I remember the church lending its support to anyone it was to Constantine, and we all know that proved to be disastrous. We didn't learn our lesson though. We keep doing it today. And every time we do we forget a little bit more about love. 

Thoughts on Church buildings and waste

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from one of my friends in India asking if we would sponsor their building a church building. If we did, they would call it the "Ruth & John Grant Memorial Church." A little bit of my heart broke off as I read the letter.

As Dad and I travelled with this very pastor across Maharashtra a little under three years ago we spoke of the way that American Missions had taken the worst of our culture as well as the best with us as we tried to proclaim Jesus and that the idea that material opulence in church buildings was part of that sin.

In India more than 600 million people live on less than $2.00 a day. Somehow they survive. Here a pastor wants several thousand dollars to erect an additional church building when they already have a compound built as an orphanage. Something is out of kilter.

Unpacking some of my library I came across two books that speak to this issue. The first is by John Alexander. It was never published so it sits on my shelf in two notebooks. Its title says it all, Stop Going to Church and Be the Church. “How can we go to something we are?” he asks. Yet, that is the nature of how we think: “Do you want to go to church today?” Or, “Come on kids, we’re late for church!” we yell angrily because we are going to look bad, arriving late for the church gathering.

The second book, The Torch of the Testimony, makes the statement that if the evangelical church in North America was to divest of all it’s property the church would have over two billion dollars to spend on feeding the poor, clothing the destitute, and generally fulfilling the great commission of our Lord, Jesus.

One of my favourite churches is called the Evergreen Community. Because it meets in pubs throughout Portland, my wife and I were married in a Pub. I think it is one of the best possible partnerships. The pub isn’t going to open on Sunday morning (because it is not a sports pub). And so their space goes unused. Some of the church stick around to have lunch also helping the pub’s bottom line. The elder who preaches encourages people to tip well and most do. Jesus smiles.

Now, if you talk to the church planter that started it all he will tell you that not having a building sucks sometimes. Evergreen is truly missional and wants to be involved in feeding the poor and clothing the homeless. But because they have no building, they forgo the opportunity for a food pantry or a clothing bin for the homeless. In today’s day and age, there is little need for an office, though at times it would be nice and having a print center could be a great cost savings. There is a cost to not having a building.

Matt Hannan is a pastor at another of my favourite churches, New Heights, in Vancouver. A few years ago the church truly was out of space. They were meeting five times a weekend because there weren’t enough seats in the building for everyone to sit. Matt, who is probably Portland’s preeminent preacher was running out of voice by Sunday night, and the energy outlay of the weekend had to take it’s toll on his effectiveness during the week. However, when the church planned expansion they didn’t plan a seat for everyone. Instead they planned to still have three services and so they planned their expansion accordingly to save dollars so they would have more to throw into church planting and community engagement.

Another church here in Portland partnered with local businesses to build their building as part of a retail, and office space complex. By partnering with business the cost to each party was less than it otherwise would have been.

There is no right answer to these questions. And so even I have a suggestion to add to the mix. It might help someone somewhere. Let’s see. What if several church’s here in Portland that do not own their own building got together to lease space together… not to meet mind you, but for mission purposes. An old warehouse could be turned into a copy center, food pantry, clothes closet, or who knows what else, people could share the space. Church communities could work together to make it functional and fir their needs. Costs could be shared and kept low, and so congregations that could not afford their own space might be able to share space.

I fear that this would only work if the commitment of the leadership was to not see this as a stepping stone, “until we can afford more” but as a commitment to Kingdom values, and doing it in order to be missional. Anything less would lead to outward selfishness, conflict, and eventual collapse of the venture.   

Miscellaneous Ranting

I pay much more attention to what other people are doing while I am driving these days. Riding a motorcycle requires such vigilance for me to stay happily alive. I've come to the conclusion that too many Tri-met bus drivers are too cocky, and do not think the law applies to them. the other week on my way home from downtown Portland, driving up Burnside, I pull to stop at 20th where the stop light that has already turned red. I am in the left lane and there is a Tri-met bus stopped letting off passengers in the right lane. Now remember that the light is already red and I am slowing to a stop. to my amazement the bus driver pulls away from the curb and procedes through the red light. This is less than a week after a local news station has aired reports of Tri-met drivers not only getting ticketed for running red lights but also getting abusive to the policemen that gave them the tickets.

Then two days ago, I was west bound on Marine drive making a left turn onto 6th when the Tri-met driver on 6th sees that I am slowing to make my turn, and that there are a boat load of vehicles behind me decides to turn left in front of me causing me to power slide to avoid him. The whole time the driver has his eyes locked on mine as if to say, "So what are you going to do about it?"

This whole green economy has a nasty underbelly to it. don't even get me going on the mindset of our ever growing bicycle commuting crowd who don't believe that the rules of the road apply to them or that they should ever have to stop for a gas guzzling vehicle of any kind. Some of them even tried to pass a law here that would allow bicycles to legally make "California stops" at stop signs. The reasoning here is that everyone is already doing it, lets make it legal. That is like saying that since everyone speeds we need to raise the speed limit. it simply makes no sense at all.

I gotta tell you, I really don't understand this "hate of Obama" that is out there right now. Maybe it is merely a result of my background living among the "Christian Right" (who always has a tendency to be so right they are wrong). But I am discovering a huge number of people that  can't stop hating on the guy cause they don't like his policies.

My first response to this whole "Obamuism" thing is to say, "So what?" Everyone is so scared about this shift toward "socialism". While I am not a big fan of socialism and see it as legallized theft, I'm not particularly concerned about it either. Some of the world's happiest people live in thoroughly socialistic Denmark. (That little country has come a long way since Hamlet's tragic life.) Most of Europe is more socialistic than we are in this country and my Libertarian ideals are merely that, ideals that we aren't realisticly able to go back to so why not try something new and socialize parts of the economy to help those that need a helping hand? It can't be any more F'd up than it is right now... and all of a sudden the USA isn't despised like it was during the years that we were ruled by the Christian liar, Bush.

Though I am glad I voted with my party and never did vote for him, I was a Bush backer for far too long. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had to know more than we did. It was his "inside knowledge of WMD's, of Sadam's atrocities, and his connection to Al Queda that led us to war. This pacifist accepted his lies and defended his President against the liberal left, only to discover that the French of all people, were right, Bush was a liar and we were in teh process of ridding the world of 100's of thousands of lives: American, Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdhish. We did it all for a lie. The world will never be the same because of that lie, and it seems that the majority of the pro-life people support the war. Doesn't the irony of that just grate you the wrong way?

Now we have a President that right or wrong, isn't lying to us; who has restored our international standing, and seems to be bringing things to the light rather than keeping them hidden. He doesn't put up with fools, only yesterday his Auto Tzar was forced out do to dishonest financial dealings. Obama refuses to be stained by idiots who want to use their power for profit. I wish Cheney could say the same.

I don't agree with most of his policies. But that is not the litmus test for me anymore. Integrity is. Obama still has it, and though it won't take a lot to have it ripped from him, I don't think he is going to allow that to happen. So I'll happily disagree with him and thank God everyday that he is my President rather than the liar who predeeded him that I supposedly agreed with on policy.

Changing direction completely, and this will become another post altogether soon, my ideas of the Church are being shaken to life again. The church is not a means to an end. It is not a merely a collection of metaphors. It is so much more. It is not something that we add to our lives to add meaning and direction to our lives. I have a sinking feeling that the emergent church has missed something here, and it is disturbing me. I'll write more on that later.

So I work for Portland Public Schools...

... and as Oregon passes two laws to increase taxes due to necessary budget cuts I don't know what to do...

First, let me make a small digression. I agree with the proposal to increase the tax on individuals who make more than $125k and households that make more than $250k. I disagree strongly with the proposal to tax over 2/3 of the corporations in Oregon, cause I am going to end up having my taxes increased to help cover their bottom lines. You can say you're not taxing the poor or middle class, but that is exactly what this tax increase is going to do... It sucks... but that is not the purpose of this post...

PPS wastes money like you wouldn't believe.Well maybe you would, and the attitude of management is that they are not interested in cost saving measures because doing it the hard way gives them job security. I asked a manager in my office why they didn't simply put the information that they hand out to us on line on something like "google calendar". Their first reply was because that would require everyone to have computer access. When I pointed out that it wasn't the case, they said, "Oh, well, it is job security. I've remade the wheel at least nineteen times."

That is how things work in government. There is a mindset that sickens me cause we the tax payer end up getting stuck with the bill and because there is no other way to get services to kids we end up paying anyway. My gut tells me that an independent auditor could probably save PPS over $100k per year in our department alone.

That does lead to another issue though, cause we have a private contractor working with us and they treat their workers like shit cause all they care about is the bottom line. They blow off law suits they create and delay and delay, dong what only big business with deep pockets can do. I am not happy with them either.

I don't want to see cut throat save money at the expense of your employees approaches. But I also don't want to see waste like I am seeing. Somewhere there has to be some common sense middle ground but for the life of me it eludes me.