Most are living longer but in some regions of the country folks are dying sooner. This is an opportunity for ministry.
Study Highlights Regional Declines in Life Expectancy
Apr 22, 2008
A study published Monday in PLoS Medicine indicates that, although overall average life expectancy in the United States increased by more than seven years for men and six years for women between 1960 and 2000, the life expectancy for many underserved Americans has declined or remained static, the New York Times reports.
To analyze long-term mortality trends, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington reviewed mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau collected between 1959 and 2001. They found that 4 percent of males and 19 percent of females experienced a decline or stagnation in life expectancy beginning in the 1980s, with the most significant downward trends concentrated in Appalachia, the Southeast, Texas, the southern Midwest and along the Mississippi River.
Specifically, the disparity in life expectancy between men in counties with the longest life expectancies and men in counties with the shortest life expectancies grew from nine years in 1983 to 11 years in 1999. The disparity in life expectancy between women in counties with the highest and lowest life expectancies, meanwhile, increased from 6.7 years to 7.5 years across the same period.
Using disease-specific mortality data, researchers determined that the stagnation or drops in life expectancy stemmed largely from an increase in diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as a lack of improvement in cardiovascular mortality. Noting that those conditions are closely related to smoking, high blood pressure and obesity, all of which can be controlled "through both personal and population strategies," the study's lead author says that "there is good evidence on relatively low-cost and effective ways of dealing with these issues if one of the health system's imperatives becomes to close this widening life expectancy gap."
Acknowledging, meanwhile, that the "life expectancy decline is something that has traditionally been considered a sign that the health and social systems have failed," the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who also co-authored the report, suggests that the findings "should be a sign that the U.S. health system needs serious rethinking."
(Bakalar, New York Times, 4/22/08 [registration required]; Harvard release, 4/21/08; Ezzati et al., PLoS Medicine, 4/22/08)
My comments: These diseases and early deaths are related to overeating, drinking, smoking and other lifestyle choices. They are not related to failure sin the delivery of health care.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Facing Death and Eternity with God
Steve Judah has been a good friend as well as a professional colleague for many years. Although he and I grew up across the Wabash River from each other, he in Indiana and I in Illinois, we met in Columbus, Ohio. I became involved with Steve Griebling, a Clinical Counselor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church in Columbus, and that led to a long friendship with Dr. Judah.
Steve Judah is a Clinical Psychologist with a fine practice in Columbus. He has developed some of the most innovative and creative approaches to mental and emotional health in the World. Steve's commitment to Christ with integration of psychology and theology have been liberating and a witness to Christ. It matched perfectly with that which Steve Griebling and I were doing so we worked together to bring the love, truth and mercy of God to people in pain.
Dr. Judah came down with a terrible form of cancer last year and we have been praying for him, his wife Sharon and kids since we got the news. However, unless God does a radical miracle, Steve will not survive. He is in Hospice and is facing eternity with courage and faith. He recently wrote the following statement on his blog.
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Greeting beloved.
This is the most important message I've yet sent to you from my perspective. This morning I had a most surpassing spiritual experience. I want to place it into three parts: (1) the context, (2) the message, (3) and the experience.
(1) The context is that we just decided to pursue hospice care in order to have quality of life for the remainder of my life rather than further treatments or interventions since my diagnosis is terminal. I see this as an opportunity to celebrate the transition between earth and eternity. So with this backdrop I went to sleep at 12:30 am and awakened at 5:30 am with an incredibly crystal clear message.
The message follows: (2) Peace.Life Death. Live a Good Life. Do Good. Accept Salvation through Christ. Die. Live Eternally. Peace.
(3) Lastly let me convey the experience. I had the most overwhelming experience of PEACE that I have ever had in my life. So my wish for you is that you too find Peace as God calls unto you.
Steve, thanks so much for your testimony and thanks be to God for His marvellous grace. May the God of peace keep your heart and soul in His hands.
Gary Sweeten
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
WATCH PRAYERS
Over time I am writing a few posts on the concept and Process of Dialogue Prayers. In a previous post I covered W for Welcoming one another and the Lord. Now let us take a look at Attending one another and the Lord.
A-Attend to one another and Attend to the Lord: Paying attention to what is happening to each other is crucial in the Dialogue Prayer process. We focus on what each member is experiencing as we welcome God into our gathering. It is here that the group is built into a community. If one member begins to confess a sin the entire focus of the rest of the group will be on her or him until that facet of ministry is completed. Attending means that we minister fully in the same direction until the Lord nudges us to move in a different direction. Have we not all experienced times when the anxiety of a leader or member moved the focus before God was finished?
By attending to God's work in the group we are beginning to operate in a manner described in I Corn. 12, 13 and 14 when the church functions as the integrated "Body of Christ." If the focus is on individual, isolated and personal prayers this unity will never develop.
In Dialogue Prayer Group the Holy Spirit is at work making all the various "parts" of the "body" moves together in unity. The gifts of the Spirit are not primarily intended to be individual characteristics that a person can carry around to use at her will. One does not transport the "gift of teaching" in his back pocket or in her purse to pull out at random.
Rather these gifts are to operate within the context of the gathered community. I am not always an "ear" in the body but I am an "ear" whenever the body is moving together in the unity of the Spirit and I am led by the Lord to be an "ear." Thus, I may minister at one time with the gift of healing and at another time in the role of confessor.
Maurie may manage the group process one week and facilitate worship through spontaneous singing the next. By attending to the Lord's voice and to the people's voices I can more appropriately judge the exact nature of my call to function at this particular time.
The current emphasis on spiritual gifts is a wholesome addition to the days when Christians failed to recognize gifts other than a clergyman. However, our westernized version has members filling out "gifts tests" that supposedly inform us what God has done once and for all for all time in the same way we can identify whether we are good in mathematics. Additionally, check lists are purported to work for us whether or not we have ever been in a group that operated as an integrated community as described in I Corinthians 12. In fact, many of the churches that use these gift checklists do not even believe that all gifts are possible or permitted. It is similar to selecting someone to be on the baseball team because he checked that, as a child, he really like hitting things with sticks. A gifts-check list might show that he had the gift of batting even though he had never even been to a ball game let alone played in one.
This is what happens when leadership gifts are removed from the life of a real community. What kind of test will reveal that my daughter is ready to baby sit? What kind of checklist tells me that my son was gifted in music presentations? There is no test for relating to others and to God. The only way any of us decides when a child is mature enough to carry out a relational ministry or function is when we have observed them in action and have had an opportunity to disciple them.
And how do they discover those gifts? By reading a book or by watching, trying and being supervised?Attending requires that we focus our attention on what God is doing in the group with particular reference to what He is doing with and to the individuals and the group as a whole. The group has a life in addition to the individuals within the group. Most of the commands in scripture are to the gathered community and not to the individuals who "attend" church. In fact, attending church is not even a biblical notion. Rather, we are the church and when we gather in his name we are His family whose job is to listen to His directions. As a family we must learn how to carry out His instructions.
Attending requires us to take risks and ideas that we think the Lord is raising up for whole group. For example, I was once impressed to suggest that a group go on a "prayer walk and servant evangelism outreach". The group rejected my suggestion because they thought we were too immature. However, they encouraged me to share the thought more in the future.
This is the biblical model for discipleship. We call it "socialization learning" rather than "schoolization learning." Children learn to use chop sticks rather than spoons and by watching, talking, and many trials and errors. Some of my Chinese friends are extremely talented in the use of chopsticks while others do not have that particular gift.
Socialization learning demands that we change the way we think about church and ministry. It will require us to carefully attend to one another.
A-Attend to one another and Attend to the Lord: Paying attention to what is happening to each other is crucial in the Dialogue Prayer process. We focus on what each member is experiencing as we welcome God into our gathering. It is here that the group is built into a community. If one member begins to confess a sin the entire focus of the rest of the group will be on her or him until that facet of ministry is completed. Attending means that we minister fully in the same direction until the Lord nudges us to move in a different direction. Have we not all experienced times when the anxiety of a leader or member moved the focus before God was finished?
By attending to God's work in the group we are beginning to operate in a manner described in I Corn. 12, 13 and 14 when the church functions as the integrated "Body of Christ." If the focus is on individual, isolated and personal prayers this unity will never develop.
In Dialogue Prayer Group the Holy Spirit is at work making all the various "parts" of the "body" moves together in unity. The gifts of the Spirit are not primarily intended to be individual characteristics that a person can carry around to use at her will. One does not transport the "gift of teaching" in his back pocket or in her purse to pull out at random.
Rather these gifts are to operate within the context of the gathered community. I am not always an "ear" in the body but I am an "ear" whenever the body is moving together in the unity of the Spirit and I am led by the Lord to be an "ear." Thus, I may minister at one time with the gift of healing and at another time in the role of confessor.
Maurie may manage the group process one week and facilitate worship through spontaneous singing the next. By attending to the Lord's voice and to the people's voices I can more appropriately judge the exact nature of my call to function at this particular time.
The current emphasis on spiritual gifts is a wholesome addition to the days when Christians failed to recognize gifts other than a clergyman. However, our westernized version has members filling out "gifts tests" that supposedly inform us what God has done once and for all for all time in the same way we can identify whether we are good in mathematics. Additionally, check lists are purported to work for us whether or not we have ever been in a group that operated as an integrated community as described in I Corinthians 12. In fact, many of the churches that use these gift checklists do not even believe that all gifts are possible or permitted. It is similar to selecting someone to be on the baseball team because he checked that, as a child, he really like hitting things with sticks. A gifts-check list might show that he had the gift of batting even though he had never even been to a ball game let alone played in one.
This is what happens when leadership gifts are removed from the life of a real community. What kind of test will reveal that my daughter is ready to baby sit? What kind of checklist tells me that my son was gifted in music presentations? There is no test for relating to others and to God. The only way any of us decides when a child is mature enough to carry out a relational ministry or function is when we have observed them in action and have had an opportunity to disciple them.
And how do they discover those gifts? By reading a book or by watching, trying and being supervised?Attending requires that we focus our attention on what God is doing in the group with particular reference to what He is doing with and to the individuals and the group as a whole. The group has a life in addition to the individuals within the group. Most of the commands in scripture are to the gathered community and not to the individuals who "attend" church. In fact, attending church is not even a biblical notion. Rather, we are the church and when we gather in his name we are His family whose job is to listen to His directions. As a family we must learn how to carry out His instructions.
Attending requires us to take risks and ideas that we think the Lord is raising up for whole group. For example, I was once impressed to suggest that a group go on a "prayer walk and servant evangelism outreach". The group rejected my suggestion because they thought we were too immature. However, they encouraged me to share the thought more in the future.
This is the biblical model for discipleship. We call it "socialization learning" rather than "schoolization learning." Children learn to use chop sticks rather than spoons and by watching, talking, and many trials and errors. Some of my Chinese friends are extremely talented in the use of chopsticks while others do not have that particular gift.
Socialization learning demands that we change the way we think about church and ministry. It will require us to carefully attend to one another.
Boomer Tsunami Requires A Response
Here is an article in an online training magazine about the possible crisis that faces US organizations and businesses with the retirement of so many Boomers and Builders.
Preparing Your Workforce Today to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges
By Alisa Blum, MSW
Employees will be retiring in record rates in the next 10 years. The baby boomer generation compromises approximately 75 million people or 45% of the workforce. Many are in management positions and are preparing to retire.
The generation right behind the boomers are a much smaller group of about 45 million people Since many of the employees preparing to retire are in senior management positions, we are likely to see a dearth of employees ready to fill these positions. Added to this, a new generation has recently entered the workforce, with its own unique characteristics.
By looking at the needs of the different generations in the workplace, we can develop strategies to better prepare our workforce. The following are tips that can aid in this process:
1. Develop mentoring programs. Older workers tend to be motivated by having opportunities to pass on their knowledge. Younger workers benefit from the career development opportunities they gain as mentees and learn critical skills needed to prepare for advancement.
2. Create flexible work schedules. Many older workers either don't want to retire full time or cannot afford to retire full time. Organizations can reap the benefits of their experience by creating part-time, on-call or consultant opportunities. Younger employees that are balancing work and family needs will be more likely to want to work for your organization if they have the option to work from home or work part-time.
3. Use a strengths-based approach to promotions. Develop a career ladder where employees can be promoted on the basis of their strengths. Younger employees often want to be promoted but tend to reject the traditional career ladder. For example, a superb technician may not have the inclination to be a manager, but would make an excellent “technical advisor”.
4. Focus on your high potential employees. Pay attention to your high performers. Let them know how much they mean to your organization. Determine the qualities typically seen in your high performers, find out why they like to work for you and use this information to develop strategies for recruitment and retention.
5. Provide opportunities for ongoing education. Our technological advancements mean that employee's skills need to continually be updated. Additionally, employees are often more inclined to work for you if they have opportunities for higher education. Organizations that provide in-house educational opportunities or tuition reimbursement programs will be more likely to attract and retain their employees. Younger employees, in particular, are frequently motivated by opportunities for continued learning.
6. Encourage managers to regularly have career development discussions with their employees. Research on employee retention shows that employees are more likely to stay at if they have opportunities for career development. Managers should have periodic discussions about where the employee wants to grow in their career and how the employee's needs fit with the organization's needs.
7. Design a program to preserve the knowledge of your key employees. Evaluate the processes that are in place or need to be in place in order to preserve and pass on essential knowledge. Determine how you will preserve and pass on essential processes, procedures and practices.
In order to avoid the myriad of problems associated with the impending losses that will occur as we lose a large percentage of our experienced workforce, it will be essential for organizations to take action without delay. By working now to create new ways of working with your employees, you can prepare your workforce today to meet tomorrow's challenges.
© 2008, Alisa Blum & Associates
Alisa Blum is President of Alisa Blum & Associates, a training and consulting company specializing in helping organizations develop a motivated & productive workforce. Training programs are offered both live and via webinar. More information can be found at http://www.retentionsolutions.org/. Alisa can be reached at (503) 524-3470 or alisa@retentionsolutions.org.
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Now, instead of thinking just of your company, consider the implications of these demographics on your church. What age group has provided the bulk of volunteers, donors and leadership for you? Where will they go after retirement? Where will they give after retirement? Who will teach Sunday school and be on the trustees?
Are you prepared for a mass exodus?
Sweeten Life Systems has a ministry of consultation to faith based groups. Let us know how we can assist you.
Preparing Your Workforce Today to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges
By Alisa Blum, MSW
Employees will be retiring in record rates in the next 10 years. The baby boomer generation compromises approximately 75 million people or 45% of the workforce. Many are in management positions and are preparing to retire.
The generation right behind the boomers are a much smaller group of about 45 million people Since many of the employees preparing to retire are in senior management positions, we are likely to see a dearth of employees ready to fill these positions. Added to this, a new generation has recently entered the workforce, with its own unique characteristics.
By looking at the needs of the different generations in the workplace, we can develop strategies to better prepare our workforce. The following are tips that can aid in this process:
1. Develop mentoring programs. Older workers tend to be motivated by having opportunities to pass on their knowledge. Younger workers benefit from the career development opportunities they gain as mentees and learn critical skills needed to prepare for advancement.
2. Create flexible work schedules. Many older workers either don't want to retire full time or cannot afford to retire full time. Organizations can reap the benefits of their experience by creating part-time, on-call or consultant opportunities. Younger employees that are balancing work and family needs will be more likely to want to work for your organization if they have the option to work from home or work part-time.
3. Use a strengths-based approach to promotions. Develop a career ladder where employees can be promoted on the basis of their strengths. Younger employees often want to be promoted but tend to reject the traditional career ladder. For example, a superb technician may not have the inclination to be a manager, but would make an excellent “technical advisor”.
4. Focus on your high potential employees. Pay attention to your high performers. Let them know how much they mean to your organization. Determine the qualities typically seen in your high performers, find out why they like to work for you and use this information to develop strategies for recruitment and retention.
5. Provide opportunities for ongoing education. Our technological advancements mean that employee's skills need to continually be updated. Additionally, employees are often more inclined to work for you if they have opportunities for higher education. Organizations that provide in-house educational opportunities or tuition reimbursement programs will be more likely to attract and retain their employees. Younger employees, in particular, are frequently motivated by opportunities for continued learning.
6. Encourage managers to regularly have career development discussions with their employees. Research on employee retention shows that employees are more likely to stay at if they have opportunities for career development. Managers should have periodic discussions about where the employee wants to grow in their career and how the employee's needs fit with the organization's needs.
7. Design a program to preserve the knowledge of your key employees. Evaluate the processes that are in place or need to be in place in order to preserve and pass on essential knowledge. Determine how you will preserve and pass on essential processes, procedures and practices.
In order to avoid the myriad of problems associated with the impending losses that will occur as we lose a large percentage of our experienced workforce, it will be essential for organizations to take action without delay. By working now to create new ways of working with your employees, you can prepare your workforce today to meet tomorrow's challenges.
© 2008, Alisa Blum & Associates
Alisa Blum is President of Alisa Blum & Associates, a training and consulting company specializing in helping organizations develop a motivated & productive workforce. Training programs are offered both live and via webinar. More information can be found at http://www.retentionsolutions.org/. Alisa can be reached at (503) 524-3470 or alisa@retentionsolutions.org.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now, instead of thinking just of your company, consider the implications of these demographics on your church. What age group has provided the bulk of volunteers, donors and leadership for you? Where will they go after retirement? Where will they give after retirement? Who will teach Sunday school and be on the trustees?
Are you prepared for a mass exodus?
Sweeten Life Systems has a ministry of consultation to faith based groups. Let us know how we can assist you.
Monday, April 21, 2008
What Do Seasoned Believers Want?
After our Seasoned Believer Gathering last October we sent out a survey asking attendees what kinds of things would help them as Christians. The following answers are not scientific but they do give us a snapshot of the felt needs of our people.
Zoomerang Survey
1. 26% We are "at the wall and looking for new ways to grow in Christ."
2. 41% "I want to help others who are at the wall."
3. 33% "I have moved beyond the wall and am looking for a new personal ministry."
Topics of key interest - % reporting 'Very Interested + Extremely Interested'
1. 95% - Learning to hear God
2. 90% - Christian coaching and mentoring
3. 90% - Learning to rest in God's love and grace
4. 70% - Learning to 'just be' in Christ, and not always 'doing' for Christ
5. 70% - Learning new ways to be a better influence
6. 68% - Breaking free from your 'leashes'
7. 63% - Health and Wellness
8. 60% - Christian leadership
9. 58% - Improving my own and others marriages and family life
10. 55% - Developing better relationships with my family
11. 53% - Helping my church become healthy and grow
12. 50% - How do I connect with other folks in a common purpose and ministry
13. 50% - Discovering where I am in my spiritual, emotional, and relational growth
14. 45% - Preventing burnout
15. 43% - Getting my financial house in order
16. 40% - Negotiation skills
17. 37% - Christian collaboration skills
18. 25% - Finding a place of worship
19. 20% - Hospitality and hosting
20. 10% - Developing a ministry in my workplace
1. 26% We are "at the wall and looking for new ways to grow in Christ."
2. 41% "I want to help others who are at the wall."
3. 33% "I have moved beyond the wall and am looking for a new personal ministry."
Topics of key interest - % reporting 'Very Interested + Extremely Interested'
1. 95% - Learning to hear God
2. 90% - Christian coaching and mentoring
3. 90% - Learning to rest in God's love and grace
4. 70% - Learning to 'just be' in Christ, and not always 'doing' for Christ
5. 70% - Learning new ways to be a better influence
6. 68% - Breaking free from your 'leashes'
7. 63% - Health and Wellness
8. 60% - Christian leadership
9. 58% - Improving my own and others marriages and family life
10. 55% - Developing better relationships with my family
11. 53% - Helping my church become healthy and grow
12. 50% - How do I connect with other folks in a common purpose and ministry
13. 50% - Discovering where I am in my spiritual, emotional, and relational growth
14. 45% - Preventing burnout
15. 43% - Getting my financial house in order
16. 40% - Negotiation skills
17. 37% - Christian collaboration skills
18. 25% - Finding a place of worship
19. 20% - Hospitality and hosting
20. 10% - Developing a ministry in my workplace
As you can see, a very high percentage of the respondents want to learn better how to "Grow in Christ". This is a great opportunity for Christian leaders. The three top issues are 1. Learning to hear God's voice; 2. How to be a Christian Coach; and 3. Learning to rest in Christ's love.
In March we acted upon this information and had a half day workshop on "Hearing God in Prayer". About fifty people came and we will repeat it this year.
I have been considering the need to do some Coach Training. Let me know if you are interested.
Demographics are the Future
Our ministry focuses a great deal of our time and energy on the mature or Seasoned members of our society. Despite the fact that businesses, futurists and government planners are working hard to prepare themselves for the incredible rise in older Americans, Christians are still obsessed with youth. Maybe the following thoughts from a futurist will shock us into action.
The Demographic Hour Glass
The demographic concentration of boomers at the top of the population pyramid, backed by their vast reservoirs of disposable income, represents the next American gold rush. Ten years from now, the cover of this magazine (Fast Company) will be graced with the smiling faces of the entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who unlocked the elder boomers' hearts and minds---.
It's hard to overstate the weight of the numbers: Boomers now represent a U.S. market of some 36 million, or about 12% of the population, and as they move up the pyramid, the number of seniors is going to rise dramatically. By 2011, the 65-and-over population will be growing faster than the population as a whole in each of the 50 states. The Boomer Binge will have begun.
Opportunities
Businesses aren't confused about the opportunity that growth represents: Consumer electronics firms such as Vodafone are investing in mobile phones with designs tweaked to the requirements of older customers; IBM has developed a computer mouse that compensates for the tremors that sometimes affect seniors' hands; and Gap Inc. recently unveiled Forth & Towne, a new clothing line for women who fall into the vast retail void between the navel-pierced teen and the librarian in a twin set.
And those examples are just a foretaste. The real breakthroughs are going to come from companies helping boomers to hold on to their youth---. Boomers have never met a life stage they didn't want to remake in their own image, and their golden years will be no exception. (Fast Company; Futurist Andrew Zolli is the founder of Z + Partners, a strategy consulting firm, and curator of the annual PopTech conference.)
American Christians are not stupid so why are they refusing to plan for the future? Why are they acting against their best interests and the best interest of the church and the Kingdom of God?
I prefer to think it is a lack of awareness. That is one reason we are attempting to educate them the data and alert them to the implications and opportunities that lie ahead.
The churches can easily make the changes necessary to bring Seasoned Citizens back into the church. In fact, that group of people have been in positions of leadership for decades so they can lead themselves on their own. These people have been innovators and entrepreneurs leading the economic surge for a long time.
Why are Christians so slow to adapt?
Write me your comments on this topic.
The Demographic Hour Glass
The demographic concentration of boomers at the top of the population pyramid, backed by their vast reservoirs of disposable income, represents the next American gold rush. Ten years from now, the cover of this magazine (Fast Company) will be graced with the smiling faces of the entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who unlocked the elder boomers' hearts and minds---.
It's hard to overstate the weight of the numbers: Boomers now represent a U.S. market of some 36 million, or about 12% of the population, and as they move up the pyramid, the number of seniors is going to rise dramatically. By 2011, the 65-and-over population will be growing faster than the population as a whole in each of the 50 states. The Boomer Binge will have begun.
Opportunities
Businesses aren't confused about the opportunity that growth represents: Consumer electronics firms such as Vodafone are investing in mobile phones with designs tweaked to the requirements of older customers; IBM has developed a computer mouse that compensates for the tremors that sometimes affect seniors' hands; and Gap Inc. recently unveiled Forth & Towne, a new clothing line for women who fall into the vast retail void between the navel-pierced teen and the librarian in a twin set.
And those examples are just a foretaste. The real breakthroughs are going to come from companies helping boomers to hold on to their youth---. Boomers have never met a life stage they didn't want to remake in their own image, and their golden years will be no exception. (Fast Company; Futurist Andrew Zolli is the founder of Z + Partners, a strategy consulting firm, and curator of the annual PopTech conference.)
American Christians are not stupid so why are they refusing to plan for the future? Why are they acting against their best interests and the best interest of the church and the Kingdom of God?
I prefer to think it is a lack of awareness. That is one reason we are attempting to educate them the data and alert them to the implications and opportunities that lie ahead.
The churches can easily make the changes necessary to bring Seasoned Citizens back into the church. In fact, that group of people have been in positions of leadership for decades so they can lead themselves on their own. These people have been innovators and entrepreneurs leading the economic surge for a long time.
Why are Christians so slow to adapt?
Write me your comments on this topic.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Answered Prayers
Not long after Dallas Seminary was founded in 1942, bankruptcy knocked at its doors. By noon on one particular day, every creditor threatened foreclosure. That morning, the founders of the Seminary met to pray in president Lewis Sperry Chafer's office. They asked God to provide the needed funds.
Harry Ironside was part of that prayer meeting. When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically pointed manner: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money."
Meanwhile, as these men were praying, into the seminary's business office came a tall Texan. Addressing a secretary, he said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal go through and it won't work, and I feel that God is compelling me to give this money to the seminary. I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check."
Well aware of the seriousness of the seminary's financial situation, and knowing that it was for that purpose the founders were gathered in prayer, the secretary took the check to the door of the president's office and timidly knocked. When she finally got a response, Chafer took the check out of her hand and stared at it with amazement. The amount matched the exact size of the seminary's debt. Looking at the signature on the check, he recognized the name of the cattle
rancher.
Turning to Harry Ironside, he said, "Harry, God sold the cattle!"
Source: Howard Hendricks in Stories for the Heart
Harry Ironside was part of that prayer meeting. When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically pointed manner: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money."
Meanwhile, as these men were praying, into the seminary's business office came a tall Texan. Addressing a secretary, he said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal go through and it won't work, and I feel that God is compelling me to give this money to the seminary. I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check."
Well aware of the seriousness of the seminary's financial situation, and knowing that it was for that purpose the founders were gathered in prayer, the secretary took the check to the door of the president's office and timidly knocked. When she finally got a response, Chafer took the check out of her hand and stared at it with amazement. The amount matched the exact size of the seminary's debt. Looking at the signature on the check, he recognized the name of the cattle
rancher.
Turning to Harry Ironside, he said, "Harry, God sold the cattle!"
Source: Howard Hendricks in Stories for the Heart
compiled by Alice Gray
Church Drop Outs
Life Way Resources, the research and education arm of the Southern Baptists, recently released some research on the very high number of Boomers who are dropping out of church. The numbers are quite high but let me offer a word of encouragement.
Many would be open to returning to church.
Church members and formerly churched people are alike in their deep-seated yearnings, according to respected theologian John Stott. He told Christianity Today ... that even in a secular (perhaps we could say formerly churched) culture, people are still looking for three things:
1) transcendence-something beyond, i.e. worship and the reality of God;
2) significance-identity, perspective; and
3) community-love and fellowship that puts "skin" on an invisible God.
The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians something similar in 1 Corinthians 13:13: "Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." (HCSB)
Comment: Our series on "Dialogue Prayers" is focused on those three items. For too long Evangelicals have offered only morality with little if any transcendence; service without real significance and large group attendance without fellowship. We need to make sure church is more than a rock concert or an impersonal gathering of a mob.
What do you think? Do you agree with Dr. Stott or think he is wrong? Be sure to comment.I want to hear from you.
Gary Sweeten
Sweeten Life Systems
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