Core Values

It has become apparent to me that the Gorilla Glue of organizations can be boiled down to a common commitment to core values. The several ministries I have founded, and not a few still survive, have always focused on the importance of building A Lifetime of Great Relationships.

As long as my colleagues and I operated on those values things went along smoothly. When we violated any of the core values the Glue lost its Gorilla and things fell apart. It has been my very sad experience to see a few relationships become toxic and destructive and the organization dedicated to good relationships come apart like to kite made from tissues.

There are many reasons relationships fail. First, there must be a balance. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was "Love God with all our heart, soul and mind and secondly our neighbor like ourselves." If an organization worships and serves God but forgets to love the people at work things come to a sad end.

If a group loves the people who serve there but forgets to worship and love God it will be a clanging bell whose sound is off key. Finally, love and care of one's own soul is essential to a healthy ministry.

Sweeten Life Systems has a tag line to remind us of the importance of these things. It is: "A lifetime of great relationships" and by that we mean relating well with God, neighbor and self. I confess that building good relationships does not come naturally to me. It is something I must work on and practice.

I attended a workshop led by Dr. Rich Walters in 1974 that turned my life around. Dr. Walters I was convinced by that I could not be successful in helping my clients grow and change unless I learned and practiced good relational skills. From that time until now I have applied myself to learning, applying and teaching others the essentials of healthy interpersonal relationships.

I turned Seventy last Monday on May 5 and am more convinced than ever that when St. Paul told us to "Speak the truth in love" he was unleashing the secret power of leadership. Unfortunately, well over 90% of all Americans have never, ever had a class that taught the most basic skills of relating to other people.

There are untold billions of dollars spent annually and needlessly because of this lack in our churches and educational systems. It is the secret of successful marriages, successful parenting and successful businesses. Why are we so foolishly throwing our money away and causing so much misery in homes, schools, businesses and churches?

Conflict is inevitable!

Misery is optional!

Donations greatfully accepted

We have no sugar daddy

Retire? Not Me!

Garrison Keeler, despite being a Left Wing Nut, is a pretty good writer with terrific insights and wisdom. I get a pod cast of his "Prairie Home Companion" radio broadcast each week and I enjoy his funny, acerbic and homey sketches.

I also get a weekly newsletter from Garrison and his team of intrepid organizers. A Prairie Home Companion newsletter@americanpublicmedia.org Garrison had a neat article in today's newsletter about why retiring doesn't sound too good to him.

In my parents' home we sat down to our Cheerios and toast and ate it and conversed in small declarative sentence fragments and jumped up and out the door, and I still do, and that's why I don't intend to retire: What do you do after breakfast? Do you have to hang out for hours with other geezers and geezerettes and reminisce about the days when it was fun to fly from place to place — remember? When you walked through the airport and out the door onto the tarmac and up the stairs to the plane, just like Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca"? I don't care to.

What do retired people do after breakfast other than reminisce about old movies and watch more at Turner Classics? Actually retiring to do nothing but sit and whittle is passe anyhow. Our generations have far too many talents, gifts and wise experiences to stop living.

So, find something important to do and do it. Dry rot sets in if we sit and rot with no physical, mental or spiritual challenges. Our generations have changed the world and it is too much fun to stop now. (Why not write your life's story?)

Application of Our Faith

Some recent articles in the Journal of Philanthropy got me to thinking a lot about the need for Believers to plan their tithes and offerings carefully and yes, even, strategically. When we think about the history of our nation it is obvious that the strength of America has often been because of the direct influence of Seasoned Believers.

Ruminate for a bit over the following colleges. Harvard, Yale, Brown, Temple, etc. What comes to your mind? Was it the fact that each was founded to train an educated and committed citizenry? Did you remember that the goal was to preach the gospel, carry our missions to the people and prepare each American to read the Bible?

If these were not your thoughts, think again. Those were exactly the ideas of the men and women who founded the Ivy League Schools. And, each has left its core values behind and we can see the results in all aspects of our nation and its culture.

We need a strategy to educate, train and mobilize smart, tough, capable youth into vital places of leadership. We must carefully prepare people for work in government, the arts, education, business and industry. Take a look at the following article for insight on how others are using their experience and wisdom to take the USA in a different direction.

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The White House Project

Despite Sen. Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the presidency, women are greatly underrepresented in the U.S. political system – -a scenario the White House Project is attempting to change.

Marie Wilson, the group’s president, told a conference session about her group’s efforts to train women across the country to run for political office, calling it an example of nonpartisan political activity that is permitted under the tax code governing charities.

The United States ranks 71st in the world in the percentage of women serving in parliament (here, the House of Representatives). “It is not really a representative democracy,” said Ms. Wilson.

Ms. Wilson, who headed the Ms. Foundation for almost two decades before starting the White House Project in 1998, said many of the women who received grants from the foundation were creating innovative social programs that focused on HIV/AIDS, health care, small loans, and promoting a “living wage.”

“That’s the government in exile,” she thought, and wanted to find a way to give them more power. The White House Project, in New York, has trained 1,700 women over the past three years in the mechanics of running for office, touching on campaigning, communications, and fund raising, Ms. Wilson said.

But it has found the most effective way to persuade them to become candidates is to give them examples of other women who have made that leap — for example, by showing a documentary about Shirley Chisholm, a black congresswoman who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Many women are reluctant to step forward because they see so few other politicians who look like them, she said.

In that sense, she said, Senator Clinton has inspired more women to want to try politics, showing “you can get to the highest level.”

These folks are ingenious, committed and strategic. Are Believers doing as well?