Religion, Sex, and Politics

There's an old story about a wealthy couple who needed a new household servant to be their main cook. As they interviewed one promising candidate, they said, "So do you know how to serve guests?" And she said, "Yes, I know how to serve them both ways."

"What do you mean by 'both ways'?" they asked.

"Oh, so that they want to come back, and so that they don't," she said.

We can also serve people both ways. I had two conversations within the last week that illustrate that truth on the church level.

First, I spoke with a church member who said, "We came to church a couple of weeks ago, and drove through the already-full parking lot. My husband said, 'Let's just go home.' But I encouraged him to keep looking for a place to park. We finally parked over by the church office and walked to the Sanctuary. When we got there, the room was already full. My husband said, 'See, I told you we should have just gone home.' He would have been OK with going back to the car, but I encouraged him to go in and - ultimately - we had a good worship experience."

Now keep in mind that this is a well-connected church member. What might have happened had this been someone who didn't have family ties to the church, or someone who was bringing his/her spouse for the first time. Would they have made it in the doors, or been back home? And do we care that we are serving people in such a way that they may not come again?

(A recent first time guest also made a comment asking if there were some "secret parking" that she couldn't find, and asking if she could expect every Sunday to be a struggle to find a parking space for her and her children.)

The second conversation was with someone who's been attending Hillsboro for 2+ years. This person is not a lifelong church-goer. In fact, I think this friend had some pretty negative ideas about church before finding Hillsboro. Those first experiences with worship and other activities were a real risk, and were way outside of this person's comfort zone. Church had been a pretty meaningless experience and, before we connected with this person and this family, they were not attending any church at all. And I was told, "If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be attending a Baptist church, having lunch with church people, and staying for a 'hillbilly' music time (that person's words, said with a chuckle), I would have said 'You are totally nuts.'" Now the Hillsboro family is an important part of this person's life, and their family life, and they are an important part of who we are, too.

I cannot tell you how much joy it brings me to see someone find the joy and hope and love that Christ offers, especially when they didn't think Christians and churches had much of value to share with them. Reaching one of those folks is more exciting to me than gathering 50 more traditional church folks. I do love them too, but I know they'll find a church no matter what. But here's someone who wasn't being reached who is now a part of God's big family. They've been blessed, and so have we!

So clearly we have the potential to serve people so that they will come back, and we also have the potential to serve (or fail to serve) them in such a way that they consider turning around and going home. It's happened before! How we eliminate obstacles, and how QUICKLY we do it, shows our community whether we REALLY want them to come back, or not.

It doesn't matter that salvation is found in Christ alone, it doesn't matter that we're proclaiming the peace and joy people long for, it doesn't matter that we have answers for struggling marriages, for lonely hearts, for troubled teenagers... if we are maintaining obstacles that discourage people from coming in the door.

Which way are we going to serve people... starting this week?

It will come as no surprise to many of you for me to admit that I'm obsessive-compulsive about some things. I remember the comments when we had an early service meeting in the Fellowship Hall: "It doesn't matter how you set up the chairs, because Al is going to move them all before Sunday anyway." I wanted the chairs to be in an arc that allowed worshipers to see each other, to emphasize the "family" feel of our worship gathering, and everyone else seemed to be addicted to straight lines. So, yeah, I moved them every week back into "proper formation."

I believe that little things can make a big difference.

And I ran across a theory - actually 25 years old - that supports my position, and has been proven tremendously effective. It's called the "Broken Windows" theory. It was applied to some of the crime-infested urban areas of our country over two decades ago, with dramatic success. The theory states that little things, like a broken window in a building that doesn't get repaired, like graffiti on the walls of a subway station, like an abandoned car alongside the road, can be the trigger for big problems in a community. These things send a message that nobody cares, nobody is watching, the standards are low here. So criminals feel free to step up their illegal or violent activity. And ordinary citizens find themselves breaking laws because, hey, who cares? Why should I be the only one paying for my subway ride?

So in New York and some other out-of-control cities, they tested this theory. Instead of loading neighborhoods with policemen, they simply cleaned the walls of subway cars and stations. They cleared debris from the streets and beautified the neighborhoods. They tore down abandoned properties. And crime dropped off suddenly and dramatically. The environment we create, or tolerate, sends a message.

I remember many years back, right here at Hillsboro, a new family walked in the door one November Sunday morning. They were not invited or brought by a friend. No one knew them. But there they were. They became active, and our church played a big role in their lives. So I asked, "What caused you to come to Hillsboro?" And the father said, "I work right down the street. I drive by your church on my way to work every day. And, for all these years, I didn't give your church a second thought. It looks like nothing is going on. But I drove by here on the Friday before Halloween, and the church yard was full of people. Teenagers were decorating the trees. People were setting up hay bales. And for the first time I thought, 'Hey, maybe our family would like to be a part of that.'"

All of this makes me think: how many families did we miss during the years when our roof was rusted and in need of replacing - families that looked at the roof and said to themselves, "Those folks don't seem to have very high standards. I can't imagine their ministries are much better." Or what about the years when we desperately needed a new sign in front and down at the intersection with 250? And I could go on.

Could the difference between a family finding life in Christ or not finding it be whether we took the time to trim the hedges? It sounds hard to believe, but I am convinced the answer is YES.

This is also why I obsess over the look and contents of our church newsletter. It sends a message about every other aspect of our church's attitudes and ministries and passion. For most of our community, that newsletter tells them everything they know about our church. I sure don't want them to see any "broken windows" when they look at it. It's within my control, so I insist on excellence.

There are other places in our church's ministries, programs, and facilities that I identify clearly as "broken windows" that are sending the wrong message to the people we want to reach with God's amazing grace. What about you? Do you see some "broken windows"? ...and most importantly, how do we get them repaired quickly?

I invite you to respond to this blog by listing broken windows, and making suggestions about how to fix them as quickly as possible.

Beginning in early summer of 2009, we began having trouble with our satellite signal. I had changed the wiring a bit recently, so I figured it was my fault. So I jiggled wires, checked connections, pulled up the satellite set-up menu to check signal strength... and I couldn't find a problem. But our favorite shows (which is all we watch) were plagued with static and signal drop-outs. Then Bill and Rachel Murawski came to stay at our house. So now it wasn't just a problem, it was a real embarrassment. Our friends were having important parts of their shows drop out. "And that proves that the killer is..." [loss of signal]. "So now I'm ready to reveal to you all that I am..." [loss of signal] You are who? Batman? An alien from Mars? Their real father?

So, being a fix it guy, I even tried re-aligning the satellite dish. Turns out that it was aligned just right already. So finally I broke down and called the satellite provider. And they had me go through all the steps I had already gone through. "OK, unplug the box and wait 2 minutes. Now plug it back in. Now push and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Now put your left foot in and shake it all about." And after a 30 minute dance, he says, "Yep, you've got a KPI."

"What's a KPI?"

"Oh, that's a Known Product Issue. That model satellite box often has this problem. We'll need to call and get you a replacement box installed."

OK, so I endured months of less than satisfactory viewing (at the regular full price), spent hours trying to find the problem, blaming and second guessing myself, and being embarrassed over our poor signal as Bill and Rachel suffered through critical signal dropouts. "And the winner is..." [loss of signal].

...and the company knew all along that this might happen, just what it looked like, but didn't warn us and didn't fix it. They could have sent us a letter saying, "The box often works fine, but if you experience any of these problems, call us immediately." But no, they just let us experience problems without any warning. For that, I was extremely perturbed, and I demanded some extra short-term perks, which they did agree to, at the threat of losing a customer.

But here's my question: As a church, what do we do about KPIs? Do we fix them, or do we warn guests about them, or do we just let them suffer in silence and then vow to never come back again?

If we know that we have too few paved parking spaces, that people have to park on grass to find a space, that the grass areas aren't marked as "available parking," and that, when it rains, the people who park there have to walk through wet grass and soggy muck to get to their cars, what do we do about that KPI? If we know that a high heel shoe is going to sink in that mud, and shiny shoes will come away with a Plimsoll line of debris, will we correct our parking needs, or just let them suffer through without any warning. (I hope they don't hit a soft spot and drop a child!)

If we know we have too few seats, so that a day is coming soon when a new family walks in the door and doesn't have a place to sit together comfortably, do we correct it immediately out of a passion for reaching people? Do we at least warn them, "If you come late, seating may be a problem," or do we just sit back and let them suffer through one of our KPIs?

If we know we have an inadequacy in our ministries - not enough small groups, nothing left but inadequate meeting spaces, not enough trained group leaders or teachers - how do we respond? Do we take care of our KPI, or do we just expect people to get all of the depth, all of the personal connections they need as part of Christ's body from one worship time a week and a few conversations afterward?

We know we have some KPIs at Hillsboro. What we do about them is a test of the honesty of our claims about our love for others, our desire to reach and touch people's lives. If we do nothing, we'll send them away disappointed - maybe even angry. And maybe they'll become a customer of another church (best alternative), or maybe they'll give up on God's people altogether (worst alternative).

Do Jesus' words apply here when he says, "Whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea" (Mark 9:42).

And what about those words from James: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (James 4:17).

So who's with me on immediately addressing our KPIs?

Late last week, in our Federal government, the House passed the Waxman-Markey Bill, which is popularly known as "Cap and Trade." Sadly, despite a deluge of contacts urging its defeat, our representative, Tom Periello, voted for it. Even more ridiculous, the 1200 page bill was not available for reading prior to the vote. Only the 300 page amendment was available. So our representatives (the term itself is now a farce) placed upon the shoulders of the people a host of government regulations and expenses they had not even bothered to study. THIS IS CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE.

One business journal suggested we call it what it is: The "Tax on Electricity" Bill. This bill drastically raises taxes on energy, which will obviously get passed down to the consumer - that's you and me. The cost of the goods and services we buy will go up. The cost of electricity will go up. The cost of living will go up for all of us at the very time that so many Americans are making less and struggling.

In addition, the bill contained some chilling signs of further government intrusion into our fast-fading freedoms. One provision (remember, this has already been passed by the House) requires that, before you can sell a home, Federal Inspectors must be allowed to do an energy audit. And they will require you to upgrade windows, insulation, appliances, and anything else that does not meet their new standards for energy efficiency.

So when Grandma wants to sell her home and use the money for a nursing home, the government may require that she first spend $10,000 of her savings to bring the home up to their standards. This used to be handled through agreements between buyer and seller. Now the Federal Government is intruding into what kind of refrigerator or furnace you have before you can sell your home.

Imagine, a parent passes away and the children inherit an old farm house. They want to sell it, but the furnace, the 45 big windows, the wall and attic insulation, the appliances that have been serving that parent for decades are judged inadequate by the government inspector. (Have you ever had to deal with a government inspector? It can be maddening, but I don't have space here for the stories.)

So now, the children have the old farmhouse, and cannot sell it until they come up with the $50,000 it will take to bring it up to the standards imposed by the inspector. (God help you if the inspector happens to see an "offensive" campaign sticker on your car before the inspection.) But the children don't have $50,000 to pay before receiving their inheritance. So what happens to what was supposed to be a gift and blessing from their parents?

Knowing that, if you default on your loan, the bank may have to pay for those upgrades, the cost of a home loan for you (or your children) will certainly go up drastically. Because you know the bank isn't going to take any risks now.

Remember how our President PROMISED us that his policies and plans would only raise taxes on the richest Americans? What a liar. The richest Americans are the only ones who will be able to afford the kinds of cost of living increases that this bill will inflict on us all. The poorest Americans are the ones who will be hurt the most by the higher costs of living, the greater difficulty in home ownership, the reduced value of their existing homes that probably do not meet federal efficiency standards, etc.

Thankfully, we do have the possibility of stopping this legislation from passing the Senate and becoming law by writing, calling, faxing, and/or emailing our senators. I certainly will.

Remember what triggered the revolution that created our country? ...a reaction to an overbearing central government which was taxing its citizens and abridging their freedoms beyond reason. I'm just sayin'...

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1134522/how-will-cap-and-trade-effect-your-real-estate-business-

Yesterday, June 26, came the word that Michael Jackson - who was born exactly three months before me in 1958 - had died. The widespread success of Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five was one of those signs that the deep racial divide in our country was beginning to erode. Little Michael was cute, talented, and (seemingly) a wholesome influence. In the psychedelic, drugged-out 1960s, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, and the Rolling Stones = dangerous. Michael Jackson = safe.

So what happened to Michael Jackson that led to the strange behavior, the multiple distorting plastic surgeries, the rumors about child molestation accompanied by legal circuses and huge out-of-court settlements and late night comedian jokes, the dangling of his infant child over a hotel balcony, and so many other bizarre statements and actions? How did Michael Jackson end up as a freakish, distorted caricature of himself? We see so many "child superstars" crash and burn under the weight of their own fame. Did the fact that Michael Jackson missed his own childhood somehow create a hunger for contact with other children that his Neverland Ranch sleepovers were designed to satisfy?

And what is wrong in a parent's heart and mind that they would leave their child in the unsupervised care of someone who is clearly emotionally very messed up and surrounded by rumors, charges of molestation, and previous settlements? Are some even willing to sacrifice our children on the altar of pop-idol worship? And, if so, how different are they (we) from those societies that physically sacrificed their children to the "gods" (sparing them from a lifetime of emotional problems that result when we "merely" sacrifice them psychologically)?

We'll be hearing people "unpack" the Michael Jackson story for a long time to come. But there are some more helpful questions we should be asking ourselves:

• Why does our society let fame and fortune compensate for deep emotional illness?
• What does it do to our children when we rob them of their childhood?
• As academic expectations and sports stardom get pushed younger and younger, is this just another way of robbing children of their childhood?
• Are there altars of personal gratification on which we, if not careful, might sacrifice our own children?

It's a lot to think about, and the hearts of our children are in the balance.