Super Bowl XL Highlight
I would like to report to you what I consider to have been the highlight of Super Bowl XL. It was not Willie Parker’s 75-yard run for a touchdown. It was not the gadget play where Randle El threw a 43-yard pass to MVP Hines Ward for the Steelers’ final touchdown. No, in my opinion the highlight aired during the pre-game show. It was an interview with Kathy Holmgren, wife of Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, direct from a mission outpost in Congo.

Kathy began her nursing career 35 years ago as a missionary in Congo. Last autumn she made plans to return this February on a short-term mission trip with her daughter, a doctor, to help out in the hospital there. The person interviewing Kathy for the pre-game show was trying to make sense out of her presence in Congo while her husband was in Detroit leading the Seahawks into the Super Bowl. The highlight for me was Kathy’s response: “In our family priorities have always been faith, family, and work. We need to remember that as important as the Super Bowl is, it’s just a game.” The camera then turned to the suffering children at the hospital, and the point was made. Now that’s something to cheer about!

In last month's Church Update I referenced a CTI journalist’s reaction to George Barna’s controversial new book Revolution. Since then I have read the book for myself. Here is what Barna has to say about the state of the American Church:

1. Biweekly attendance at worship services is, by believers’ own admission, generally the only time they worship God.
2. Eight out of every ten believers do not feel they have entered into the presence of God, or experienced a connection with Him, during the worship service.
3. The typical churched believer will die without leading a single person to a lifesaving knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ.
4. Most churched Christians believe that since they are not gifted in evangelism, such outreach is not a significant responsibility of theirs.
5. Only 9 percent of all born-again adults have a biblical worldview.
6. Although the typical believer contends that the Bible is accurate in what it teaches, he or she spends less time reading the Bible in a year than watching television, listening to music, etc.
7. Churched Christians give away an average of about 3 percent of their income in a typical year—and feel pleased at their “sacrificial” generosity.

These are among the many trends and statistics Barna presents in Revolution. His conclusion: “The point here is simply to recognize that if we place all our hope in the local church, it is a misplaced hope. …The local church is one mechanism that can be instrumental in bringing us closer to Him and helping us to be more like Him. But, as the research data clearly show, churches are not doing the job. If the local church is the hope of the world, then the world has no hope.” (pg 36)

Barna’s bottom line is this: “As I have tracked people’s inclinations through our national research studies, I have concluded that by the year 2025, the spiritual profile of the nation will be dramatically different. Specifically, I expect that only one-third of the population will rely upon a local congregation as the primary or exclusive means for experiencing and expressing their faith; one-third will do so through alternative forms of a faith-based community; and one-third will realize their faith through the media, the arts, and other cultural institutions.” (pg 49)

How do you feel about these comments? I feel it’s important to remember that statistics do not equate a scientific analysis with a control group in place. They are pure math, and at best a crystal ball when used to forecast the future. I think that statistics definitely have their place, but we need to remember that the conclusions drawn are just a guess based on math. However, Barna’s statistics do point to the power of evil, and that must be taken seriously. I do not think we give Satan his due in terms of the power he has on our lives and in this world. Additionally, we need to remember that a church’s value is not measured in numbers but in transformed lives. There is no doubt that the American church needs a fresh vision and passion for the lost and the saved in our world. Evangelism and discipleship have been sacrificed on the altar of consumerism and relevance.

What can you do? Tell your story. Be honest about your life and ministry. Cast vision for the local community and the world. You are an extension of the church’s ministry. Celebrate what the church is doing and thank them for their partnership. Encourage the church and love the people of the church.

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PRAISE is one of the most significant words found in the Bible. Along with being a religious word and idea, it’s also a staple of every day language and behavior.

There are a lot of ways people praise, and countless objects of praise. Recently sports commentators (and Steelers fans) praised a certain football team and its players; currently broadcasters and spectators around the world are praising their countries’ accomplishments in the Olympics. We hear praise at concerts when the audience’s applause beckons the artist to return for an encore. Soon “the Academy” will decide which motion pictures are worthy of praise. We love to praise excellence and achievement in athletics, music, and the arts.

We also praise political figures when we approve of what they do and stand for; when we’re not in agreement, we “unpraise” them. It’s sometimes shocking how quickly praise gives way to disparagement.

Would I be far off to suggest that praise may be one of the most important things we do? I believe that our chief purpose as men and women created by God is to be life-long praisers.

And when we praise, what are we doing? For starters, praise affirms value. When we praise something or someone, the amount of energy with which we praise it and the things we say and do about it reveal to others our estimation of the worth contained in the object of our praise. Praise expresses appreciation. It says, “This is something I really value and I am grateful for it.” Praise also has a way of energizing the person or thing we praise.

As humans we feed off praise and encouragement. But today we are so busy, and it is so easy to be suspicious and skeptical; as a result, we have seen a diminution of praise. Praise gives something to us; when praise diminishes, we miss out, and many worthy people and things go unappreciated. Praise is essential to relationships, and when it is in short supply, our relationships suffer. I have discovered this over and over again with my wife and children!

And (you knew I would get to it sooner or later), the most important kind of praise is our praise to God, the most worthy Object. The Bible is full of the word praise—it’s in there hundreds of times. And probably no place it is used more frequently than in Psalms, the book of praise.

Psalm 105 exhorts, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.”

So much can be said about praise! It compels the heart and engages the community. Praise brings things into focus. It is an act of submission. But above all else it draws us into alignment with the purposes of God. In praise I begin to express what I stand for, what I really believe. The gospel is proclaimed through our praises. As I praise I move to align myself with God’s purpose. I say it, I sing it, I rejoice in it, I meditate on it, and through this process I affirm what the Bible has clearly noted as God’s heart.

God calls us to praise Him for who He is and for what He has done. And when we praise, the afflicted are lifted up, the disheartened are encouraged, our souls catch on to the praise and a wellness settles into our beings. Praise is awesome. It is no wonder praise is so prominent in the Bible.

Let’s be men and women of praise. May we be caught praising our spouses, children, friends, pastors, and coworkers…and above and before all praising God.

You are loved,
Dave

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"When the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be cancelled… But for now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: TRUST STEADILY in God, HOPE UNSWERVINGLY, LOVE EXTRAVAGANTLY. And the best of the three is LOVE.” - Eugene Peterson, in The Message (I Cor 13:10, 13)

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Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges
2005 W Publishing Group 239 pages (Reviewed by David Korb)

I have been waiting for this book to arrive for months! I appreciate The One Minute Manager and some of Blanchard’s other works, but I must say I found this book rather pedantic. I feel that it lacks the kind of insightful nuggets that grabbed my attention in his other books. But having said that, I can see where this book might have value for training an elder board or mission team.

Blanchard and Hodges speak to the four key areas of life—heart, head, hands, and habits—and explore how these areas should align with Jesus’ leadership style. A very positive aspect of this book is that assessment tools are offered along the way. These tools assist a person or group in analyzing their own leadership styles and understanding next steps.

Though I didn’t feel like the book presents anything new, I did appreciate the strong reminder of the servant leadership modeled by our Lord. As I read through this book I found myself recalibrating my own approach to leadership, and put it down challenged and refreshed.

The Confessions of St. Augustine by Aurelius Augustinus (354-430 AD)
Various editions and translations (Reviewed by David Korb)

I’ve read Augustine’s confession many times. As I began a new year, I decided it was a good time to read them again. I was making my way through this book while I was sharing a room at WorldVenture HQ with one of my teammates. I’m afraid I bugged him terribly by interrupting the silence with, “You have to hear this!” and then reading an excerpt from Confessions. Augustine’s words are so gripping and heartrending that you almost have to read them in the presence of another person to whom you can relay the vital passages.

In his Confessions Augustine rehearses the journey he traveled to faith. He recalls his sins not as a trophy of sinfulness but as a clear indication of the triumph of God’s mercy and grace. He recounts the awfulness of his actions in order to show the overwhelming grace of God. Listen to his explanation of intent in chapter 2: “I will now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions of my soul; not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love I do it; reviewing my most wicked ways in the very bitterness of my remembrance, that Thou mayest grow sweet unto me.”

Later, as Augustine contemplates how God had pursued him, even in the midst of his evil choices, he writes, “Woe is me! And dare I say that Thou heldest Thy peace, O my God, while I wandered further from Thee? …And whose but Thine were these words by which my mother, Thy faithful one, Thou sangest in my ears? Nothing whereof sunk into my heart, so as to do it. For she wished, and I remember in private with great anxiety warned me, “not to commit fornication; but especially never to defile another man’s wife.” These seemed to me womanish advices, which I should blush to obey. But they were Thine, and I knew it not; and I thought Thou wert silent and that it was she who spake; by whom Thou wert not silent unto me.”

If you have not read Confessions, I encourage you to read it for your soul. If you have read it—read it again!

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