There's no difference between bulletins and missionary slideshows

Missionary slideshows are more and more a thing of the past, but when they were common place, I'd heard someone say that missionary slideshows were more for the missionary than they were for the group watching the slideshow. In many cases, the group watching the slideshow had little connection with those pictured in the slides, the faces in the pictures could've been photoshopped out of a National Geographic for all they knew. To the missionary, however, they'd invested their life into those people creating a deep bond. So while the audience, I'm sure appreciated seeing the pictures and hearing about the ministry, it probably meant more to the missionary. I've realized in recent months that bulletins (both the Sunday bulletin and bulletin boards) have a lot of similarities with slideshows.

Among church office circles, the Sunday bulletin is often viewed as one of the most ineffective channels of communication though for some reason it's the default channel utilized in many churches. If people read the Sunday bulletin, it's rare that they remember to respond to the items that caught their interest when they read it during the worship service. At least, that's the perception in the offices I've worked in. Bulletin boards run a close second.

My epiphany in recent months is that the Sunday bulletin or bulletin board is of high interest to the ministry or person who submitted the information for that publication. The group who requested a bulletin announcement for their upcoming excursion, flips through the bulletin to see their announcement printed. The ministry that requested a bulletin board to highlight their summer ministry week, looks to see the bulletin board. So even though it may not be the most effective communication method, it's important to those groups because they want to see their interest promoted in print. That's as far as I've gotten in my breakdown; I'm still extrapolating further conclusions as to where this leads and the impact it has on our communication methods.

Late addition - I found this correlating post today

A sanctuary for 25,000 people

During the course of another trip to my Dad's neurologist in Philadelphia, I had the chance to ponder the forethought that went into the famed Pennsylvania Railroad 30th Street Station. Granted, the Pennsy constructed the edifice at a time when railroad traffic was near it's peak, but having been constructed in 1934, the station has met the daily volume of passengers, some 25,000 daily, that pass through it's hallowed halls. To my knowledge, this has been accomplished over the past 74 years without any expansion program. Each time I'm in the station I marvel at the design. To anticipate the need for so much open space, someone apparently figured, planned for and banked on a lot of people lining to board numerous trains in regular succession. And the impressive statement of the massive ceiling and the roman columns; just exquisite architecture. And while to the daily commuters it's likely just a station, to a Pennsylvania Railroad fan like myself, it's a sanctuary.

I wonder if it is at all possible to create a worship sanctuary along the same lines. A structure that is designed with enough forethought to serve the needs of a congregation for 75 years. Or do church organisms, in harvest rich environments especially, naturally outgrow spaces?

I'm still mulling the answer to that, but I do know that the 30th Street Station is one of numerous examples of why the Pennsy is renowned as "The Standard Railroad of the World."

Opportunities & Threats to Grace Church

A strategic planning tool is assessing an organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, commonly referred to as a SWOT analysis. The strengths and weaknesses are easy enough to understand, but I find organizations struggle to differentiate strengths from opportunities and weaknesses from threats. In short...

Strengths/Weaknesses focus on the internal characteristics that currently make up the organization

Opportunities/Threats focus on the external factors that could impact the organization

There's a difference in the internal/external and a difference in timing - current/potential. Let me share some of my opportunity/threat analysis of the ministries at Grace that may help clarify the differences. Items listed are not prioritized in anyway.

Threats

Downsizing at the Johnson & Johnson plant in Lititz - the ongoing downsizing and the potential for even more job losses at the Johnson & Johnson plant in Lititz is a threat to our daycare ministry as several families who are employed at the plant bring their kids to our daycare because we're less than a mile away from the plant. The potential loss of those daycare customers is a threat to the future of our daycare.

Warwick and Manheim School Districts continuing to provide a conservative education - So long as the Warwick and Manheim School Districts provide a conservative education (recognizing that's a relative concept) the difference between a Christian education and a public education will remain less noticeable and thus a threat to our Christian school ministry. It's a double-edged concept because this sounds like I'd want the school districts to shift and I don't. But I can't rule out that as parents weigh the options available for educating their children and compare the costs of a Christian education against a free public education at Warwick/Manheim, the differences are not as stark as they are in other parts of the country.

Satellite churches coming to Lancaster - I can't imagine it won't be long before a church or churches establish satellite locations in our area giving families and individuals the option of going to a church where they get to hear nationally-known Pastors on a weekly basis.

The local economy - If, as mentioned previously, Johnson & Johnson continues to downsize the Lititz plant, and if other area businesses follow suit, it will negatively impact the local economy. A drop in the local economy presents a threat to all of our ministries as it will inevitably affect our finances. Fewer families will be able to make the sacrifice for a Christian education causing school enrollment to decline and with less income in the local area, I would anticipate Church giving to decline too.

Future facility expansion - While I dream of us expanding our facilities in the coming years, such projects have been known to divide a church. I'd be negligent to not state that our dream of future expansion could be a potential threat to our ministry.

Opportunities

772 relocated to West Lincoln Ave - The Township/County's consideration of relocating Route 772 to pass right in front of the church is a potential opportunity, possibly sending more traffic and people past the church and giving us a chance to make our presence and existence known. Just think of more traffic having passed by during the Rodeo last June.

Regional or Community Church - we're positioned geographically in such a way that we have the option of choosing whether we want to configure our ministries to serve our local community or to serve the broader region.

Diversity - I don't have consensus data to back this up, but my hunch is that our area is becoming more diverse and will continue to do so in the coming years giving us an opportunity to reach more people.

Draw families together - our culture is naturally spreading families apart with numerous activities. The church has an opportunity to unite families by structuring our ministries to involve family members together.

North Lititz gathering place - Lancaster and some points south of Lancaster provide gathering opportunities... Park City, Penn Cinema etc. But in Lititz itself and north, there aren't many gathering places. It's a role Grace Church has an opportunity to play.

Wedding Chapel ministry - with the recent renovations to the Chapel we can once again provide a service to the community in hosting weddings.



By no means a comprehensive list nor official, just my attempt to show how a list of opportunities and threats differs from a list of strengths and weaknesses.

Instead of a new building, I'd rather see a successful restoration project

As a relatively new homeowner without good handyman skills (I can't hang curtains without turning the drywall into Swiss cheese - it's painful), I appreciate watching the masters on This Old House restore old houses.


Maybe because of the facility challenges faced at the first church I served in, early on I had a desire to be a part of a facility expansion. I've held that hope, but more than being a part of a facility expansion project, at this point, I think I'd rather see a full restoration project.

Throughout my journey as a Christian, like an expedition to summit Mt Everest, I've passed the lives of men and women who didn't make it, their corpses laying along the side of the path. Lives spiritually destroyed in one way or another, ones who've lost credibility and respect. It's sobering and frankly scares me. I have a good idea of what I'm capable of and that but for the grace of God, I could be next. According to Scripture, this is not an accurate illustration, no life is exempt from God's grace, but I haven't had the privilege of seeing it play out firsthand.

Restoration is a tough task, if that wasn't evidenced by how few actually succeed. The issues that lead up to the need for restoration are complex in and of themselves. Add to that the restoration dynamics, usually multiple parties involved, there's typically some sort of public disclosure and a need on all sides to dedicate significant effort... it is very, very complicated. Not having witnessed a successful restoration that I can recall in my lifetime, it's easy to hear restoration-talk and interpret it solely as lip-service, but I have to fight those cynical thoughts.

I don't comprehend how it's supposed to work, trust is such a valuable, yet immeasurable commodity, that, once lost seems, in my insignificant human mind to be impossible to reestablish. But I cling to Scripture's promises and hope that some day I have the opportunity to see it exemplified. Wouldn't it be amazing to see an equal number of restorations in the American church as there are expansion projects?

See you a Mickey G's on Sunday

The Worship Design Team has rolled out another catchy way to package the next message series. Don't let the packaging fool you though, just cause it's a culturally relevant wrapper that's easy for us to remember, doesn't necessarily mean the content's like a watered down drink from the soda fountain.

But in a whole different context, out of nowhere I think we stumbled upon the next wave that's going to spread across churches. For the past, boy, I don't know when it started, so for the sake of this post... several years, gourmet coffee bars seem to be the in thing at churches. I've been asked countless times over the past several years as to whether Grace will take the coffee plunge. Though there are a ton of practical reasons, there's one response I enjoy sharing just for the fun of it.

The coffee-craze has been around for a while and instead of joining the dance years late as yet another follower, I'd rather find and pursue the next thing our culture will associate with casual social gatherings. To date I haven't come up with much more than an ice creamery akin to Cold Stone. That was until today.

Various fast food menu items adorn the main lobby doors, leading one of our guests to the building this Friday morning to excitedly exclaim, "Are you guys getting a McDonald's!" That's it, a Mickey D's! The next church craze.

This is actually a great microcosm of target audiences. Those who come to a service on a Sunday morning understand why there are McDonald's posters in the main lobby or why there are Happy Birthday balloons around the front desk. But to the non-Sunday guest who visit during the week these things have no context other than our front desk personnel, Charlene and Megan.

I felt for them the entire month they were asked over and over by every different guest, "Oh, is it your birthday today?" The target audience of Sunday mornings gets the message, but there are other audiences that receive the message. And, like the man who laughs last, they don't get it.

Pride and hurt feelings can be pretty overwhelming emotions

Sometime in 2007 I discovered, well, re-discovered, that you can borrow books for FREE at the local library. What a concept! I'm often too lazy or preoccupied with watching sports to take time to read. And to load my shelves with books that I only want to read once and don't desire to read again; I just have other things I'd rather invest in.

But the library, wow, all those books - any of which you can borrow and in many cases if they don't have it, you can reserve it from one of the other libraries in the network, is tremendous. I love to walk the aisles just scanning the titles. I probably sound like a moron, but libraries are non-existent in the 3rd world. Yeah, our research papers necessitated my visiting the East German and West German embassies to get the information to compare their economies. Okay, it's no longer in question... my moronic state that is. As someone recently proclaimed as they walked into my office, "You're a bizarre individual!" I digress.

I recently completed Tony Dungy's Quiet Strength; a fascinating account of his life with a behind-the-scenes look at life in the NFL. I enjoyed it immensely and though I've only heard a interview or two of his, I could hear Tony's voice reading the book to me as I read. The one quote that really caught my attention was "...pride and hurt feelings can be pretty overwhelming emotions."

In a way only Tony can achieve, it's stated so matter of fact-ly with an even-keeled approach in the midst of chaos. And from my experience, it's dead-on. A good reminder for me as I often have to see beyond the initial symptoms to try and assess the root cause of problems. I hope I continue to develop just a small aspect of the quiet strength Tony Dungy exudes.

US Television reception is changing in just over a year

For my US readers, you may have heard that television broadcasts are slated to change in just over a year. The good news is you don't have to run out and buy a flat screen HDTV to receive the new digital broadcasts, though it would be nice.

A quick aside here, hi-definition TV has been the rave of the past few years with viewers marvelling at the crisp quality of the enhanced pictures, but I had to laugh when I heard a sports-talk show host lamenting that the Christmas Mass from the Vatican this year was only broadcast in standard definition. He apparently had looked forward to seeing the church in the crispness and clarity of HD. A strong testament to how much better the picture must be.

You don't have to purchase a new TV set, you just need a converter box (they're not available as of yet, but they're coming soon). For some reason the government feels responsible to cover the cost of up to two boxes per household; an indicator of how much they anticipate they'll make off the newly freed-up frequencies maybe?!? You can go to this website to sign-up for your coupons and this site explains things a little bit.

I just signed up for mine.

My Personal 2007 Highlight

It's unclear when exactly I first heard the story, but off and on throughout my life it's clear the impact of that first time has spanned close to 30 years. Once again, the story was the highlight of my 2007, but before I get to that, we have to go back to the first time I remember it influencing my life.

My personal recollection begins in the mid-1980s when my grandparents visited us over Christmas in the Philippines. Only seeing your grandparents one out of every five years makes any opportunity to see them a HUGE deal. The "over the river and through the woods..." just doesn't do it justice when there are literally thousands of miles of separation across oceans and continents making river and forests a quick jaunt across a State line. So when Oma and Opa informed us that they'd be coming to visit for Christmas, it was an anticipated Christmas unlike any other in my life to this point and a Christmas we'd never forget.

We had an absolutely wonderful several weeks with them. In addition to celebrating Christmas, they brought with them many US treats including apples, a Butterball turkey and presents. Throughout their stay we spent lots of time with Oma and Opa reading books, playing Coleco Head-to-Head Football (in college mode mind you, Opa didn't like the pros because they played on Sundays) and travelling with them to various parts of the country sight seeing. Why He chose us, I'll never know, but my brother and I were the last grandkids to play with Opa, for, some time before their scheduled return to the US, he passed away. But one of the projects Opa and I worked on together before he left this earth is the first I can point to the story's impact on my life.

That Christmas my grandparents gave me several balsa wood airplane kits and Opa and I had spent the days after Christmas reading the directions, identifying the correct pieces, cutting them out of the panels and assembling the models (It's like I did it yesterday because I've been working on one with my Dad since July). One of the models Opa and I built was a replica of one of the small Piper airplanes and when it came time to decorate the model, I knew it had to be bright yellow just like Nate's.

Fast forward just short of 30 years to July, 2007, spin the globe about halfway around and locate Smoketown, Pennsylvania. That's where I attended a Wycliffe Family Day on a summer Sunday afternoon this past year. Having gone to school and dormed with the kids of parents who were involved with translating Scripture into native tongues or were flying planes and helicopters into jungle airstrips and even some of those kids now involved in the work themselves; I knew of the ministry of Wycliffe firsthand. The draw to this event was my Dad wanted to fly in an airplane and I convinced him that we wouldn't find a cheaper flight than a $15 ride around the airspace of Lancaster County. Though I knew about it beforehand, for it received top billing on the press releases, I didn't expect the impact the yellow plane would once again have on me.

As we found our parking space, there it was tied down in the grass, N5156H, this time in a life size version, but still a replica of course, for the real one was shredded to pieces on an island beach on the Curaray River decades ago. Amazingly, the actual airframe was discovered in 1994 and is on display at the headquarters of MAF. Though I had seen the movie with the entire Grace Church staff in 2005, on a whim I had just read the book last Spring; my eyes tearing regularly as I turned the pages learning even more about all that God's been doing among the Waodani.

And once again, the story which I first heard as a blue-eyed blonde-haired kid was surfacing in a rush from the deep recesses of my memory. I got to meet Steve Saint, Nate's son that day, shake his hand and talk briefly with him. I'm guessing, based on the response he receives worldwide and the prominence of End of the Spear, that the story impacts many people in similar ways that it has impacted me.

I felt heart tugs that afternoon that I haven't felt in a while and off and on since, I've contemplated and conversed with God as to what He's trying to tell me. Here some six months later, I'm still trying to listen intently through the distractions of daily living and the hustle and bustle, but that day opened the door to an unexplored room or at least one I haven't explored recently. For now, the exploration continues until He leads me to a point that requires faith and action.

And so my highlight for 2007 was the yellow plane. I'd built a replica with Opa years ago and now I'm building another one with my Dad... well, trying to. I'm having trouble identifying the different pieces on the balsa panels. Go figure. What God has in store for 2008 and beyond is yet to be discovered. But whatever it involves, He's always at work around us and He'll be inviting me to join me in what He's going to do. I look forward to it. Happy New Year!

Photo by Peter Norton

Grace Church - 2007 in review

I enjoy all the nostalgia that permeates the media outlets this time of year - Person and Sportspeople of the year editions, the year in review and best-of montages - it all gives me an opportunity to reflect on all that's transpired over the past twelve months. Capturing the events of a year was our main task when I worked on our high school yearbook and one of several lessons I learned from my yearbook classes, ingrained into my mind by our teacher/advisor, was to highlight what made the particular year stand out from all the others.

In years past, December-January meant Annual Report time where, like a dentist, we painfully extracted reports from each ministry area. The Annual Report has gone the way of the old 8-Tracks and that cheering you hear is the noise of ministry leaders across Lititz celebrating. In it's place take this as my 2007 Grace Church Yearbook or Annual Report.

By the what-set-this-year-apart criteria, 2007 will go down as the year of the Rodeo at Grace. It consumed much of our time and energy in planning for it; I don't think we'd spent that much time planning an event in the history of our church and in people-power terms, it consumed enormous amounts of volunteer energy. No doubt, that was the one moment that captures how 2007 was different at Grace Church than any other year.

On Sunday's we considered... How Great is Our God? To You... From God, From the WHALE to the World, Angelic Instant Messengers, Summer Heat, iBook, Real Family, Lost, Just Add Water, Vision Month, and we started the year with Back to the Future.

The largest number of people at one time took the step of baptism at Grace Church in 2007 and we celebrated Communion on a Sunday morning.

And while we said goodbye to former co-workers (Crouse, Nelson, Snows, Brightbill), we welcomed Tim & Susan Auld, Matt McElravy, Lindsey Wilson, Lisa Weidman and Megan Wilkerson.

A year ago, while I was working in the office between Christmas and New Year's, the office was in disarray due to re-carpeting. This year it's in disarray because of repainting. Usually you'd paint before re-carpeting, but we got a deal on buying the carpet in bulk that I couldn't turn down. The office area hadn't been touched since it's original construction in 1989/1990. We got a full 17 years out of the original layout and decor and I spent 10 years planning in some way shape or form, planning the current makeover.

Our Sunday worship attendance continues growing, though at more manageable rates than we've experienced in the past three years - we've grown in attendance by around 3.5% over last year. Even more incredibly, while we challenged the congregation with an income budget increase of 10%, which we knew would be a a bit of a stretch, thus far, giving is up by some 12% over last year.

All in all, 2007 has been a positive year of ministry at Grace. And while a lot of effort and planning goes into many of the things I've highlighted, we're just the puppets carrying out the plans and directives of our Master Puppeteer. He guides our every action, plan and thought and is The One who receives all the glory.

And while I've been privileged to have a small part in what God has accomplished through the ministry of Grace, I have yet to list my personal highlight of the year; that will be my topic next time.

Madame Tussauds in Lititz

Approximately 100 chairs have wax on them from the candlelight services earlier this week, with about 30 of them judged to be severe. Nathan spent most of yesterday with an iron and paper towels dabbing up the wax off of the 30 worst. In most cases the wax dripped onto the backs of chairs as guests held the candle in front of them as they sang carols.

Maybe we should send the most-waxed chair to Madame Tussauds.

Wax on / Wax off

One of the downsides to a candlelight service is the side effects of the candle wax. Wax drips on the chairs and the floor and presents a post candlelight-service clean up challenge. In the past, our Senior Pastor would expound on the proper candle-lighting procedures, so much so that it's part of our folklore. We've also tried only having the candles lit for the signing of Silent Night to keep the burn times to a minimum. Even with those efforts, there was always wax to be cleaned up after the service. This year neither of those public service announcements were employed and whether it's a true cause and effect relationship we'll never know, but there's a lot of wax to be cleaned up this week. In fact, much of Jay's day today, if not most of this week, will likely be devoted to wax cleanup.

We contemplated for just a bit the use of glow-sticks in place of the candles, but that just didn't feel right. And as I marvelled at the sight of 800+ people in the Auditorium singing out the Christmas Carols with candles lit, I wondered if the atmosphere would be enhanced if we held the candlelight services outside. A thought to ponder for future celebrations, I guess.

Or maybe we'll devote our next Digging Deeper elective to proper instruction on candle-lighting and burning and fly the guest speaker in from Arizona.

A World Transformed - Part 2

Though not a quote one other principle caught my attention from the Bush Administration (41st), his attention to building relationships. The President detailed how throughout his political career, he worked to build relationships with foreign leaders and specifically, establishing them away from the conference tables and outside of the office. He used Camp David and Kennebunkport extensively as casual, relaxed settings to establish a comfortable atmosphere to enhance open dialog with world leaders. The President understood that if he had a strong bond with the key leaders of the world those ties would stand the test of each crisis that would arise. He would be able to take them back to their casual exchange of ideas, in some cases, years prior to remind them of the mutual trust and respect they'd have for each other. Brilliant!

I also got a chuckle that like Reagan almost did to a small cottage prior to one of his watershed meetings with Gorbachev, Bush too had a run in with starting a log fire in the fireplace, though his was in the Situation Room, set off the fire alarm which in turn had the Secret Service busting into the room with weapons drawn. We're all human.

A World Transformed

Prior to vacation a while back, I took time to walk the aisles in the Lititz Public Library scanning the titles and came across A World Transformed. I enjoy reading and learning about the behind-the-scenes perspectives of events and things I can relate to, like the coup-de-tat in the Philippines in 1989.

Scowcroft and the President detailed the meetings and diplomatic challenges in how the US chose to respond to the political crisis. While they were doing their thing, I was living it on the otherside of the globe. Since our boarding school overlooked Manila, we were in relative safety, but also had a peanut-gallery view of the action. We saw the smoke from the fire that ensued as a result on the airport attack and the rumblings of tank artillery lulled us to sleep at night. We prayed a lot that week for our friends, classmates and teachers, some of whom lived within less than a mile of the action... fortunately, no one was injured. My most serene recollection was, with school closed, a group of us were on campus playing a softball game while a war was being carried out but just several miles away and as we focused on catching fly balls US Air Force F-4 Phantom's were circling overhead providing air cover. Planes that Scowcroft and the President had authorized to be there.

One quote from the book caught my attention. Though I don't remember the specific conflict, the principle applies to any... That evening also reinforced one lesson for me - never believe the first descriptions of a crisis. Amost invariably, early reports are erroneous or garbled, and making decisions based on them could lead to serious mistakes. The difficulty is that there is nothing else to go on, and inaction is rarely a feasible option - one of the major problems of managing a crisis.Brent Scowcroft - p.453-454A World Transformed - President Bush & Scowcroft

It's a principle for me to employ as we face crises at Grace and one I wish the media outlets would accept and apply to their reporting!

What's the connection with the CAR?

Why orphans in the CAR? First and foremost, we believe God has opened our eyes to see that it's an area where He is working, He's invited us to join Him in what He's doing and He's brought us as leadership and as a local fellowship to the point of requiring faith and action. So we're making the local body aware of where we think God is working to see if the church body senses the same thing and shares our passion and faith to take action and join. That's the succinct answer, but there are ancillary reasons...

Having not grown up in the Grace Brethren Fellowship, I've been surprised by some facts that many GBC'ers don't seem to be aware of, one of which surrounds the Central African Republic (CAR). The largest concentration of Grace Brethren members worldwide is found in the CAR and not by just a close margin, I don't have the data, but I know they out pace any other country by the thousands, if not the tens of thousands. So that's one connection between Grace Church and the CAR.

Secondly, Pastor Scott and I have been talking, spurred by the passion of Greg and Rebekah, about the plight of orphans for the better part of a year. Scripture (James) is explicit that the church is to care for widow's who's family is unable to provide for them and for orphans. We've been aware of our calling to widows and strive to fulfill that responsibility, but we've been negligent in our responsibility toward orphans. This appears to be a natural place to start.

Thirdly, the work the Grace Brethren Fellowship is doing in the CAR is church-based and looking to address the needs through church-sponsored schools. Hmmmm, sounds similar to the Grace Church/Lititz Christian School setup. While I believe Matthew 28 to set the purpose/mandate of the local church, I believe Acts 1:8 to describe the approach. While the CAR is as close to the "ends of the earth" as I can think of, a church-sponsored school is as close to a Samarian-type ministry as I can think of. Samaria being similar, yet different from Judea. A church-sponsored school in Lititz partnering with church-sponsored schools in the CAR. The ministry opportunities that this provides are exciting to contemplate - mission trips for church groups, school students, school sports teams, you name it!

You can participate in the Birthday Gift for Jesus by marking such on the Special Line of your giving envelope, on the memo line of your check or by placing cash in an envelope labeled with your name and Birthday Gift for Jesus.

What about the Cambodians?

I'm not sure how long we've been doing the Birthday Gift for Jesus at Grace, but it's been at least 10 years, probably more. For the past nine years we've used the Gift to support three Cambodian national missionary families for a full year's support plus additional projects related to their church planting efforts in Battambang and surrounding areas in Cambodia. This year, we're using the Gift to support at least three church-sponsored schools designed to educate, clothe and feed 150 of the 200,000 some orphans in the Central African Republic (CAR). I want to dissect this in total, first, we'll start with the Cambodians, are we no longer supporting them?

Nope, starting with the 2007-08 budget, we moved our support of the Cambodians into the annual budget. We're sending monies to them on a monthly basis to allow their ministry to continue. We still support three families of Cambodian nationals - one or two of them have changed because they left the ministry for other pursuits etc., but we're still very active in joining God in what He's doing in the Battambang region.

Through Mike and Joan McCracken, our ties and investment in the Cambodian ministry remains very committed. If you have a desire to participate further in that extension of the Grace Church ministry, let me know, talk to the Mike and Joan or talk to Pastor Scott.

We see us using this approach, the Birthday Gift for Jesus to launch future endeavors to join God where He's working. After a few years, assuming the work is on going and we sense the congregation is connected and invested in the ministry, we'll fold the regular support into the general operating budget and use the Birthday Gift for Jesus to launch another new outreach.

Next I'll answer, so, why the CAR? Why orphans?

Christmas Prodcution Mid-West Tour

By now you've probably heard that for the first time in probably close to a decade, Grace Church won't be producing a Christmas program of some sort. This year, we're emphasizing the Christmas Eve Services. Of course, the past two Christmas' featured a Walk-Thru.

Knowing that we weren't planning to do a Walk-Thru this year, when asked, we agreed to loan many of the sets and decorations to the Grace Brethren Church in Ashland, OH. At least, I think that's the church, but I can't find any mention of it on their website. We loaned the sets for them to produce their own version of the Walk-Thru this Christmas. Maybe since I've yet to experience the Walk-Thru (I helped behind the scenes when we did it) I'll travel west to catch their production. For that matter, you can make it a full mid-west road trip and catch a light show in New Branson otherwise known as Topeka, Kansas.

And for those afraid to make the trek in the uncertain winter-weather, our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services are Monday, December 24 at 5:30 and 7pm.

Driving in circles

Having learned to drive where the shoulder is best used as a passing lane, stopping at red lights is optional and right-of-way is determined more by who is first to blow their horn or flick their high beams... I'm not the expert on the rules of the road. That said, I was born in the land of traffic circles otherwise known as New Jersey.

New Jersey-bred homosapiens, from birth, are forced to adapt and survive in a traffic-circle world and so it's almost part of our DNA. Unfortunately, this is not true for their neighbors across the river whose namesake is William Penn (nor for our friends from across the boarder, but you'll have to ask Brother Tim to tell his story). Even more unfortunate, someone in government decided a traffic circle be placed north and east of the Lancaster airport. And I'm further convinced that this circle is likely THE ONLY CIRCLE within 200 square miles, and possibly even the only such cunundrum in Pennsylvania.

I haven't bothered to look up in the Driver's Manual the proper standards for navigating a traffic circle, so don't quote me on this, but judging by the Yield signs at every entrance to the circle, all vehicles IN the circle have the right of way. All vehicles wishing to enter the circle must yield to the traffic in the circle. In otherwords, should I choose to drive around the circle incessantly, all traffic would have to yield to me. And, yes, I've done that at least once. This traffic pattern is lost on Pennsylvanians. The circle throws them for a loop, yielding to traffic waiting to enter the circle, yielding to traffic leaving the circle, yielding for the sake of yielding. Oh, and once in the circle, it's at least courteous, if not necessary, to signal when you're going to exit the circle.

And so it is, somedays up to four times a day, the little blue van that could is the only witness to a lesson on driving in circles. To the outside observer the driver's lips are moving, but the sound and message is lost on the intended audience.

I love working with passionate people

I really enjoy working with people who are passionate about what they do. Several people assisted with chair setup in the Auditorium the other Saturday morning at 8 a.m. As the chairs started to get setup, as is usually the case, bulletins and other leftovers from the last service were strewn about the seats, hymnal racks, etc. so I asked two of the folks out to help setup to go about and collect the trash. I was impressed by one individual who exhibited passion for the task he was assigned.

Literally crawling through the rows of chairs, Nicolas covered a good part of the Auditorium looking high and low for trash around the chairs. He passion to get all of the trash inspired me. Over the years I've walked through each row, I've touched each chair, I've prayed for the lives that each chair would hold, but I've never crawled on my hands and knees to make sure there wasn't any trash tucked in a crevice. I love working with people who have that kind of passion.

Even though he's only 5 years old, Nicolas can be on my team anytime.

Maintenance personnel maintain more than buildings

The little blue van that could did it to me again. On the way to make a Dr. appointment I had my schedule timed just right. I arrived at the day services center on schedule to pick up my Dad, it appeared we'd arrive in Denver, PA with a few minutes to spare. Within seconds everything turned.



While attempting to close the van door, instead of closing, I was shocked to be holding the door in my hands, disconnected from the vehicle and unable to close. The thing just jumped right off it's track. In a bizarre twist, one of the staff was just exiting the facility and with the authority of Mr. Goodwrench explained exactly what I would need to do to reattach the door (I wasn't going anywhere until it was reattached).



Within a few minutes the day serices center's version of Jay Hall, Carl appeared and after 20 minutes, the door was reattached and we were on our way. Similar scenarios play out at Grace too. A car won't start, someone has a flat tire, keys got locked in a car, you name it and in many cases, Jay is called upon to help. As with Carl's help in my situation, it's apparently an unwritten expectation of facility/maintenance personnel. And while I didn't expect it, I greatly appreciated Carl's help and his willingness to bail me out.

I guess I need to add AAA to Jay's job description.

Pinoy Thanksgiving

While many American holidays are shared around the world (Christmas, New Years), there are of course many that are specific just to the U.S. So, growing up in the Philippines, Thanksgiving was always an interesting time of year. The Philippines doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but with a large missionary presence in the country and families who were trying to raise their kids in a different culture yet still maintaining their American heritage, everybody tried to celebrate Thanksgiving in some shape or form. Turkeys aren't real prevalent in the Philippines, so having turkey as the main course is rare and how can you celebrate Turkey Day without a turkey? There aren't cranberries either. Since it wasn't a national holiday, we always had school and a regular schedule on Thanksgiving Day. Actually, the years we were in boarding school, we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents.

Thanksgiving was a dorm celebration. You have to understand that the boarding school arrangements entailed us living in a rather large house with some 20 other boarding students, set up in a kind of family arrangement. There were us boarding students with a family who was responsible for our care and took care of planning the meals and planning the activities for us. They were responsible for disciplining us, things like that too, filling all of the parental roles. So, we had a family arrangement; it wasn't our own family, but it was out dorm family. When you put 20 guys in their preteens to teens, living under one roof, you go through a lot of food and we were on a modest budget. We weren't starving to death, but we also enjoyed eating. Thanksgiving Dinner was our annual Super Bowl of dining.

There's a whole preparation to this because you've got 20 kids whom you will be fighting with over food and you want to get the most food you can out of the meal. So, Thanksgiving turned out to be quite the event. As in any institutional mass food-producing context, we were constantly grumbling about the quality of the food and it was the brunt of many jokes as is college dorm food, as is school lunch food, you name it. Like it's football based cousin, the pre-feast preparation and hype starts to build in the week or two leading up to the feast with us kids employing different philosophies of getting our stomachs prepared to digest as much food as possible. Now you had a couple different pre-feast methodologies.

One, you had the groups that felt that getting yourself as hungry as possible was going to be the best method to consuming as much food as you could on Thanksgiving. So that would be the group that would gradually start reducing their intake the week before Thanksgiving Day, with the mindset that they would be so hungry come Thanksgiving Day that they could consume the most amount of turkey and everything else. I'll explain how we got turkeys in a minute. The second group felt that in order to consume the most of amount of food, their stomachs needed to be as large as possible, and so they would begin increasing the amount of food they were eating day to day with the thought that that would expand their stomachs and by Thanksgiving their stomachs would have expanded to a larger size capable of eating more food. Then you had the camp that just went about things as normal; they were no fun.

Thanksgiving day, again, would be a typical day. Go to school, no special day off or anything and get home, you'd have the meal with all 20 of us. The neat thing was the lengths to which the school and dorm parents would go to provide us with as traditional a Thanksgiving as possible. There were times where through connections with military personnel (our government taxes at work), we were able to get turkeys. At some point they did find a source for turkeys, though they were quite expensive and not in high abundance. I think we were able to have turkey just about every Thanksgiving. A lot of the sources would come through military connections with the air and naval bases in the Philippines or just spending extra to get the imported specialities for the Thanksgiving. As Abraham Lincoln had dreamed it would be, we'd all feast to our hearts content, bordering on gluttony and celebrate the holiday together. And of course, then, the next three days have turkey sandwiches for lunch and enjoy the best part: leftovers

But I think the most turkey-fun I've had in my lifetime was during college when I took a Butterball with me as one of my two pieces of luggage on a return trip to the Philippines. The best part was seeing the bird go through the x-ray machine.

Thanks to Charlene for enduring the challenge of transcribing this post through Windows Media Player.