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.

Cloister Christmas Concerts - December 10 & 11

The Ephrata Cloister Christmas Concerts are scheduled for December 10 & 11 with services at 6:30, 7:45 and 9 both nights. Tickets are $4. If you aren't familiar with these unique Christmas events, I've written about them in previous years.

Deja Vu

As I drove away it was deja vu except this time I was on the opposite side.


The deja vu moments started when the new care facility informed me that all of Dad's wardrobe would need to be identified with his initials. I'd been this before, but it was my clothes that needed name labels for me to be in boarding school. When you do upwards of 15 boys laundry once a week you have to have some system for keeping Jon's clothes separate from Sam's. In addition to name labels, each student was assigned a number that was theirs until they graduated; my laundry number was 20. I was so ingrained in this and also saw it as an easy way to keep socks paired for life (you know, like ducks), I continued the practice through college - with my white socks at least. So rushing to label Dad's wardrobe just hours before dropping him off triggered the flashbacks.


With him settled-in, all of the paperwork complete and his medications turned over to the nursing staff, it was time to go. It's not like this was the first time, we've been through this three to four times now, but this was different.


I felt guilty leaving him this time. Would he receive the care he needed, when he needed it? Would he enjoy his time there? Would he make friends? We've never talked about it, but I'm guessing I went through emotions my parents went through the day they drove away after dropping us off at the dorm for boarding school. I can only hope that on the other side, Dad was enjoying himself as much as I was so many years ago. Deja Vu.

Searching for respite care

When my wife and I go on vacation, we've been fortunate that some local elder-care facilities have respite care rooms that Dad can stay in. Much to our surprise as we planned for our upcoming time away, the facility we had been using ceased to offer respite stay, so at the last minute we were searching for a new facility.


Assessing facilities for their ability to care for a loved one is a trying task. Things that crossed my mind included the cleanliness of the facility, friendliness of the staff with whom I'm meeting and the variety of services they have to offer... that was about it. When you break it down, there's not a whole lot to go on.


I've been in a couple of facilities more than once and frankly, they eerily resemble each other. Typically, the facilities are nicely furnished with multiple lobby gathering areas decked out in couches and small conversational spaces, but I rarely see them in use other than when the residents are anxiously awaiting the opening of the food line for the next meal. Residents appear to spend a lot of time isolated in their individual rooms, are we really that anti-social a culture? Is the investment in lobby spaces and plush couches purely for the impression it sends to first time guests - a plush cushiony white wash - that says "we're friendly"?


Ultimately, you have to reach a decision point, with mostly perceptions upon which to decide. My decision was about a care facility, I wonder if people choose a daycare or a Christian school on similar criteria?


Consciously or not, from what I've read, our perceptions play a role in all decision making. You can't remove that from the equation. But can we provide additional information to help decision makers get below the surface? I love the example of a business acquaintance who I've invited to Grace who wanted to review the church doctrinal statement as part of his consideration.

I picked a care facility, not realizing the deja vu that would ensue...

Bias against sales people

One of my greatest challenges is how I represent the church when a salesperson comes calling. I have very little time for sales people, in fact, it's a flat out bias. See from my perspective, if the product requires selling, it's not good enough for me. I figure I have what I need or what I want and don't need to be convinced otherwise. If I have questions about something I'm considering, the sales person should be there to provide the answers. The products I want to purchase should be so good they sell themselves and don't need a sales presentation. The moment I sense a sales job, my warning mechanisms kick-in. I assume, unfairly, that all salespeople oversell and under deliver. Completely unfair to the salesperson. My personal preference is to undersell and over deliver.

This bias grossly clouds my interaction with salespeople who contact the church. While they're looking for a sale, only recently did I realize that every contact was a testimony for Christ. I regret that in the long-distance telemarketing days I played with sales calls like a cat plays with a caught mouse. One time, I turned the tables on the sales caller and I instead tried to sell them on the long distance carrier I was using.

I was always aware that I didn't have the time of day for a sales call, but it's only recently that I clarified that it's an out and out bias.

Church billboard ads

Several high profiles churches have used billboard advertising to highlight upcoming message series which appear to have successfully increased attendance numbers and raise a lightning rod for criticism at the same time. The first church billboard I remember was in the mid 1990s. It was a billboard on I-95 that read something along the lines of "Jesus hated church too, but He didn't use it as an excuse not to worship... www.tenth.org".

Carving squash - a 3rd world Halloween

We prepared dinner in virtual darkness last night - the person who designed this unit had the bright idea to put the kitchen at the front of the house (the front door opens into the kitchen). That's all well and good for 364 days a year, but it can create a challenge on October 31.

I'm not into Halloween, for a couple of reasons.
1. I can think of a lot of other ways to spend money than buying candy to hand out to the kids in the neighborhood.

2. With so much emphasis on the dark side of Halloween, I just can't celebrate, joke or mock - whatever you want to call it - about that.

When you grow up in the 3rd world where the spirit world is accepted as a reality and you don't have to go far to see it firsthand you know dressing up or watching others dress up as ghosts, goblins and the like is not something to be messed with. I find it odd that our culture makes such a big celebration of Halloween, yet generally refuses to accept the existence of the spirit world. I'm more and more convinced that the Evil One uses our inside-outness on this to keep our culture in the dark. Viewing it as a holiday to play dress up like firemen, Cinderella etc. is one thing, but I know too well the spirit world isn't something with which to mess around.

Plus, since pumpkins didn't grow in the Philippines, it was a challenge to carve a squash and the locals looked at us like we were morons.

The minivan achieves classic car status

Our blue Plymouth Voyager turns 20 this year... it's a 1987 model. It now qualifies for a classic car license plate - in some circles at least.

The machine has served us well over the past decade or so and with 231,000 miles on it and counting, we've put it to good use. We only paid $1 for the vehicle, friends of ours in Princeton who were upgrading or something, essentially gave it to us. We were a one-car family at the time and with me having a 30-minute commute scheduling was kinda tricky. The blessings of a two-car family for the past 10 years have been plentiful, but it's also created it's own share of memories...


There was the time we were headed with family to take in the HersheyPark Christmas Candylane, heading over to my in-laws in Akron, we headed east on Newport Road and as we climbed the small knoll just beyond Sheetz and the Warwick Center, the transmission dropped out of gear and the engine had nothing to power.


There was the time I ran it out of gas - that was my fault.

It's had a problem starting for the past few winters. It was uncommon to see me in the church parking lot leaning under the front bumper swinging a hammer at the starter in an attempt to trigger the starter bristles - at least that's what my mechanic father-in-law said it would do.

It was without a review-view mirror since last winter, something I didn't view as a big deal, but other drivers who know me commented about it; apparently it was noticeable.

The passenger window hasn't functioned in several years. At first it was stuck about 1/8 of the way down - you definitely wanted to keep your coat on during the winter and having to scrape the frost off the outside and inside of the windshield got kind of old after a while. After repairing it a year ago, or so we thought, I had the door in pieces last week and finally resorting to wedging a 1x4 in the door to hold the window all the way up; I'm betting that winter is going to arrive eventually and it will be severe when it does.


Most recently, it's chosen to strike on cold and or damp mornings. After much coaxing it comes to life and off we go. That was until Thursday morning. Oh, it eventually went, but as I returned from Lititz having dropped Dad off at his day program, it just stopped and wouldn't resuscitate. We'll see how much more life is left in that thing.


I'd love to see a cost comparison analysis of a vehicle against a horse and buggy. My hypothesis is that when all factors are considered, they both cost about the same. I'd love to test that hypothesis. Should you see a road apple trail from my house to Grace Church, you'll know what went down.

Network problems while doing 1,000 miles an hour

I just happened, by mere chance, to catch the launch of the latest Space Shuttle mission yesterday. I've always been intrigued and/or haunted by our space program. As a 3rd grader, when I heard that Young and Crippen, the crew of the first Shuttle mission would be awakening at 4am to begin preparing for launch, without alarm or whatever, I awoke at 4am. I followed that launch and mission as much as I could. Years later, I had nightmares and trouble sleeping for a few weeks after the Challenger disaster.

While some enjoy working to the background noise of Christian radio or other music, when a mission is underway, I enjoy listening to NASA TV. For the second time while listening to their broadcast, I've heard, in real time, astronauts, orbiting several hundred miles above the earth, having computer problems. It gives me a sick sense of relief... I'm not the only one who struggles with network connectivity etc.

The best was a couple of missions ago when the astronaut was heard to say, "After getting the blue screen of death a few times..." That was the best.

My place in this world

Laying in the backyard, starring into the blue sky, watching the wispy clouds go by I pondered my insignificance in this universe.

Isaiah 40:26
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

I find such opportunities for contemplation rare, so I enjoy them all the more. The best part was sharing the moment with my 4-year old niece as we counted the leaves falling off the trees slowly helicoptering to the ground. A wonderful afternoon.

Literal or Allegorical - The Book of Job

The summer after my Junior year of Bible College, I had the opportunity to do an internship at the church that a year later would hire me as Administrator. In addition to doing a month-long study on prayer they asked me to lead their Thru the Bible Sunday School class for adults. The class consisted of several men with seminary degrees in addition to some of the more respected people in the church - and there I was, a Bible College student, whom many in the class had known as a toddler, facilitating their Sunday School class. The first book I was asked to "teach" was the Book of Job.

The crux of the study of Job is one's approach to it's interpretation, whether to take the book as a literal account of what Job experienced or as a allegory, a mere story. I devoted most, if not all of our first week of the study to covering these matters and explaining why we interpret it as a literal story.

In week two, we started into the text, verse by verse until someone, who had missed the first week, shared comments about how the book was just a story not a literal account. Unfortunately, I think this individual had a reputation for stirring things up, so within seconds I had a unhealthy exchange on my hands. The conservatively educated seminarians were jumping all over the individual about how erroneous their views were. Recognizing that the purpose of the class was not to debate the proper hermeneutic for interpreting the Book of Job, and that I was in no way qualified to handle such a matter with the individuals involved, we moved on, I let the Senior Pastor know about it the following day and let he and the Elders take it from there.

From my perspective, I'm convinced the individual was raising the view because it was all they had ever heard or been taught. Unfortunately, others in the class viewed it as an attempt to introduce errant teaching into the church. In the end, I think it all worked out, but it was a firsthand example of the importance of hermeneutics.

That should be the last post on hermeneutics for a while.

Bible College Charade

It was around 8:30 a.m., Dr. Gordon Ceperley was well into his Genesis lecture a third of the way into the semester when we were interrupted by the College Registrar, who, standing at the door asked for Mr. Neutic to step out of the classroom for a moment...

First of all, Dr. Ceperley knew his Old Testament. More precisely, he knew Genesis like the back of his hand. He lectured to us using just his Bible; no notes, no illustrations. In fact, while the syllabus laid out that we'd cover Genesis through Joshua over the course of the semester, Cep spent all but the last week or two solely in Genesis. I was privileged to have the opportunity to benefit from his wealth of knowledge about the Torah was expansive. Truth is, I was a third generation Cep pupil, my grandparents and parents were both students of his during their college years.

Now, you have to understand that Cep didn't pay much attention to the administrative details of his classes. So when he would pass out exams, he didn't account for extra copies etc. A classmate of mine, Wes, took advantage of the loophole and began taking an exam for himself and a second exam for his invisible friend. And after about a third of the semester had passed and several exams had been turned in, the Registrar came to class to seek payment from this un-enrolled student. There stood the Registrar that morning, "Would Mister Neutic, Mister Herman Neutic, please step outside for a moment."

Such is the humor among Bible college freshmen.
What I found most humorous about this charade was that Herman outperformed Wes on the exams.

A Business Manager's thoughts on tongues

Coinciding with our current Sunday series on Spiritual Gifts, Pastor Scott spent the majority of our staff meeting yesterday delving deeper into the tongues issue with the staff. As he led us in the study, several thoughts crossed my mind...

1. Grace Church's doctrinal position is based on a strict literal interpretation of scripture. I often assume that's understood, but often find that differing opinions/interpretations trace back to a difference in hermeneutics.

2. As we looked at the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, I saw some sort of relationship between the Day of Pentecost and the Tower of Babel. I don't recall reading of hearing anyone drawing any conclusions from the relationship. Here are my raw observations:

Genesis 11 -
one people
one language
one location
fear of being scattered over the face of the whole earth
wishing to make a name for themselves
the LORD came down to see the city and the tower
LORD confused their language so they wouldn't understand one another's speech
LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth

Acts 2 -
disciples were all in one location
"...and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
the Holy Spirit filled each disciple
the commotion of the noise caused people assemble
every nation under heaven was represented
each one hearing them (the disciples) speak in their own language/dialect
Holy Spirit allowed each person to hear in their birth tongue "the mighty deeds of God"
Spirit allowed them to speak in other languages

Language was central in both events and both scenarios involve a dispersion.
Genesis 11 is a physical dispersion of people while Acts 2 is a spiritual and physical dispersion of the local church.

There were significant forces of power involved in both accounts. The people power exhibited in Genesis 11, based on the scriptural account, was incredibly powerful "...and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them" (Genesis 11:6). I noted in my Bible some time ago, what could believers accomplish if we did not allow Satan to drive us apart? That small section of verse 6 amazes me. On the other side, the power of the Holy Spirit, exhibited in Acts 2 was a powerful force.

Side note: it's interesting, now several thousand years later, that Genesis 11:4 is still true of mankind today, "...let us build for ourselves... a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name..."

That's all I've got so far. No doubt it's raw and I have yet to extract anything further than these observations.

3. Before the Bible was completed, the Gospel message needed to validated or in Business Manager terms, notarized. Through Jesus' ministry and the early ministry of the Apostles, the primary purpose of signs and wonders was to notarized Jesus, His message and the message of the Apostles. Today, the Bible is our notary. Which takes us very close to being back at point number 1 listed above.

Bring your Box Tops and Soup Labels to Grace

You can help the Grace Education Ministries by bringing Box Tops and Soup Labels to the church. Each Box Top and soup label earns money for our education ministries. They are great programs (both our educational ministries and the box top/soup label programs).


Of course, there was a time when you needed to send in the entire box top. Now, you just need to clip out a small square of the box top. Oh, but it's not always on the box top. On Kleenex tissues, you're actually sending in a piece of the box BOTTOM. And Cottonelle toilet paper isn't even packaged in a BOX!

That's what happens we you hold a strict literal hermeneutic.

Contacting missionaries in the new millenium

I remember my parents and brother sitting around a cassette recorder with a microphone recording tapes to send to grandparents in the US... awaiting the latest aerogramme from Grandma or Oma... urgent messages with stops interspersed coming via telegram... and in the most rare of occassions, sitting by a phone waiting countless of hours to get a line and even then, the connection was so poor you thought you could hear the schools of fish inevitably swimming around the wire that was likely traversing the ocean floor. Such were the overseas communication channels of the past.


In this day, those channels have been replaced primary by email, more dependable phone connections and the internet. I find I have to consciously remember that today's technologies bring our overseas contacts closer than ever and to take advantage of them.


I'm initiating at least montly communication attempts between our church staff and the families we support in faraway lands. Two weeks ago we tried the Weaver's, they were out that day, so we were only able to leave a voicemail message. Friday, we rang the Becker's and were able to talk with them for close to 30 minutes. Next, we'll attempt to connect with the Beuggert's.

This past Sunday, the Next Tier ABF talked with Mike and Joan who are in Cambodia right now. They had a conference call with the whole class that apparently went very well. So whether it's an ABF, the Missions Team or some other where two-or-three are gathered, don't miss out on the opportunity to connect and encourage others.


If you haven't discovered it yet, the internet based communication progam, Skype, is a very user friendly and reliable system. It's been around for a while, so I'm behind the curve having just activated it in the past two weeks, but it's been very effective thus far. Calls between Skype users (I've seen as many as 9 million of them online at one time) are free. I connected with a college friend who's serving in Paraguay on Wednesday. The line was clear as day, as if he was only in Ephrata. In fact, I have contacts in Lancaster County, who for bizarre reasons I don't understand, have to pay a toll call to call me at home. I hope to get them Skyping with me.


We need to maximize today's technologies to maintain, if not deepen, our relationships with our missionary families.

Is it time to accept ATM cards?

Close to 7-8 years ago was the first time I was asked to consider some type of giving outside of the traditional cash/check being placed in the offering plate. The worshipful act of giving has gotten a bad reputation, sometimes overshadowed by desperate pleas to make ends meet, rather than emphasizing it in proportion with the amount of emphasis we place on prayer, signing and other elements of worship. And like them, there's something to be said for doing it corporately instead of in seclusion. Like prayer and signing, there's a place for giving in solitude. I have some intense sessions of prayer in quiet seclusion with no one around and I've belted out hymns, choruses and other sounds in the confines of my blue van that brought the roof lining down - literally. But I'm convinced that God's uniquely created corporate worship to be something special and that goes for giving too. That's been my hang up. Allowing ATM/Debit/Credit card giving opens us up to allowing giving outside of the corporate worship.

The corporate worship issue is my biggest problem with the idea. Secondarily, I'm uncomfortable opening up the possibility that someone can charge their gift to a credit card. I question the financial practice of putting a gift to God on credit. And if you use a cash back or rewards card, would the gifts to the church count toward your cash back/rewards points? This just opens up too many issues, maybe my analysis paralysis has kicked in again.

I'm well aware of the increased convenience to all of us. Goodness, I've heard countless stories of how churches actually receive more money once they make the switch. But it's not about the money, it's about your life and your relationship with Our Saviour.

But, when more and more establishments accept plastic the pressure to adapt is building. Did you ever imagine McDonald's would take cards? I myself rarely carry cash. I'm sure there are many people for whom their check to Grace Church is the only check they write each month.

So, if you attend Grace on a regular basis, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Locating the Lost & Found

The merger of entities that weren't separate in the first place - I'm so appreciative of the ground we've covered at Grace in the past two years, but it really is comical when you look in the rear view mirror. We were one entity to begin with, Grace Church with Early Childhood, Children's, Youth, Adult, Deacon and Missions ministries as well as daycare and Christian School ministries. But to just about everyone we operated and appeared to be independent, separated-at-birth relatives. We had 3 of everything - a very strict application of the Trinity in every aspect of what we did. Three receptionists, three lunch rooms, three, three, three, even three different lost and founds - ALL IN ONE BUILDING!!! And so, for the past two years and still on going, we've merged that which wasn't separated in the first place. And with it we now have one single lost and found.

The lost and found, in case you're looking for something you think you've lost at Grace Church, is located off of the ABF/Sunday School hallway intersection. It's the maintenance room that's across from the library and also across from the water fountain at the intersection.

We've cracked down on hallway clutter this school year, so hallways are being cleared nightly of coats hanging on coat racks, as well as books and other items left out that shouldn't be. We want the building to have a positive appearance 24x7, so you may need to check the lost and found more often. Now you know where it is.

Fightin' Phils Memories and Scars

I view much of my childhood in 4-year increments, divided by one year stays in the US for home service. The one-year stays tend to blend together for some reason, so I identify them by major events of that particular year.
1990-91: Manuel Noriega turned himself in
1985-86: Challenger Disaster
1980-81: Phillies won the World Series

The fervor of the past week has brought the memories of the 1980 Phillies to the forefront of my mind once again.

In grade 3 at the time, I don't recall much of the playoff run. I think I was usually in bed by the time the games were getting interesting. I recall struggling to fall asleep during one of the World Series games because I was so curious as to what was happening in the game, but that's the extent of what I recollect firsthand. Though I don't think I watched or listened to many of the games that season, several, if not many of the calls of the game are permanently etched in my mind.

Just before we returned to Philippines, a family friend gave me a cassette tape that told the story of the 1980's Phillies with actual game audio interpersed throughout. With baseball not being a sport heard of in the Philippines at the time that tape was my connection to the sport. I listened and played the tape constantly, on par with the frequency my nephews today watch a Veggie-tale or Bob The Builder episode. That much repitition has a tendency to etch itself into memory. In my teen years I must've lost the tape or recorded over it; one way or another it's gone. I've even searched without success for the album on the internet.

The last time the Phillies won the Eastern Division, I was in college. The scar of Joe Carter's home run is still there. Of course, our new Pastor Tim, the Canuck that he is, found himself on the winning end that year.

Will it be new memories or scars that will be created in the coming days?

Thank you for calling Grace Ministries, how can I help you?

If you haven't experienced it already, the next time you call Grace Church, you'll be greeted on the phone with, "Thank you for calling Grace Ministries, how can I help you?" As part of the merger that really isn't a merger, we've consolidated the phone answering duties to one position. That means Charlene and Megan answer all phone calls that come to our facility - daycare calls, school calls and church calls. Last time I checked, we average just over 100 income phone calls a day. To emphasize our being one ministry, it seemed logical to refer to all that we do as Grace Ministries.

Anticipating your next call, Charlene and Megan await the opportunity to greet you with, "Thank you for calling Grace Ministries, how can I help you?"

Free WIFI in and around Lititz, PA

A staff member and I were conversing the other day about free WIFI areas suitable for working out of the office. They were thinking of heading down to Panera Bread toward Lancaster. But I shared of WIFI locations I had learned of in and around Lititz. Do you know of others?

Giant Food Store at the Shoppes of Kissel Hill - They've put in a adequately decorated indoor/outdoor cafe that serves Bucks County Coffee, has nice seating areas that appear comfortable and a picturesque fire place.

Brick House Cafe two blocks north of the square in Manheim - a relatively new coffee shop that serves sandwiches and wraps, has a hodge-podge of indoor seating with a second floor seating as well, in addition to a small serene outdoor seating area.

Starbucks at the Shoppes of Kissel Hill - I'm assuming they offer WIFI as 'Bucks has the reputation for offering it at every store, but I can't say I've confirmed it. Their seating area leaves a lot to be desired, especially needing more seats, but I bet you could be in Saladworks and still get a signal. Not that Saladworks is a cozier environment.

Elementary Hallway at Grace Church - Yeah, we've actually offered free WIFI in the elementary classroom hallway since 2000. The signal doesn't reach too far beyond that hallway, but for what it's worth, it's there.

Those are the WIFI hot spots that I know of, can you think of others?

Bringing pets to Grace Church

Did you see the Golden Retriever in church a few weeks ago? One of the families in our body is training a dog to be a seeing-eye dog and asked for permission to bring the dog with the to church for exposure to people.

With a daycare and school, and the potential allergies of the children in our care, we have to be cognizant of the animals that enter our facility. Anytime you wish to bring an animal into our building, we ask that you seek approval from Rick Bernhardt, Pastor Scott or myself. This should not be misconstrued as an anti-animal stance. We are very fond of animals and feel they play a vital part in the education of children so long as the allergen concerns of each child are addressed in advance... thus the need to request in advance prior to bringing your animal to the building.

A mug, 32 packets of gelatin, 1 pack of lime jello

Should you happen to forget a common item in my office, you never know where it might end up...

Tuesday's with Lenny: Ephrata Fair

Dad must've heard an add on WDAC for an upcoming fair or something which prompted him to request that we check one out. If you've never found it, the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs is a great website for finding fair dates. In fact, until only recently, I insisted that the local fairs be listed on the master calendar at church due to the impact fairs have on week-night ministry attendance.

We headed out to the Ephrata Fair this evening right after leaving work. Beth and I had checked the fair out several years ago, so this wasn't my first experience. I'm really intrigued at the cultural similarities though physically they're miles apart - Fiesta in the farming town I grew up in the Philippines and the fairs of Lancaster County are eerily similar. Then again, Roots Country Market is almost exactly identical to the town market of Labo; Labo's just has a better fish section... smells worse and has more flies than Roots. Other than that, you could click and drag one market or fair from one country and drop it in the other and you'd see very few differences. So we headed to Ephrata for Fiesta...

Dad and I walked as much of the fair as we could discover. We happened upon the Cornerstone Mennonite Church booth. I was well on my way to keep walking by, but Dad stopped to talk. See, close to 30 years ago he participated in a similar type of church outreach at the Princeton Shopping Center handing out copies of the New Testament. About eight years later Dad was at Washington Bible College recruiting future missionaries and had a conversation with an individual who, upon being asked how he came to know Christ, shared a story about accepting Christ when talking with a group that was handing out New Testaments at the Princeton Shopping Center. The guy returned from his dorm room with the New Testament he received that day with the church's name imprinted on the back. The whole point of this is, Dad stopped at every church booth we passed Tuesday night, Cornerstone, the Bereans and the Gideons to share this story with them. He saw an opportunity to encourage them and seized it. Dad's abilities are limited, but it's not keeping him from constantly on the look for where God is working and how he can become a part of what God's up to. All the while I've got my head on a swivel to identify the nearest restroom and contemplating other matters...

The children's rides amuse me. I was so tempted to ask one of the operators how frequently their ride is inspected and what organization certifies them. As I watched little kids plunging up and down, riding in circles or teens on the ferris wheel, I'm checking my mobile phone and identifying the nearest cross street, at the ready to dial 9-1-1 and state the position of the accident.

And what's with the fish?!? You'd think PETA would be flipping out over the cruelty to those gilly-scaled creatures crammed in itty-bitty living spaces with vibrantly colored water.

Oh, and I'd love to see the financial statements of the whole deal. Like how much income do all of the game booths generate? And the operators, do they have a day job? What about the electric, I noticed the trunk lines running across streets etc.; how much electric does a fair consume?

I haven't frequented the area fairs enough to observe whether the same stands move from one fair to the next or whether you get different rides and food stands at each or not.

I enjoyed myself, finally getting the pulled-pork bbq sandwich I missed out on at the Rodeo. We sat by a ATM machine that apparently had an appetite having eaten the ATM cards of 4-5 people in a row. The day the fair starts taking cards is the day we'll start accepting cards at Grace. Actually, I'll come back to that topic in an upcoming post.

Dad faired well. Like clockwork, his medications slumped just after dinner time, but trooper that he is, he chose to press on and not miss out on the festivities. Food is amazing motivation. On our way out, we passed the U.S. Marines booth. Dad stopped there too to thank the Marine for his service to our country and his already three tours in Iraq. I hope I'm as tenacious in seeking out ways to encourage others in spite of the hand I'm dealt.

Tuesday's with Lenny

On Tuesday nights during the school year, Beth has rehearsal with the Ephrata Cloister Chorus, so except for when I have an Elder Executive Committee meeting to attend, I often spend Tuesday nights with my Dad.

Growing up, Dad and I didn't have the closest of Father/Son relationships and heading off to boarding school when I entered grade 4 didn't help. I can't imagine how difficult that was for my parents. Until that fateful Sunday night, one of my Dad's traditions with his two sons was to tell us purple squirrel stories. It was only when my parents dropped us off at the dorm that afternoon that it dawned on me that the purple squirrel tradition would end. Lovingly, Dad spend the better part of an hour walking around the yard, recording installments for us to listen to each night on a tape recorder. I don't know to this day whether that was premeditated or not. Sadly, we only listened to one or two episodes; it just didn't fit in with the dorm schedule and I let other interests invade my time. Never would I have guess that 20+ years later, we'd be where we are today.

Since Dad's moved in with us, coming up on 3 years ago now, I've had a lot of opportunities to share new experiences with him as we've traveled to doctor appointments, worked on getting his business matters in order and also pursued items of interest. He's not the man I knew growing up, the shell is the same, but his capacities are but a fragment of what was. Even so, we're able to experience things together and weld a relationship together.

And so many Tuesday's during the school year, Dad and I are doing something together. Last night, we took in the Ephrata Fair - more about that next time...

A silhouette against The Son

I don't consider myself a morning person, but I find the crack of dawn to be one of the most beautiful times of the day. I just marvel at the spectacularity of God and His creation. As I took a moment to ponder daybreak this morning the normally vibrant and colorful plants, trees and fowl were degraded to mere silhouettes, unique in their own right, but devoid of their wonder, overpowered by the magnificence of the rising sun. It dawned on me that we too will be eclipsed and a mere silhouette in the glory of the Risen Son!

Is our love for God evident in everything?

"When you do not pay your bills, you're marketing. When you do not cut your grass, you're marketing. ...You are shaping perception in the hearts and minds of your members and your target community..." Richard L. Reising

We're pretty good at paying our bills on time, and we're doing our best to keep the grass mowed, but I admit the exterior of our property doesn't reflect how much we love God and His people. If you'd like to help us in that cause, contact me.

Do you call Him LORD or Lord?

Ever notice when reading your Bible that you see Lord printed in all uppercase or small caps sometimes? As we print the Bible passage for the bulletin each week, we try to maintain the exact same printing as you'll find in your published Bible and that regularly means manually adjusting Lord using the small caps font feature in our publishing software. The English alphabet/language (who am I to be dissecting English?) doesn't convey the nuances of the Hebrew language like Hebrew text does; for one, English has fewer names for God than Hebrew does.

One minor tidbit I picked up in Bible College is that anytime you see LORD in all caps/small caps, it's specifically referring to YHWH or YAHWEH, commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton. From the Preface to the New International Version, "...the translators adopted the device used in most English versions of rendering that name as "LORD" in capital letters to distinguish it from Adonai, another Hebrew word rendered "Lord," for which small letters are used.

The profs in Bible College also stressed that anytime we referenced to the books with numbers that we specifically use numerical numbers and NOT roman numerals such as 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings as opposed to I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. Though why this was stressed I'm still trying to figure out. Until I do, I won't require such usages in the Sunday bulletin, but we do attempt to faithfully reproduce the scripture text as accurately as possible.

Strengths & Weaknesses

I've been thinking about my strengths and weaknesses. I've looked to improve the areas that I've considered to be my weaknesses. In school, the classes in which I received lower grades were the classes I focused on more deliberately in my studies. In sports, the weaknesses of my soccer game have been the areas I've worked on. I've been challenged to look at that in reverse - focus on extending my strengths. The theory is that I have weaknesses because I'm not good at them. Concede that, cut the losses and invest my energies in the areas where I'm good. I've been chewing on this paradigm shift for a while; it's intriguing.

I don't like the light this perspective casts on our weaknesses. It's biased toward strengths, as if that's the only good each of us has to offer to God and His world. From a human mindset, sure, that make sense, but we don't operate in a human-mindset controlled world. Our weaknesses are equally powerful - that sounds hilarious, but as I've thought about so many Bible characters (Aaron, Moses, the disciples, among so many), I see characters with weaknesses that God specifically selected to exploit for His use. God called upon men who were self-proclaimed poor public speakers to speak to His nation. He called upon fishermen to record His message for all mankind.

Yes, I think there's tremendous value in me looking for ways in which God might be challenging me to offer my strengths to further His Kingdom in new and different ways. And yes, to look to do the same for those I oversee. But, even though it goes against rational thinking, to use weaknesses as the sole reason for not giving anyone the opportunity to participate just doesn't sit right with me.

People fascinate me

It all started at a seminar I attended recently, I've been thinking every now and then about the things that I love doing and the things I loathe doing. My wife and I were picking up some groceries the other day and ran into an acquaintance from church. We conversed for several minutes, catching up on what was happening in the person's life... new job, new school, kid growing up etc. I walked away feeling encouraged and uplifted. I was hardly the topic of the discussion, in fact, I'm not even sure they asked how my wife and I were doing, but I came away excited.

People just fascinate me. I enjoy hearing their stories, where they've been, where they're going and what's going on in their lives. My encouragement stems from seeing firsthand evidence of how God is working in their lives.

I love people.

The First Day of School

I remember the anticipation of a new school year, the joy of seeing friends who were as close as siblings that I hadn't seen in several months because they were in another country for the summer and the excitement of what the school year would hold.

As one of the main high schools for missionary kids in Far East Asia, a handful of my classmates' parents were missionaries serving in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the various islands of the Philippines - so the return of school meant the reuniting with friends. The school's tradition was to gather the entire student body of 700 strong around the school flagpole for a brief ceremony of raising the Philippine and Christian flags and officially opening the school year with a word of prayer.

To my knowledge, no formal opening day ceremony is planned at Grace this morning, though I keep suggesting the idea, but I suspect the excitement is high among the students as they embark on the next year in their educational quest. When we last saw them the members of the Class of 2008 were screaming in the halls celebrating the fact that they were on the cusp of their senior year of high school as the 2007 school year drew to a close. Now they are all of 180 days away from graduation.

Join us in committing this school year to the Lord, that it would be a year full of both academic growth and spiritual growth for each individual and for the student body as a whole.

UPDATE: I didn't have anything to do with it, but the school year kicked off this morning with a 40-minute First Day Worship. Led by the students, we sang choruses, had a time of prayer and launched into the academic year focused on what God wants to accomplish in each of us this year.

The 2008 Church Directory

We are taking a different approach with gathering and checking information for the 2008 Church Directory. We printed out the information we have for every family/individual in the database and mailed it yesterday. Here's how you can assist in making sure we print your contact information in the way you desire...

1. If you find incomplete or inaccurate data, contact us either via email (jlmiller@lgbc.org), by calling the church (626.2155) at extension 1026 or by mailing the form back to the church.

2. If you're information is correct you don't need to respond.

3. Individuals/families that are not in the church database yet can submit their information by using the weekly Connections Card that's in the bulletin or we'll be putting a directory information card in the next month or so.

4. In case you're wondering why we ask you to check "I grant Grace Church and its ministries the right to publish any photograph taken of any member of this family", we do that for promotional purposes. During the year we may take photos of different church activities that we want to print in the bulletin, use on our website or on a church publication. Technically, we need authorization to do that.

We publish a Church Directory to facilitate the Grace Church body connecting with each other. Though Church Directories are often maligned, they are so important that there's one included in The Canon.

What's in a name?

One of the internal jokes among our staff relates to the way the church's nickname, Grace Church, came into existence. It's first use, just kinda happened. However, before we finalized it, incorporated it into our logo, etc., we did some checking. We investigated how many other Grace Churches there were in Lancaster County and the Commonwealth. We discovered there was one church that was officially registered as Grace Church in Philadelphia, but our multiple attempts to contact them were unsuccessful. We felt it was important to use a name that wasn't infringing on the name other churches were using, maybe get their permission or to at least let them know we were planning to use the same name they were using. So much for that.

Several years later what was known as the Grace Brethren Church of Willow Valley started calling themselves Grace Church. And in the past week I've heard the Ephrata Grace Brethren Church refer to themselves as Grace Church on WDAC. Oh well. What's in a name anyway.

How to give anonymous gifts

There are several ways to give someone an anonymous financial gift. I have to state that unless the leadership of Grace Church has announced that a special collection is being taken, any such gift, according to IRS regulations, does NOT qualify as a tax-deductible gift. But that shouldn't stop you from making the gift. Here are several methods you can use to keep your financial gift anonymous:

1. Go to your local bank and ask the cashier for a Cashier's Check in the amount you want to contribute. From what I've seen a Cashier's Check has not identifying information on it other than the bank institution used to produce the check. I think you can have the check made out directly to the person you want to give it to. With the check, you can hand it to someone to deliver it for you.

2. You can give a cash gift, put it in an envelope and ask someone to give it to the person on your behalf.

If you're looking to give a tangible gift, it's just a matter of how you deliver it. You can again ask someone to be your delivery person, you could also drop ship it directly to their address. Or, if you could make it a family deal and plan a covert operation to drop the items at their home without being noticed. Just some ideas.

Christmas Card 2007 Design Phase Begins

My wife has been creating and hand stamping/making our annual Christmas card for the past 9-10 years. She does a tremendous job and invests a lot of effort. The design phase for the 2007 Christmas Card began this week. Yep, it's 95+ degrees outside and so humid the earth itself is sweating and we're contemplating the Baby Jesus, Wisemen and snow and all the winter chills that come with it.

In light of the current weather I think it's entirely appropriate to say, come quickly winter, come quickly and more importantly, come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly!

Weekday Evening Schedule for 2007-2008

In all the places I've lived I haven't experienced a culture like Lancaster County that was so built around church schedules. It's slowly changing, but remnants are still there. Take for example Wednesday evenings.

I think there are still business that close early on Wednesdays so their employees can go to Wednesday night church.
It's an unwritten rule in the school's athletic league that there are no games on Wednesdays and in some cases, no practices either.

That was the traditional church schedule, services Sunday mornings, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I'm excited that we're adding to that schedule this fall. Our children's ministry is going to make use of break out groups Wednesday night to the point that they need additional room space. Our youth ministry is also planning to use break out groups and was looking for more rooms too. Those two ministries are essentially going to have the majority of our building in use on Wednesday nights this coming academic year.

Meanwhile, that didn't leave enough space for the Worship Arts ministry, so they're moving their rehearsals to Thursdays nights. Our assumption used to be that families would come Wednesday nights, the adults would go to choir practice and the kids would go to the children's/youth programs. From what we can tell, that doesn't hold true so much anymore. So we can make this shift without creating an inconvenience for the average family.

So the building should see even more use and more importantly, we see God working in and through our children's and youth ministries, so we're making adjustments to join Him in what He's doing.

Musical Chairs

We've been playing our own version of musical chairs at Grace in recent weeks. The Worship Design Team (a group that works with Pastor Scott and Matt to plan different elements of each week's service) wanted the Auditorium in a centered-stage configuration for the Samson series. We've used a centered-stage config two times previously and by luck of the calendar, Jay was out of town or unavailable those weeks, so I took charge of laying out the chair setup. For this third time, Jay was around and thankfully, he didn't use my notes.

The setups I used were very boxy and used unusually long rows. Those setups worked, but there downsides:

-with more than 12 chairs in most rows, some event topping out at 30, it was hard to get into a row having to crawl over others who were already seated.

-with each section parallel to one of the walls, we needed to setup additional video projectors.

-with each section parallel to one of the walls, if you sat in the corner you had to turn in your seat to actually face the stage and it felt like you were a long ways away from the stage.

The setup Jay used for the current configuration improves, if not eliminates all of those issues. I give him credit.

We're also working on a revised configuration for the regular chair setup that we hope to roll out in September. We're looking to accomplish a couple of things:

1. We want the main aisle at the back of the room to directly connect with the main lobby entrance.

2. We want the center of the room to be filled with chairs, not an aisle.

3. We want to see if we can put full-width aisles on the outside of each side wall.

It's still in research and development, so we'll see if it becomes reality. We're also exploring other a chair setup system to replace the longstanding ABF-reliant system. Thinking most ABFs view their chair setup responsibilities as a chore, if not a drag, we're investigating whether there are people at Grace who view chair setup as a ministry opportunity. It's a long shot, but we're investigating.

Musical chairs, Grace style.

What's happening with Grace athletic nights?

Monday nights have been associated with pick-up volleyball at the Grace Auditorium.
Thursday nights were associated with pick-up basketball, more recently replaced with floor hockey.

Pickup basketball's been on a break for something like three years now and in 2007-2008, volleyball and floor hockey will be joining basketball taking a break as well. While not something we've prescribed, we see it fitting in with the ongoing morph of Grace Church.

The leaders of pickup volleyball and floor hockey were ready to pursue other involvements at Grace. We encouraged them in their desire to shift, but saw it as an opportunity for the church at large. Demand for rooms has increased in the past 2-3 years and having the Auditorium signed out Monday & Thursday night's left little room for other ministries to get in there.

Though they'll be on a break for at least the next year, we're interested to see where God works in the coming months and how we can join Him, and however than applies in the way the building gets used. In the meantime, the Auditorium will be used by other ministries on Monday and Thursday nights in 2007-2008. I'll describe exactly how in my next post.

Grace Church Bible Reading Challenge - Home Stretch

We're getting close to the home stretch of the Grace Church Bible Reading Challenge. Are you still going strong? I got behind last weekend and spent most of this week catching up and finally caught up this morning. Commitments are tough and they take... commitment.

We've been pleased with the traffic on the Reading Challenge blog. As of Friday night (8/3) at 7:15, by my quick count, I came up with 38 unique contributors to the comments out of the total of 213 comments posted. I'm guessing that about half of the 213 comments are Pastor Scott's, but I'll let someone else count them up while they're waiting on hold during a telephone call or something.

As you can see from the following graph and table there's a sliding trend on the blog as well. The blog spiked to 853 visits on July 18th whereas today, Friday 8/3 registered 264 visits. All in all though, it's been a neat forum for the church body to interact.

The individual pages views listed in the table below report the number of times someone actually clicked on the post for each particular day whereas the chart above reports the daily number of visits to the general blog site blog.lgbc.org.

2007-07-04 to Today

Title	Views
Psalm 119:1-40	369
Psalm 119:81-128	365
Psalm 119:41-80	298
Psalm 119:129-176	275
John 10-12	253
Judges 13-16	247
John 1-3	235
John 4-6	206
John 13-15	181
John 16-18	165
John 19-21	162
2 Peter 1-3	154
1 John 1-3	150
Philippians 4; 1 Peter 1-2	139
John 7-9	137
About the Challenge	121
Philippians 1-3	109
1 Peter 3-5	95
1 John 4-5; 2 John; 3 John	84
Ephesians 1-3	59
The Challenge	37
Ephesians 4-6	33

If you've fallen behind or dropped out of late, I encourage you to get back in the game. After all, it's not so much the challenge that's the point of this, it's our immersing ourselves in our Saviour's Word.

Heat activated alarm

Around 1 or 1:30 yesterday the normal Grace Church summer routine was interrupted by the sound of an unscheduled fire alarm. Well versed in the drill, everyone evacuated in a calm, orderly and timely fashion. I on the other hand was scurrying. First of all, I was in the bathroom at the time the alarm sounded. As I washed up, it dawned on me that I didn't recall seeing Jay Hall's motor scooter in it's normal parking spot, meaning Jay was likely not in the building. When that's the case, I'm the guy that's responsible for handling the alarm.

When an unscheduled alarm sounds, there's added pressure to figure out whether someone inadvertently pulled an alarm or where the problem lies, all the while making sure the building is being evacuated. So I'm running around, trying to assess all of this.

Turns out one of the heat detectors in the attic popped. It was set to trip if the temperature exceeded 135 degrees, which gives you an idea of how hot it was up there. It's been replaced with a 194 degree sensor - otherwise we'd probably have another unscheduled alarm again today and from what the forecast says, tomorrow, the next day, the next day and the next again.

Anyway, it was another chance to chat with the Lititz Fire Chief, Ron Oettel. He and I have developed a casual acquaintance over the past 10 years. I appreciate his demeanor and attitude to these sorts of deals. He's usually very professional, cordial and expresses his best interest in protecting the people and assets of Grace Church. As is often the case with these kinds of alarms, we can spend 30-60 minutes trying to track down exactly which sensor (out of over a hundred in the building) is the one that's reporting trouble. It's often because of dust or like yesterday, overheating. Anyway, during that troubleshooting time, we get the chance to talk and catch up. Of course, all the while the daycare kids and staff were out in the sweltering heat of the parking lot. I regret not letting them at least come in under the main entrance to get in the shade.

Thankfully, we were able to get everything cleared sometime after 2pm and the kids were back to nap time in no-time.

Guarding our hearts and our internet connections

I've appreciated Pastor Scott's admonition over the past three years for us to guard our hearts and in particular guarding them in the area of our internet connections. Matthew's (5:29 and 18:9) pretty clear in describing how seriously we're supposed to treat this stuff - a good reminder for all of us.

At Grace, we take it seriously employing a content filter that's tight enough that it's a nuisance at times, but it's worth the trade off. Not perfect by no means, but we restrict access and track usage. We recently switched from using SurfControl to using St. Bernard's iPrism if you're interested. I've gleaned a lot from working with these companies. One, their databases of sites to be blocked change daily, if not minute by minute. Two, I appreciate their willingness to deal with smut day-in and day-out to protect all of us. Since they often take control of my workstation to troubleshoot problems during tech support calls, I inform them that I've turned off my monitor and to alert me when I can turn it back on while they test if the filter's working etc. They understand when I explain I work at a church and Christian school, but chuckle at how they have to deal with the junk daily and get paid to hip wade in the filth. Another tip I picked up - to test if our filter is working okay, rather than using an explicit site, I use guns.com as a test. It's blocked under the same policy as the explicit stuff, but the guns.com site doesn't run the risk of any elicit pictures coming up on my screen.

With all of that I've been surprised at the number of other organizations that I've had contact with in the past year that don't seem to take a high stance on this. Some don't use a filter at all, others use a filter but never monitor the activity. It takes time, is a nuisance and can be embarrassing to track and at times confront users who are attempting to reach inappropriate sites. It happens and we have to deal with it.

What about at home? I've heard of two products used by several families that they've found successful, if you're looking for resources:
Bsafe Online
Cyber Sentinel
I mention these for the benefit of any readers that don't know where to start in addressing this for their home use - don't take this as an endorsement.

Just like the security system on our houses, locks and deadbolts, these measures do not provide absolute protection. But we still lock our doors because it reduces the likelihood of a break-in. In the same manner, a content filter reduces the likelihood of viewing inappropriate material.

Of course, there are other measures we can take to improve our protection and the protection of our families. Place computers in a public area of your home with the monitors positioned such that anyone can see what's on the screen. Use password protection to restrict access for those who would benefit most from the protection. Just to name a few.

And that is what this is all about, protection. The filter at Grace Church is not employed because we do not trust our staff or students, it's because we want to protect them from coming across stuff they don't need to see. The leaders at Grace recognized from the outset that we needed to offer that protection to our staff. As leaders of our homes, we need to recognize our responsibility to protect ourselves and our families. Join me in doing whatever it takes to guard our hearts and our internet connections.

Volunteer shoppers needed

Okay, so if you're looking to get involved at Grace, this might be just the opportunity you are looking for... we need shoppers. If you like to shop and if you're like me, love to buy in bulk, here's the opportunity.

Seeking the best deal for supplies for our daycare, school and Sunday/Wednesday ministries, we often purchase large quantities from Wal-Mart, BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco. Thing is it takes two people to get the stuff because we purchase so much. To date we've been using paid staff, who normally are caring for children or working in one of the offices, so we have to cover them when they're out shopping. It's pure shopping, so anyone who can drive a van and life bulk quantities of drinks and other grocery supplies can do it. We'd supply the shopping list, so your role would be to pull it off the shelf. We'd need you to go shopping about once a month or so.

If you're interested, let me know.

Apples (computers that is) are tempting

Though I've been a PC-guy for years, I am more and more tempted to defect to the Apple-side. So the following quote hit my funny bone...

Chris Pirillo: "The box said Requires Windows 95 or better. So I installed OS X."

An outsiders perspective on church

Having the privilege of growing up in a Christian family, I've attended church since birth. My Dad was an Assistant Pastor when I was born and not long after that became a missionary planting churches. So, understanding what it's like for someone to attend church for the very first time is difficult for me. That's why I found this post interesting... http://www.davidfoster.tv/?p=286

Daycare inspection results

Thanks to those of you who prayed for the daycare staff during last week's inspection. Our staff came through with flying colors and did a tremendous job. During the inspection the inspector often visits each room and while expecting the daycare workers to be caring for the children, the inspector starts rattling off questions along the lines of, "What temperature should the referigerator be?" or something of the sort. To help the daycare workers, two of the administrators went with the inspector to each room and helped care for the kids so the daycare workers could concentrate on answering the questions.

The visit went well. We did receive one citation because an EPI pen wasn't in the box packaging. Our track record has been so exemplary that we take even one citation like that pretty hard. But as with other inspectors, they always leave saying how high the quality of care our center provides to the children. If you see anyone who works with the daycare, be sure to thank them for their hard work and for maintaining a good testimony with the State.

In my next post I'll disect last week's financial audit.

What's in a daycare inspection?

This week is the annual State inspection of the daycare ministry. Being State certified gives our center credibility with the families who entrust the care of their children to use. That makes the annual inspection crucial.

While the inspection is normally a one-day gauntlet, we've been notified that this year's will be a two-day review. Inspection consists of a inspector from the State reviewing every detail about our center. They review each child's file with the office staff for emergency numbers, proper record keeping among many other State requirements. They spend a lot of time interviewing the office staff about the daycare program and their compliance with standards. They review our fire drill records, making sure that we hold a drill at least every 60 days (we practice every 30) and that we evacuate all the children in under three minutes (every scheduled drill is timed). They review our evacuation procedures. They review our security process. They scrutinize our daycare staff for proper and current certification in CPR/Fire/First Aid training. They review all the necessary child abuse and criminal checks and educational requirements depending on the responsibilities of each staff person. And that's just the stuff that's reviewed in the office and I didn't even cover all of it!

Then they walk through the entire daycare wing. They observe the staff caring for the kids in real time. While caring for kids, the inspector will fire roulette questions at the staff who HAVE to know the answer on the spot. They review the cleanliness of each room, whether everything is in it's place. They give their personal assessment as to whether our rooms are designed for the ultimate safety of each child. They make sure all the proper emergency information is posted in each room. Everything is open game for questioning and scrutiny. They review the kitchen, the food preparation too.

Then they go outside and give the same thorough review to our outdoor play areas. There are State mandates for the depth of mulch on the playground in addition to all kinds of other details.
You probably get the picture. It's a very intense, stressful time.

With the passionate staff God has blessed us with, our track record in these reviews is exemplary. Of course, that puts pressure to maintain that same high standard. Be praying for Tammy and her staff as they go through the 2007 inspection.

Monopoly: to play or not to play?

Grace Church has ended up in the unenviable position of being surrounded by houses. Years ago, what is now the development that lines what we would call the back of the church property, was a field. From what I hear, we had a chance to purchase it, but at that stage of Grace's life we weren't positioned to do so. The houses that front the church on West Lincoln have been there since the 1970s.

I noticed in the past few weeks that the large house next to the Chapel parking lot is on the market. Over the past 6-8 years all but maybe one of the houses that line West Lincoln have gone on the market. Each time a house went on the market the Elders weighed the pros/cons of purchasing it.

To date, they've decided, and I support, not buying the properties. The land is of most value to us. Additional land would give us more green space to build out other parts of the property. The houses create a visual block to our property from West Lincoln, reducing our visibility. In a lot of respects we'd probably prefer to level the houses. Of course, paying market rates for 5+ residential properties is going to run upwards of $1M in today's market - that's a lot of money for but an aggregate of a couple of acres. That's why we haven't pursued them.

Each time I see one of those houses go on the market, I remind myself why we've decided not to pursue them.

What's Happening Now?

The general sentiment seems to be that with the Rodeo complete, the church office has entered reclusion. In reality, the opposite has occurred. We're knee deep in getting ready for the upcoming academic year and trying to keep up with growing ministries. It's a 24x7 challenge. Here's my attempt to quantify it...

The school, daycare and children's ministries are growing. We're working on re-arranging room usage to free up space for additional math classes, the afterschool program and for more Sunday School and Wednesday night programs. That all begins a domino affect on other groups that use our facility. Groups that had been using the Fellowship Hall throughout the year, beginning at 5pm, are having to push their start times back because we need the room through 5:30. The Worship Arts ministry rehearsals are moving to a different night of the week. Sunday morning Adult Bible Fellowships are being moved around so the Children's Ministry can use some of the larger rooms in the building. We're also rescheduling the outside groups that use our building as well. It's a very complicated tango that's being expertly choreographed by our Master Calendar master, Elaine.

We're also taking a hard look at the Children's Wing, reevaluating our usage of the space in that area and looking for more efficient ways to use it to further the direction of the Children's Ministry. For years we've accepted the space as is, but we're now recognizing that in some ways it's inhibiting the ministry.

We've added additional staff this summer including a Pastor, several support positions, an assistant in the Athletic Department plus an Elementary PE Teacher. Of course, as new positions, we didn't have offices for them, so we're busy creating and equipping new offices.

We're reassessing our insurance policies

We're putting in some new interior doors to further isolate our children's areas from the main lobby and gymnasium during school/daycare hours to continue to increase our security measures. If we reach our goal, it should hardly be noticeable on Sundays and Wednesday nights.

We're replacing several rooftop HVAC units - the building is showing it's age.

The annual State daycare white-glove inspection is this week.

We're rethinking our computer network log-in accounts, especially for students. Classes endured long delays logging into our system last year so we're trying to correct that.

I'm working on upgrading our data storage system, we filled that last one up over the span of 18 months - it's getting harder and harder to keep up with the demand for data storage.

I'm working with Betsy, our computer teacher and a couple of IT guys that I've gotten to know who attend Grace to create a strategic roadmap for our IT department for the next 3-5 years to keep our IT stuff up to snuff.

We're considering changing the normal seating configuration in the Auditorium for Sunday mornings.

The Concept Development Team meets for the first time this week. We've been wanting to get that launched for the past two years and are finally getting it off the pad. This is the group that will first devote it's attention to the property across the street and ultimately help us nail down the conceptual direction we'll propose in terms of future expansion.

I realized recently that our web page is due for a content makeover, so we've put that on the to do list, too.

And on top of everything, the financial audit begins today and will continue most of this week.

Getting in good with the alumni department

Being a Grace Brethren Church, you might expect our staff have a strong Grace College representation. There are a few. Seeing as our Senior Pastor graduated from Liberty, you might expect our staff to consist of several Liberty grads. While we don't, five out of last year's Senior class are headed to Lynchburg in the fall.

Though none of my doing, the number of PCB/PBU grads on staff has increased from three when I started 9+ years ago to six, by my count, as of this week.

New feature on LGBC.ORG

In conjunction with the iBook message series and specifically the Bible reading challenge, we're rolling out an interactive forum on LGBC.ORG this weekend. It's designed to give the Grace Church body an opportunity to share what they're learning or thinking about as they read the different portions of scripture. It's also a forum in which the body can ask questions to which our Pastoral staff can respond. I've been working with TCW, our tech support company, over the past few weeks to get it set up.

I'm excited to be able to use the internet for this kind of an application. The challenge is the internet is accessible by everyone under the sun and our target for this application is those who are connected with the ministries of Grace Church. We're gonna try to control that by moderating the comments.

On each day's scripture passage you'll be able to post your thoughts, questions, comments, etc. about the passage. Others will be able to respond with threading so you can see who's responding to what.

You can watch for it at blog.lgbc.org

Help Wanted: Flower Gardens

We could use help keeping the church flowers beds and bushes looking nice and presentable. Flower beds were formally assigned to ABF classes for them to plant and care for over the summer months. However, since few ABFs actually meet over the summer that system didn't really coincide with their schedule or the built-in accountability. So we're trying to come up with a new system to keep our property looking nice.

I wonder if the system they used at my first elementary school is still in place? I attended Labo Elementary School for grades 1 and 2 - in the boondocks of Southern Luzon. Like many other grade school students after the first day of school I brought home a grocery list of items that I needed for the school year. My parents were a little concerned that the list included a sickle. See the daily morning routine for the entire school included the following:
Morning assembly on the soccer field to sign the national anthem and morning calisthenics
Cutting the grass with sickles and tending to the garden and grounds around our classroom
Oh, and each Friday afternoon we cleared the classroom floor and got out the brooms, floor wax and coconut husks as all the students cleaned the floor!

So if you're looking to help out at the church and enjoy yard work, give me a call or send me an email. Last week, Aimee spent a couple of hours on two consecutive days on the office side and I really appreciate her work.

If you have suggestions of new systems I can consider to replace the now defunct ABF flower garden system, leave a comment.

Help rename LGBC.ORG

I've wanted for quite some time to replace our LGBC.ORG web address with an address that's more connected with our ministry. Our current address is an acronym for Lititz Grace Brethren Church, and while it's still one of many nicknames people use to refer to the body of believers that meet at 501 W Lincoln Ave, I think it's finally becoming less prevalent. As a result, I'm looking to get a new web address. Unfortunately, most, if not all of the logical ones are already taken, so I need your creative help. I welcome your suggestions and thank you in advance.

Celebrating Holidays Overseas

Sue Weaver, who along with the rest of the Weaver family, Grace Church sent to France as missionaries back in the 1980s, shared the realities of celebrating holidays overseas in her Xanga yesterday.

Is the building sacred?

I have to give credit to all that were involved in the design/layout of the building projects at Grace. For more than 30 years the walls/rooms/hallways that they conceived have served the needs of the ministries of Grace. They planned with foresight and a joining God in what He is/is-going-to-do mentality that ended up with spaces able to accommodate a lot more people than were being served at the time of construction. I hope to emulate their ability to plan for future growth.

With 30+ years of ministry under our belts, with God using our ministry to reach more and more people, with the changes in our culture, and with an aging building, we're having to evaluate our facility. Rooms that we've become accustomed to being the same for many of those 30 years, some of you recall riding your tricycle down the aisle in the midst of construction, are being used in entirely different ways that what they were originally.

If you look back there are ways that we've adjusted our ministry. With few large rooms and strict policies to protect the Auditorium carpet, our church rarely hosted all-church social functions. But that's changed in the last several years. We've had several all-church potluck dinners. That's just one example.

In all of this, I'm seeing a greater demand for more multi-use, multi-purpose rooms with mid-sized floor space. The schedule pressure for use of the Fellowship Hall and the Youth Room, our two current rooms that fit that description is intense.

The new sense of commoraderie and cooperation among staff and ministries has been integral to making the ministry schedule pressures work to this point. We're exhausting our current resources forcing us to look for new ways to stay up with demand. The good news is we have the floor space, it just isn't configured efficiently.

This summer we are reevaluating room assignments/room use around our facility and have ideas of way to reassign spaces for maximum efficiency with the way ministries are wanting to use the building in 2007-2008. We are also identifying spaces that with a little bit of renovation/reconfiguring can open up more opportunities for our ministries.

I want our building to be a tool that ministries can use efficiently. Our ability to use it to meet people where they are and move people to where God wants them to be is more sacred than the walls themselves.

This Might be a Dumb Question

A radio program I often listen to has a weekly segment entitled This Might be a Dumb Question. The host asks callers to call in with things they've always wondered, but never asked. Each call begins with the phrase, "This might be a dumb question, but..."

I wonder what questions people who regularly attend or are connected with the ministry of Grace Church have? It may seem like a dumb question, but I'm sincerely interested in trying to answer what I can. Here's a list of some of the questions I've answered in the past:

This might be a dumb question...

• but why can't I use the church kitchen?
• how in the world did we come up with the idea of doing a rodeo?
• but what are the benefits of a multi-purpose building?
• but is baptism so important that we should spend extra money for a full baptismal?
• but why do we baptize people in a hot tub?
• but how did we arrive with the concept of meeting people/moving people?
• but why do I have to have clearances to volunteer to work with kids?
• but what happens if someone collapses during a church service?
• but why do we use giving envelopes?
• but how do I start a ministry at Grace?
• but what happens at a Grace Church staff meeting?
• but why does Grace Church rarely cancel Sunday services because of weather?
• but why am I too cold in the Auditorium?

If you regularly attend or are connected with the ministry of Grace Church, I'd like to know what questions you have by posting a comment.