Phrases We Should Stop Using, Pt. I: Lemons?

I think sometimes about everyday phrases or sayings we have in English that we should really stop using.  Some of them simply aren't true, and others are potentially even damaging.  I want to start a series of posts on phrases and sayings that should be expunged from our vernacular.  Part One: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

I was pondering this phrase while playing a board game recently.  I began to realize, rather early in the game, that I simply was not going to win the game.  My initial strategy was moderately risky, and I had an early objective that I failed to meet.  Dice rolls didn't go my way, and it was quickly clear that I had no real path to victory.  It suddenly occurred to me that this situation is not unusual in real life.  Sometimes in life, you're simply dealt a losing hand, the odds don't go in your favor, and your luck runs out.  Moreover, as much as we hate to admit it, it sometimes goes beyond individual situations.  Sometimes people are dealt a losing hand and their lives will never recover.  They simply will not be "winners" as most people would define it.

In America we like to pride ourselves on our "self-made" men and women and our rugged individualism.  We like to say "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" and "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Please hear me that I am all for the power of positive thinking and the importance of a good attitude.  I'm a strong believer that a great deal of life is influenced by your attitude.  However, the best of attitudes would not have won that board game for me.  Nor would it have undone the horrible events at Sandy Hook Elementary or any of dozens of other mass murders.  Nor does it allow someone born into generational poverty to become a wealthy business owner.

I heard someone remark recently that it's hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you can't afford shoes.  It's downright harmful to believe as a society that it's within each of our powers to turn any bad situation into good.  This idea is what causes people to blame the poor for their own poverty, condemn welfare programs or "affirmative action", and glorify the "successful" for their success.  Gladwell's book Outliers is an interesting read on what factors cause someone to be exceedingly successful (spoiler: it's largely not their own doing), but I believe that the same applies to the rest of us.  Our relative successes and failures are largely due to factors outside of our control.  It's wonderful to make lemonade when life hands you lemons, but we ought to think of those who cannot do the same.  Some people simply aren't going to win with the hand they're dealt.

Isaiah 61

First posted at Stories of LINC North Texas....


One of the most powerful realities expressed in Isaiah 61:1-7 is that the poor are the ones who become the new leaders in society.  It is easy to read through the passage and forget that the pronouns later in the passage still refer to the poor and brokenhearted described in the first few verses.  It is not the wealthy or powerful who become oaks of righteousness, rebuilders of ruins, priests, ministers, and joyful owners of land and sheep.  God has chosen the poor and marginalized as His leaders.  Transformational development, like what LINC NT is trying to do in communities in North Texas, helps the poor recover their identity and vocation and empowers them to live it out.  Once people are restored by both the Gospel and community development, they rise up and act.  They begin to reform their societies with ideals of justice and peace in accordance with God’s Word.

As Christians, we must therefore acknowledge that the poor are ultimately the leaders and that they must be allowed to step up to lead the efforts and define the outcomes.  While the non-poor clearly have many of the resources necessary to change the future for the poor, they must carefully live within the boundaries of their roles.  Ultimately, the non-poor must have the humility to set themselves at the feet of the poor to listen and follow.  The poor already have many of the resources they need to accomplish great things, but they are, as Isaiah 61 shows, in captivity and ruined by their shame and disgrace.  The role of the non-poor is to proclaim freedom from captivity and offer the Gospel.  Then the poor will lead.

According to Isaiah 61, proper holistic Christian development seeks out the marginalized, proclaims the good news of the Gospel, and restores marred identity.  Development brings total release from poverty, addresses the systems that contribute to poverty, sees evangelism and social action jointly, transforms people holistically on all levels, and allows the poor to lead.  This passage has been instrumental for us at LINC NT as we allow God's word to guide us!

Broken Identity

What does it mean to be wealthy?  This is a persistent question that people seem to always come back to, from Aristotle (who made the point that money is never the end, because it is only useful to get something else) to the "poorest President in the world" (who makes the brilliant statement that poor people are those who have to work to maintain their expensive lifestyle).  Jayakumar Christian and Bryant Myers of World Vision built a new theory of poverty that is based on inequality, not numbers.  One of their major points was that the most universal feature of material poverty is a broken identity, a marred view of the self.

People with a marred identity view themselves as almost less than human because they've been told that, directly and indirectly, for a long time.  It's like moving from saying, "I failed at that," to saying, "I am a failure."  When you internalize it and it becomes part of who you are, your identity has been scarred.  The concept got me thinking about what things we may do today that perpetuate this.  I immediately thought of the common phrase "illegal immigrant."  I've been strongly opposed to this term for some time, because illegal is not a term that can or should be used to describe a person.  All people are created in God's image, and when people are called illegal, it becomes part of their identity.

But are there other terms we don't even think about that do the same thing?  I heard a story one time of a youth group from a church that was doing construction work in a slum in South America.  They were wearing matching t-shirts proudly announcing that they were serving "the least of these."  It's good that the people didn't read English, because they probably would have been appalled to be called "the least!"  Myers and Christian expand our view of poverty by examining other people who have broken identities, and that led them to realize that the non-poor have their own kind of broken identity: a god-complex of pride that elevates them above others!

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center took this concept and ran with it, emphasizing that we are ALL poor because we all have broken views of ourselves.  When we sweep in to provide the Thanksgiving dinner to the poor family, we run the risk of elevating our own view of ourselves as the saviors of the poor.  The poor don't need another savior - they already have One.  This exposes another dangerous term - "blessed to be a blessing."  If our reason for serving others is because we see ourselves as blessed, we are walking a dangerous line.  We need a new anthropology that acknowledges that we are ALL blessed in a variety of ways.  We have a lot to learn from the "poor!"

Whose Ways?

Originally posted at Stories of LINC North Texas:

God is good at reminding us that He is higher than we are.  He repeatedly tells us throughout Scripture that He is not like us - from saying that He looks at the heart (1 Sam 16), to saying that He is outside of time (2 Pet 3), to simply saying that His ways are not our ways (Is 55).  There is a way that seems right to men....but God's ways lead to good things.  I get the "privilege" of writing a blog post the week before the election, and I think there's something relevant in it for us.  We've been discussing the issue as a staff.  What do we, as Christians, have to do about the political process?

In case you've missed it, there's a lot of fear and consternation about the election.  Each side feels like disaster is imminent if the other candidate wins, and both sides are sick of the caustic bickering and fighting.  Jesus, in the Gospels, has a great reminder to us about the government.  Don't go looking for it, however - He made a strong statement by not talking about it.  As much as his disciples and his detractors prodded Him, he would only say, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's."  Of course Jesus was concerned about earthly governments, He just tried to encourage His disciples not to be.  His Kingdom had nothing to do with it.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Today, we see the Kingdom of God flourishing in places where the government is most hostile to it.  The stories of the church flourishing under persecution are everywhere, including throughout history.  We needn't fear that the government will crush the Church - the Bible says that all authority is established by God (Rom 13)!  Both parties seem to want the government to do the Church's job - either by establishing morality or by caring for the oppressed and marginalized - but we as a Church can step up and reclaim our identity and role in society.  This should all give us some peace and comfort, that no matter what happens our citizenship is in Heaven and Jesus is still on the throne.  His ways are higher than our ways!

So what should we do?  The law tells us, as a charitable organization, that we can advocate for various issues but we cannot endorse a candidate.  I think that this is actually a helpful line for Christians.  We can, and in fact we must, stand up for what the Bible says about various issues.  The Bible commands care for the poor.  Since both parties believe that they are caring for the poor, it's up to you to decide which one will be more successful.  It's only by adopting this sort of posture that we can live up to our calling of being "salt and light" in the world (Matt 5), rather than antagonists.  Go vote and be the Church!  Just remember, His thoughts are not our thoughts!

What Must We Do For Victory?

First posted on Stories of LINC North Texas:


Victory requires 4 things, according to Gideon in Judges chapter 7: good works, proclamation, God's power, and our action.  Charles Spurgeon shares a great devotional from this passage of Scripture that details Gideon's victory over the Midianites.  Gideon had his small band of 300 men approach the innumerably large foreign army with unusual weapons: trumpets and torches in clay jars.  All at once, they broke the clay jars and exposed the torches, blew the trumpets, and then shouted "A sword for the Lord, and for Gideon!"  With that, the Midianite army fled in terror.

These simultaneous actions bring victory for us today.  Matthew 5:16 teaches that we should let our light, as in our good works, shine before men.  Just as Gideon's army blew their trumpets, we should loudly proclaim the truth of the Gospel.  Finally, we should declare our reliance upon the Lord and the power that we have to act.

We cannot separate the light and the trumpets.  Many people, citing St. Francis' (alleged) saying to "preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words," rely upon their lives to testify to God.  The truth is that Francis never said this, nor did he live it - he was an itinerant preacher.  There is no doubt that too many Christians talk the talk but don't walk the walk.  They give Christianity a bad name by their hypocrisy.  A whole lot of us, myself often included, are guilty of that.  However, far too many Christians walk the walk but don't talk the talk.  They seclude Christianity into a corner and don't spread the Gospel.  A whole lot of us, myself often included, are also guilty of that.  We cannot separate living a life that testifies from sharing the Gospel verbally.

We must also recognize the balance between the work of the Lord and the work of us humans.  It is far too easy to declare our reliance upon the Lord, and then promptly sit down to do absolutely nothing.  Furthermore, it is far too tempting to work hard and leave no room for faith.  Just the same as we can't separate words and actions, we can't separate reliance upon the Lord from hard work and action.  Undoubtedly, the battle belongs to the Lord.  After all, we are talking about 300 men against an enormous army.  Yet, Gideon did nonetheless lead them into battle.  Without trusting God, we are running the risk of disaster.  Without acting ourselves, we are running the risk of watching God move on to another servant more willing to do His work.

Economic Growth

I'm no economist - there's no doubt about that.  I haven't made it my life's work to study market systems and how to spur growth.  But from my layman's position, I've got a few observations to make.

First, I've observed that the American economy at present is doing pretty well, relative to most of the world. My viewpoint is probably skewed by the fact that I do intend to make it my life's work to walk with the poor, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized.  It's probably skewed by the fact that I have walked alongside people from urban slums in a small handful of Latin American countries and Kenya.  But things seem pretty alright to me, all-in-all.

Second, we do not seem to be in the worst recession of America's history, as I've heard some commentators say.  I wasn't alive then, but I'm pretty sure the Great Depression of the 1930s was worse.

Third, this does not seem to be the worst economic recovery from a recession ever, as I've also heard some commentators say.  Once again, I'm pretty sure the fact that it took a decade plus a major war to recover from the Great Depression is a sign that we are doing better than that.  The numbers seem to indicate a pretty decent, steady recovery to me.

Fourth, I'm not entirely convinced that this recovery is all that bad at all.  One of the first things I remember learning in Economics class was that the economy tends to move in cycles over bubbles and busts.  One of the reasons things never stabilize is that government action has enormous inherent delays in it - when some decision gets made, it takes a very long time for results to actually come back.  Therefore, it's common for the government to initiate a growth-spurring action during a downturn that actually takes effect once the economy is already revving up again, inciting further acceleration.  Booms are always followed by busts.  Many people seem to be looking for a massive pendulum swing to prosperity again, and I'm not convinced that either the process of getting there or the outcome of that is a good thing.  I believe the process of getting there may cause another recession later, and I further believe that unrivaled and unchecked wealth is a dangerous thing.  This goes back to my first observation.

Finally, I'm not buying the arguments about economic policy.  Again, I'm no expert, but the Reaganomics of tax cuts to the wealthy and the businesses seem to me to have 2 effects: one, they do spur economic growth, and two, they do increase general inequality.  Many people say they don't work, and I disagree with that, but I don't see how you can say that they don't cause the wealthy to become fabulously wealthier while the poor and middle class only see marginal gains.

Anyway, just general things that I wanted to say.  Feel free to disagree with me, like I said - I'm no expert.  These are just things that I have tended to observe as general trends.

I Will Support the Winner of a Democratic Election

Enough is enough.  The political fighting has gone too far already.  I'm all for a two-party system, or maybe even a three-party system, and political campaigns make sense to me - they seem too long and way too expensive (thanks Dickie-V), but the general concept is important.  I don't mind things getting a little personal....you are running for public office, and who you are determines how you lead.  But ceaseless arguing that begins to border on hatred is not only painful to watch and listen to, it is absolutely destructive for our country.

Abraham Lincoln was wise to quote the Bible when he said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.  Commonly, we just say "United we stand, divided we fall."  It appears that we have reached the point  where our nation is paralyzed by political division.  I know each side doesn't agree with each other...nothing new there.  I don't make a secret of my political views.  But it looks like we are on track to have the least productive Congress in history, and that's sad.  When good decisions and ideas are opposed simply because  the source is someone from the other side, it's over.  When dialogue doesn't even happen on important issues, it's over.  Our country cannot stand.

Therefore, I'm pledging from this point forward that I will support the winner of a democratic election.  Of course I will still vote for the candidate whose views I agree with the most, and I will really be disappointed if that candidate loses, but at the end of the day I will support our elected leaders.  Not only does the Bible command it - it just makes sense.  They are our leaders, and they represent us, no matter how miserable or ignorant they seem sometimes.  Without constructive dialogue, we're sunk.  It's time to learn how to support someone with whom we disagree.

How Do You Measure A Life Change?

Originally posted at Stories of LINC North Texas

One of the foremost challenges facing many nonprofits is the challenge of reporting success.  Is the program working?  Is it accomplishing its goal?  Is it worth investing in?  LINC North Texas believes that our programs are worth investing in, because we believe that they change lives.  But don't take our word for it.  Really!  You should be able to see concrete proof that they change lives.  Grant-making foundations have been leading the way in pushing charities to scientifically prove their results.  They are famous for saying, "Measure your outcomes, not your outputs."  Here at LINC NT, we take that seriously, and we are launching a major campaign to do just that.

The most popular measure of a program's success, whether it's at a nonprofit or a church, is attendance.  That's an output.  For example, last year we served 1246 students and many of their parents through our Student Advancement & Leadership Initiative.  That's great, but at the end of the day, does it matter?  They could have all slept through class, or gone home and immediately forgotten everything.  One of LINC NT's outcomes for SALI is for students to learn essential character and leadership skills that will enable them to succeed in school and beyond.  Measuring attendance doesn't indicate success.  To do that, we have to find out whether these students are better people after SALI than they were before.  That is a much more challenging task, but the journey is rewarding.  Not only are we able to show our significance to foundations and people like you, but we are able to find out for ourselves what improvements we need to make.

A recent survey of 702 students shows the impact of SALI is significant.  After SALI, 294 students said they resolved a conflict with what they learned.  More than fifty percent of students said they argue less with their parents due to learned conflict resolution skills.  In addition, 83% of students said they would take some form of action when witnessing a student being bullied.  This fall, we are taking it to the next level.  With a precise system of pre- and post-tests over two-year segments of SALI, and with the help of two awesome volunteers (Michael, who helps design surveys; and Sara, who is a data mining expert), we intend to show scientifically that SALI is achieving its outcomes.  We look forward to reporting that success here!

At the end of the day, I believe that this shift from measuring outputs to outcomes is a valuable change beyond LINC NT.  Are there places in our everyday lives where we need to change the scorecard?  Many people today report being busier and busier each year, but at the same time we tend to feel drained, unfulfilled, and unimportant.  At the end of the day, do we measure a successful day by how hard we worked, or how well we achieved our goals?  What if our goals went beyond working hard to things like making a positive impact on people around us, and to things like glorifying God in every aspect of our day?  How could our lives be more fulfilling by changing the scorecard every day?

is not, has not been, and should not be

I feel a bit obliged to make a comment on the subject of America as a Christian nation. Somewhere between the usual July 4th church madness and the upcoming election, the subject has been on my mind for a while. It's not uncommon for people to claim that America is a Christian nation, or at least that it should be. It's also not uncommon for people to claim that America was founded on Christian values. I believe that both of these statements are dangerous and don't entirely align with the truth.

I get a bit uncomfortable when people start talking about America as a "Christian nation" because it sounds an awful lot like when somebody talks about Saudi Arabia as an "Islamic nation." I realize that few people are actually arguing that Christianity should be the national religion of the US, but I'm not sure that I see the line. I'm not sure that having a national religion is a good idea, ever, anywhere. Those uncomfortable with my comparison might say that Christianity is more tolerant or peace-loving than Islam, but I'm not sure that's true either (considering history). Instead, I would say that perhaps every religion becomes less tolerant when it becomes nationalized.

To avoid that issue, many people just say that America was founded on Christian values. Again, I'm not sure that this aligns with the truth. There are definite questions about the faith of the founding fathers - were they really the conservative Christians that we sometimes make them out to be? Of course we all know about how Jefferson cut and pasted to create his own version of the Bible, but I'm curious about the rest. I know that there are many questions about Washington's faith. And anyone who says the actions of the explorers, colonists, and so forth were widely guided by Christian values needs a refresher on actual history, not just storybook history.

As for the church's point of view, I'm further unconvinced that anything is gained by the idea of a Christian nation or a nation founded on highly Christian values. I believe that history teaches us that Christianity is a religion of the margins. When it comes to the center, especially as a nationalized religion, it seems to lose its efficacy and perhaps even its grasp on truth. I also remember how Jesus had to chastise his disciples for wanting to set up a kingdom here on earth, because his Kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is already here in part, but not in full.

That's why, in my view, America is not, has not been, and should not be a Christian nation. Sorry if that offends anyone.

How Big is the Mission Field?

Originally posted at "Stories of LINC North Texas"


In the church we talk a lot about reaching the city and transforming the community.  But just how large is that mission field, and can we really reach it with our traditional methods?  There's about 120,000 people here in Carrollton, where our offices are.  Add in Farmers Branch, and there are more than 53,000 households in the school district.  Through SALI, we are able to reach about 900 of them.  And we thought that we had an enormous impact on the community!

A quick check of the statistics shows that the average Christian church has184 members (although half of all churches have 75 members or less).  The largest LCMS church has around 2500 in attendance every Sunday.  At this rate, it would take 652 average American Christian churches to record every person in Carrollton alone as a member.  It would take 48 of the largest LCMS church in America.  Fellowship Church in Grapevine is listed as the third-largest church by attendance in the entire USA, and they have approximately 24,000 attendees every Sunday.  That means it would take 5 Fellowships in Carrollton alone to reach the entire city!

Based on these numbers, is it even possible to reach the entire city with our current strategies?  After seeing these numbers, it's no surprise that you never find a traffic jam on a Sunday morning!  Most churches seek to grow through addition of new members, but these numbers are depressing....a church would have to grow extremely large just to meet a significant number of people in a single small city.  Jesus transformed the entire world, but he didn't seem interested in addition.  In fact, he focused on just twelve men, growing extra-close to just 3 of them.  He believed in the strategy of multiplication.

It's said that Billy Graham, were he to be holding his crusades daily today, would not even be able to keep up with the global rate of population growth.  We need to embrace a strategy of multiplication if we want to have any hope of transforming our communities, cities, and the world!

Perspective

Everything depends on your vantage point.  I've been thinking about this subject of perspective lately.  As an embarrasingly simplified example, it's the difference between giving a kid a piece of candy and taking half of another kid's Halloween bounty.  One kid is happy, the other angry.  It's silly, but unavoidably true, and furthermore applicable to more of our lives than we'd like to admit.

Two years ago, I would have told you that the salary I make today would be luxurious to live on.  Today, I feel comfortable, but I'd be willing to bet that five years from now I would be feeling hopelessly endangered to make what I make today.  Are my needs changing that much?  Some things do, but not to the extent that we feel.  I see people who make six figures and they feel financially constrained because they have grown accustomed to such a lifestyle.

I don't feel the need to judge such a situation, because I imagine that someday it'll be me.  I'd like to think I will avoid this particular perspective trap, and always remember what it was like to be making $1000 per month in 2008, but as humans we like being comfortable.  I wonder how many other of life's situations this problem of perspective applies to?  At work I've moved from an open cubicle to a desk in the corner of a room to a larger desk still in the corner.  From this perspective, I'm not even sure what it'd be like to have an office with a door. Someday, however, that may be the norm for me!  How do we keep from letting our perspectives change so much?

Academic Honesty

There are various times when you look back on school and realize that your teachers were preaching something not just because it was in their curriculum, but because it had true value.  I'm coming to find one of those times now.  A great deal of energy was spent talking about the dangers of plagiarism, and the necessity of citing your sources.  It had value when I was in school because it earned the grade, but I'm finding a new value for it now.

Grad school has taught me how to research.  Believe it or not, I actually didn't do much of it at UT, probably because I was in the business school.  But research is even more real life now at LINC NT.  I'm finding that the best practice in ministry is not to go out there and start something because you feel like it needs to be done, the best practice is to supplement your work with constant research to find out what other people are doing and what studies have shown about your type of work.  For one of our main programs, SALI, I have spent a considerable amount of time this year researching what has been written on in the fields of character education, parent involvement in schools, and Latino issues in education and society.  Not only will it help enhance our grant applications, it will inform our direction of the program.

However, I'm now finding the value of those citations.  Bibliographies are my best friend, when I am doing research.  Moreover, I have come across those prevalent stats that everyone refers to, but few people cite.  Digging those original sources is frustrating, but rewarding when I finally find the original source, only to realize that it is sadly outdated and no longer relevant.  I'm finding that I have little patience anymore for websites or articles that fail to cite their sources, because I can see how they can spread false information and outdated facts.  In the digital age, citations are as critical as ever, because it is so easy today to spread half-truths and outright lies.  We need a commitment to the truth that comes through leaving a trail for our readers to follow.

A Prayer for an Election Year

O God, grant the next President the ability to make just decisions!
     Grant the Vice President the ability to make fair decisions!
That he will govern Your people fairly,
     and Your oppressed ones equitably.
May the mountains bring news of peace to the people,
     and the prairies announce justice.
May he defend the oppressed among the people;
     and deliver the children of the poor and crush the oppressor.
Then people will fear You as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky,
     for generation after generation.
O, that his words will descend like rain on the mown grass,
     like showers that drench the earth.
May the Godly flourish during his days;
     and may peace prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky.
May he be respected from sea to shining sea,
     and from the Rio Grande to the Great Lakes!
Before him may the violent lands calm down,
     and may his enemies be ashamed of their actions.
May the rulers of Iran and the Middle East offer gifts;
     the leaders of China and North Korea bring their respects.
Grant him respect from all other world leaders;
     may the entire world align in interests and goals.
For he will be rescuing the needy when they cry out for help,
     and the oppressed who have no defender.
He will be taking pity on the poor and needy;
     the lives of the needy he will save through his policies.
From harm and violence he will be defending them;
     he will value their lives as he values his own.
May he flourish!  May they offer him gifts from Europe!
     May they continually pray for him!
     May they pronounce blessings on him all day long!
May there be no famine in all the earth, nor drought;
     may prosperity come to all the peoples of the earth!
May America's people flourish to bless the whole earth!
     May its crops be as abundant as the grass of the earth!
May he meet with the approval of all citizens;
     and may his legacy last as long as the sun remains in the sky!
People will use his name when they think of blessings,
     and all the world will consider him to be favored by God!

The Lord God, the God of the Bible, deserves praise!
     He alone accomplishes all great things!
His glorious name deserves praise forevermore!
     May his majestic splendor fill the whole earth!
We agree....we agree!

....adapted from Psalm 72

Stories....

First published on Stories of LINC North Texas

What stories do you come in contact with on a daily basis?  Perhaps you sit down in the evening and hear a recap of your spouse's day, or you overhear co-workers talking about their social or family life.  While you eat breakfast, perhaps you listen to stories of famine, war, and recession on the news.  Each of these stories, however, exists in a vacuum - your co-worker's weekend recap has about as much to do with your daily life as the uprisings in Syria.

What if we started to think about how our stories could be interconnected?  Imagine God for a minute as a wise author, penning the tales of not just world events and dramatic mission trips, but your daily experiences.  Could it be that God is in the business of telling one grand story from Genesis to Revelation, and that even our daily experiences figure into this story somehow?  Let me give you one example of one young girl's story becoming part of the story of an entire school district.

A young girl in our program in Ft. Worth sat in her AVID class one Friday while LINC NT's SALI teachers showed a video entitled, "If you really knew me..."  She was impressed by the concept and thought back to her story of surviving bullying.  She went home and created her own video that proclaimed how if you really knew her, you would know that she had survived bullying, depression, and worse, and that she was ready and willing to help others going through the same thing.  Tears in their eyes were the common experiences as the young girl showed the video to her class, and as the SALI teacher showed the video to the school faculty, then as the school administrators told the district leadership about the video.  The video is now set to become part of Ft. Worth ISD's bullying-prevention program.

One young girl had the bravery to share her story with others, and it now has the power to affect the stories of thousands of students across the city.  Her story was told because God weaved together the stories of LINC NT's staff, board members, and donors to create a program called SALI and bring it to a middle school in Ft. Worth.  This young girl asked, "Do you really know me?"  Now her classmates do.  If you hold your story inside and don't share it, whose stories will not be impacted and released?  And at the end of the day, do you really know those around you?  Think today about the stories that God is writing in you and in others.

The Trinity River Project

The Bridge

The opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas has been a major event this month.  The bridge is a work of art, designed by famous architect Santiago Calatrava, and spans from downtown Dallas into West Dallas, an extremely low-income and under-served neighborhood.  West Dallas was historically a neglected andabused region of Dallas, where minorities were relegated to frequent flooding and no public utilities.  Dallas has frequently been accused of having a highway system that cordons off low-income neighborhoods and bypasses unsightly areas of town, but this new bridge marks a change.  I drove down to the area on Tuesday morning to check it out.

The new bridge and the old one

The west side of downtown is a more industrial district, marked with courthouses, jails, and bail bond shops.  However, with the bridge not yet open to the public, I couldn’t find a safe place to park where numerous police cars wouldn’t take undue notice of me.  I crossed the Commerce street bridge over to West Dallas and located a “scenic overlook” spot that might have been scenic only in an alternate reality.  It looks out over the Trinity River, which is really more of an unsightly flood plain designed when levees were finally built to keep West Dallas from flooding.  This side of the river had significantly less traffic and visibility, so I parked my car and decided to walk down an embankment into the flood plain.  There was nothing but mud to discourage me, so I took about a half-mile walk through the plain to the bridge and got a chance to observe it up close.  Returning to my car, I took the long way back, taking a brief tour of an area of Dallas I have almost never been to.  It was striking to see how, right next to the business hub of Dallas, trailer parks and derelict houses that looked like they could have been photo-shopped in from a post-Katrina picture of New Orleans were the norm and small businesses provided scant groceries for the neighborhoods.  Crossing the Trinity River again at a different point, I saw a soccer field that looked like it was a broken ankle waiting to happen.  It is a far cry from the massive Trinity River renovation project that Dallas had been planning since 1959.

The Trinity River under the bridge

The proximity of striking poverty to downtown Dallas is an amazing sight to see.  All over Dallas, the distance between fabulous wealth and dire poverty is small, but this one is significant because the line is a river, a long-standing symbol of division in Dallas.  It is very encouraging to see the city making a major investment in the vicinity of West Dallas – for a long time all the investment has been north.  But as I was walking around the bridge, I realized that the bridge itself is not going to change West Dallas.  The bridge itself is actually a pretty minor roadway – it’s not a route that a lot of traffic will be taking.  If anything, the majority of the traffic will be West Dallas residents leaving the area to head north and east.  While this is significant in its own way, the reality is that development that spreads into West Dallas because of the bridge would likely be more gentrification, where low-income people are displaced by an influx of wealthier people.  This has long been a problem in urban areas.  What I realized while walking around the bridge was that the greatest opportunity for development in the area was the ground I was walking on.

The Continental Street bridge

The space between the levees is ugly and useless land. The river itself is small most of the time: the divider is actually the floodplain. While Dallas has long been talking about revitalizing the floodplain and developing something like a modern Riverwalk, funding for this has been consistently hard to come by and possibly even misappropriated. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this bridge is that it is the first major success of the Trinity River restoration. If the Trinity River corridor could be renovated in the way that the master plan describes, it would be a world-class attraction that would put Dallas on the map and, the supporters argue, strongly build the city’s case for things like the Olympics and Super Bowls. It would also, I realized today, turn the dividing line between downtown and West Dallas into an attractive area that would be useful by people from both sides of the river, providing an opportunity for cultures to mingle and benefit from each other. The soccer fields and recreational facilities would be quickly accessible by low-income high-community people living in West Dallas, while entertainment and retail establishments would be desirable to high-income people living in Downtown and Uptown. Most city renovation projects “reclaim” land “spoiled” by low-income slums, but this one could develop currently wasted land into something beneficial to all. This bridge is a centerpiece of the end product. If the city of Dallas continues to put a priority on this project, the final corridor – to stretch from south Dallas almost all the way up to LBJ Freeway – would herald a new day for Dallas and its residents.

Future beautiful view?

I really enjoyed the opportunity to check out this part of Dallas that I rarely experience.  It reminded me that the work of development  in urban areas requires work from multiple angles.  The low-budget community development organizations working to rehabilitate individual families are essential for the task, but the government investing millions into large-scale renovations are also essential.  This experience encourages me to be a voice for the Trinity River project when I have the opportunity, because this project, if Dallas residents get behind it, could make a big difference in the city.  Key to this goal, however, is collaboration on both sides of the river.  Both communities have to be willing to participate and come to enjoy the end product.  Both communities also have to be open to experiencing the other side’s culture as exposed by the end product.  As I wiped the mud off my shoes near the Commerce street bridge, I knew that I wouldn’t be entirely wiping away the memory of walking through a space that someday may be a beautiful place where different communities come to meet.

Strike the Shepherd...

We've all heard the saying, "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter."  It's from Scripture in Zechariah 13:7 and fulfilled in Jesus in Matthew 26:31, but many people around the world believe it today.  It's the philosophy that led to targeting Osama bin Laden as a means of taking down Al Qaida, and even terrorism as a whole.  I recently read an eye-opening book called The Starfish and the Spider that made me think about this philosophy in a whole new way.  The authors describe decentralized organizations, where the top leader has decentralized his organization to such a point where the leader is relatively unimportant in the whole organization's being.  A key point in the book is that when a centralized organization attacks a decentralized one, the decentralized one becomes even more decentralized, making it bigger and more dangerous.  A prime example of this would be the US takedown of Napster, which led to even deeper decentralization of illegal file-sharing.

I just watched Invisible Children's newest short film, Kony 2012.  While there are many articles in defense and in opposition to this film, I have a different question.  Why does the LRA continue to exist?  The movie makes the argument that Joseph Kony is fighting solely to keep his own power.  However, I suggest that today, it's next-to-impossible for such a large group to form, stay together, and grow solely on a single leader's need for power.  There has to be a reason for the members of the group to stay together.  The movie makes the LRA out to be a highly centralized organization, and I wonder if it is centralized as they claim.  The fact that the entire force seems to have moved out of Uganda in response to many different organizations' efforts makes me wonder if they are more mobile and flexible than thought.  I do believe that Invisible Children and other multilateral forces may be able to capture Kony and bring him to justice.  I wonder, however, what will happen when he is taken out.  The sheep will definitely scatter, but the question is....is that a good thing?

God's Kingdom?

"Jesus, remember me when you come in your Kingdom!"  These were a few of the words that the Gospel-writer, Luke, records from one of the thieves next to Jesus on a cross like His.  Jesus responds remarkably favorably to him, especially considering that these were probably no ordinary thieves.  Robbery usually wasn't cause for crucifixion - they may have been revolutionaries, guilty of at least murder.  Jesus' promise of being with Him in paradise must have been even more surprising to those around the scene, since Matthew and Mark report that both thieves were hurling insults at Jesus.  Something that Jesus did or said must have made a big impression on this particular thief, because despite probably having only second-hand knowledge of this unusual man next to him, he makes an amazing request.

This was a time when even Jesus' disciples, who had been with him on this journey for three years, didn't quite understand what Jesus meant when He kept talking about His Kingdom.  They kept thinking that Jesus was going to bring about an earthly Kingdom, overthrowing the Roman empire and setting up a Jewish state again.  Even when Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples persisted in asking Him about an earthly Kingdom.  Yet this thief next to Jesus looked at a man clearly dying and spoke with expectancy about his kingdom!  Nobody looks at a dying man and starts dreaming about his future reign (this is part of why His disciples were so upset by the crucifixion!).  This thief suddenly understood that Jesus' Kingdom was not of this earth - something that so many others who knew Him better had missed.  This may be why Jesus is so quick to commend him.

Are there situations today where we are acting more like Jesus' disciples than this thief?  We're still waiting for that Christendom to be set up here on earth, hoping that our next Presidential election will finally bring Christian values flooding back into our nation.  We're railing about homosexual marriage laws, abortion laws, prayer in schools, taking down the Ten Commandments statues, and so on, longing for a return to a day when Christianity will be the Law of the Land.  Are we looking for an earthly Kingdom instead of Jesus' Kingdom?  Is there a subtle difference between "Thy Kingdom come" and setting up Jesus as an earthly King?  Certainly doesn't mean that we don't get involved in politics and governmental affairs - quite the opposite.  But our ultimate hope is in Heaven, not in Earth.

You're so Judgmental!

Have you ever wondered why God seems so judgmental?  Throughout the Old Testament, God continually goes back and forth between telling His chosen people, Israel, that He is with them and that He is going to turn against them.  From wandering in the desert to being driven into exile, God's punishments against Israel seem to overshadow his promises of care.  And yet, over and over again, we see them side-by-side!  Many have looked at the Old Testament and cringed at this "judgmental" God that seems to constantly be destroying His own people.  But perhaps we are looking at this in the wrong way.

When we complain that God is judgmental, we are using a term that, in English at least, conveys a sense of finality.  A judgment is made by the judge, and you are going to prison or you are going free.  It's done.  However, the writer of Hebrews speaks of God disciplining His children.  The difference is in the relationship.  We usually think of discipline in terms of a parent and child relationship.  In this relationship, it's not final.  Discipline requires a commitment of fidelity that ensures the relationship will go on despite the firm stand for what is right.  Seeing this committed relationship between God and Israel changes everything.

I believe that perhaps we are mixing up terms.  God was not "judging" Israel in the sense that there was a finality.  He was disciplining them, because He had a covenant to remain with them.  Although they were faithless, God was faithful.  Even though He disciplined them severely, He never abandoned them.  My prayer is that we can adopt the same stance with people around us.  It's almost every day that Christians are accused of being judgmental for taking a stand on something.  If Christians are able to build a relationship with people, perhaps we can get to a place where "judgment" begins to be viewed within the context of a committed relationship.  When a good friend tells you that you are making a mistake, it isn't judgment, it's wisdom.

Enemies, or Victims?

What do you believe about punishment?  I had the chance to learn from a friend in my seminary class who is from Uganda.  As he described the situation going on in northern Uganda in which the Acholi people are caught in the middle of violence between the government and the rebels, I realized that we have something to learn from them.  The Acholi people do not believe in punishment.  They believe in restoration.  They have cultural rituals in place to restore people, because in their view, if somebody does something to hurt you, it's not their fault, it's everyone's fault.  The society is a community.  Therefore, when you are hurt, you have to stand strong to avoid losing your humanity so that you can pick the other person back up.

So now there is a situation where the children of the Acholi tribe are being kidnapped at a young age and brainwashed into soldiers.  What are the Acholi to do?  You cannot punish the rebel soldiers - not only are they your brothers and children, but it is not really their fault.  They were themselves the victims!  Therefore the rebels need to be restored and rehabilitated, not punished.

I believe that we have a similar situation as Christians.  While Christians often have an instinct to treat those who are not Christian like enemies, that is very far from what Jesus taught.  The Jews wanted Jesus to stand up and punish the Romans, but Jesus knew that the Romans were not the enemy, they were in fact victims of the same enemy that we all have.  Therefore, the Romans do not need to be fought against, they need to be liberated and restored just the same as the Jews did.

Are there any people in our lives whom we are treating as enemies when they are actually victims?

Exponential

First published on "Stories of LINC North Texas"

What would it look like to achieve exponential growth in an organization?

I would like to take a moment to consider what the word exponential means.  It's a term that we talk about a lot, but I'm not sure that we're looking at the whole picture.  This graph (source: Wikipedia, "Exponential Growth"), shows such a line.  Let's consider each of the three lines as if they were a church congregation.  The red line is "linear" growth.  Every year, 50 new members are added.  That's great growth!  The blue line is "cubic" growth.  Each year, the church grows at a faster and faster rate.  That's even better - this would be a great goal for any church.  But the green line represents what is truly exponential growth.  Each year, the number of members doubles.  This represents incredible growth, staggering to nearly any organization!

But what does this term, exponential, mean to us, really?  It seems that most of us, when we think about exponential growth, think about that overwhelming point of growth....later on down the line.  We are looking at the growth that the graph shows around year 9 and 10.  But if we look back toward the beginning, the line looks stagnant!  Even further down the graph, it takes 9 years to surpass the linear growth, and 10 to surpass the cubic growth!  Many of us would look at the growth happening on the green line for the first five years and conclude that the project was a failure.  In reality, that project is preparing to reach a tipping point where it will far surpass all of its peers.

Let's think seriously about how to start out if we want to achieve exponential growth.  I believe that this graph reminds us that we need to be prepared to start slowly and be okay with staying small for quite a while.  At LINC North Texas, we are blessed to be well down the line.  I would place LINC NT at about the 7 point on the graph - after years of investing in the foundation, we are starting to see incredible things happen, and we as a staff are getting more and more excited about what God has in store for us on down the line!