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.