Nazarene General Assembly 2013 - Recap

Dramatic blessings.  Quiet blessings.  God gave both as Nazarenes gathered in Indianapolis for our once-in-4-years celebration and governing session we call General Assembly.

On the side of quiet blessings, three stand out to me.

• We refused to step backward into fundamentalism.  Several resolutions were proposed that would have pulled us toward the radical right.  However, our leaders wisely chose to maintain the center ground.
• We did lots and lots of healthy networking and meeting.  Getting loads of leaders together in the same place at the same time allows for all kinds of discussion and planning that isn't normally possible.  On my last day, for example, I talked with leaders from Bangladesh and Mozambique about the possibility of partnering with our church in our work with www.freethegirls.org.  Both groups were very positive.  They are going to do some research and get back to us.
• We approved simultaneous multi-site general assemblies.  This will probably be the last general assembly with only one site.  In the future, we'll have once central site and extension sites all around the world.  This will save millions in travel costs and will enable the vast majority of our international delegates to participate (many of whom are denied visas to the USA).  Most likely, North American delegates will never be in the majority again (and rightly so).  This resolution passed without much discussion or fanfare, but it is the most significant change for the Church of the Nazarene in my memory.

Nazarene General Assembly - Day 6

The official business meetings for General Assembly opened Monday with almost an hour of prayer in small groups.  Delegates and visitors gathered in groups of 5-10 with GS’s giving prayer prompts about every five minutes or so.  

From a legislative perspective, some of the most significant decisions of the day were as follows.

• We rejected a proposal to change General Assembly to once every five years, rather than once every four years.  It seemed that most people feel like (a) General Assembly is so important for our church as to justify the cost and time of doing it every four years, and (b) Changing the cycle to every five years would slow an already painfully slow global decision making process.
• We approved a proposal to allow simultaneous sites for future General Assemblies.  As many as 50% of international delegates are unable to obtain visas to visit the USA, so this would greatly increase our international participation to more accurately represent every member of our church.  Also, it would significantly decrease travel costs.  The sites will all be linked via video and internet (and probably by technologies that don’t even exist yet).  
• We rejected a decision to reduce the size of the General Board to about 30 instead of 50, based on increasing the ratio of General Board members to church members.  (Currently each region gets one General Board member for every 100,000 members.  The proposal was to change this to one delegate for every 150,000.)  This would have decreased the total number of delegates for every region except Africa.  However, because the proposal also combined USA/Canada into one region, it would have decreased the North American representation to 10 from 20.  This would have been proportionate, but I’m guessing this may be why the proposal failed.
• Also, we decided that churches should give their pastors a sabbatical during their seventh year of ministry instead of after their seventh year.

Of course, there were other actions taken or rejected, but these were most important.

The other drama of the day centered naturally on the General Superintendent election process.  In the Church of the Nazarene, there are six General Superintendents, who serve until a mandatory retirement around age 67 or voluntary retirement previously.  Standing GS’s are re-elected by a yes/no vote.  As far as I know, no GS was ever voted out of office.  (If anyone knows differently, please speak up.)  This quadrennial (Yes, that’s the weird name for meetings that happen every four years.) we have two retiring GS’s, so we are electing two.  

100 Things I Love About Korea: #70 - The Slow, Unsteady Opening of North Korea

This is a repost from July 14, 2011.  I had hoped to be here when North Korea opens up.  I guess there's better than a 50/50 chance it will happen within the next 10 years.

Coca-cola and KFC have recently signed deals to establish operations in North Korea.  (Short article ... slightly longer article).  So far, they will be limited to hotels and tourist locations serving foreigners.  However, make no mistake about it, this is a step into the future.
Communism can only survive within a closed system.  Dictators maintain power by limiting information.  (And yes, all communist leaders are dictators of one variety or another.)  With external contact comes information.  With information comes power.  With power for the people comes the fall (slow or fast) of all dictatorships.  Once people know there is an outside world where life is far better, they demand to participate in that better-ness, and they rid themselves of their ineffective leaders.
This is how it went in Eastern Europe.  This is how it happened in Africa and Latin America.  This is how communism has slowly been transitioning to capitalistic democracy in China.  And this is the beginning of the end for North Korea.
Actually, this is not the first crack.  Mass starvation, mass illegal immigration, and mass corruption were the first real cracks.  Porous borders with China brought black market capitalism and information (in the form of cell phones and DVDs).  International aid workers were a steady drip, drip, drip of outside influence.
But now, now, after these subterranean foundation shifts, we see the crack going up the wall, and it looks like the Coca-cola trademark wave.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (#26 Greatest American Movie of All Time) - Review

We scored a free copy of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the 1939 Frank Capra classic staring a very young Jimmy Stewart.  This film has been called one of the greatest whistleblower films in American history.
Due to the sudden death of a sitting senator, the state's corrupt governor appoints political novice Jefferson Smith to fill the role - expecting that he can be easily manipulated.  Smith stumbles into disrupting a plan for graft, and his lonely, innocent patriotism faces the Goliath of a well-oiled system of corruption and intimidation.
Smith's idol and senior senator from his state demonstrates the bargain that many politicians make.  Compromise your values for the sake of political productivity.  He finally admits to Smith that he has cooperated with corruption for the sake of the greater good.  Smith holds to his ideals and reminds us that some things are too sacred for compromise. 
Apparently, this movie was intended to highlight the reality of corruption in Washington, and it garnered quite a bit of criticism in the process.  Unfortunately, its naive characters and simple dialog sound overwhelmingly cheesy to 21st century ears. 
Some classics stand the test of time in terms of entertainment and maintaining interest.  We often found ourselves drifting away into conversation or out of the room for snacks or not particularly caring when the kids came chattering into the room.  Unfortunately, however meaningful this Mr. Smith was in its own time, and however important its message is for our time, its weak plot and dialog leave it a little lost in our time.
Sadly, the Josh rating is less than it could be: JJJ.