Korea Tip # 100: Coffee Tree on a Hill

Nestled in the foothills of Taejo Mountain, lies a hidden treasure.  Coffee Tree on a Hill (언덕 위 커피 나무) is a quaint but spacious coffee roasterie and cafe.  Their menu includes coffees from a dozen different nations, scrumptious sandwiches, and lush desserts. 
The coffee beans are delivered green and roasted on the premises.  The red and chrome roaster churns all afternoon.  A single cup is a bit pricey at 5,000 won.  However, if you stay for a while, they will refill it about once an hour with whatever happens to have just been brewed.
The bacon and chicken sandwiches include savory grilled onions and peppers, fresh tomatoes, pickles, and a tangy sauce (making the napkin mandatory).  Be sure to order the bacon crispy (basakbasakhan 바삭바삭한), or else it will come out half-done in the Korean style. 
The New York Cheesecake is thick and creamy.  The Big Brulee Cheese Bar, with chocolate chips sunk into the crust, has just the right combo of tangy and sweet to match a steaming cup of black coffee. 

Perhaps the best part of Coffee Tree on a Hill, though, is the hill itself.  Taejo mountain is within sight and walking distance.  The large bronze Buddha, one of Cheonan’s minor claims to fame, is a peaceful 20 minute walk up the street.  From within the temple complex, one can enter the trail head that runs along the Taejo Mountain ridge.  A morning walk on the mountain is a beautiful set up for a peaceful afternoon with a good book and freshly roasted coffee. 
A few warnings.  Coffee Tree is open late, but its doors are shut until 11:30am.  Conversely, the temple complex is open early but closes at sundown.  I’ve been on the wrong side of these time limitations more than once.
To get here, take the #24 bus from the Cheonan Bus Terminal (on the Dunkin Donuts side of the street).  Wait until the very last stop (about 20 minutes).  The bus will probably pull into a parking lot.  Walk down the hill to the first gravel driveway and turn right.  Coffee Tree on a Hill is on the second floor of the orange brick building, with a nice walk out patio.  The only English on the building is a pink sign for the “Face to Face” skin clinic.
(This review will be published in Korea's 10 MAGAZINE, February 2011.)

Wild at Heart - Review

I just finished reading Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge.  This an old best seller from 2001, but I can totally understand why it has sold some 2,000,000 copies.  John Eldredge also wrote another of my favorite books (with Brent Curtis): The Sacred Romance (also a minor modern classic).
Wild at Heart is about the loss of the man's heart and how to regain it.  The first premise of the book is that men (at least in modern Western culture) have forgotten how to be men.  We have exchanged the essentials of manhood (battle, adventure, and rescuing beauty) for reliability, safety, and good manners.  In the process, we have buried our hearts deep within us, and we have come to doubt our own manhood.
I deeply resonated with Eldredge and his analysis of manhood.  In fact, I've been ready a minor flurry of articles about the loss and struggles of manhood.  It seems that he has really hit on a key struggle of our culture. 
The middle portion of the book is about identifying and healing the deep wound in every man's heart.  We all have received deep wounds that strike us at our core, where our identity and self-worth originate.  Somewhere along the way (early or late or both), we have all received crippling arrows that tell us that we are not good enough and don't have what it takes to be a real man.  This may sound like pop psychology, but it is actually very deep and real.  The path to healing is opening our hearts to hear the voice of God counteracting those false messages deep within our hearts.  Eldredge has explained this with beautiful poignancy. 
In a difficult time in my life, God has used this book to encourage me to bring my full strength to bear in all my relationships and tasks.  The best thing I can do in this world is to be fully myself through the fueling power of the Spirit.
I highly recommend this book.  The Josh rating: JJJJJ.

Bigger than our Boxes - Luke 20:27-40

Josh Broward
November 7, 2010


Let’s start today with a little riddle.  I need some audience participation here.  (I raided McDonald’s trash in my sermon preparation this week.)  I’ve asked ______ to help us out.  Here’s the deal.  You have to get this balloon into this box.  Today, we are in a very practical sense the Body of Christ.   ______ will work as the hands, but you are all the collective brain.  You give him some ideas.  Tell him what to do. 
...

OK, let’s review the suggestions.
We could push and push to try to make it fit, but it will probably pop if we push too hard.
We could pop the balloon and put the little pieces inside, but then we no longer have a real balloon.
We could let some of the air out to make it smaller, but then, we’ve lost something of the balloon’s full potential.
There’s one more option.
We could reshape and expand the box.  If we take off some of the tape and tear it apart at one seem, the triangle unfolds.  Then, we can see that this box has much more potential than we thought.  There was hidden capacity here.  If we keep unfolding and reshaping, then it becomes a rectangle that is plenty big enough for the balloon.1
Thanks ______.

God is always bigger than our boxes.  Jesus is always bigger than we think he is.  The Truth is always bigger than our mental constructs.
I hate to break this to you, but you’re wrong. You’re all wrong. Don’t feel too bad about that. I’m wrong, too. We’re all wrong about something. ...


To continue reading this post, click here.

.

Scholars of Life Blog

My friend, Mike Bobo (a former KNUer), started a community blog called Scholars of Life.  It's a bunch of people who want to be students of life itself, learning together how to live life more fully and more faithfully.  Mike invited me to join the blog.  Check it out.

Good News for Poor Hearts - Luke 19:1-10

Josh Broward
October 31, 2010

Read Luke 19:1-10.

    At this point anyone who grew up in English speaking Sunday Schools is thinking about the song, so let’s go ahead and get that out of the way.  Feel free to sing along.




    How’s that for a cheesy intro?  Zacchaeus is the classic children’s story.  The story is told and sang and colored and dramatized in Sunday Schools around the world.  In fact, this story has been told so many times that it has become trite.  But maybe the short little man still has something to say. 
    If we read through the whole book of Luke with a careful eye, we see something surprising in the Zacchaeus story - everything!  This is a narrative summary of the whole gospel of Luke up to this point.  In one simple story, Luke has woven together all of the key themes of his entire story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. ...


To continue reading this post, click here.

.

Sullivan's Travels (#61 Greatest Movie of All Time) - Review

Sunday night Sarah and I watched another of AFI's 100 Greatest Movies: #61 Sullivan's Travels.   Sullivan is a famous director.  His specialty is making comedies, but he longs to make serious movies about the struggles of people in the working classes.  In an attempt to return him to making commercially (if a bit shallow) successful comedies, his producers tell him that he doesn't know anything about being poor and suffering.  This tactic backfires as Sullivan sets off to experience the world as a hobo.  
On the last night of his ventures into poverty (which have been superficial to this point), Sullivan is hit on the head and mugged.  He wakes up dizzy and disoriented on a train car in an unknown place.  When a railroad worker harasses him about trespassing and hits him with a stick, Sullivan beats the man with a rock.  Sullivan is tried while still disoriented and delusional, unable to remember his name.  He is convicted to six years of hard labor.  
This turn of events gives Sullivan a real taste of poverty and injustice.  The prison boss is stereotypically cruel.  Even though Sullivan remembers his real identity, he is unable to seek help.  
Next is one of the best church scenes I've ever seen in a movie.  The prisoners are invited to attend a movie showing in an all black church.  Before the prisoners arrive, the pastor asks the people to give the prisoners the front three rows.  Then he poignantly encourages the congregation "neither by word, nor by action, nor by look to make our guests feel unwelcome, nor to draw away from or act high-toned. For we's all equal in the sight of God."  This scene is doubly touching.  First, because it is an all black church, and showing African-Americans in a good light was extremely rare in 1941.  Second, simply depicting the church in a positive light is also pretty rare.  This small group of struggling Christians (Their church is fairly poor.) is living with the grace and hospitality toward which the gospel propels us all.
While at the church, Sullivan is amazed at the simple joy and exuberance the people take (and he himself takes) at the silly slap-stick of the cartoon movie.  This returns him to his true joy and calling - making comedies.  After he earns his freedom, he explains his change of heart.  "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh! Did you know that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan!"  
In my opinion, that last line (also the last line of the movie) is one of the best movie lines of all time.  Life really is a cockeyed caravan.  It's a beautiful caravan, but it's cockeyed nonetheless.  
I see two basic points to this story.  
(1) It really is hard for rich folks to understand what it's like to be poor.  We have to go way, way, way out of our normal way of life to even start to understand.  
(2) There is fundamental value in joy and hilarity.  Of course, there is also value in making our world better in very serious ways like reducing poverty, increasing education, and bettering health care.  However, joy (however ephemeral) is a value of its own.

I give this movie: JJJ.  Although it is a good movie overall, it loses one J because of the ridiculous slapstick and attempts at humor.  (Though they were very common in the 40s, they sat poorly with both Sarah and me.)  It also loses a J because of a few plot weaknesses.  However, it's a good movie that deals with a few serious topics in a fun way.  It's worth the rental fee.

Why Art Should Matter to Christians

I rarely repost articles.  However, this one touches on a theme that has been hitting me repeatedly in the past year or two.  I highly recommend: "Why Art Should Matter to Christians" by Melissa Kircher.  Something about art opens us to the creativity of God in a way that we desperately need.  We need more art personally (no matter how creative we feel) and secondarily (from those who are especially skilled in the arts).  We need more creativity because we need more creation!

A Good, Hard Year - 2009-10 Annual Report (Luke 18:1-8)

Josh Broward
October 17, 2010

   This has been a good, hard year.  Even the good times have been difficult, and even the difficult times have been good. 
    Many of us have had personal struggles.  We have had struggles with our jobs, struggles with finding a job, struggles with figuring out what to do next, struggles with our faith, struggles with our health, struggles with our identity and self-worth.
    Many of us have also had family struggles.  We have lost fathers and grandfathers.  We have had family in the hospital.  We have had new babies, with all of those joys and stresses.  We have had family conflicts and unspoken pains and griefs.
    We have also experienced some hard times as a church.  The cycle of coming and going has been unbalanced on the going side lately.  We bless them as they follow God’s leading, but we grieve for the hole they leave behind.  Others in our church are struggling to stay connected even though they’re staying in Korea.
    In the midst of all of these changes and struggles, we can feel overwhelmed, depressed, powerless or hopeless.  We might feel a lot like a widow in the first century.  In that era, a widow was the iconic symbol of a helpless sufferer - especially if she was poor, especially if she had no close male relatives, especially if someone wronged her.
    That is the case for the woman in our Gospel lesson.  She is a widow.  She is poor.  She can’t even afford the court fees or bribes to get the judge to hear her case.  She is alone.  Courtrooms were places for men, but she can’t find a male relative to go into the courtroom to plead her case.  And she has been wronged.  Probably someone has taken advantage of her vulnerability and taken some of the little bit that she has left.  She is desperate for justice.

Read Luke 18:1-8. 

    The word “justice” is repeated four times.  “Give me justice.”  “I’m going to see that she gets justice.”  Even the unjust judge “gave her justice in the end.”  “God will surely give justice to his chosen people.”   What is this “justice” about?  The word means to vindicate, to confirm, to justify, to uphold, to find innocent. 
    In this world, as we follow the way of Christ, we can often wonder if we’re doing the right thing.  Is it really the right thing to give rather than to keep?

To continue reading this post, click here.

.

Healed or Saved? (Luke 17:11-19)

Josh Broward
October 10, 2010


Read Luke 17:11-19.

    This text is more complicated than it sounds.  On the surface, it seems like a simple story about remembering to say thank you.  However, four different themes weave through this text.  To really get the full picture, we need to see and understand each color of thread.
   
   The most obvious theme is thankfulness.  Jesus’ action in our lives calls for our joyful gratitude.  Ten people are healed.  One comes back.  Nine go on their way, maybe not noticing their healing yet, maybe in a hurry to experience the benefits of healing (seeing their family, reintegrating into society, entering the town).  Only one shows thanks.  Martin Luther said the essence of worship is the one leper who returned to give thanks.
    We live in an era where most people in developed nations have an attitude of entitlement.  We believe that everything is supposed to go our way.  We believe we are supposed to get everything we want.  And if we don’t, if life isn’t going our way, then something’s wrong with the world.  “Why is it raining on my birthday?  It’s not fair.”  A good income is a right not a blessing.  Health and happiness are standard expectations, and if we don’t have them, we pout.  In general, we have a glaring lack of gratitude for the many, many blessings we experience. 
    On the other hand, this leper who was healed is extreme in his expression of thanks.  Did you notice that?  He shouts for joy at the top of his voice.  He falls on his face at Jesus’ feet.  He praises God openly. 
    When was the last time you shouted for joy?



To continue reading this post, click here.


.

Life UneXpected (Season 1) Review

Our friend Shannon loaned us the DVDs for a new show called Life UneXpected.  We enjoyed watching it at first, but it seemed to get more and more strained and more and more melodramatic. 
The basic story kept me interested.  Lux is a 16 year-old foster kid.  She is trying to be emancipated so she can leave foster care (where she has had a host of negative experiences) and be independent.  Toward this end she locates her birth parents: Baze and Kate.  Kate got pregnant after a high school dance.  She led Baze to believe that she had had an abortion, while actually she gave the baby up for adoption.  Lux's re-entry into their lives turns their world upside down.  They discover a second chance at parenting and become more of the people they always wanted to be.
However, in my opinion, the show is sunk because of the reaching, stretching attempts at stirring up drama and then milking it for all it's worth.   There is a weird love triangle going throughout the show between Kate, Baze, and Ryan (Kate's fiance).  Then, Lux has a parallel triangle with Bug (her boyfriend, who rides a motorcycle and has a large tattoo on his neck) and Jones (the high school quarterback and classic preppy). 
On one hand, I love the redemption story of a second chance at life and the beautiful family moments.  On the other hand, I hate the casual sex and over-done drama. 
So the Josh rating for this one is mixed: JJJ.
Life UneXpected: The Complete First Season

Modern Family (Season 1) Review

A few weeks ago, Sarah and I finished watching the first season of Modern Family.  It is hilarious and touching.  I don't remember when we have laughed so much at a TV show.  We recommended it to Michael and Elizabeth, and they were instantly addicted.
Here's the basic story line.  Jay (formerly played Al Bundy) is a traditional, white, slightly bigoted 50-something man.  He is remarried to a hot, much younger Columbian woman with a 10 year old son.  Jay has two adult kids who have families of their own: Claire and Mitchel.  Claire is married to a cheesy but funny guy, and they have 3 kids.  Mitchel and his partner Cameron have adopted a baby girl from Vietnam.   The story is simply their mixed-up life together as one big extended family.
The show is in a mock-umentary format.  In other words, there is a mixture of standard sitcom-type footage and some private interview time.  It's similar to The Office in format.  Often the interview bits are the most hilarious.  Sarah and I were often rolling around laughing during these.  We found ourselves quoting and remembering and laughing again in the days after we watched an especially good episode.  This is always a sign of excellence in a TV show.
However, the humor - as great as it is - may not be the best part of the show.  Modern Family does two other things very well.
1) They show people learning to love each other for who they are - with all of their ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses, lovability and annoyingness.  The show in poignant in its understanding and expression of the difficulties and joys of family life.  Part of the humor comes from our identification with the very sticky and awkward situations that families often encounter.  But through it all, they stick it out and genuinely show love and concern for each other - even if that requires change and sacrifice.
2) The show constantly sets up stereotypes and then explodes them.  The gay, uber emotional partner also played as an offensive lineman in college football.  The hot Columbian younger wife is also very smart and emotively aware.  The ADD kid who is always breaking things completes an outstanding school project on Van Gogh - without the help of his ADD father, who was supposed to be supervising him.  The stereotypical old white guy somehow comes around again and again to appreciate the beautiful diversity in his family.

We loved this show, and so the Josh rating is without a doubt 5 J's: JJJJJ!

Luke 17:1-10 - Do We Need More Faith?

[Note: Our series on Jesus and World Religions has been canceled.  Upon much prayer and refection, I don't think this is what our church most needs to hear at this time.]

  Today, we continue our journey through Luke with Luke chapter 17.  Has anyone else felt like this has been a tough trip as we’ve been preaching through Luke?  Luke is rough.  Especially in August and September, we’ve been dealing with some of Jesus’ most challenging teachings.  And, let me just tell you up front, today it doesn’t get any easier.  Next week will be better, but not today.

    Our Gospel lesson today is Luke 17:1-10, and it’s pretty challenging.  Instead of reading it as a whole, I want to walk through it and talk about it piece by piece.  I think this will help us really get what Jesus is trying to say.    Jesus starts out with a warning.
 1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. 3 So watch yourselves!”
    Apparently, Jesus takes integrity and mentoring and parenting pretty seriously.  A millstone is a huge rock slab used to mill or to grind grain into flour.  Jesus sounds a bit like the mafia here: “You mess with my kids, and you’re going to be sleeping with the fishes.  Capisce?!”

 To continue reading this post, click here.


.

Review of Gandhi by E. Stanley Jones

My dad highly recommended this book years back, and I finally got around to reading it.  I loved it.  I actually read it as part of my devotions.
E. Stanley Jones (one of the world's most famous missionaries, who spent 50+ years serving India) knew Gandhi as a personal friend.  Here's a quick summary of the book: Gandhi (a Hindu) intentionally modeled his life after Jesus and actually lived more like Jesus than any other human being since Jesus.  Gandhi's life, death, and enduring influence are a call for Christians to return to the Christ of the cross.
Gandhi showed the world that the way of nonviolence is not only possible but successful.  I personally felt challenged to follow Christ more closely throughout my reading.
One of the most powerful statements (one I might actually use in my sermon this week) was this.  After a night of soul searching, Gandhi broke through to the truth of simple living.  Then, Jones says, "Many of us would have talked and debated and consulted interminably.  Gandhi decided at dawn to reduce the principles to practice.  That is the essential difference in Gandhi; he acted on what he saw to be truth.  He didn't see all truth, but he acted on what he saw, and that made the difference" (79).
May God help us all (especially me) to be faithful to the truth that we see.
The Josh rating: a strong 5Js - JJJJJ.  Read this book!

Review of Ford County - by John Grisham

Sarah and I often read a book together before bedtime.  We take turns choosing.  This was my pick. 
I love reading John Grisham, but I usually try to stay away from him when I'm not on vacation.  I have a bad habit of staying up late into the night to finish one of his suspenseful books.
This book is a different format, though.  Instead of his standard novel, this is a collection of short stories.  Also, none of them are terribly suspenseful, so that made it a nice fit for reading before bed.  We could stop whenever we wanted.
 The stories all have a loose connection with law: death row inmates, wills, bankruptcy, lawsuits, divorce, etc.  However, law and lawyers play a much smaller role in most of the stories.  In fact, only 3 of the 7 have a lawyer as a main character.
This was a good read, but not one of my favorite Grisham books.  It reminded me a lot of Ernest Hemmingway's short stories.  There is this deep sense of disappointment with life - especially in small town Mississippi.  (All of the stories are placed in Grisham's home area: Ford County, Mississippi).  Every story has a deep note of sadness and even despair.  Yet, even so, reading them is enjoyable - in a cathartic, companion for misery, kind of way.
I would recommend this book for someone who is just looking for some casual reading or for someone who wants a look (albeit a bit depressing) into small town American life.  The Josh rating: JJJ.

Three Cups of Tea - Review

I've seen some of my friends reading this book for years.  Many of them have highly recommended it to me.  Somehow it has escaped my reading list until this month.  Michael and Elizabeth gave me a copy for my birthday, and I'm so glad they did.  This is one of the best books I've read in a very long time.
The first half of the story is simple.  Greg Mortenson was part of a team trying to climb K2 (the world's most dangerous mountain) in Northern Pakistan.  Through a series of injuries and mishaps, he became disoriented and separated from his group.  After getting lost once and spending a night alone on the ice, he missed a turn and lost his guide again.  He wandered into the small mountain village of Korphe, and this forever changed his life.
The people of Korphe, despite their poverty, showed him great hospitality and love as they nursed him back to health.  Without a plan, without prior community development experience, without funding, he promised to return to Korphe to build a school for the children who were stuck in a generational cycle of poverty.
The next third of the book is his amazing and frustrating journey to build that first school.  Through many ups and downs and confusions about Pakistani mountain culture(s), he persevered.  Several key people came to his aid through funding, cultural support, physical protection, and emotional support.  After several years of struggle, Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute and completed a bridge to Korphe and Korphe's first school in its 600 year existence.
After that first school, CAI's activity mushroomed.  A retired Swiss-American scientist endowed them with a million dollars, and slowly publicity and funding began to flow in jerks and stops.    As of 2009, CAI had built 81 schools in northern Pakistan and Afganistan.
Two parts of this story deserve special mention.
1) One of the beautiful side-effects of Mortenson's mission to build schools is combating terrorism at its roots.  Mortenson argues repeatedly and beautifully that the root of terrorism is ignorance not Islam.  In fact, Muslims - including the highest leaders of Islam - have been some of Mortenson's biggest supporters.  Radical Islamicism, which breeds terrorism, grows through radical madrassas, which are built in the poorest areas of Pakistan and Afganistan - often as the only available option for education.  Many join the Taliban forces because these are the only available jobs for low-skilled workers.  Furthermore, while the militaries of the West may destroy many terrorists, the collateral damage from our bombs plants the seeds for countless more radical enemies.  Building schools (and wells and hospitals) is infinitely more effective than dropping bombs - in terms of building friends and reducing enemies. 
2) As Tom Brokaw says on the cover, this book is "thrilling ... proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world."  I hope that all my friends will read this book and develop a similar passion, audacity, and hope that our little efforts really can be multiplied to cause momentous changes.  We have to think big and start small.
I highly recommend this book.  The Josh rating: JJJJJ!

Like a Butterfly

Truth lingers like a butterfly
on the edge of a flower
And we chase it
like children at play
At play but in serious pursuit
We long to catch this truth
this floating, fleeting, flying
display of obvious beauty
We long to grasp it
not only with our hands
not even especially with our hands
but with our eyes
in our minds
in our hearts
We long to hold this beauty
fluttering, ephemeral, eternal truth
For in this flapping of the wings
and moving of antennae
we see and sense
the Real
And the Real in us
calls to the Real before us
seen and touched and met by us
Like a butterfly on our fingertips
Real meets Real
And we chase and follow
drawn by the eternal magnetism
of Beauty and Truth

We Need Each Other

As I prepare for our upcoming series on Jesus and World Religions, I find this video to be encouraging. We need all our stories. We need Lutherans and Anglicans and Calvinists and Baptists and Pentecostals (and Nazarenes) because we all have stories to tell and practices to share that help us to understand our amazing God.



But this raises a few questions for me. Do we also need Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Secular Humanists and Ancestor Worshipers? They also have stories to tell. They also have practices to share. They also have meaningful questions to ask.
My tentative answer is: Yes. Yes, we do need people of other religions. But we need them in a different way. The difference between denominations within Christianity is very different from (but somehow also similar to) the difference between Christianity and other religions. Yet perhaps as we discuss, dialog with, and engage other religions, our practice of Christianity is enhanced. Perhaps, this discussion will open us to parts of our own tradition and faith which have been buried or ignored for too long. Perhaps, through discussion and dialog, we will all grow closer to God together.
Don't get me wrong. I am in favor of evangelism. I believe it is good for people of other religions to become Christians. However, I also believe that (ironically) people of other religions also have something to teach us about Christ and Christianity and engaging God.
I know that's a radical statement, but that's where we're going with our sermon series for the next 7 weeks. I would appreciate your feedback along the way.

Rocky (Greatest American Movie #57)

Last night, Sarah and I watched the classic Rocky. Surprisingly, this may have been the first time either of us have watched it in its entirety. I have seen parts of it, and I may have watched it all the way through as a kid, but I don't remember.
In many ways, it is simply a classic Cinderella story. Poor guy gets his break and makes it big. In some ways, it was Forest Gump before Gump.
However, in addition to the raw triumph over adversity, this story holds powerful moral for us. We become better people through love. As Rocky and Adrian begin to love each other, they both blossom into better people. Adrian comes out of her pet-store shell. Rocky becomes better and stronger. He has someone to lean on in the most difficult and discouraging times. Even Adrian's deeply flawed brother seems to be bettered by their love - almost against his will.
Love makes us better. When we love each other, our wounds are healed, and we open the way for our truest and best selves to emerge.
This was a genuine - but not overpowering - classic. The Josh rating: JJJJ.

Revenge and Redemption (Luke 15:11-32 and Luke 20:9-19)

Josh Broward
September 19, 2010

Luke 15:11-32 and Luke 20:9-19

With 5 seconds left on the clock, the quarterback dodged a tackle, rolled out to his right and threw a desperate pass toward Jaime Alejandro. Jaime launched over two defenders to make a one-handed catch in the end zone.
The stadium erupted! People rushed to the field celebrating the amazing catch which earned the Fighting Falcons their first State Football Championship in history. Everyone was caught up in a wave of euphoria - jumping, shouting, crying, hugging.
Everyone - except Jorge. Jorge Hernandez was the other wide receiver. Jorge was sitting in the other corner of the end zone, seething in jealousy. “That pass should have been to me. I was wide open!” As Jaime was carried of the field by cheering teammates and fans, Jorge brewed alone about his long-standing rivalry with Jaime Alejandro. Somehow, although he was just as talented, just as smart, and - in his opinion - better looking, Jorge was constantly coming up short of Jaime.
As the two fastest high school athletes in their city, both Jorge and Jaime qualified for the Regional Tournament in the 400 meter dash. Before the race, Jorge cut Jaime’s shoelace on one shoe. Jaime never noticed until the shoe started coming off around the the second turn. Amazingly, Jaime just kicked it off and finished the race with one shoe. Jaime still finished first and earned a photo in the front page of the city newspaper for the escapade.

After high school, Jorge studied law, and Jaime studied for the ministry. Both were smart and successful, but they took very different paths. ...

To continue reading this post, click here.


.

Governance and Ministry Book Review

I just finished reading Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership by Dan Hotchkiss. This is a very good book about how to have good church boards. I believe the church board has the potential to be a center of strength, change, and spiritual discernment for our churches. However, much of the time our boards are mired in reports and rubber stamping the decisions of our staff members.
Over the past 6 years, I have been on a steady mission to improve the functioning of our church board. This has included a wide variety of approaches. I've concentrated mostly on improving our meetings in terms of quality of discussion, flow of information, use of time, and pursuing larger topics (delegating the smaller topics to our various teams).
Along the way, I have been greatly helped along this path with articles from the Alban Institute. This book collects together much of that sage advice in a framework guiding a church leadership team on how to restructure a church board for greater effectiveness.
At first I thought, we might go through the whole restructuring process they recommend (including a 1 year research and planning phase). Because of some other issues, I don't think that level of change would be best for us at this stage. Also, because we have been changing incrementally, we may not need a total overhaul. However, I still found many useful tips, thoughts, and techniques.
Reading a board book can be a bit boring at times, but I would still recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a better church board. The Josh rating: JJJJ.