Sunday School

This link comes courtesy of Doug Weaver. As for Calvary, our Sunday School classes are doing great. We will soon have to find additional physical space if some classes keep growing.

from one blog to another

Jason Whitlark has a blog post here on a new book he has written with Charles Talbert taking a biblical look at salvation [hint--it encompasses more than a walk down a church aisle].

product obsolence

I have subscriptions to four magazines: Christianity Today, Christian Century, Christian Ethics and the Atlantic. The last one is the only secular magazine of the four. And my intentions are to subscribe to it until the Lord calls me up yonder. It is a fantastic magazine, transcending political or economic categorization. It just has thought provoking articles each month. In the interest of full disclosure, I pay full subscription and am not getting anything in return for this endorsement (though, if the mag wants to give me a discount rate--I'll surely take it).

There was an article in last month's issue that struck a chord. I've been playing this note in my head for a month. The author talks about 'planned obsolence.' This is the purposeful manufacturing of goods that will wear out after a given period of time. I recall a teacher in school (junior high or high school) who said that if they wanted to, GE could build a refrigerator to last 70 years; they don't because then consumers would buy only 1 per lifetime, rather than 12 or more. They make much better profit from selling 12 or more to a consumer over 70 years than just 1. The same goes for cars and other items. They are built to last, but only to last for so long.
This concept isn't new and is on the supply side of the economic equation.

The article author, Rob Walker, then writes about 'perceived obsolence.' This involves the consumer wanting the newest and latest item (in this case a smart phone) to replace a perfectly functional item of the same kind (in this case an older model of aforementioned smart phone). Walker's current smart phone works great and it's not very old; but it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newest one, which won't have all the do-dads of the one to come out in six months and so on. This is demand-side and consumer driven obsolence. It's phones, tvs, entertainment pieces, computers and the like.

I found all this fascinating. It also gave me pause to consider how obsolence impacts faith. Church shopping is part of 21st century American Christianity. Folks go to one church and when they encounter something newer or more interesting at another church, they hop on over there. Churches now compete with neighboring churches so as to keep their own flock and possibly expand. This is demand-side ecclesionomics (I just made that word up) too. It's also supply side as churches continually reinvent themselves and repackage, creating the perception of something new.

On the other hand, I am reminded that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no obsolence with our Savior or our faith or our salvation. Christ doesn't wear out; he doesn't get old; there won't be a fancier savior to take His place. But, there is some obsolence in this dynamic; it comes in us--as Christ remakes us our old self wears out. We hunger and thirst for righteousness and become a new creature.

I'm also thankful that God doesn't view us or Creation as obsolete. There is certainly cause for that conclusion.

Ten happiest jobs

Forbes has a column of interest to me, and perhaps by extension others.

I do love my job, both at Calvary and as a profession. Sure, there are some tough days. But the highs are celestial. The variety of tasks allows for creativity and study and collaboration. Where else can one get to know so many folks so intimately and work with these souls to accomplish some divine things?!

A bad day at the office is an opportunity to start again the next day. A good day at the office is a REALLY good day.

Calvary's neighborhood

The Waco Regional Baptist Association has worked up some reports on different neighborhoods in and around Waco. Calvary's community was one of those surveyed. The reports came to me earlier in the week (thanks WRBA Exec Tim Randolph) and I've provided links to them below.

Ministry Area Profile

Ministry Area Profile Info Maps

Ministry Area Profile Active Map

Sourcebook Support Document

religious landscape

Tia Park-Kim sent this link over. It details a recent Barna survey on American religious identity.

ten years

Ten years ago, during our pre-children days, Julie and I were sailing Alaska's inner passage on a cruise with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. We were celebrating my dad's retirement. As with most of American life after 9am on September 11, 2001, the cruise took on a surreal feel.


Julie and I got on one of the first of the resumed domestic flights after the cruise ended, making it from Anchorage to Minneapolis-St.Paul. The flight crew that was to ferry us to Philadelphia did not make to Minneapolis-St.Paul so we spent a night in MN and the next morning checking out the Mall of America.


We had probably been to the Top of the World at the World Trade Center half a dozen times, including youth trips. The view from there was spectacular. That NJ Transit ran into a terminal under the WTC made it a familiar spot for us.


I knew a woman on flight 93. We weren't close but had collaborated on a Habitat for Humanity house in South Trenton. She was an advocate for the visually impaired and on her way to Las Vegas for a convention. We built a house for a blind couple and she helped make sure our specifications were appropriate.


Sunday, 9/16, 2001, stands out in memory too. I had lined up a guest preacher, Evelyn Oliveria, as Julie and I, co-pastors at this time, weren't expected to get in until late on Friday; in reality we arrived on Sat afternoon. Evelyn and her husband Bill Stanfield are good friends (and currently doing fantastic work in South Carolina); she preached ably. It was Women's Sunday but that theme quickly lost center stage. A dear soul, one of the pillars of the church, asked to speak at the conclusion of the service. As she was also a woman, we had her come on up and give a word. Her word was an unholy wedding of nationalism and Christianity. I'm not judging her now, nor did I then. Everyone worked out their grief, anxiety, fear and shock differently--for her it was to issue a call to arms to beat back the barbarian horde. She didn't have the last word that Sunday--I ran up to the pulpit as soon as she finished to offer a different word on the Gospel.

I later officiated at this dear lady's wedding. In some ways, those dualing renditions of Jesus brought us to a deeper relationship. She passed some years ago at home with her husband; I had the privilege of officiating her send off to glory.


Exactly one week after 9/11, I was in a board room at the corporate headquarters of Merrill Lynch with a couple of vice-presidents and other employees. We had scheduled 9/18 as the day on which I would make a pitch to the brass about sponsoring a Habitat house in South Trenton, not anticipating what would happen a week earlier. The idea was to have ML provide funding but more importantly to utilize employees in the construction aspect to do some team building within the corporate organization. Many of these folks knew people that had died, employees from other financial firms or former classmates, at Ground Zero.

I led into the presentation by noting the dichotomy of building a house shortly after witnessing the destruction of much of lower Manhattan. Some might have called this venture cathartic, others therapeutic but I called it civic. With the vision of smoldering ruins in our mind's eye, we talked about providing housing and opportunity for a neighbor.

Ten years later, the house stands and provides shelter for a family; parts of Manhattan and Pennsylvania are shrines; and my kids know to take their shoes when we get in line at the airport. Reflecting back, I learned about the spontaneity of life--it's here and perhaps here only for a brief time. Use it appropriately for it may run out.

update from Michael Gelly

The email below came from Michael on Monday.

Hi Jim, I am excited to inform you all that I have arrived in Ghana and reconnected with family, friends and the church. My flight took off from DFW on Tuesday at 9:30 am and reached Atlanta Georgia at 11: 30am. We took off from Atlanta at 8pm and landed in Ghana at 11:10am on Wednesday. The whole flight time was 12hours. It was a joy when the whole leadership of my church and my family all converged at the airport in our locality and took me home. Since then, I have been receiving visitors from the church and outside coming to visit with me and talking.

Right now, the weather in Ghana is excellent, 77 with almost no humidity. Thanks for the time together and the sendoff for me. Extend my appreciation to both the church and my Sunday School members for the sendoff party and the card with all the best wishes.

graffiti on creation

On Wednesday morning, my youngest woke me up saying, "Daddy, the eggs broke." I immediately noticed that 1)it's dark outside, 2)it's 4:30am, 3)the hallway light is on meaning someone has been up and 4)Samantha is butt-naked. I next wondered 1)why is she up, 2)where are her clothes, 3)where is her sister, 4)what eggs, 5)where did they break?

I got up as Sami took me in hand downstairs--to a natural disaster area. These two cherub like demons had utilized a step stool to 1)empty most of the refrigerator, 2)pull down and empty a utility shelf, 3)gain access to spray paint. I discovered a mess of tools, craft products, matches (by grace all unlit) in the kitchen.

I find twin A in the den, also stark naked. And, of course, eggs broken on carpet as the girls seemingly attempted to replicate cooking breakfast on the coffee table. With bread, crackers and some sandwich meet added for taste, not to leave out the bars of chocolate under the couch cushions, it was a smorgasbord.

Realizing that I was out of my element, I quickly got Julie out of bed and we began cleanup. Aside from some unedible food and junked craft parts, we got things in order. With one exception: spray paint.

I don't know why we had spray paint somewhere else than in the garage, with the other paint, but we had a can that the girls got to in the kitchen utility cabinet. The girls proceeded to spray one another's hands, the back wall of the kitchen, door and all. I give Jesus thanks that they didn't spray their eyes or into their mouths. And, of course, we can repaint--and will have to do this as you can see. We may also need to put bells or warning alarms so that the girls don't get up and wander off again.

Reflecting on this episode, and having the visual constant, I wonder how analogous it is to how we treat Creation. God created everything in proper place. It was beautiful and neat and proper. Humanity then emptied the fridge, pulled out some drawers and spray painted all over everything. And here we are, with a mess to clean up and most of the world needing a coat of paint.