Category: Meanderings

Playing Through

Does Your Mindset Reflect the World’s Real Dataset?

Hans Rosling has developed with his son an intriguing website and the software tools to change the way we examine data. He shows us how the worldview of our teachers reflects the reality at their births rather than what is the contemporary reality. As I watched this piece I found my self thinking about the community we live in, the companies work for, the churches we serve, etc.. Does our worldview reflect the data? Watch this video and then reflect on this question with me.


If you want to explore more, check out Rosling’s website www.gapminder.org.

Reflections on the Economy

I tend to left of center on many things politically, but remain a conservative when it comes to economics. Imagine my surprise when I read this piece from Bruce Bartlett, self-described developer of supply-side economics during his tenure on the staff of Jack Kemp, at The Daily Beast. His post, “The GOP’s Misplaced Rage,” includes the following comparisons of the Bush (43) and Clinton presidencies:

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real GDP grew 34.7 percent. Between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2008, it grew 15.9 percent, less than half as much.
• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real gross private domestic investment almost doubled. By the fourth quarter of 2008, real investment was 6.5 percent lower than it was when Bush was elected.
• Between December 1992 and December 2000, payroll employment increased by more than 23 million jobs, an increase of 21.1 percent. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it rose by a little more than 2.5 million, an increase of 1.9 percent. In short, about 10 percent as many jobs were created on Bush’s watch as were created on Clinton’s.
• During the Bush years, conservative economists often dismissed the dismal performance of the economy by pointing to a rising stock market. But the stock market was lackluster during the Bush years, especially compared to the previous eight. Between December 1992 and December 2000, the S&P 500 Index more than doubled. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it fell 34 percent. People would have been better off putting all their investments into cash under a mattress the day Bush took office.
• Finally, conservatives have an absurdly unjustified view that Republicans have a better record on federal finances. It is well-known that Clinton left office with a budget surplus and Bush left with the largest deficit in history. Less well-known is Clinton’s cutting of spending on his watch, reducing federal outlays from 22.1 percent of GDP to 18.4 percent of GDP. Bush, by contrast, increased spending to 20.9 percent of GDP. Clinton abolished a federal entitlement program, Welfare, for the first time in American history, while Bush established a new one for prescription drugs.

I guess all I add is OUCH! I am sure that someone will come out quickly with an attack on Bartlett’s numbers and analysis. You may also want to check out Bartlett’s broadside against “Obama’s Clueless Liberal Critics.”

What the Golden Leaf Foundation Taught Me About Kinston

Last night community leaders gathered at the Waller Auditorium at Lenoir Community College to continue our conversation with the Golden Leaf Foundation. Will Lambe, part of the University of North Carolina and Golden Leaf team offered these notes on Lenoir County.

Current Economic Situation:

  • Unemployment @ 12.5% (May 2009, NC @ 11.1%)
  • Poverty Rate @ 24% (2007, NC @ 15%)
  • Median Household Income @ $31,304 (2007, NC @ $43,867)
  • Labor Force Participation @ 60% (2007, NC @ 65%)

Lenoir County Employment Sectors:

  • Health Care & Social Assistance – 23.0% (up 7.3% over the last two years)
  • Manufacturing – 14.7% (down 19.9% over the last two years)
  • Retail Trade – 11.7% (up 4.2% over the last two years)
  • Educational Services – 7.7% (up 3.4% over the last two years)
  • Accommodation & Food Services – 6.5% (down 7.6% over the last two years)
  • Construction – 6.5% (up 5.6% over the last two years)
  • Administration & Waste Services – 5.8% (down 27.1% over the last two years)
  • Public Adminstration – 5.8% (up 1.0% over the last two years)

The public sector employs about 24% of the work force (typical for rural counties).

The discerned community assets from the Golden Leaf include:

  • Workforce
  • Strong and active local institutions
  • Neuse River waterfront and historic downtown
  • Kinston Indians
  • Innovative Education Partnerships
  • Healthcare Infrastructure
  • Global Transpark

Recent Planning Efforts known to the Golden Leaf include:

  • CROSSROADS Project
  • City of Kinston / Lenoir County Strategic Economic Development Plan
  • Riverfront – Now!: Redesign of Kinston Waterfront
  • Kinston Vision and Redevelopment Plan
  • Kinston Comprehensive Economic Development Plan
  • Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education

Key Issues and Priorities include:

  • Economic Development
  • Workforce Competitiveness
  • Downtown revitalization in Kinston (including waterfront)
  • Public Education
  • Aging population and leadership
  • Housing
  • Infrastructure and Connectivity

The University of North Carolina is committed through its Community Campus Partnership program to provide assistance for the next two years .

Bloom Where You Are Planted

David Anderson of the Free Press asked me a few weeks ago why I attended a meeting that the Golden Leaf Foundation hosted for Lenoir County. My response was “I am seeking the prosperity and welfare of the city of Kinston” and I wanted to be a part of anything focused in that direction. I reminded him that this statement came from the prophet Jeremiah in a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon which says “seek the welfare of the city … and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your own” (Jeremiah 29:7). For me the God’s word says that when we seek the greater common good, even when we live among our enemies, then we will find our personal welfare and prosperity. For too long many of us have reversed the logic of God’s economy and sought personal prosperity before seeking the common good.

David fact-checked my quote and called me back to say I had left out part of the verse, the part that describes “being sent into exile.” The follow-up question was easy enough: “do you feel like you were sent into exile?” with the implication that maybe Kinston was a step back from other cities. My immediate response was, “I am not in exile! However many of the folks I run into often sound like they are in exile.” Many Kinstonians either wistfully remember the Kinston that is “no longer” or passionately long for the Kinston that is “not yet.” When you live in either the “no longer” or the “not yet” you live in exile from the “here and now.”

Jeremiah’s letter is explicit about here and now living. He wrote: “build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters … multiply there and do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:5-6). The Lord is not saying we can’t dream about another place or time, but you can only live in the here and now. Essentially Jeremiah was saying “bloom where you are planted.” So I invite you to join those seeking Kinston’s greater welfare and prosperity starting with the street you live on. Let’s bloom where we are planted.

Francis Chan on “God Is Strength”

Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA, opens his talk with a question: If you met the children of the world’s strongest man (an actual member of his church) and his wife who can benchpress 275 pounds, would you expect to meet some “scrawny kids”?

We have an all-powerful God, but many churches today are puny and weak.  What happened?  We grew up with powerful stories (e.g. David and Goliath, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego, Daniel and the lions’ den, Elijah on Mt. Carmel).  Joshua and Caleb were ready to march into the Promised Land with Moses and when that failed, they waited 45 years and responded with the same vigor and strength.  Where are the 85 year old Caleb’s today?

Paul reminded Timothy “ God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Or as John tells us in Revelation, “Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7-8).  The first on the list are the cowards.  Do people see you as powerful?

What are we waiting for?  It seems as if the longer we are in the church the more we get scared.  We need to remember who we worship.

“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

Daniel says it this way:

For his sovereignty is an everlasting sovereignty,and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,and he does what he wills with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can stay his hand or say to him, “What are you doing?” (Daniel 4:34b-35).

God can do whatever God wants to do … we are often told we can, but in the end we cannot do anything.  J. Vernon McGee once said, “This is God’s universe and God does things his way.  You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe!”

Paul tells Timothy “[God] who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen (1 Timothy 6:15b-16).  No matter how powerful or successful we become, God is still King of kings, Lord of lords, who provides us sustenance.  Only in our arrogance can we question God.

Paul’s baptismal credo in Philippians 2:5-11 echoes the prophet Isaiah’s words “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear'” (Isaiah 45:22-33). When God says it, it happens … he even swears by himself.  There will be a day when every knee will bow, every knee, before God.

Our God is strong and as his people are called to be strong as well.  Remember God’s challenge to Joshua:

Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:6-9).

We are called to be bold and strong and courageous, because we are children of a bold and strong and courageous God.

Adam Hamilton on Effective Worship and Preaching

Worship is like a “Soul Food Cafe:”

  • The discernment question for the congregation is “are we a 1 or 5 star restaurant? Are we serving a fresh, hot, tasty meal or warmed-over leftovers?”
  • The reality is that a majoirity people do not expect to have an experience of God or have their lives changed in worship.

Ideas for Improving Worship:

  • People must be “led” in worship.
  • Effective worship requires intentional design and effort (half of the hymns are sung about God and half of the hymns are sung to God – which hymn do you need and when?).
  • Five hours a week should be devoted to worship planning (theme, expectation, experience) and ten hours should be devoted to sermon preparation. Pastors need time to meditate on and research the sermon – guard this time at all costs.

The Aim of Preaching:

  • The aim of preaching is to fulfill the mission of the church.
  • You must discern the mission of the church in order to do direct your preaching (DUH).

The Three Components of Preaching That Connects:

  • Preachers must teach people something they did not know before.
  • Preachers must inspire people and touch the heart.
  • Preachers must issue a call to action.

Two Basis Sermon Types:

  • Movement from the BIBLE to EXEGESIS to APPLICATION to ILLUSTRATION.
  • Movement from HUMAN CONDITION to EXEGETE to BIBLE to ILLUSTRATE.
  • Adam alternates between these two patterns usually with the first pattern moving toward Christmas and Easter and the second pattern as a follow-up to Christmas and Easter.

Sermon Planning:

  • Adam spends one week a year planning his sermons for the next two years.
  • Adam asks his congregation before he leaves to plan his sermons this question: “Please tell me what sermon topics would help you grow?”

You can check out the video at this link: “Effective Worship and Preaching“