I'm Going Home

So I was thinking...would it be neat or awful to be celebrating a birthday today? I guess it would be cool as you age, you know, only having to add a year every four.

Do kids born on leap day get to celebrate the last day of February? The first day of March? Or both?

Maybe this leap day birthday thing has more to it than meets the eye!

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Confession time: Until sometime around Spring Training 1996, the St. Louis Cardinals were my favorite baseball team. Yeah, I kept up with the Rangers but the Cardinals had been the team of my childhood.

Then the Tony LaRussa era began.

And I was gone.

Last year, my brother-in-law's father, Gary Halford, was privileged to entertain Ozzie Smith in his home. I received from my family an autographed picture of the Wizard with a question, "Hey Jim, what happened?"

Hey Wiz, Tony LaRussa coming to town is what happened.

For the record, the answer to Wednesday's baseball trivia question about the team with the most players implicated in the Mitchell Reports is none other than the St. Louis Cardinals (with five players in Spring Training down in Jupiter, Florida).

Not surprisingly, the godfather of the Steroid era, Tony LaRussa, has asked Cardinal brass to consider adding Barry Bonds to the clubhouse. What's mind-boggling is not only does LaRussa underestimate the PR damage Bonds would do by wearing the birds-on-bats, he even believes Mark McGwire was above-board all those years.

Wow.

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I'm going home.

For the first time in twelve years, I have been invited to speak at the congregation where I was raised. Every Sunday of my formative years, save vacations, was spent in the Northside Church of Christ building in Benton, Arkansas. It was there both of my grandfathers, and later my dad, served as elders. It was there I learned memory work in Bible Hour. It was there my faith was grounded. It was there I preached my first sermon. It was there I was mentored by Youth Ministers like Dale Mannon and Tom Perkins and Doug Yates.

And now, the current elders at Northside have afforded me the wonderful opportunity to go home and speak at Friends Day on Sunday, March 30th. The Northside church has themed 2008 "Growing in Grace" and that is the focus of the first Sunday following Easter in an effort to reach out with the good news of God's grace.

I can't wait to go home; to be back in the building where so many good faith memories were birthed. I can't wait to go home to the place where so much godly teaching was imparted to me.

And I can't wait to go home so that my grandfather, if his strength is sufficient, can hear me preach one more time.

To the Northside elders, thank you. Thank you for the most privileged speaking invitation of my preaching career. The opportunity to speak at Northside, on Friends Day, with the hope of my grandfather hearing me speak one more time is just almost too much to absorb. Thank you for demonstrating in living color the theme you are shepherding the church in Benton to live and understand.

Play Ball!

At 10:05 a.m. tomorrow morning, the dulcet tones of Vin Scully will emanate over KABC in Los Angeles from Dodgertown, signaling the opening of Spring Training games. Two hours later in Scottsdale, Arizona, Jon Miller and Dave Flemming will be at the mic of the 50,000 watt flamethrower, KNBR, to broadcast the Giants/Cubs game.

An off-season of allegations and questionable integrity will fade in the rear view mirror as the game returns.

So, before moving on, one final trivia question for the winter shenanigans: What Major League Baseball team had the most players implicated in the Mitchell Report?

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Cal Thomas has become one of my favorite writers in the newspaper's Op-Ed section. In yesterday's edition of the Fresno Bee, in a piece entitled "It isn't the economy that's bad -- it's us," Thomas offered the following penetrating insight:

"Much of this 'economic pain' is self-inflicted...Some of the lust for bigger and better is human nature, but a lot is the result of consumerism. The Timex watch is not longer enough. We now must have a Rolex, though both accurately tell time. The adequate low-end automobile is insufficient. We must trade up to a luxury car with numbers and letters on the rear that mean nothing, but convey status. And the house we are living in, which would have been more than adequate for our parents and certainly our grandparents, must be upgraded to larger digs in order to impress, if not growing families, then enlarged egos."

The simple life -- buying things for their utility rather than their status -- is a tough remedy in a consumer-driven culture. And yet, the witness of Scripture in places like Ecclesiastes 5.10-11 and Matthew 6.19-21, 24 is clear and unapologetic.

Listening Lab

For the last week, Gary & June Thorson and Les & Dixie Hawkey have been with us at Woodward Park. The Thorsons and the Hawkeys are members of the Sojourners Ministry -- a ministry overseen by the Burleson, Texas Church of Christ based in Marshall, Texas. The Sojourners are members of the church who travel throughout the United States in campers and RV's sharing good news, service and ministry skill with churches.

Last Wednesday, I joined a crew of 24 other members at Woodward Park in the Listening Lab taught by Gary and Les. The Listening Lab is designed to teach church members skills in visiting and winning back the fallen away. The eleven listening skills -- taught on consecutive nights Wednesday through Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon -- were extremely insightful, not just for ministry but for all interpersonal relationships. I have no doubt my relationship with Mandy and with my girls will be enhanced many times over because of the Listening Lab.

Perhaps the neatest, most beneficial aspect, though, was the relationships formed within the group participants. The interactive sessions where we practiced and honed our listening skills resulted in learning about the experiences of friends within our church family. The bonds of friendship and family were strengthened within our group, and that was worth the time investment, if nothing else.

If your congregation has been looking for an effective way to enhance visitation, member retention, and delinquent member restoration, then the skills of the Listening Lab are a must! In my ministry experience, no workshop has ever taught more insightful, practical ministry tools than the Listening Lab.

Fortunately for Woodward Park, the Thorson and Hawkeys are hanging around for another week. A maxed-out group of 39 will participate in Listening Lab #2 beginning Wednesday.

Paul, Barnabas and Timothy

Wow, thank you to Bobby Ross, a cyber-friend and fellow diehard fan of the Texas Rangers. Bobby has written about some of his favorite triads in the upcoming editon of the Christian Chronicle and my blog made his list of three blogs he enjoys reading.

Guess I'm going to have to go back to writing more than twice a week, huh?

Thanks, Bobby.

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"Howard Hendricks has recommended that every man have three individuals in his life: 'You need a Paul. You need a Barnabas. You need a Timothy.'

Hendricks encourages each believer to have a Paul in his life because 'you need someone who's been down the road.' Every believer needs a Barnabas because you need someone 'who loves you but is not impressed by you.' You also need a Timothy 'into whose life you are building.'

I would summarize Hendricks's points this way: you need a pastor, a partner, and a protege. A pastor will show you down the road. Your partner will love you but not be impressed by anything other than authentic relationship. Having a protege means you are passing on the mission God has placed on your life.

Mentoring is how servant leaders prepare the next generation of leaders for service. Unless there are future leaders, there is no future" (Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, p.236).

You Know You're a Servant When...

Here's a great story in Tuesday morning's Fresno Bee about a seven-year-old boy who attends Trae's school and his extraordinary, generous heart. It touched me to read it over breakfast Tuesday morning and I hope it encourages you as well.

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From Gene Wilkes in his excellent book, Jesus on Leadership: Discovering the Secrets of Servant Leadership from the Life of Christ.

"Jesus modeled greatness through service to others when he did not seek a public office, earn a degree, lead an army, or discover some scientific truth. Jesus's entire ministry was about service to his Father in heaven, service to his mission, service to his (disciples), and, ultimately, service to those he came to save. Jesus was a great man because he was a servant. We acknowledge him as great because he lived beyond the noise of life and purposefully lived to bring people closer to their Creator. As Lord of all, he might have lived above us and demanded blind allegiance. But he served us, teaching us the truth and how to live by it. He served us in our misunderstanding, our selfishness, and our weakness. He saw what we needed and helped us. He knew what we needed to be and took us there -- with great love and respect for us.

We have lost this fundamental model of greatness in our personality-centered culture. Greatness seems to belong to the builders and those of influence. Greatness is equated with name recognition and social status. Churches and non-profit organizations have become too much like the world in this respect. We hand out certificates of greatness to those who grow the biggest organizations or gather the most people on a weekend. We honor those who sit in places of power. We have forgotten that greatness among God's people begins with service, and service implies labor without accolades" (110-111).

Overwhelmed

Alright, time for a little honest confession and a resolution.

I am overwhelmed.

That's right. Overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed with gratitude to God for what he is doing among the disciples at Woodward Park. Tonight, we hit the 450 mark in Wednesday night attendance. Our Prime Time dinner has turned into a shoulder-to-shoulder event. Our Shepherds are recommitted to prayer and it is making an immediate difference. Our Sunday morning attendance is consistently cracking 850. Our children's classes are outgrowing their classroom space.

In every measurable way, God is overwhelming us.

And God's overwhelming leads to more overwhelming. Youth Minister Search Committee meetings. Hospital visitation. Memorials for loved ones now gone. Homeless outreach downtown. Elders/Ministers Retreats. Bible studies. Class lessons. Sermon prep.

And, oh by the way, a wife deserving of affection and two beautiful little girls who deserve an energized dad actively engaged in their lives. Dance Classes. Field Trips. Math study sessions. Horseback riding. Afternoons in the park. Pitch and Catch. Valentine's dinners.

In the midst of it all, this blog has taken a back seat recently. For the 1,400 of you who drop by on a weekly basis, I am sorry. February 25th will mark the 3rd anniversary of my blog and it has been a fun ride. But the grinding commitment to have something fresh here everyday is beginning to wear on me. That, coupled with the activity of God among us, is so great that it would be an injustice to the ministry to sacrifice my family or the future of the Woodward Park church for the sake of blogging.

So, I am loosening the commitment I have had in the last three years to this blog for the sake of the people I love most.

I do hope you'll check back. My plan is to cut back from five days a week to two days a week. That should be manageable.

Till next time, know that your interest in my ministry and family is...overwhelming! I love you all!

New York, circa 1950's

One of the neatest gifts I've received recently was an autographed copy of Leo Durocher's book Nice Guys Finish Last. It was given to me by Ken Perry. Durocher's book, coupled with a planned trip to New York this summer to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and a game during the final season of venerable Yankee Stadium, motivated me to spend my winter down-time -- that lull between the Super Bowl and Opening Day -- honing my knowledge of baseball history.

And what better way to do that than with Ken Burns's famous documentary that originally aired on PBS in 1994?

The series is captivating, if not heavily centered upon New York and Boston to the neglect of baseball shrines like St. Louis. The documentary also weaves in a significant storyline dealing with race relations and the struggles of baseball to integrate.

Watching the series, I couldn't help but wonder what it must've been like to have been a baseball fanatic in New York during the 50's. The Yankees winning in the Bronx. The Giants winning in Manhattan. The Dodgers winning in Brooklyn. All at the height of their success. All battling annually for baseball (and city) supremacy.

I know it's out-of-style in the fast pace of our contemporary culture, but I love the pastoral pace of baseball. Does the game have its issues? Sure. I mean, who's juiced (pun intended) about continually seeing Roger Clemens walking Washington's corridors under a cloud of steroid allegations? But the game -- the game without a clock, played at a leisurely pace with freedom to think, to anticipate, to calculate -- is pure, even if some of its heroes carried sullied reputations.

The records may be tainted, but the game isn't.

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So for you baseball cronies like myself, if you had one historical book to recommend on baseball, what would it be? From now until June 29 when I board the big bird for New York, I want to immerse my down-time reading in baseball history.

Shoot me an email (jim@wpcoc.com) with your recommendations...thanks!

FriendSpeak

It's been four weeks since the FriendSpeak ministry began at Woodward Park. Last night, 63 persons were involved. Randy Jacobs is leading an ESL class for people with no English background while a variety of trained teachers work one-on-one with people of limited English speaking ability.

The Bible is used as the textbook to teach English, killing two birds with one stone -- the teaching of English and the teaching of the good news of Jesus.

To me, it's really amazing to see the birth of a ministry reaping such rich dividends so soon! For example, last night we had four Punjabi-speaking persons who came because they couldn't believe English-speaking classes were offered on a one-on-one basis.

Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Yesterday I spent six hours on a charter bus, watching Disney movies, listening to third graders cackle, even holding the trashbag while a motion-sick little girl threw up breakfast.

And I did it all with pure joy for the simple reason that my daughter asked me to. At the beginning of the school year, Trae asked me to chaperone her field trip this year. Now, there were a whole host of reasons to bail out and there have been times in my life past when I might have bailed out, but not anymore.

The Monterrey Bay Aquarium was awesome and Madison, Jaimee and Trae were a delight to tour around the Aquarium. And that says nothing about the day itself, one of the prettiest days imaginable. But the best part of the day was being with Trae and her friends and experiencing another majestic display of God's creative genius.

The Valley

So my good friend Allan Stanglin thinks he has a really good Preacher's joke:

Q: What do John the Baptist and Kermit the Frog have in common.
A: The same middle name.

I say in the annals of corny Preacher jokes, this one ranks in the Top 10.

What say ye?

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I received a quarterly newsletter from ESA Love, Inc. (an ecumenical organization known as Evangelicals for Social Action Love In the Name of Christ). In the newsletter, Associate Director George Ordway shared some interesting insights about the central San Joaquin Valley:

*The first and most noted reality of our Valley is our distinction as the "Agricultural Food Basket of the World."

*2006 crop reports total over $20.6 Billion in gross product value with Fresno Country grossing over $4.8 Billion.

*The 2000 Census reported more than 3 Million residents in the Valley with 655,000 of those (21% of the total population) living below the poverty line.

*One in four children lives in poverty in the Valley.

*In June 2003, the Fresno Bee reported that the Valley is now called "The Appalachia of the West," because of the amount of people living in poverty in the Valley.

What do those statistical realities say to you? For me, they say we could continue to work a lifetime in the kingdom in this Valley and our work would never be fully accomplished. Resting on past laurels is easy to do in the Kingdom of God -- the relishing of past baptisms, past outreach, past benevolence. Yet, the field remains incredibly white and the Valley population in great need of the love of Jesus expressed through his church.

May we, at Woodward Park, always be serious about fulfilling Jesus's own mission in this world: "preach good news to the poor...to proclaim freedom for the prisoners...to release the oppressed...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4.18-19).