The Broken System

Until I married a school teacher, I never realized how messed-up our accountability priorities are in our public education system. I think George W. Bush was on the right track with the "No Child Left Behind" initiative a few years ago, but that train didn't go far enough. Educators and administrators are held accountable for how their students perform on standardized tests. That is not bad. But there are so many things that are wrong with just stopping there.
First, this system puts too much priority on a child being able to pass one test. Teachers will spend most of a school year teaching a child what he or she needs to know just to pass a test. Most teachers, including my wife, will tell you that's not true education.
Second, the accountability in this system is one-sided. Teachers and administrators are held accountable, but what about the students? What about the parents? I've seen my wife put in 12-16 hour workdays trying to get students ready to take the test. She has stayed after school to tutor kids, at times with no extra pay. She does it because she is dedicated and also her butt is on the line if the students don't do well (yes, I am biased here). It drives me up the wall to see her do all of that on her end, but to get little or no commitment from the student. Of course, most of the time when the student is apathetic or rebellious like that, it goes back to his or her home life. Few times does my wife get any help or support from the parents/guardian of these kids. Many times she has called and been unable to reach them. Many times she has set-up conferences to meet with them only for the parent/guardian to be a no-show. She has even gone out of her way to try to go to them at times.
She does all this and if the students don't do well on the test, she is the one who could get into trouble.
Where is the accountability for the students and the parents? How come in our education system, we keep passing students on through and eventually hand them a piece of paper at the end of 12 years (or longer) telling them they've satisfactorily met the requirements when they actually have not?
Third, my wife teaches 4th grade at a Title I school. Most of her students entered 4th grade on a 1st grade reading level, if even that good. They had no business being in 4th grade or 3rd or 2nd, but she is required to get them ready to pass a 4th grade test!
Here's a proposal. Yes, let's have accountability, but let's make it all around. Teachers must do all they can to educate their students. Okay, a test should be taken just to see where a child is, but let's not place such a do-or-die emphasis on it. If the student doesn't show a certain level of commitment, then he or she can be in the public education system for only so long before being required to enter the work force. If a parent/guardian doesn't show a certain level of commitment, then he or she will be required to pay for the child to continue in education or else go to jail.
Oh, and while I'm changing the system, here's another idea. Let's raise teacher pay. For the amount of hours and grief they have to put in, they deserve about double what they make now.
Those are just a few ideas. I have more, but I will save them for another time.

As the Tiger Turns

I was just at a car dealership getting my truck worked on. While I was in the waiting room reading a book and watching ESPN, everyone (it seemed like everyone) in the dealership suddenly gathered around the tv and turned up the volume. Tiger Woods was making a public statement about the events that have been going on in his life in recent months. One of the employees at the dealership, a young lady who looked to be in her mid-twenties, didn't give him much of a chance to say anything. When she heard him say the words "counseling" and "therapy" she just walked off saying that neither of those things will do anything for him because he is "just a stupid cheating man."
I did laugh at her response because it was kind of comical. Another employee at the dealership, a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties told her to "leave him alone." I couldn't help but laugh at his response too.
After that, I was just halfway paying attention to the rest of Tiger's statement. The way the young lady responded was a bit comical at the time, but I started to wonder what she must have personally experienced to make her respond the way she did. I wonder what has been going on in the young man's life to make him respond so quickly to her response.
For months now, I have had the attitude that the news media must leave Tiger and his family alone as they deal with this. That would be ideal, but unlikely. Just from looking at him today while he was reading his prepared statement, I could tell he did not want to be there. He was doing something that he felt forced to do. I'm not calling his sincerity into question, as one ESPN commentator did immediately after Tiger made his statement, but it does seem as if the public attention is going to make this recovery and healing process more problematic. It just looks as if Tiger was doing something today that he was not ready to do, but felt compelled to do in order to appease the public or the news media (I don't know about you, but Tiger Woods hasn't crossed my mind in quite some time).
Here's my take on it. First, what Tiger did is wrong and it is a sickness. Second, his family is torn apart over it. Third, Tiger can move past this illness and there can be healing in his marriage and the many others affected by this. It will take time and it will take all of them seeking God. Fourth, all of us have a sickness too in one form or another. It may not be sleeping with numerous women like Tiger, but we all have something that stands between us and God and will hurt (or have hurt) others in our lives unless we give it to God and take steps to get away from it. Fifth, we have all been hurt by someone else's sickness and won't move on from it until we allow God to heal it. Just like Tiger's family and just like the young lady who reacted so abruptly at the car dealership, what someone did to us will destroy us if we don't allow God to heal like he is so willing to do. Finally, when going through this, we wouldn't want people sticking their noses in it and spreading it, so why do we keep feeding a news media so obsessed with doing that exact thing?
How do we tell the news media that we don't want to hear it? How do we tell them that they are behaving inappropriately? I don't know, but this is just another example of piling sickness upon sickness. Unfortunately, the church doesn't do a good job of providing an antidote to this. Much of this same behavior is displayed in Sunday School classes and back-pew gossip in churches across America every Sunday. But that is another blog post for another time......

A Starr at Baylor University!

I have to say I was really surprised by the announcement a couple of days ago that Ken Starr was being named the next President of Baylor University. The same Ken Starr who was famously or infamously known in the 90's (depends on which way one looks at it) as the thorn in Bill Clinton's side. As a result of that one item on his resume, he has been compared to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. I'm not necessarily saying that's bad, but since he has an extremist image as being one on the hard Right of the social and political spectrum, I never would have put his name together with being at Baylor University. Since his hiring, I have learned a little more about his background, which makes him more of an unlikely candidate for the position of President of the world's largest Baptist university. Mr. Starr is the son of a Church of Christ preacher, attended a non-denominational church in his adult years, and was a Dean at a Church of Christ-affiliated school (though Pepperdine is considered a left-leaning Church of Christ school) when Baylor hired him.
Since his hiring, the Baylor board of regents have faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. More moderate-leaning pastors have labeled Mr. Starr as "divisive" and the wrong person that a deeply divided university like Baylor is needing right now. On the other side, Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he wishes Baylor would hire a Baptist pastor with a Ph.D.
I offer a synthesis of both of these views. Perhaps we should give Starr a chance and not go by a media-created caricature of who he is or go by the traditional persona of choosing a Baptist university president. Whether or not you agree with the job he did in the 90's when investigating the allegations against Clinton, why let that be your only perception of him and the way you identify him? And yes, there was a time when only Baptist pastors were allowed to run Baptist institutions, but those days are over. Starr is a committed believer and follower of Christ who affirms the doctrines that are important to Baptists. So what's the problem? If we had a self-proclaimed atheist in there, then I would say there should be concern. But here is a guy who is committed to the faith, has experience in higher education, and has the leadership ability to take Baylor University through the process of healing the divisions that have been problematic now for years.
Here's another thought. Let's don't allow Mr. Starr just two years like his predecessor was given. That's an impossible amount of time to get anything done. This process may take ten years or better. Let's give him that time and allow him room for error.

Making a Jesus-Profit?

I receive brochures and ads all the time from organizations claiming to have the key to increasing our church's witness, increasing our church's membership, and increasing our church's giving. These are supposed tried and proven methods that have a high percentage of success. I can get all of this secret treasure for such-and-such an amount. Somewhere in these ads I am given the guilt-trip that it may seem costly, but the results are worth it. Some even have the audacity to say that if I feel that buying their secrets isn't affordable, then I'm short on faith. (This is my paraphrase, but that is pretty much what it sounds like). In addition, I am constantly bombarded with ads for sermons by other popular pastors (for a fee of course). I will admit that I have bought and read and listened to sermons by other pastors. No, I don't copy them and regurgitate them from the pulpit on Sunday, but during my sermon prep. for the week, I do glean what others have said on the particular passage(s) I am preaching from. A friend and mentor of mine calls it "eating the chicken and spitting out the bones." Years ago when I was a Youth Minister and filled the pulpit at church one Sunday, I pretty much preached almost word-for-word someone else's sermon (with his permission) and it was such a disaster, that I resolved never to do it again.
In case you aren't able to pick up on my tone in the previous paragraph, I'm having a problem with this. Maybe I'm jealous because I don't have a ministry product that can sell and e-mails aren't filling up my inbox from fellow pastors asking me to send my famous sermon transcripts that they've been hearing about. And I don't have a problem with sharing ministry ideas or sermon ideas. I think we should. When sharing these ideas, I don't have a problem with people charging to cover the cost of materials or administrative costs (I hope that is what is taking place with all these ads I receive). But it does bother me when someone seeks to gain a profit this way.
If someone is doing this for profit, this is what they are doing; they are holding back the growth of God's kingdom for their selfishness. I believe Jesus said something about the kingdom of God being like a treasure in a field. Once a man finds that treasure, he sells everything so that he can go buy that field. Jesus is speaking more of salvation in this case, but there is application to this topic too. Hypothetically speaking, suppose Pastor Bob serves at a church and follows God's vision to lead that church to be very effective in a certain ministry. People come to Christ in droves because of this ministry and the church thrives. Pastor Bob writes about what his church did and develops a generic method that other churches can adapt to their own contexts, which can also reach people for Christ they haven't been able to reach previously. What a tragedy if Pastor Bob decides he wants to make a profit on this and won't give his secret to the treasure in a field unless he gets paid for directions! If what he knows can really advance God's kingdom, then why not share it with as many as possible? Those are some potential serious eternal consequences just to make a few bucks!
Am I missing something here?

Celebrate the Little Things?

The past month has been rough. There were fires that popped-up all around that were out of my control. After a few pity-parties and a few "woe is me" moments, I had a revelation. It hasn't all been bad. In fact, these fires that started could very well be God moving instead of Satan attacking. I don't say this lightly, it has been after a few weeks of prayer and talking to others that I know are people of prayer.
Here's the thing. Stuff came up that was painful to go through. It affected a lot of people. It isn't over yet. But still even through this, there are reasons to celebrate. I was calling it "celebrating the small stuff." The more I think about it though, these things I need to celebrate aren't really small at all. They are definitely things that I couldn't do on my own and only come from God.
In that revelation, came a further revelation. There are many big things to celebrate. Nothing is small. The only things that are small are the petty fires that pop-up and take our eyes off the big things that are all around us that call for us to celebrate and give glory to God.

Worry, Anxiety, and Fear

This has not been an easy week. Perhaps one of the toughest I've had in some time. My old, so-called friends showed up. Their names are Worry, Anxiety, and Fear. I didn't even realize I was hanging around with them again. I've tried making myself conscious of their presence, I know not to associate with them, I've preached about not giving into them, and I counsel people all the time not to put these three in the driver's seat.
Last night at a men's prayer gathering, someone pointed out that worry is something he has struggled with for several weeks now. He has prayed about it. Even though the circumstances have not changed, he is at peace about the circumstances now. When he mentioned this, I realized how much I was letting these three guys into my life again. I need to work on this in the coming weeks.
This morning I have been sitting here thinking about how much of our world is driven by worry, anxiety, and fear. People are voted in and out of office based upon these three things. Those that get elected to office tend to operate under the influence of these three things. Business deals are made or broken based upon them. Even more scary is that marriage decisions, parenting decisions, and church decisions are made under the influence of these three more often than we want to admit.
Why do we keep hanging out with these three? They're bad dudes. They get us nowhere. Jesus made it very clear that none of them add a single hour to our lives. Medically, they've been known to wreak havoc on our physical selves. Psychologically, they've been known to wreak havoc on our mental selves. As Jesus told us many years ago, they mess us up spiritually. That's all three components of our make-up!
Question: If one of your friends was hanging around with someone that was messing them up as much as worry, anxiety, and fear were messing with you, what advice would you give them?...........Yep, that's right. Now let's all heed our own advice.

Who or What Feeds You?

In the 10+ years I've worked in churches as a Youth Pastor, Assoc. Pastor, and now as the guy in the hot-seat (the Lead Pastor) the number 1 complaint that I've observed from disgruntled church members is "I'm not being fed." In every church I have served, I just don't see how this is possible. Every church I have served has numerous classes and groups available that study and discuss the scriptures. Every church I have served had a pastor who opened the scriptures in every sermon and spoke from it. If someone wants to be fed with solid spiritual food, the opportunity is there. Granted, I'm sure there are churches out there that offer fluff and frosting, but none that I have been a part of. The churches I have been a part of had other problems, but the opportunity to be fed has always been there. So every time I hear that complaint, I always try to get to what the "real problem" is. Most of the time, the "I'm not being fed" complaint is just a spiritualized cover people use when they don't want to admit that their real issue is petty and childish. But this isn't the main point of this post. I'm going to get to the main point now.
The truth is that we're always being fed. It's just what we choose as our food that affects other parts of our being. What really aggravates me is that many within the church are taking in a more steady diet of the news media than they are the Bible. Just look at financial giving to churches over the past two years. The economic news in the media has been scary. The spirit of fear has spread all over the government, the market, the banking industry, and just about every other aspect of our society. Sadly, it has spread through the church. Yes, there are many in the church who have fallen into hard times with the economic downturn and haven't been able to financially contribute to God's kingdom like they have in the past (and the church needs to be there to walk with them through these hard times). But there are also many who haven't been hit but have withheld out of fear. I had a conversation with a fellow pastor the other day who was telling me that his church was far behind their budget towards the close of 2009. In November, he proposed a catch-up Sunday where the members were challenged to go above and beyond to catch up on the church's budget. They exceeded their goal on that Sunday and closed the year with a balanced budget. He said that many came to him confessing they had the money to give and knew they should have been giving better throughout the year, but had withheld out of fear of a collapsing economy.
Another example, a couple months ago a lady came by our church office freaking-out about the proposed health care bill being passed through Congress. She was talking gloom-and-doom over this bill and felt that I as the church's pastor needed to drop everything we were doing and call the church to pray about this. Yes, I do agree that we need to pray for our nation's leaders and that they will look to God for the wisdom to make the right decisions. But this particular lady was buying into and spreading fear that she had heard in the news.
Have we forgotten that God is on his throne? Does it not occur to us that the economic situation in our world didn't catch God off-guard? Does it not occur to us that God is well aware of the health-care bill being discussed in Congress? Just from reading our Bibles, we should be very conscious of the fact that God prevails. He has a plan through all of this and last time I checked, he intends to include the church in his plan.
But he can't use us if we buy into and spread fear. When we start serving fear, then we are serving Satan.
It's all about what we go to as our main source of food. Is it what CNN say, FoxNews says, Glenn Beck says, Keith Olbermann says, or is it what God says. Those of us in the church should know it's what God says, but is that really what we feast on?