The Muslim imams made a good point

Recently when I was in North Africa as part of a dialog with 16 Muslim clerics (imams), one of them brought up some very embarrassing moments for Christians in America.

       The imam asked how we Christians make sense of Jimmy Swaggart's infamous tearful confession on television and what we thought of the Crystal Cathedral going bankrupt. I wished that news did not spread as quickly as it does these days!
       I had no defense for these events in the Western Church.
       Now I feel even more embarrassed after reading this from the Orange County Register last week:
   GARDEN GROVE – An email sent out to members of the Crystal Cathedral congregation requesting meals for founder Robert H. Schuller's wife Arvella, who is ill with pneumonia, is creating mixed feelings of sadness and outrage among members.

   According to longtime member Jim McDonald, an email was sent out by administrators to Bible study groups as well as church elders, asking that meals for the reverend's wife be dropped off at the cathedral's Tower of Hope where the Schullers' limo drivers will be waiting to pick them up at the designated time.

       If you are not aware, the Crystal Cathedral declared bankruptcy some months ago, leaving $46 million in unsecured debt with creditors. Wow, I wonder what my imam friends would say to me now.

       There are so many opportunities for the spread of the gospel in our day. The mission agency I have worked for for many years has an annual income of about $5 million, and it works in more than 30 locations on 3 continents. The Crystal Cathedral's debt is 9 times the annual budget of my mission agency!

       HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

       I realize this blog entry is an absolute RANT, and it is not good to rant very often. But once in a while there is a situation which IS just so outlandish and bizarre that it actually DEMANDS that we rant! And this is one of those situations for me.

Listening to Josh McDowell

I sat in the front row of the Oasis Conference yesterday and waited for the session to begin. All at once a man with striking white hair sat down next to me. He was wearing a jean jacket, white pants, and "loud" multi-colored high-top sneakers.
     "Hi, I'm Josh McDowell," he said. He looked at my name tage and continued, "Brian Newman ... hmmmm, I like your salad dressing."
       "That's a different Newman," I said.
       "Too bad," Josh said. "You would be rich if it was you!" He laughed loudly and gave me a huge grin.
       I heard Josh McDowell speak for the first time in April, 1983 a month after I came to faith in Jesus. It was KC'83, a conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. I don't remember exactly what Josh said that day, but I know it helped me draw closer to Christ. And for that I am very grateful.
       So last night I listened to Josh speaking again. He did a talk called, "Just One Click Away," which was a sobering look at the impact of the Internet on the 21st century. It was a powerful time - Josh pointing out how we have often jettisoned Truth even as we have accumulated massive amounts of knowledge.

From One Year Ago

The other day I was sitting around the firepit with my friend Roger, shooting the breeze as we sometimes do. I shared with him my growing and intensifying convictions about Jews and Muslims. Later that night I remembered that a year ago I was asked to write myself a job description for The Isaac-Ishmael Initiative. This is what I wrote then, and which I continue to pursue:

       I was encouraged to write up a description of what I will do in ministry possibly in regards to Muslem–Jewish outreach and ministry. This will not be a traditional job description. I have been unable to write one.

       I am a Jew who knows how to hate those who are not Jewish. I learned this from birth, while attending Hebrew School, celebrating my bar mitzvah, and listening to my elders describe the people who are “out to get the Jews.”

       When planes hit two towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 I was living in Amsterdam. The media in Holland learned that I was a Jew from New York whose family still lives there. They also knew I was a pastor of a church in Amsterdam. They saw a news angle and I found myself being interviewed, asked questions such as, “do you see Muslems as enemies of America? Are they enemies of Christians?” My heart was “caught” in my own prejudices.

       In the past couple of years God has been stirring me, causing me to take “baby steps” to break through hatred to something else – to seek the Shalom of the children of Abraham. I have been all together reluctant to move in this direction. “I have not been called to Muslems and Jews” was my rationale.

       Perhaps God has other plans.

       I do not know what all this means, it is a “crazy” and “bizarre” idea for a Jew to be an agent of grace toward Muslems, or other Jews for that matter. I do not know how this will happen, I do not know the contexts for this to happen, I do not have a strategic plan or even a missional initiative.

       All I know is that I am a Jew who follows a rabbi named Jesus who is love and calls me to be an agent of that love.

Greece: Incredibly Bad Leadership

As I write this the BBC is reporting that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is about to resign, after his spectacular leadership debacle of calling a referendum on the EU financial bailout for Greece.
       Mr. Papandreou has instantly become the "poster child" for non-leadership, or un-leadership. What leader in their right mind would hand back to the people the decision whether to go into default as a country, and to trigger the fall of a 16-country currency (the euro)?
       In my opinion it is difficult to find many leaders in any political system at the moment. The lack of political leadership from the U.S. to Europe to Asia and beyond is striking, and has caused major problems in the world's economies. But Mr. Papandreou has drifted to new lows in leadership incompetence. His best leadership decision now is to resign.

Sorrow-filled Joy ... Joy-filled Sorrow

Last Saturday Susy, Steven, and I attended a wonderful celebration for Linus and Sharon Morris, who celebrated 50 years of marriage. It was good ... very good, in so many ways. Linus and Sharon have followed Jesus and loved each other well. They have raised a great family and are stewarding their lives.

       Susy was one of several people who spoke and did a little presentation. She also made a ceramic piece for them for their anniversary (she makes me look good!).
       We visited with a bunch of people during the party who we have journeyed with for many years. Some we had not seen for a long time. It was a joy-filled time together.
       We got in our rental car to drive south to Orange County late that evening. I checked Facebook on my iphone, to catch up with the world that sort of stopped for a few hours while we enjoyed time with Linus and Sharon.
      All at once that joy I felt was mixed with great sorrow as I learned that my friend Mike Holland from Cortland had died suddenly. He was 52 years old.
      Mike was driving a group of students from Cortland State in New York to Binghamton to help flood victims. He had a heart attack and died a short time later. The Ithaca Journal newspaper wrote an obituary today about Mike. Two sentences jumped out at me:
"A devoted husband, father, and community member, Michael was a volunteer basketball, soccer and baseball youth coach for many years. He was a man of integrity filled with love and compassion for everyone around him." 
       Yep, that was Mike. He lived well, and died far too young. May he know peace and rest with Jesus now. I will miss my friend here on earth.
       And so went my weekend - deep joy and deep sorrow. Somehow learning to live with both seems to be the richness of life.

Two Bookcovers - Light Years Apart

I saw these two books next to each other at Barnes and Noble yesterday. They both purport to be "Christian," but I just cannot put Joel Osteen and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the same breath!

Howard Schultz on Leading

Here is a quote from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, from the book, Lessons from the Top: the Search for America's Best Business Leaders:

"I think it's very difficult to lead today when people are not really truly participating in the decision. You won't be able to attract and retain great people if they don't feel like they are part of the authorship of the strategy and the authorship of the really critical issues. If you don't give people an opportunity to really be engaged, they won't stay."

       I have wondered what it takes to be the kind of leader who helps people truly participate, who helps people be co-authors of strategy, and who helps people speak into the critical issues of the organization.
       What kind of leader does this?
* One who is becoming self-less rather than self-absored;
* One who is deflects attention from himself and puts the spotlight on others;
* One who listens to correction and makes mid-course corrections;
* One whose inner life is centered. For me as a Christian that means centered on Jesus;
* One who could lose it all and still be intact as a person
       I know very few of these kind of leaders. I wish I knew more.

I am in the top .93% wealthiest in the world... hmmmm

My friend Brian posted something on the LCI blog this week that really hit me between the eyes. It is the GlobalRichList.
       According to my income of 2010 I am number 55,923,010 wealthiest person in the world of 7 billion people. That makes me in the top .93% wealthiest!
       Now here is the shocker to me: In 2008 my income was almost double what it was in 2010. That means I was in the top 1/2 percent wealthiest people!
       What freaks me out even MORE than that is the questions that sneak into my consciousness as I do this little assessment:
* I wonder who is ahead of me and how they got there?
* I wonder if I will ever break into the 50 million person club of richest people! (and what did Jesus say about the first being last?)
* I wonder who is number 55,923,010 from the BOTTOM OF THE LIST. I wonder what their life is like. I can only begin to imagine.
* I wonder why Christians seems to be so divided over this issue of wealth and riches. Some of us very well-meaning followers of Jesus justify our lifestyles in bizarre ways.
* I wonder if I will ever learn what Paul learned - to become content in whatever circumstance he found himself in - whether in great plenty or great want. (Philippians 4)
* And I wonder when I will begin to realize that I am crazy RICH in comparison with 99% of the other 7 billion people on earth!

Aid workers abducted in western Algeria

The BBC and Al Jazeera reported over the weekend that three aid workers were kidnapped in the Rabuni refugee camp in western Algeria. They were kidnapped by Al Queda terrorists who drove into the camp late in the evening and abducted them.
       I would not even had known about this event, except that I was in that very camp four weeks ago and had heard about terrorists crossing over from neighboring Mali and attacking the camps.
       All of a sudden life feels incredibly fragile, and I am sobered by the fact that "timing" and "fate" and "destiny" are all in the hands of God. I do not know why those terrorists struck on october 22nd rather than on September 25th when the American delegation I was part of was there. It is one of the mysteries of God's providence I suppose.


Here is the article: Aid workers abducted in western Algeria - Africa - Al Jazeera English

A Cross Between an Artist and A Mad Scientist!

My son Steven watched Susy fire her pottery recently, and concluded that she is a cross between an artist and a mad scientist!
       You really have to be there with Susy to understand the whole thing. I went the other day to watch and just marveled and cracked up at my wife! She's amazing and hilarious, standing in the midst of trash cans in an army jacket! (see photo at right)
       Now please understand that the variety of pottery she makes is incredible, and she is doing new kinds of firing in different kilns and it's all very creative and beautiful.
       It's also really quite "right-brained," and I am quite a left-brain person. So it is a stretch for me to appreciate everything that Susy is learning and doing. But I am trying!
       If you thought that pottery might not be too action-oriented, check out the following "action" photo of Susy removing a piece of pottery from the kiln a couple of days ago. Quite the picture if you ask me. Maybe that's my artistic side coming out! (NOT)

"The dreams I have"

I woke up in the middle of the night saying these exact words: "The dreams I have are bigger than my own imagination." What that means (I think) is that they are God's dreams and vision and not mine.
       Immediately I was brought back to a vivid memory of September 16, 2001 - 10 years ago and 5 days after the 9/11 attacks. We were living in Holland and I was pastoring at Crossroads Amsterdam. September 16th was a Sunday and we were doing a sort of memorial service that day. TV crews and other media from Holland were going to be there. I was SO stressed out after an intense week.
       I woke up at 6am that day unable to sleep anymore. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. And I thought to myself, "There is NO way I can stand up in front of hundreds of people today and say anything about God and His goodness."
       I called one of our church elders, Christa (wise and wonderful person that she is!), and told her I did not think I could preach that day. She listened quietly and then said, "Then don't. Just be part of the community and worship God!" What a concept! It was a vision bigger than my own imagination!
       Then I stood up in my bedroom and looked out the window to the west. It had been very stormy all night and it was now sunrise. As I peered out of the curtains there before me was one of the most magnificent rainbows I have ever seen. And all at once I knew that God's vision was such much greater than mine.
(P.S. - I did end up preaching that day - and I do not remember a word that I said! But I remember the rainbow perfectly)

The Crazy Ones

Somehow this ad from 1997 is all the more powerful because it is Steve Jobs narrating it. Here's to eh The Crazy Ones indeed!

Muammar Gaddafi is dead ... and so???

The world awoke this morning to the news that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in Libya. He got his wish - to die on Libyan soil.
       Shots have been ringing out from automatic weapons in Libya celebrating his death.
       The man we have loved to hate for many years is dead - what a relief. A time to celebrate. Right?
       Here is what I think many of us in the West do with a person like Gaddafi, especially when he is overthrown:
* We hope that "he gets what he deserves." Clearly Gaddafi has done horrible things in his 40 years in power. Somehow we hope he is punished in death for all of his wrong-doing;
* We assume that whoever or whatever replaces the dictator will be "better," since Gaddafi was so bad. The reality is that the dictator's removal makes the region all the more unstable and some pretty bad folks can step into the political vacuum. I think Egypt is figuring out that Mubarek may not have been so bad as people thought;
* Gaddafi was such a strong icon to evil, similar to how history looks at Adolf HItler. It is quite easy to demonize these people, to put on them the blame for much of what is wrong in the Muslim world. So if we just get rid of this one bad guy things will turn around in Islam.
       What is so often missing when someone like Gaddafi is killed is sadness, and compassion. Col. Muammar Gaddafi was a human being, with a wife (or more than one), a bunch of kids and grand kids. He was a nutcase in a lot of ways and harmed many, many people. But he was also a person in need of God, of God's grace, of forgiveness. Sounds a lot like me actually. May Muammar Gaddafi "rest in peace," as my Jewish brothers would say about someone who has died.

Leadership by Neglect

This past weekend I drove from Cortland (NY) to Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. One of the images which struck me was the number of neglected and rundown barns and other structures. Upstate New York is littered with these eyesores.
       As I was looking at these buildings I began relating them to what I call "leadership by neglect." It's a bit like allowing a building to fall apart. Leaders sometimes get the attitude that it is easier to avoid issues or conflict with someone in their organization and just allow the relationship to slowly deteriorate.
       Sometimes leaders are uncertain what to do with a specific person on their team or in their congregation or organization so they simply ignore them. It's easy to do when you feel that you are busy with more pressing matters.
       I have been on both ends of "leadership by neglect." Being the leader and neglecting people has not been painful for me until someone pointed it out to me. I was fairly shocked by how hurt people felt by this sense of neglect. It was like a slow death. I am grieved by my own shortcomings as a leader that I have sometimes been neglectful of people.
       This hit home for me when I felt neglected as a part of a team/organization in recent years. It was difficult medicine to swallow - humbling, frustrating, confusing. Ultimately I have felt very sad at the lack of leadership on some people's part, but also understand it well.
       So I have renewed my focus to be an engaged leader - to be prayerful and mindful of the people who I am called to lead, to ask for feedback regularly from these people, to work on my communication in its various forms with people I am leading, and to find ways to be available to them formally and informally.

Lewis Smedes on Forgiveness

Lew Smedes has had a major impact on my life. He was a mentor from a distance, one of the most humble and gentle people I had ever encountered. I came across this 3-minute video of him talking about forgiveness. And I remembered anew why he so impacted my life.