Yesterday, as I was preparing to leave a foreign country to return home after almost two weeks away from the United States, I posted a quick entry called 10 Reasons I Love the USA. A comment to my earlier post convicted me that I needed another post. I often write tongue-in-cheek satire posts that are a reflection of some of the random thoughts that go through my mind at times. This post was one such entry.
We love to travel. Through personal travel and missionary trips I have seen many wonderful places in the world. I love discovering new culture and I believe there is much to be learned from other countries. After almost two weeks away, however, I am reminded how much I love my country.
My 18 year old son Nate is serving as an intern this Summer for Michael Bayne our family minister working primarily with middle and high school students. Recently he took it upon himself and made this video announcement to send to the students. It reminds me that the methods of communicating with our people are changing every day. Are you staying current? Does your church use Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and video messaging to stay current?
One thing that has kept us occupied the most in our culture training this week in Lithuania is the difference Soviet occupation has made on this country. People talk constantly about “Soviet times” and “during occupation”. We visited the KGB museum and saw the evidence of the stressed conditions of the people. Not one family here is unaffected by those days.
My blog friend Scott Williams has a creatively done and entertaining post/tribute on Michael Jackson. What would Michael Jackson Tweet if he Twittered?
Moses was not eloquent in speech. He did not command a great army. He was in exile from his people. He was not the most obvious choice to lead this great exodus from Egypt, but He was God’s man. And, Moses had everything God needed to complete the task!
Nate and I were commenting back and forth on Facebook. I told him I was getting up early here in Lithuania, because it is daylight from about 4 AM to 11:30 PM. Here was his comment back:
Quick question: What has happened to general common courtesies?
I am in Lithuania right now on a mission trip. This country for the most part was cut off from Western civilization for the many years of Soviet occupation/Communism. In the first few days we have been here I have heard numerous accounts of how sterile an environment the country was during those years. Apparently, however, one part of the Western world managed to find it’s way through to this culture. His name is Michael Jackson.
Cheryl and I are in Lithuania. Read other posts on this blog. Cheryl and I differ on what an email home should look like.
Perhaps the biggest culture shaper in Lithuania is the fact that for years they were under Communist rule and have only recently had the freedom to do the things they do today, such as travel, enjoy other cultures, explore the latest trends and fashions, participate in capitalism, go to church, etc. Giving someone freedom can have all kinds of crazy reactions, which we are seeing constantly, but I suspect we started to see the results on the plane ride here. Rule followers need to beware; here are a few highlights I thought were interesting from our trip here:
Recently I was in a restaurant and listened to some bickering between waitresses. One of them has worked in the restaurant industry and this particular restaurant for many years. The other waitress is in the first year of her first job. The younger employee refused to take suggestions or advice from the older employee. Although they did not handle this situation correctly in front of customers, it did remind me of an important principle.
Summer is often a time for church leaders (unless you are youth leaders) to take vacations, chill out, and rest up. While I agree with that need, the fact is that fall gets here quickly and we need to be prepared for one of the best growth opportunities of the year.
This can be a controversial principle, because it appears at first glance that an organization is strategizing to leave a group of people out of the equation, but really this strategy helps the entire organization be more successful, eventually improving things for everyone involved in the organization, even those in the last 20%. This principle assumes that in any organization:
Yesterday I posted about the need for a church to plan for the future. You can read that post HERE. In that post I shared three questions our staff worked through at our last extended staff retreat at Grace Community Church. This post has results.
