Friday, May 8, 2009

Friday, May 8, 2009

Most

Mike Gravois loaned me a DVD Tuesday morning of this week. It was called Most, which is Czech for "Bridge." The movie only lasted 33 minutes, so I showed it to my class at ETCA. At the conclusion, they were so moved, they could not respond. I was moved too, so much so, I showed it that night to the men’s Bible study group that meets in my home. I even invited my in-laws, my wife, and one of my daughters to join us. They too were touched by this movie.

I've got to tell you, this is now one of my top 10 movies of all time. In time, it may break into my top five.

The movie is based upon a story many have heard: a father who is a widower has a young son. The father works as a drawbridge operator. He and his son enjoy a close relationship. Unfortunately, the relationship is tested when both father and son attempt to prevent a catastrophe. A passenger train mistakenly heads toward a raised drawbridge. What ensues next has been talked about in churches for 40 years. (I won’t spoil the ending.)

The item I appreciate in this movie is, it continues the story past the ending of the sermon illustration. Moreover, it fleshes out characters who are riding on the train.

I first heard this story in a sermon illustration a long time ago and it made a profound impact on my life. For years I have told the story as true because, when I was in college, I had read details about it in a bulletin article that claimed it was true. The father was identified as a man named John Griffith, who lived in West Memphis, Arkansas.

This week, I investigated the story on Snopes.com. There, I learned the illustration was first shared in a short story by Dennis E. Hensley, which was published in the Michigan Baptist Bulletin in 1967. Hensley called his story "To Sacrifice a Son: An Allegory." As you might imagine, I was disappointed to read this. Then again, as Judy says, “Who Snopes Snopes.com?”
I think this movie is wonderful for our unchurched friends. It is short, only 33 minutes, and it appeals to the senses. A Czech movie, Most was nominated in 2003 for the Academy award for best live action short. It was also an official selection in the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It won numerous local film festival awards for best picture both in the United States and in Europe.

The cinematography is marvelous. The music perfectly reflects the mood. The acting is second-to-none. I must admit, I am a sucker for well-made foreign movies.

A Window into the Life of a Preaching Minister

One of the hardest facets of the preaching ministry is working with volunteers. In spite of the ideal of Christianity and of the Church, the fact is few Christians invest themselves deeply in the community of faith. I have learned through the years that inspiration trumps all other methods of motivation—including Scripture. I know most Christians do not want to hear that.
Through the years, I have found most Christians know passages of Scripture that talk about how each Christian should pursue his or her gifts and use them to minister to other believers within their local congregation. There are many reasons for this; a major one is to simply help other Christians mature in their faith. The reality, though, is that a small percentage of Christians actually do this.
Leaders can try to cajole them, threaten them, quote scripture to them, seek to scare them, and employ a host of other methods, but usually it is only inspiration and/or sparking the imagination that moves members off the pew and into service.

However, inspiration must be balanced by accountability. This is difficult. I have learned to make peace with things that lie beyond my control. I cannot make people do the right thing. The only place where I still find tension is when I work together with another congregational member in a ministry that I lead. If an individual chooses to not perform the task he or she has committed to do, and we are working together, the decision impacts the ministry in a negative way.

The difficulty for me is always this: on the one hand, I feel frustration, or even anger, that the work I'm involved in could be sabotaged. On the other hand, I do not want to do anything that could discourage another person in the faith.

Typically, I have erred on the side of patience. Recently, however, I have noted, yet again, that when I do this, not only is my work hurt, but other people’s work is hurt as well.

This reflection takes me back to my days of teaching Bible as an adjunct professor at Abilene Christian University. In January of 2001, I had the privilege of teaching a freshman Bible class at ACU. It was a large class, almost 100 students. I had taught at ACU before as a young man, fresh after receiving my bachelors degree. I was 23 years old, and had no problem relating to the students.

In contrast, in 2001, I was almost old enough to be the students’ father. I was friendly, enthusiastic, open and available, just as I was when I was 23. The problem was, I did not have the respect of the students. I found that they often talked while I was talking. I admit,I found this disconcerting. One time, I looked directly into the eyes of a student who was talking to his neighbors. He continued talk even though he saw me looking at him. I kicked him out of class.
I became very frustrated, more with myself and with the students. I felt that my personality engendered this kind of behavior. Most frustrating, I saw that their lack of respect for me hurt the weakest students in the class.

We had a sweet girl who did not have the social skills of most. Whenever one of the popular students answered a question or asked me a question, the other students would listen. Whenever this girl would make a comment, most often good comments, the class would ignore her and begin forming little clusters of discussion.

The whole experience upset me enough to where I declined to teach again for two years. I had no answer for the behavior of the students. And, I knew I did not want to experience anything like that again. In discussing my experiences with other professors, I found that in no way was this uncommon. I had the luxury of having another job, full-time, thus I did not have to teach. Moreover, the elders at the church where I was preaching at that time did not want me to make two or three trips to Abilene each week to teach.

Still, something gnawed at the pit of my stomach. I could not help but feel that I had left a job undone. Moreover, I believed that if I could construct the proper parameters in my classroom, I could teach effectively, maintain the students' respect, and help them learn about God and his Word.

Over time, I developed a syllabus that clearly communicated my expectations. I knew I would have to gain acceptance from the administration for it, and I did. Next, I had to deal with the issue of when I would teach. I proposed to the Bible Department that I would teach a three-hour night class once a week—for freshman. This would allow me to come onto the ACU campus only one day a week. My elders were happy with that arrangement. In the fall, I would teach Acts-Revelation. In the spring, my course offering would be the life and teachings of Jesus. Teaching a freshman Bible class one night a week was rare. Perhaps, it had not occurred before. Thankfully, I received permission.

When my first class met on Tuesday night, in the fall of 2003, I had 13 students. Even though this was a small group, I took no chances. I told them we would have the highest expectations. They were free to miss one class. After that, they would lose a letter grade for each class they missed. Miss one class, you could still get an –A. Miss two classes, you could still get a –B, and so on.

In terms of class conduct, I had one rule--do nothing to disrupt the class. I would be the sole evaluator of that process. Furthermore, I gave a grade for attitude and class participation. It was worth 15% -- 2 letter grades. This gave me plenty of leverage to hold the students accountable.

The first night of class, I gave the students a chance to covenant with me the grade they intended to pursue. I let them know how many classes they would have to attend and what their grades would have to be on each item in order to achieve their commitment. The next week, we would covenant together the grades they were to pursue.

Finally, I told the students on the first night of class that if they had any desire whatsoever to pursue another course, to by all means feel empowered to leave. This was the time to make that decision. I assured them we had the rest of our lives to be friends, but for the next four months what I would insist upon was their respect.

What I found was I had the freedom to be myself and to never have to worry about becoming angry or frustrated with a student. The students would choose their behavior, I would simply give them the grade upon which we had previously agreed.

I think the students were pleased as well. Ultimately, I had an enormous amount of students receive A’s and B’s. So much so, I became concerned that the administration would feel that I was being too easy on the students. (This was not the case.) Moreover, I averaged less than one student a semester failing a class.

Typically, a few students would drop out of my class after the first night. Still, as word spread, the class grew each semester. The next semester I had around 30 students. By the time I left Abilene, I was having 60 to 70 students each semester. I found, particularly gratifying, the fact that a number of students came from different cultures, many through the years were unchurched, and a number of the students were athletes.

Ultimately, in my pursuit of maintaining the respect of my students, I found I did not sacrifice their affection. To this day, I use a brand of cologne I had not heard of until a group students gave it to me as a “last-day gift.” My children and I enjoy the Three Stooges videotapes and DVDs that my students gave me because they knew that I liked the Three Stooges. I was first introduced to Donald Miller by a student who gave me the book, Blue Like Jazz.

I have written this novel about my experience in the classroom to say that I have reached a point in my church ministry where I have frankly said, “Enough." With the full blessing of our staff and our elders, I have decided that anytime I engage in relationship with someone involved in my ministry, I will have in writing a covenant of understanding. Before we begin, the individual (or individuals) will understand clearly my expectations for them in the work that we will do together.

They will understand that I will hold them accountable. And I will understand that if they do not demonstrate in their behavior and commitment honor to the kingdom, they will, in effect, be removing themselves from that ministry. We will still be friends, I will hold no malice in my heart, and I will still want them to be a part of this church. In this avenue of our journey, however, they will no longer walk with me.

I suspect I will discover more people than I ever dreamed who will assist me in creating very valuable ministries-- for the kingdom.


Five things I think I think (a tip of the hat to Peter King for this idea)

1. Haleigh and I watched A Few Good Men last night. Probably the third or fourth time I have seen it. It had been long enough though that I thoroughly enjoyed it yet again. You had your, for that time, stereotypical Bible belt, Southern, bigoted Christian whose faith was the source of many problems on a Marine base. There were other aspects that I did not agree with as well. And, the final scene is probably considered over-the-top by some. Still, it was great fun.

2. I am a sucker for LBJ. My dad didn’t like him, but I find him immensely entertaining. I listened yet agai to the audio version of Taking Charge. During his presidency, Lyndon Johnson secretly taped all of his telephone and oval office conversations. Now, years later, you eavesdrop on history as LBJ talks with Jacqueline Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, RFK and many more. Johnson comes across as a character worthy of Shakespeare. He is both earthy and eloquent, at once dynamic and tragic. No matter how many times I listen, I find myself fascinated.

3. I finished the book UnChristian. I will probably say more about it next week. I definitely found it thought provoking as the authors’ from the Barna group shared the thoughts of those who are between the ages of 16-29. Through extensive research, the writers quantified the perceptions of this age group (Mosaics and Young Busters.) Basically, their perceptions can be summed up in the word “unchristian.” Those who fall between the ages of 16-29 perceive us to fall woefully short of the ideals that we espouse. I shared some of this information with my church last Sunday night, and I will offer more this week.

4. I haven’t watched American Idol in weeks. I am rooting for Danny Gokey though. Maybe I can see the last episode.

5. I suspect by this time next week members of the Dallas Mavericks will be embarking on their summer vacations. I must confess that they surpassed my expectations for the season. Granted, those expectations were low.

It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming

Sunday morning I am beginning a new series that I'm calling "You Are…." I want to look at some of the positive aspects of our existence and the ways God has blessed us. I hope to offer encouragement to our members. The first passage that I will look at will be for Mother's Day Sunday, and it will be from Psalm 139.

I still get a kick out of this passage. I have a note in my files, from a sermon that Rick Atchley preached almost thirty years ago, where I wrote down several points from this passage. Through the years, I have adapted them for my own use. I will use those this Sunday, distilling them into four points.

Psalm 139 excites me because it tells me that God knows me (verses 1-6). Today, so many know me by my Social Security number, my username, or my password. God knows me by name. I am “Mark” to him. This fact gives me great comfort.

Second, I know that I am not alone (7-12.) I hated being alone growing up. I still don't like it when my family is gone. However, the older I get, the more I realize the value in having times when no other human is around me. The reason is, God is there. And, if I capitalize on the opportunities, I can grow closer to my God. Therefore, I need never be lonely.

Third, Psalm 139 excites me because it tells me God made me how he wants me (13-15.) I know this sounds simplistic, and if you’ve got the time, I will be more than happy to debate it, but I feel God is big enough to handle that statement. I'm beginning my sermon Sunday morning with the Dove commercial I told you about last week. (Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U). It is a commentary on our view of beauty in this culture. God knit all of us in our mother's womb. We should find peace in that truth.

Finally, God has a purpose for me (16.) God knits me for a reason and it wasn't the fulfillment of my ego. He has a greater objective for my life. And I have the exciting opportunity to seek it.
Life's pretty neat when viewed from God's perspective.

Have a great weekend!

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