Battle of Gettysburg 75th Anniversary

"Church planting includes an obligation...."

Church planting efforts need to distinguish between the dispensable and the indispensable issues. No longer should church planting efforts focus on creating replicas of the church body back home or on that entity which sponsors the project. Take South Africa, for example: large buildings and the use of pipe organs and brass instruments are indicative of foreign missionary import among the Zulu and the Tswana people. The lack of funds and skills needed to repair peripherals once the majority of missionaries had returned to their home countries have left such structures and instruments dilapidated and in disuse. What is indispensable, however, is the community raised on essential elements of the Christian faith. Church planting includes an obligation to the proclamation and teaching of all essential elements of the Lutheran faith as found in Scripture and as they are expounded in the Confessions.

Detlev Schulz, "The Mission of the Cross: The Lutheran Theology of Mission" p. 207.

The Mission "Barricade"

Particularly in the context of a dominant heathen culture, the Sacraments ultimately serve as a barricade against the perpetual onslaught of non-Christian elements on the believers. The gifts that began to shape the life of the community in Baptism continue to strengthen the fellowship through the Sacrament of the Altar. The Church is a sacramental community living in alien and hostile situations and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper affirms her as that. the Church of Christ thus lives in and from the Sacraments. The missiologist Walter Freytag observes correctly: "A church without the Sacraments will die."

Klaus Detlev Schulz, Mission from the Cross: The Lutheran Theology of Mission (CPH 2009)

The Right View of Missions - With Joy! Pfotenhauer

God grant that we not think that we can solve the many problems that we see in our midst by forcing all sorts of activity [Werktreiberei]. That won’t do it. Good pious works never make a good pious man. Rather, a good pious man does good pious works. Evil works never make a man evil; rather, an evil man produces evil works. The more faith in Jesus Christ grows, the more lively faith recognizes the love of God in Christ, all the richer will be the harvest of faith in every sort of good work, also precisely in the great works that our Synod performs. You will grow in zeal for the preparation and sending of preachers and teachers and be seized by the right view of missions, so that you do not go about the work downcast but with joy. We see what the right view of mission is where the apostles Peter and John say to the Sanhedrin, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

May you, dear brothers, presidents, visitors and members of commissions, have the same mind that St. Paul had concerning the congregation at Colossae in all those duties that are entrusted to you. He wrote to you in chapter 1:9–15:

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."

And now, venerable brothers, the “God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal testament, our Lord Jesus, make you ready in every good work, to do His will, and work in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever! Amen.”

Pfotenhaer, "The Revitalization of Synod..." in At Home in the House of My Fathers.

"Lutheran Missions MUST Lead to Lutheran Churches"

The following statement is the most significant and necessarily applicable theological assertion requisite for Lutheran missions today. It is the introduction of an essay written by F.W. Hopf (1910-1982), who was then serving as the Director of our German sister church’s Bleckmar mission, which was instrumental in founding our South African partner church, The Lutheran Church of South Africa. Missions is primarily the task of the church, and not merely that of mission societies. And far and away the number ONE priority of Lutheran missions must be the founding of Lutheran churches at home and overseas. Every penny spent on missions must be evaluated on the basis of this goal and these few theses. The question must be asked of every single mission endeavor: Is a solid Lutheran church body/congregation being founded? What is the plan to that end? How does this effort lead to that goal?

The issue begs a longer treatment, and full translation of Hopf’s essay, “Lutherische Kirche treibt Lutherische Mission,” in a book by Hopf of the same title (1967).

Hopf had been a student of Hermann Sasse, and a pastor in the Bavarian State Church. When that church de facto set aside the Formula of Concord and joined the EKiD (the conglomorate of formerly Lutheran, Reformed and Union churches in Germany, which has as of this year formaly rejected the Augsburg Confession as its fundamental statement of faith), Hopf refused to acknowledge this move because it contradicted the Formula of Concord. He was consequently defrocked by the state church and joined the free church (today The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in German - SELK).

Matt Harrison

Two programmatic theses stand at the beginning of the path trodden by the fathers of the Bleckmar mission when they separated from the Hermannsburg mission. As early as June 18, 1889 on the occasion of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Hanover, after some discussion, and with the general consent of the synod, Pastor Heinrich Wilhelm Gerhold in Verden formulated the thesis: "The Lutheran church is advanced [getrieben werden] only by Lutheran Mission. And Lutheran missions can only be carried out by a Lutheran Church . The decisions which came later were only consistent steps on a path solidly established between these two theses. This is also the case with regard to a third thesis, added in 1953 to the mission paradigm [Programm] of the fathers: "Lutheran mission must lead to Lutheran Churches."

Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf

The Origin of "Taps"

"Transparency means letting go of command-and-control methods." Senske

"For a leader to make everyone a leader, he or she must continually strive to create "transparency" within the organizational culture. Transparency means letting go of command-and-control methods, creating instead an atmosphere of openness and trust. It means creating a culture and opportunity for all voices within the organization to be heard. It also means sharing all relevant information with customers, employees, and shareholders, so that everyone connected with the organization is enabled to make good, informed decisions. There are all key aspects of being a servant-leader.

I work with the philosophy that there are no organizational secrets, and that everyone should have access to and understand our financial data and goals.

Kurt Senske, Executive Values, p. 22

... while we own the mystery.

Luther: Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved (1526)

For the very fact that the sword has been instituted by God to punish the evil, protect the good, and preserve peace [Rom. 13:1–4; I Pet. 2:13–14] is powerful and sufficient proof that war and killing along with all the things that accompany wartime and martial law have been instituted by God. What else is war but the punishment of wrong and evil? Why does anyone go to war, except because he desires peace and obedience?

Now slaying and robbing do not seem to be works of love. A simple man therefore does not think it is a Christian thing to do. In truth, however, even this is a work of love. For example, a good doctor sometimes finds so serious and terrible a sickness that he must amputate or destroy a hand, foot, ear, eye, to save the body. Looking at it from the point of view of the organ that he amputates, he appears to be a cruel and merciless man; but looking at it from the point of view of the body, which the doctor wants to save, he is a fine and true man and does a good and Christian work, as far as the work itself is concerned. In the same way, when I think of a soldier fulfilling his office by punishing the wicked, killing the wicked, and creating so much misery, it seems an un-Christian work completely contrary to Christian love. But when I think of how it protects the good and keeps and preserves wife and child, house and farm, property, and honor and peace, then I see how precious and godly this work is; and I observe that it amputates a leg or a hand, so that the whole body may not perish. For if the sword were not on guard to preserve peace, everything in the world would be ruined because of lack of peace. Therefore, such a war is only a very brief lack of peace that prevents an everlasting and immeasurable lack of peace, a small misfortune that prevents a great misfortune.

What men write about war, saying that it is a great plague, is all true. But they should also consider how great the plague is that war prevents. If people were good and wanted to keep peace, war would be the greatest plague on earth. But what are you going to do about the fact that people will not keep the peace, but rob, steal, kill, outrage women and children, and take away property and honor? The small lack of peace called war or the sword must set a limit to this universal, worldwide lack of peace which would destroy everyone.

This is why God honors the sword so highly that he says that he himself has instituted it [Rom. 13:1] and does not want men to say or think that they have invented it or instituted it. For the hand that wields this sword and kills with it is not man’s hand, but God’s; and it is not man, but God, who hangs, tortures, beheads, kills, and fights. All these are God’s works and judgments.

To sum it up, we must, in thinking about a soldier’s office, not concentrate on the killing, burning, striking, hitting, seizing, etc. This is what children with their limited and restricted vision see when they regard a doctor as a sawbones who amputates, but do not see that he does this only to save the whole body. So, too, we must look at the office of the soldier, or the sword, with the eyes of an adult and see why this office slays and acts so cruelly. Then it will prove itself to be an office which, in itself, is godly and as needful and useful to the world as eating and drinking or any other work.

LW 46

No reason not to have fun at work - and that includes the church

There is absolutely no reason that people should not have fun at work. Happy, motivated employees produce outstanding results. Management guro Oren Harari notes the connection "between smiles and discipline, laughs and focus, giggles and results, heehaw and high performance. They are the same road." A leader's attitude sets the tone for the entire organization and plays an important role in determining whether employees enjoy their jobs and are productive at work.

When I took over as CEO of a large social-service organization, morale was low. Funding cutbacks, program closures, staff layoffs, and a lack of a vision had all taken their toll. A by-product of this organizational malaise was that no one, including myself, was having much fun. Among our first priorities was to adopt an "unofficial" mission statement - Work hard, have fun, get results. We then communicated the message: Yes, we are going to have to work long hours in order to turn our organization around; yes, results and accountability matter; and, yes, you are expected to accomplish your stated objectives or you will be asked to leave (and a few were asked). The message as blunt, but underlying it was the general understanding that life is too short not to have fun. We came to understand that working together to create a renewed organization that has a clear purpose and that makes a difference in peoples' lives is exciting and fun. Only one of our ten senior managers had trouble with the notion that you could have fun with those that reported to you, and still be an effective manager. This person left after a year, which proved best for all involved.

Kurt Senske, Executive Values: A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership, pp. 53-54.

An aside: Kurt was the board chair through more than half of my tenure as Executive of LCMS World Relief and Human Care.

He was about to jump...

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about the jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well... are you religious?"

He said yes.

I said, "Me too! See? We've got lots in common already, so let's talk this thing through. Are you a Christian or a Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God!"

"Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God!"

"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

I said, "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein, "Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes) to Explore Life, Death, The Afterlife, And Everything In Between," p. 21.

Kathy's Roses at 8:26 a.m. Today

Hypocrites!

Once a man said to me, “Pastor, I wouldn’t join that church of yours for anything. They’re all a bunch of hypocrites!” I responded, “True. And there’s always room for one more.”

A Little Book on Joy

Brigitte is Blogging Her Way Through "Christ Have Mercy: How to Put Your Faith in Action"

Find Brigitte's Blog HERE.

"Be merry, then, both inwardly in Christ himself and outwardly in his gifts and the good things of life." Luther

You Grace has Master Nicholas Hausmann and many others near at hand. Be merry with them; for gladness and good cheer, when decent and proper, are the best medicine for a young person - indeed, for all people. I myself, who have spent a good part of my life in sorrow and gloom, now seek and find pleasure wherever I can. Praise God, we now have sufficient understanding [of the Word of God] to be able to rejoice with a good conscience and to use God's gifts with thanksgiving, for he created them for this purpose and is pleased when we use them.

If I am mistaken in my judgment and have done Your Grace an injustice, I hope that Your Grace will be good enough to forgive me. But it is my opinion that Your Grace is reluctant to be merry, as if this were sinful. This has often been my case, and sometimes it still is. To be sure, to have pleasure in sins is of the devil, but participation in proper and honorable pleasures with good and God-fearing people is pleasing to God, even if one may at times carry playfulness too far.

Be merry, then, both inwardly in Christ himself and outwardly in his gifts and the good things of life. He will have it so. It is for this that he is with us. It is for this that he provides his gifts - that we may use them and be glad, and that we may praise, love, and thank him forever and ever.

Old age and other circumstances will in time render present depression and melancholy superfluous. Christ cares for us and will not forsake us. To his keeping I commit Your Grace forever. Amen.

Your Grace's willing [servant],

Martin Luther, Doctor.

The eve of Pentecost in the year 1543

Luther's Letters of Spiritual Counsel, p. 93. "To Prince Joachim of Anhalt."

"What have I learned from others today?" Kurt Senske

Another aspect that is critical to effective leadership is the importance of making everyone in the organization a leader. Jack Welch, long-time CEO of General Electric, observed that it is usually the person doing the actual work who knows the right answer. He commented that it was "embarrassing to reflect that for probably eighty or ninety years, we've been dictating equipment needs and managing people who know how to do things much better and faster than we did." The fact is, however, that few organizations have workforces that truly participate in management decisions. Given the overwhelming data that this practice produces better results, it is surprising that so few companies do it. A Christ-based leader who makes everyone a leader must take the attitude that he or she does not have all of the answers and that "ordinary" workers should not only be listened to, but given pertinent, understandable information about company policies and finances that influence their work. Some CEOs fear that adopting this philosophy will be perceived by some as giving up power. The reality, however, is that by such practice one does not give up power, but wisely apportions it. The key, in Welch's words, is "to have the right people solving problems, no matter where they are located geographically or hierarchically." As Christians, we should intuitively understand that every employee has value and purpose. The Apostle Paul says, "In humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Phil. 2:3-4). I remind myself of this every day by reading a note, taped permanently to my desk, that asks, "What have I learned from others today?"

Kurt Senske, Executive Values - A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership (Augsburg 2003), pp. 20-21.

"Doing the right thing requires, simply, acting with integrity." Senske

You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.

---- Boris Yeltsin

Following the Golden Rule of Leadership means simply to put in tor practice the axiom that became the title and them of a Spike Lee move, Do the Right Thing. This is not only biblically man dated, it is also in the best interest of an organization. This mandate, however, runs counter to the ever-growing economic pressure to emphasize short-term success at the expense of ethical behavior and long-term value. Organizations and their leaders often feel they have no choice but to cut corners, sell a product to someone who does not really need it, use cheaper materials, get by with an insufficient number of employees, or use various accounting tricks as part of a convoluted smoke-and-mirrors strategy.

Still, history has show that doing the right thing is the only strategy that will create truly long-term value. Doing the right thing requires, simply, acting with integrity. To act with

integrity, says Stephen Carter, we must first discern what is right and what is wrong in a given situation. Next, we must act on what we have discerned, even if there is a personal cost involved. Finally, we must acknowledge openly that we are acting on the basis of our understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

Kurt Senske, Executive Values - A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership (2003)

Why I'm Optimistic

A LIttle Book on Joy

Chapter 20

Joy - Anchor to the Future

Matthew C. Harrison

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. Isaiah 26:19

A young boy peered skyward at the one-hundred-foot obelisk—one hand shielding his eyes from the afternoon prairie summer sun, the other clutching the handlebar of his well-worn bicycle. His mother wouldn’t appreciate his being so many blocks from home at his age. But it wouldn’t be the first time (or the last) that he wouldn’t tell her exactly where he’d peddled to that day. She need not worry. It was a different era, a time of innocence fading, but innocent enough still. The turmoil of the world over Vietnam, Richard Nixon, or the breakup of the Beatles barely touched his little world. The bluff on the edge of the Loess Hills afforded a view miles west over Nebraska. South Dakota was visible to the north. The mighty Missouri—channeled narrowly below with logs and debris, boiling undercurrent, and whirlpools (like the confluence of his French, Irish, German and Czech forbears)—flowed like time itself. It might as well have been the very edge of the earth. One hundred and sixty-five years earlier, it had been.

The monument, the first National Monument of the United States, was finished in 1901, some ninety years after the death of the man it commemorated. The expedition commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Purchase had encamped a thousand yards up river from this very place. Sergeant Charles Floyd fell ill with “bilious cholic” (appendicitis) on August 19, 1804. At the last, the fine young sergeant, born in Kentucky around 1782, told Clark, “I am going away.” He died—the first U.S. Soldier to die west of the Mississippi—just after 2:00 p.m. on the twentieth. Clark read the funeral liturgy and recorded in his journal, “We buried him on the top of the bluff a mile below a small river to which we gave his name. He was buried with the Honors of War, much lamented.” The grave was located with some difficulty one Memorial Day some ninety years later. The remains were placed in two earthen jars and interred at the base of the monument.

On that August afternoon in 1804, another man looked on with some trepidation over the journey ahead into the unknown. John Shields, who at 34 was the oldest member of the expedition and had been specifically chosen for the journey by Clark, was praised as one of “the best young woodsmen and hunters” and for his “ingenuity” as a gunsmith and more. He is most famous for the iron axe heads he forged to trade for corn while the party was camped in the dead of winter and at the mercy of the Mandan Sioux. Miraculously, Sergeant Floyd’s was the only death on the journey.

After the expedition, Shields reportedly trapped with his kinsman Daniel Boone in present-day Missouri. It is not certain what he did with his land warrant [as a reward for his service] to 320 acres in Franklin County, Missouri . . . John and Nancy Shields followed another Boone, Daniel’s brother, Squire, to the area of Corydon in Harrison County, Indiana Territory, settling there in 1807 [Larry E. Morris, The Fate of the Corps (Yale, 2004), 80–81].

As a boy—as oblivious to the monument’s significance as I was to the wide world beyond Sioux City, Iowa—I hadn’t the slightest idea that John Shields was the brother of my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Richard Shields. Nor would I have cared. I haven’t quite put my finger on just why this history should matter to me at life’s midpoint, but it does. Slowly, like many other things, it has become for me a piece of the puzzle of this life, put in its place; the puzzle of who I am, how I came to be, where I came to be. Suddenly I realized that the fabric of a family I’d so taken for granted, and in my worse moments wanted to forget, was woven tightly into the tapestry of America far earlier and more significantly than I had imagined. It is a source of joy—First Article creation joy, to be sure, but joy nonetheless. I am connected to the past in a way that is meaningful to me, and because that is so—and this is somewhat hard to explain—I feel as though I can stand against the future, stand into the future, even lean into it, dash into it with courage. “I study the past, but I live for the future” (Ronald Reagan). I have an anchor, but it doesn’t hold me back. It pulls me into the future.

The secret of living a good news life in a bad news world is Jesus Christ, our eternal anchor—drawing us forward to the future, to an eternity in heaven. The foundational message of joy in the New Testament, as old as Easter itself, is the Gospel truth that, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” (Luke 24:34). Christ is no anchor like the device sailors dragged through the stormy Mediterranean to slow their drift, “fearing that they would run aground ” (Acts 27:17). Christ is no defensive device to slow the catastrophes of life. Faith is no defensive tactic to blunt the hard blows of reality. In fact, Christians have lives full of accelerated pain and difficulty, with heightened sensitivity to the cold, hard fact of sin. All of this only drives us forward to Jesus. Christ is drawing us through life, through trial and cross to be sure, but drawing us purposefully toward eternity. He does not pull us back. He draws us forward, through it all, toward himself. That’s reassuring because sin, death, and the devil throw at us “no small tempest” (Acts 27:20). Our outlook on life is optimistic because we know that the mystery of his eternal purpose has been accomplished in the cross and empty tomb and will be fulfilled in our lives, especially when, as members of his body, our afflictions will somehow mysteriously “share in” and “fulfill” his suffering (Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 4:13). So we lean into life, we press forward, we live in view of eternity. We dare to live purposefully, and . . . joyously.

The New Testament repeatedly asserts that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ accomplished all that needed to be accomplished. There is nothing left for us to do. We only receive what has been accomplished, by faith. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Paul’s teaching regarding baptism is astonishing. Baptism connects us to Jesus so that his death for sin is ours, and his resurrection is ours too (Romans 6:1ff.; 1 Peter 1:3; Titus 3:5). Baptism brings us the joy of the resurrection—Christ’s and ours.

Luther has a delightful explanation of what it means that Jesus is the “first fruits of them that sleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Therefore death has already been deprived of his power, and he has but few more people left to slaughter; for almost all have already passed through death, and the time is near at hand when God will present us all alive again and cast death and hell under our feet. In short, our head, yes, our back and our belly, our shoulders and legs have already passed from death, and all the hold death still has on us is by a small toe. This, too, will extricate itself soon. Therefore we who have now reached the end of the world have the defiant comfort that it will be but a little while, that we are on our last lap, and before we are aware of it, we shall all stand at Christ’s side and live with him eternally (Luther’s Works, 28:120).

What then of suffering? It is as purposeful as the very cross of Jesus, as intentional as the suffering he endured, salutary for us like the suffering and death of Jesus, whom we come to know and own firmly in trials, and in no other way (2 Corinthians 11:30). The only way we “may know him and the power of his resurrection” is to “share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10). “Without the resurrection, the cross would be a cause for despair. Without the cross, the resurrection would be an escape from reality” [ James Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Eerdmans, 1998), 235]. In Christ I do not despair, nor do I escape from reality. I am captive to the future because Jesus has a future. I am captive to joy—my anchor to the future. That’s worth A Little Book on Joy.

“I am overflowing with joy” (2 Corinthians 7:4).

Matt Harrison

"IT'S TIME for the Missouri Synod to be missionally doctrinal and doctrinally missional."

Mission and Mercy: It’s Time!

“The Peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.”

Our fathers in the faith appreciated what they had because they realized what they might lose. Do we? Take me to task. Disagree. Come up with something better.

Call me crazy, but I’m actually rather optimistic. The church will live on, hidden under the cross (tectum sub cruce), come what may. But let’s dare to try something different! It’s time for the Missouri Synod to be missionally doctrinal and doctrinally missional. And I think the vast majority—perhaps even a good 90%—of the Synod would agree. It’s time to come together and get to work.

Would that we were as concerned to keep the ship’s crew together as a man named Paul once was on a rough journey at sea. “And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved’” (Acts 27:30).

It’s time for us to be united in doctrine and mission, doctrine for mission in order “to seek and save the lost.” It’s time to be about mission and mercy. It is time to tend the fellowship (koinonia) we have been given in Christ, and to care for one another. Christ is with us, and the world is before us. It’s time to face the real problem and to address it once and for all. “Let’s go!” (Mark 1:38). It’s time!

“Hence it is up to you to dare something in this matter, since you see that time and the Word of God demand this.” Martin Luther

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time . . .” Ephesians 5:16

www.itistime.org

"It's Time" Audio

About a year and a half ago I wrote a document on what troubles the Missouri Synod and how to solve the problem. I'm more convinced than ever that what was written then, applies now. Find the audio version HERE.

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Komm Heiliger Geist!

It does not depend on us.

"Furthermore, this cause does not depend just on us, but there are many devout Christian people in other lands who make common cause with us and uphold us with heartfelt sighs and Christian prayer."  Martin Luther, AE 43, 172. 

How Has LCMS World Relief Thrived? Good to Great

Fifteen years ago, if someone would have told me that I'd be interspersing my studies of the Greek New Testament, Luther, translating Martin Chemnitz and the early Missouri Synod fathers, with the reading books on why and how organizations thrive and fail, I would have looked askance at my emerging self. Hey, I STILL study my New Testament, still read and translate heaps of theology, but I've come to realize that understanding and application of wise principals and strategies of leadership and organization are vital for the health of the church and her many organizations, entities and operations.

Why has LCMS World Relief and Human Care continued to thrive (despite my many weaknesses and failings) through thick and thin over the past decade? Divine blessing! Much of that blessing has been fantastic staff (people; see Collins' "Stage 1: Disciplined People" below). Part of that blessing has been the recognition of the truth and applicability of the work and thought of Jim Collins, particularly the books below. In "Christ Have Mercy: How to Put Your Faith in Action" I applied Collin's learnings from "Good to Great for the Social Sectors" to the work of mercy in the church. Most recently I've been reading "How the Mighty Fall" and am noting numerous applicable facts. Note this by Collins:

"When the rhetoric of success ("We're successful because we do these specific things") replaces penetrating understanding and insight ("We're successful because we UNDERSTAND WHY we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work") decline will very likely follow. Luck and chance play a role in many successful outcomes, and those who fail to acknowledge the role luck may have played in their success - and thereby overestimate their own merit and capabilities - have succumbed to hubris." (p. 21)

"What" replaces "Why": The rhetoric of success ("We're successful because we do these specific things") replaces understanding and insight ("We're successful because we undserstand WHY we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work"). (p. 43).

For us, THEOLOGY (i.e. Christ) is the driving WHY of it all! Of course I recognize clearly that Collin's "luck and chance" are rather God's timing unfolding opportunity at a given moment. At LCMS World Relief, we first defined the "WHY" in "A Theology for Mercy", and all the flexible "WHAT" fell into place.

I have provided a theological and practical critique of why the Missouri Synod is struggling so terribly as an institution in "It Is Time". I am also convinced that Collins' fairly new book, "How The Mighty Fall And Why Come Companies Never Give In" (2009), is in some large measure applicable to the national Synod.

There is much to learn from Collins. The Word of God ALWAYS trumps the social disciplines TO BE SURE, but as Lutherans we believe it the First Article (creation) and that the study of how and why organizations fail or thrive, is a worthwhile study also for the church and her institutions, which must daily function in both the kingdom of the right, and the kingdom of the left.

For all of Jim Collins' material, click HERE. At a minimum, EVERY pastor and leader in the church ought read Collins' brief "Good to Great for the Social Sectors." There Collins asserts that it is NOT that non-profits should become more like businesses. NO! Non-profits must pursue EXCELLENCE at their core endeavors, carefully, simply and clearly defined.

Matt Harrison

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In How the Mighty Fall presents the well-founded hope that leaders can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course – in part by understanding the five step-wise stages of decline uncovered in the four year research project behind the book. Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. Anyone can fall, and most eventually do. But decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.

Good to Great This book addresses a single question: Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? Based on a five year research project comparing teams that made a leap to those that did not, Good to Great shows that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance; but largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline. This book discusses concepts like Level 5 Leadership, First Who (first get the right people on the bus, then figure out where to drive it), and the Flywheel. Good to Great and the Social Sectors This monograph sprang from the realization that the Good to Great concepts have use far beyond business - in government, non-profits, schools, and just about everywhere else. The monograph rejects the idea that the social sectors should operate more like business and shows how theGood to Great concepts can be successfully adapted to worlds in which success is not measured in economic terms.

GOOD TO GREATTM CONCEPT SUMMARY

Our research shows that building a great organization proceeds in four basic stages; each stage consists of two fundamental principles:

STAGE 1: DISCIPLINED PEOPLE

Level 5 Leadership. Level 5 leaders are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work—not them- selves—and they have the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition. A Level 5 leader displays a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

First Who ... Then What. Those who build great organizations make sure they have the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the key seats before they figure out where to drive the bus. They always think first about “who” and then about what.

STAGE 2: DISCIPLINED THOUGHT

Confront the Brutal Facts—the Stockdale Paradox. Retain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND AT THE SAME TIME have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

The Hedgehog Concept. Greatness comes about by a series of good decisions consistent with a simple, coherent concept—a “Hedgehog Concept.” The Hedgehog Concept is an operating model that reflects understanding of three intersecting circles: what you can be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what best drives your economic or resource engine.

STAGE 3: DISCIPLINED ACTION

Culture of Discipline. Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action—operating with freedom within a framework of responsibilities—this is the cornerstone of a culture that creates greatness. In a culture of discipline, people do not have “jobs;” they have responsibilities.

The Flywheel. In building greatness, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.

STAGE 4: BUILDING GREATNESS TO LAST

Clock Building, Not Time Telling. Build an organization that can adapt through multiple generations of leaders; the exact opposite of being built around a single great leader, great idea or specific program. Build catalytic mechanisms to stimulate progress, rather than acting as a charismatic force of personality to drive progress.

Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress. Adherence to core values combined with a willingness to challenge and change everything except those core values—keeping clear the distinction between “what we stand for” (which should never change) and “how we do things” (which should never stop changing). Great companies have a purpose—a reason for being—that goes far beyond just making money, and they translate this purpose into BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) to stimulate progress.

Will Allen's "Good Food Revolution"

This is fantastic. Farming in the City. The "Good Food Revolution."

Pastor H.

"People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.” Thomas Sowell

"Humor is the shock absorber of life. It helps us take the blows." Peggy Noonan

"Force responsibility down and out"

Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.

Don Rumsfeld

"A lot of us have jobs where we need to give people structure but that is different from controlling"

Keith Miller

Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor. Hi neighbor!

I'm looking at Good Will for a zipper sweater like that.... I think I have the slippers already. MH

“Ten rules for getting rid of the blues: Go out and do something for someone else - repeat it nine times”

Are Christians ALWAYS bubbling with Joy?

It should give you the greatest comfort and joy that the Bible is filled not only with evidence of joy, but also of times of no joy. And that does not mean the Holy Spirit is absent...

Jesus is the very offspring or fruit of the Holy Spirit. He is God the Son, filled with the Spirit of God by nature. The Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove to begin his public ministry. “This is my Son whom I love!” the Father spoke from heaven (Matthew 3:17). He lived a full and human life, with the range of human thoughts, feelings and emotion, but all without sin. We have them all too, yet with sin. But that doesn’t mean that the feelings we have—so far as Jesus himself had them—are nec- essarily sinful in and of themselves. Thus it’s by no means sinful not to feel joy in life “out of season.”

As a baby, Jesus cried and was hungry. Later he was tempted (Matthew 4:1). He was tired (Mark 6:31). He wept ( John 11:35). He was angry (Matthew 21:12; 23:1ff.). He was frustrated with his disciples on many occasions (Matthew 16:23; 17:17). He was deeply “troubled” (Mark 14:33). He was “annoyed” that little children were prevented from seeing him (Mark 10:14). He mourned and felt compassion (Luke 7:13). He was sad and mourned when Johnthe Baptizer was murdered (Matthew 14:13). He was

disappointed by nine lepers who failed to return (Luke 17:17). He felt dishonor and pain over his own family (Matthew 13:57). He felt rejection (Matthew 21:42). He anguished over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37). He had angst over people seeking his death (Matthew 26:1ff.). He experienced betrayal (Matthew 26:24). He was sorrowful “even to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). He felt disappointment (Matthew. 26:40ff.). He felt deserted (Matthew 26:56). He felt indignant over false accusations (Matthew 26:57ff.). He felt pain (Matthew 26:67). He felt sorrow over ridicule and insult (Matthew 27:29). He felt the abandonment of the Father (Matthew 27:46). He felt death (Matthew 27:50).

Some old Lutheran theologians defined joy as an affect or emotion; a sort of happiness over a past event remembered, a present happy reality experienced, or a future happiness expected. Jesus looked to the Word of God regarding the future, and it sustained him in the joyless present. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1–2). Moments such as the Transfiguration or his bap- tism—“This is my beloved Son!”—were joyous past events, were remembered by Jesus (and actually grabbed hold of him!) during the joyless times. And these events are the same for us because in our baptism the Lord speaks the same Word to us: Beloved!

One must read all of Psalm 22 to comprehend what Jesus was thinking on the cross. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” was spoken in the pit of joyless hell, abandonment by God. And yet in the misery, the future joy of what he had done was con- templated and believed, though hardly experienced. “They

shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this” (Psalm 22:31).

It gives me the greatest joy to know that Christians, while filled with the Holy Spirit, are not always filled with the greatest joy, or joy at all. Far from it. The joy of the Spirit is often a “joy set before.” That’s the secret to living a good news life in a bad news world.

Matthew Harrison, A Little Book on Joy