Author Archives: Joe

When the cheering stops and it’s all over, what then?

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Some years back Gene Smith wrote a book about the final years of Woodrow Wilson with the intriguing title, When the Cheering Stopped.

At the end of the First World War, Wilson was the most popular man on the planet. When his presidential entourage traveled to Europe for the Versailles Conference, crowds acclaimed him everywhere. He was hotter than the Beatles or Elvis ever were. That enthusiasm lasted about a year.

Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke on October 3, 1919, and was incapacitated for the remaining five years of his life. His party lost in the 1920 elections. And Congress refused to ratify membership in the League of Nations, a cause dear to Wilson’s heart.

His star had ascended and flared brightly, then had burned out and fallen to the earth. One wonders what Mr. Wilson thought about during all those months in which his mind was working but little else. He had much to regret and surely must have suffered great remorse.

The Second World War, it has often been noted, resulted from the botched up job the Allies did at Versailles and over the next few years.

The question for us here is “What does a leader do when he comes to the end, hands the reins to his successor, and leaves the field? When he/she looks back and thinks of the mistakes made, the people hurt, the jobs left undone, how does one handle this?”

Sean Payton, the Super-Bowl-winning coach of the New Orleans Saints football team and now coach of the Denver football team, had something to say on this.  His book  Home Team: Coaching the Saints and New Orleans Back to Life presented Payton’s take on rebuilding his team and recapturing the hearts of the WhoDat Nation after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The problem Coach Payton faced in the days leading up to the big game was how to motivate the team and keep them focused on the job at hand. Just getting to the Super Bowl is a dream most players never realize.

And that’s the problem, Payton realized. If his team was just glad to be there, they had lost their focus. There was still one more game to be played, the biggest game of their careers.

Here’s what happened.

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Proof that we are lost without Jesus

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The overwhelming proof of the lostness of mankind is that people rarely look up from the humdrum existence of their daily lives to ask, “Where is all this headed? What is out there? Where are we going?”

In a 1965 sermon reprinted in the May 2010 issue of Decision magazine, Billy Graham tells of the time when Robert Ingersoll, well-known atheist of the 19th century, was addressing an audience in a small town in New York. The orator forcefully laid out his doubts concerning a future judgement and the reality of hell.

At the conclusion, a drunk stood up in the back of the room, and said through slurred speech, “I sure hope you’re right, Brother Bob. I’m counting on that!”

Billy Graham commented, “Modern man does not like to think of God in terms of wrath, anger and judgment. He likes to make God according to his own ideas and give God the characteristics he wants Him to possess. Man wants to remake God to conform to his own wishful thinking, so that he can make himself comfortable in his sins.”

That struck a note with me. I had just been reading where someone did just that.

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How to spot a fake

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In the latter months of World War II, as the Allies were closing in on Germany, the Nazis developed a ruse that worked well for a while.

They would find German soldiers who spoke English well and dress them as Americans. They would arrange for them to be “lost” and to rejoin the Allied forces as they moved forward. Their task: to infiltrate the American troops and assassinate Generals Eisenhower and Patton.

In time, the good guys developed some tests for exposing the fakes. One German was cut down by the Americans when they saw how he was walking. He was ramrod straight whereas all our troops slouched when they walked.

Another group learned to address the soldier using “pig Latin.” If he was stymied by that, he was exposed.

And they developed questions. Two, I recall, were: Who is Betty Grable? and What position did Lou Gehrig play?

The answers were: movie star/pinup girl and first base for the Yankees. It was understood that every GI in the world would know this.

If you have been in the warfare against the forces of righteousness and the enemies of all that is good and holy for any period of time, you have come up against counterfeits and pretenders, fakes and shams.

The question is, how do you tell? And what should we do about them?

Across the world, untold millions of Christians cannot afford a Bible and have trouble feeding their families. And yet, here in this country, some preach that following Jesus is the road to great wealth. They drive expensive automobiles, live in million-dollar homes, and think nothing of investing a small fortune in clothing and jewelry. They give a pittance to missions overseas and when confronted, will drag out a few children they have assisted to silence critics.

Are they fakes? Absolutely.

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Word wrangling: the preachers’ rodeo event

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“Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.” (II Timothy 2:14)

I’m not sure most of us preachers fully believe the scriptural command to avoid word-fights.

After all, aren’t some words worth wrangling over?

“Wrangling about words” conjures images of cowboys at the corral trying to tame a bucking theological term that won’t hold still.

It’s an interesting translation of the Greek logomacheo, with the logo meaning “word” and macheo referring to fighting.  “Wrangling” is as good a translation as any. Maybe “wrestling,” or simply “fighting over words.”  (Logomacheo is found only here in the New Testament, but the noun logomachia, found in I Timothy 6:4, is translated “disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth….”  A little free information there. )

Be that as it may, many of us preachers do love to argue about words.

Wonder why that is.

The Apostle Paul suggests the problem is our “depraved minds.”  Those old natures do enjoy a good dare, a challenge, a fight.

A pastor friend said, “When I was a young pastor, there is nothing I enjoyed more than arguing with another preacher about some issue or other.”  He grew out of it, thankfully.

Well, why shouldn’t we love a good fight over biblical words? Here are some reasons why Paul says it’s a bad idea….

–it’s useless. (2 Timothy 2:14).  That is, it settles nothing.

–it leads to the ruin of the hearers. (2:14 again)  The word “ruin” is literally catastrophe which means “destruction.”

–And, according to I Timothy 6:4-5, such wrangling leads to “envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction.”  Looks like some excellent reasons to avoid that corral and leave those mavericks to someone else.

A couple of current stories about word-wrangling which may (or may not) make the point….

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The pastor should be the host of the church service

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“…fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).

That morning as I had breakfast in the hotel dining room, a tall blonde lady entered the room and called out, “Good morning, everyone.” I figured she had to be the hotel manager.

She was.

Terri told me later–as I sketched her–she had been on the job just two weeks. “Before, I managed a hotel in Opelika,” a few miles down the interstate.  I complimented her on the way she greeted people. And I told her something.

I work with pastors. And I end up reminding some that they are the manager of this enterprise. They are the chief greeter. The mood-setter.

The pastor is the actual worship leader. No matter who else wears that title.

A word to the pastors among us….

You have a unique opportunity as the undershepherd of the Lord’s flock.  You are the overseer (See Acts 20:28 and I Peter 5:2-3).

This means you are in charge.

Get out there and greet people.  Be confident.  You are the daddy in the room.  Act like it. Make sure needs are being met, that your staff is on the job and carrying out their assignments, and that visitors are greeted and assisted in finding their way.

I am not suggesting you act like a boss, but rather, that you show yourself as the chief servant, here to bless everyone, make sure each person is feeling a welcome in the house of the Lord, and seeing to any questions or difficulties.

A visiting evangelist pointed something out to me.

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Why Christians make so much of Jesus

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Jesus Christ was the First. The Most. The Best. The Last. The Everything.

Scripture ransacks the human language looking for superlatives enough to give mankind some kind of idea who this Person was who was born of a virgin, lived without sin, taught us of Heaven, and died in our place.  His resurrection and ascension forever secured His place in the history and thought and conversation of this small planet.

Earth has never seen another like Him.  He is unique.

Christianity and the Christian life are all about Jesus.

Regardless of what they tell you, the Christian faith is not about love.

It’s not about morals and doing good.

The Christian faith is not about helping one another and be ye kind and see you in church.

Love and morals and doing good, helping one another and showing kindness and attending worship are the byproducts of the Christian faith when done right.

But the Christian faith itself is all about one Person and One Person Only:  The Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the only Savior. He is the only sin-offering. He is the one and only mediator between God and man. He alone reveals God the Father to us.  His is the only Name by which we must be saved.

Jesus.  It’s all about Jesus.

The disciples said to Jesus, “Show us the Father and that’ll be enough for us!”  He answered, “Have I been so long with you and you still don’t know who I am?”  He paused for effect and said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (That’s John 14:8-9.)

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The layman speaks to the entire church. This could be scary.

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The typical church member is out of his element when suddenly asked to speak to the whole church.

Maybe it’s a testimony or even a sermon.  Perhaps a report of some kind or a devotional.  The layperson who has never done this before the entire congregation–particularly one of several hundred people–is frequently frightened out of his wits.

At the conclusion of the worship service, Marlene said to me, “I’m sorry I took the entire service, Pastor. But the Lord was leading me.” Translation: She really got into her talk and couldn’t control it.

As a young pastor, I had been inviting church members to share testimonies in the morning worship service, something along the lines of 5-7 minutes.  That’s how it happened that Marlene taught her young pastor a lesson he never forgot.  In time, I learned to interview the individual and to keep hold of the microphone the entire time!

Since Marlene had not prepared adequately, once she got going, she couldn’t find a convenient stopping place. She kept on for a full 40 minutes.

No one should blame their failure to prepare on the Lord.

I see it happen all the time.  It’s almost embarrassing.

A man is given five minutes to present something in a formal program. He gets up and speaks and speaks. Fifteen minutes later, he says, “They told me I had five minutes to do this. So, in the time I have left….”

On the second row, his wife is trying to maintain her composure. But she’d like to crawl under the pew.

Here then is my list of Things non-clergy should know before they rise to speak in church….

One. Standing in front of the congregation causes one to lose all sense of time.  I know that’s true because preachers deal with it all the time.

Two. Prepare. A speaker needs to plan carefully and fully two important things: what to say and what not to say. The second is as important as the first. And  the only way to do the second–that is, prepare what not to say–is to practice several times. That way, he will see where the spots are where his mind wants to take a detour.  Preparation makes the difference.

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Judge us by what our religion makes us do

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Almost every week we hear of a killing in the Middle East.  Someone converts to Christianity and his family murders him.

Who would want to belong to such a religion?  Surely no one in his right mind.

Wednesday morning, January 1 of this year, an idiot drove his pickup truck down Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring a lot more.

What a way to welcome in 2025.

You know, what I wonder–and have ever since the terrorists took down the World Trade Center using our jetliners–is how some people think if they do murderous activities that somehow the rest of us are going to line up and say, “Oh yes, I think I would like to be a member of that religion!”  Not going to happen.

And then I find myself wondering why others of that religion who do not do those things are offended when we oppose their religion.  If it can be used legitimately to do such horrific things, why in the world would any sane person want to worship their god.  Not for me, thanks.

It is a truth that one’s religious faith causes one to act in certain ways.  And it is true that however one acts as a result of his faith should speak volumes about that religion and everyone else will be making their choices based on that.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.  Our Lord Jesus said that in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:16.

What you are speaks so loud, someone has said, that I cannot hear what you say.

Your works tell the story on you.

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How to read really fast. And well.

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If you don’t like the title above, try this one:

“How to read a 500 page book in 30 minutes! And retain 90 percent of what you read!”

That’s the come-on which led me to pay for the Evelyn Wood speed-reading course some years back.  It was not money well spent in my judgement, although I did discover how a few people in this world manage to pull that off.

An editor once suggested that, since I’m a constant reader, I should blog about how to read better and faster.

That hit me like the time another editor asked for an article on gluttony.  That very day, I had consumed three large meals.  But I thought, “Who better than me, who knows the subject so well?”  I wrote the article and it’s still circulating the globe in cyberspace.

So, I opened the laptop with the intention of pontificating on reading.  But first, I decided to put the question to my friends on Facebook.  How to read faster and more effectively.  The answers were many, some helpful and several silly.  For instance, the latter…

–Bob recommended the Jeff Foxworthy method of “reading more gooder fastly.”

–Ken suggested, “Rd onl fw ltrs, dnt dwl on evy wd.  Dnt gv u!”   Someone needs to buy Ken a vowel.

–Luther learned to cut his reading time in one-half, he says, by turning two pages at a time.

–Danny said, “Read just the opening topical sentence of each paragraph.”

–Ted: “Read the first two sentences and last sentence of each paragraph, and move on.”  (He may have been serious, I don’t know.)

Okay.  Back to the real world.  Here are my thoughts on the subject, followed by a few insights from my son Marty (who left us for Heaven on March 22) which I found helpful….

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On the way to the sea: Our offerings have a long journey!

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I like to use the Mississippi River as an analogy for the great torrent of offerings that flow from individuals into the church offering plates and eventually to the whole world.

I point out that this great body of water–which at the time I first wrote this–was flowing a couple hundred yards below my house–is actually composed of individual drops that fell from the sky in a vast basin extending from Western New York State across the country to Eastern Montana.

Similarly, the hundreds of millions of dollars the churches of our denomination send to the fields of the world each year get their start from a child’s piggy bank, a widow’s pension and a young couple’s tithe.

Then I had an epiphany, one of those moments when you realize there’s far more to this than seemed obvious at first.

I was worshiping at Williams Boulevard Baptist Church, up the street from where I lived in Kenner, Louisiana.

That morning, the church received two offerings. The first, in the middle of the service, went for the regular ministries of their church. The second, at the end, was being sent to our International Mission Board for recovery work in two countries that had suffered devastating earthquakes.

I dropped a few dollars into the second offering and something occurred to me.

Just as there are numerous locks and dams along the great Mississippi River, obstacles we might say, which the waters have to negotiate before they arrive at the sea, the offerings we place in the plate have a number of hurdles to overcome before they reach their destination.

Along the upper Mississippi River–from St. Louis northward–there are 29 locks and dams. Most were built in the 1930s, although a few have been replaced since then due to the larger and longer barges trying to get through those locks.

A lock is a device for allowing ships navigating the river to move higher (if they are going up the river) or lower (if descending the river) at places where the natural features of the river do not allow it. Without these, ships and tows could travel only so far before being forced to turn back.

The rain that falls around Lake Itaca, Minnesota, is said to form the headwaters of the Mississippi River. As it makes its way southward, that stream is joined by rushing torrents from the Ohio, the Missouri, and numerous other rivers and creeks of all sizes. Finally, perhaps a full week after its departure, that water flows past my house on the final 95-mile leg before spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

Along the way, part of that water is diverted into dams and through locks before flowing onward.

And now to the offering.

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