Reading the paper this Saturday morning and checking the television schedule for tonight, I began laughing. My favorite channel–that would be TCM, Turner Classic Movies–is showing a string of Greer Garson movies tonight. No, it’s not her birthday. That would be September 29 (and the year 1904). I think I know what happened.

TCM found out that I just last night finished reading a biography of Greer Garson. “A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson” by Michael Troyan was pure fun. It’s a $22 paperback, so don’t tell my wife. In fact, I picked it up twice over several months at the local World War II Museum bookshop before deciding to spring for it. Glad I did.

What started this for me was seeing the 1941 movie, “Mrs. Miniver,” some years ago. Thereafter, like a few million others, I was smitten. First, it’s about the most fascinating moment of the 20th century, that period when England stood virtually alone against Hitler. (There might be something else going on in my choice of that period; it’s basically 1940, the year I arrived on the planet.)

Secondly, there’s a historical angle: the movie aroused the American public as nothing else had to understand the British situation and get off the fence of neutrality. Queen Elizabeth was to tell Greer Garson later that her film had rallied worldwide support for Britain more than any other one thing.

The movie won a handful of Academy Awards the next year, and that has always perplexed the professional critics who do not understand the emotional impact a movie can make when it connects with a critical moment in history.

Mostly, however, when I saw “Mrs. Miniver,” I fell in love. And who would not? What a woman.

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Sometimes friends email to ask, “Where will you be preaching? Maybe it will be in my area so I can come.”

Being a director of missions means I work for and with all the Baptist churches in our association, which in this case includes the 5 parishes that make up Greater New Orleans. Many Sundays I’m not preaching at all, and at those times I enjoy dropping in on a church and worshiping with them.

This Sunday, January 20, I’ll be teaching “Paul’s Epistle to the Romans” at Rocky Creek Baptist Church near Lucedale, Mississippi, where Greg Harper is pastor. The schedule calls for four sessions on Sunday–10 am, 11 am, 5 pm, and 6 pm. Then we’ll continue Monday night at 6:30 and Wednesday night at 6:30.

In between, on Tuesday night, I’ll be speaking at the annual men’s banquet for the Baptist churches of George and Greene Counties, which will also be held at Rocky Creek Church.

Saturday morning, January 26, I’ll do another two-hour preview of Romans for our local pastors. We’ll meet in the conference room of FBC-Kenner from 8 am to 10 am. Anyone is invited of course, particularly pastors from anywhere.

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New Governor Bobby Jindal may be the youngest governor in the land, but at 36, he has lots of experience in state government and had a clear understanding of what he wanted to do in his first day on the job. Tuesday–like the cross-eyed javelin thrower–when he stood up, he had everyone’s undivided attention, and he made the most of it.

Jindal had appointed a committee of 17 to advise him on ethics reform in Louisiana. They took him seriously, and he is taking their recommendations for all they’re worth. Here are some of the contents of Jindal’s program as announced yesterday.

1) State legislators will be prohibited from receiving free tickets to concerts and sporting events. They will be allowed to purchase them at face value, though.

2) Everyone from the governor’s office to the legislature, from judges to local officials, should be required to file annual financial disclosures. The governor is requiring that his cabinet members comply with the same financial disclosure which candidates for governor must meet.

Officials in towns or parishes of more than 5,000 residents will be covered in this requirement.

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Bobby Jindal is the first governor of any state in the union of Indian descent. His parents came to America, settled in Baton Rouge, and Bobby was born there. He converted from Hinduism as a teenager and became a Catholic. He lives in Kenner and is the brainiest person on the planet. Monday, he was sworn in as Louisiana’s new governor, replacing Kathleen Babineaux Blanco who carries her Katrina-related scars with her into retirement. Jindal is 36 years old, making him the youngest sitting governor in the land.

What does “sitting governor” mean? And why do they express it like that? Is there any other kind of governor.

Tuesday, Jindal confirmed our faith in him. In his first full day in office, he spoke to the legislature and announced that everyone in his administration will file annual financial reports and that he will be asking the legislature to do that too. He said, “We are going to be transparent!”

Uh, Bobby, some of them aren’t going to like that. But good for you. Now, make it stick.

One of the ways our state is unique is that the governor has substantial power over the legislature. I’ve lived in states where the chief executive had zero authority over the state senate and house of representatives and the citizens paid dearly for the weakness of the office. In Louisiana, if you get the right governor, things can happen quickly.

One thing our governor does is to select the speaker of the house and the leader of the senate. It still has to be confirmed by the actual vote of the members, but the governor has such power in other ways they don’t dare cross him. That’s how Jim Tucker of Algiers became our new speaker.

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A student as well as staffer at our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Don Pike serves the Ames Boulevard Baptist Church in Marrero as a part of the Unlimited Partnership program. He leads the congregation in education, discipleship, and evangelism. Recently, when our U.P. students reported on their ministries at their monthly gathering, Don announced, “I have the privilege of serving on the staff of a healthy church.”

Today, I dropped in on the morning worship service at the Ames Boulevard Baptist Church. Tommy Plaisance, another seminary student and–easily betrayed by his accent–a native of Cajunland, serves as the pastor. Don did the welcome in the service, then played the guitar while his wife Donna led the worship from the keyboard. It was a warm-hearted service with upbeat praise choruses and strong biblical preaching.

Tommy preached the famous passage from Philippians 3 where Paul lists his credentials, then tosses them in the trash. “I count all things but loss for Christ.” Tommy’s sermon dealt with decisions we make “with the end in view.” Paul’s purpose was to know Christ better, experience His fellowship in sufferings, and know the power of His resurrection. In light of that end, he made some tough decisions.

I sat there in the service reflecting on Don’s statement that it was a healthy congregation. Rick Warren says in one of his books that the next issue facing the church is not church growth but church health. Working with nearly a hundred of our Baptist churches throughout metro New Orleans, all in various stages of health, some strong and vigorous and some on life support, I completely agree.

What exactly is a healthy church?

Someone has observed that all unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways, but happy families all seem to have certain things in common. That surely must hold true for church health. Sick churches are a dime a dozen and each has its own kind of malady, but healthy churches seem to be alike in a lot of ways.

Here is my brief take on this.

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According to a news program this week, most people are still neutral about the field of Democratic and Republican candidates sparring in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, and soon Michigan and South Carolina. We’re sitting back watching, waiting to see who’s standing at the end of the marathon, and then we’ll decide.

I’m one of the many who thought it was presumptuous of this fellow Baptist preacher–from Hope, Arkansas yet–to declare for the presidency. I mean, a preacher? Lo and behold, the more I hear from Mike Huckabee, the more I like him.

I’m leading up to sharing something from a Newsweek article, but first, in the interests of full disclosure, here is my take on the main candidates….

Hillary? I’d like to have a woman for president. This nation is long overdue. And I think she would make a good one in a hundred areas. But for me, these are the negatives: she’s too liberal, she has all this baggage (think: Bill and his cohorts) left over from the 1990s, and she is being supported by all the far left (scary) groups.

Mitt? He sounds so good. But, I’m afraid of his religion. I told you this is full disclosure. I am not objective toward his religion. It’s a truly bizarre twist on Christianity and a faulty interpretation of God’s revelation in the Scriptures. It’s based on a con pulled by Joe Smith and furthermore, many of its leaders know that and cover it up. I have trouble trusting anyone gullible enough to believe in that religion.

McCain? Pretty good. Solid citizen. I like a lot about him, but he’s 72 now, which is 5 years older than me and man, I can feel my “powers” diminishing. Not sure we ought to be electing someone at that age.

Obama? Untested. He’s just not been around long enough at the center of power, if you want to call the U.S. Senate that, for my taste. We have a way in America of electing novices (present occupant of the White House included) and letting them get on-the-job training. I do think this country is overdue for an African-American president, and if it happens, it would be good for us. I’m puzzled at John Kerry and others jumping on his bandwagon just because he can make a good speech.

Rudy? Nah. Fred? Nah. Edwards? Hah.

Mike Huckabee? Yep.

Now, here’s what made me decide to post something on this blog about it.

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Everyone has his hand out for money.

When I turn off the interstate onto Elysian Fields Avenue headed to the office, there’s a guy with a “Hungry” sign standing there in the weeds giving drivers that stare guaranteed to ruin the rest of their day if they don’t hand him their loose change.

When I joined the National World War II museum in our city, I quickly discovered the most immediate benefit was monthly letters asking for more money than the measly annual fees. Same with the public radio station here in town. And now the LSU athletic program needs our help.

Arguably, the most successful collegiate athletic program in the country–not only in football, with the LSU Tigers winning the national championship last Monday night, but in baseball and other sports where they are regular contenders for top honors–LSU has announced they need a little more money from season ticket holders.

Interestingly, the university is not raising ticket prices; they’re increasing the “surcharge” which season ticket holders pay in order to qualify them to purchase season tickets. Got that? A fascinating bit of reasoning here. According to the news release Thursday, surcharges will range from $50 to $400 per person. And why would they be doing this after a year when the stadium is regularly sold out and where you have to know someone to get on the list for a season ticket? Athletic Director Skip Bertman says they need to raise $14 million more each year to pay for the higher costs of the program and to build a new dorm for the band.

The band needs a dorm?

Here’s a paragraph from the Times-Picayune story in Friday’s paper: “Membership (dues) in the Tiger Athletic Foundation, the school’s athletic fund-raising arm (are) expected to increase. It all goes to feed an increasingly insatiable need to keep up with the Joneses, or, in this case, the Floridas and the Alabamas.”

That brings back a small memory from 20 years ago.

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We have a candidate for the densest criminal of the year. He was caught yesterday going 125 mph in a school zone two blocks from my house. But wait, it gets worse.

When the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s deputy ran a check on his car, it came back as stolen–but belonging to this man, the driver who had just been pulled over. “Nope, not stolen,” he said. “That was all a mistake.”

Just to be safe, the deputy called for a policeman from nearby Harahan to come over, since it was that town’s complaint about the car’s being stolen.

The car was stolen all right–from the police compound. The Harahan Police Department had confiscated the car recently when the owner–our speeder–was caught with drugs. So what he did was break into the police compound and steal his car back. The cops weren’t real happy with our boy.

What I can’t figure out is, if you are in possession of a stolen car, why would you drive 125 miles an hour anywhere, let alone through a school zone?

Unless he was whacked out on drugs. That would account for the bizarre behavior and would surely make him the dumbest crook of any year, for my money.

Monday night, prior to the BCS championship game at the Superdome, plainclothed cops circulated among the fans on the streets in search of crooks selling fake tickets for big money. The newspaper did not say if they arrested anyone or how many, but Wednesday’s paper tells the story of some disappointed fans who traveled half a continent to get to our city, then blew $500 each for several tickets that turned out to be fakes. They ended up watching the ball game from a bar near the dome.

In this case, it wasn’t only the scammers who were dumb. The reason this kind of con works at all is that people are too trusting and unwilling to double check before handing over their money.

It would have been so simple to say to the seller, “Come with me over here to the turn stile. If they take this ticket, you get the money.”

Monday morning in Baton Rouge, they’re inaugurating Bobby Jindal as Louisiana’s newest governor. The boy wonder, this brainy young man who has impressed people all his life with his smarts has gone from success to success in his career. From all reports, he is assembling an all-star team of advisors and colleagues. We’ll be watching eagerly to see what he proposes and is able to pull off in the way of rebuilding New Orleans.

Bobby Jindal is from Kenner, our New Orleans suburb just to the west (the airport sits inside the city limits of Kenner), and has been our congressman for a couple of terms. He’s an active Catholic with a born-again testimony, and has the outspoken support of most of the politically active evangelicals I know.

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