Christmas does change everything!

                                                
Merry Christmas!  We celebrate the birth of God-incarnate - Emmanuel!  Who doesn't love the decorations, music, gatherings and travel?  I feel extra- blessed because I usually worship at my son's church and  receive Christmas through  the experiences while growing up in our family. This happens as we join with  his family and worship at his church that he pastors. My context is certainly different than the other 99.9% of those who experience worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
In another context, millions of worshipers come for their once or twice a year worship experience to sing the familiar carols, light candles and hear the angel's message.  I think about the energy invested in this experience without a plan for true transformation to take place.  What do we want to have happen after they spend an hour with us?  Do we think through the outcome for the worship experience?
My experience tells me - no.  What can they get here that they couldn't experience on their own?  In some instances, we dumb down the message so that we make people feel "comfortable," thinking that the comfort may bring them back before next year.  Who was comfortable on that first Christmas?  The story is filled with hardship and challenge!  Yet we love to romanticize this birth and dwell on the quiet lullaby of angels and sheep.
It is similar to what it takes to mentor and disciple people. Three words come to mind as I discuss this issue with my Pastor - son.  Learning takes place most effectively when three things happen -   Information - Imitation - Transformation.    All three take investment of time and a continual opportunity to learn. 
Information is transferred/ exchanged / passed on from one person to another.  They receive specific teachings that are intended to move both minds and hearts. Hopefully there is some "new" information told in a different way that makes listening easier.
Imitation -  once information is transmitted,  there must be modeling in order to "see" and experience the information in action.  That's the "hands on" portion of learning.    During this time there is opportunity for trial and error,   Modeling can occur so the behavior that must be acquired has time to be seen and practiced.
Transformation - Nate says this is "innovation" (a word I don't like - so I chose transformation), means once the information is delivered, there is enough imitation and practice to make change stick.  The change is based on the information that was initially delivered.  In other words.  You began with the "end in mind" or the change you want to see take place.
As I walk through this Christmas season, I'm listening to the "change" that the Christ-child wants to make in me. My life has brought me through different experiences than where I was a year ago.  My needs are different, my prayers directed differently, my awe of God's activity draws me closer to the manger.  I want to see it and I want to be transformed by it.  Because He changes everything!

October Already !

It's hard to believe it is October.  One way I realize this is the STL Cardinals are not playing in the
NLCS this October   This year is not "OURS" 
The  school year started off by introducing 110 Chromebooks on four carts to grades 5-8. This was a huge commitment after struggling with Surface tablets and trying to adapt the iPads to shared devices.  Neither worked well.  It took some trusted friends in technology and public education to convince me that this was the way to go.
We moved the 50 iPads down into grades 3-4 and are fully rolling into the 21st century!  We had our rough spots with wireless and internet access in early September, but now many of the kinks have been worked out by IT.   Now teachers and kids are asking for more!  Wowsers!  And to think that I was resisting this venture into the world of Google for about 3 years.  Painful lesson after seeing how quickly and easily our students and staff adapted to this new platform.   Thanks Chip, Chris, Matt, and Dennis.  I wish I had one of your on my staff!
The Cards... had quite a run with the most victories in the majors.  But sadly the strengths of their season fell apart in the postseason humiliation against the Cubs.  Next year and this year! Rolling strong!

Waxing Mahogany on Ministry

I just finished up another school year! - year 38 to be exact! I'm waxing a little mahogany in considering how blessed I've been during those years to serve with amazing teachers, passionate pastors, wonderful parents and above all - students.  It's incredible to think how education has changed since I started on this journey.  It has led me from Nebraska to California, to Arizona, back to California, to St. Louis, now back to California!  Each stop on this journey has been filled with amazing opportunities to grow and do my best to do good stuff!  It wasn't and isn't always easy.  In fact, blending ministry and education is harder than it would appear.  The wildcard is how the world of learning and equipping challenges the age-old practices of living out the Gospel.  It is a life full of paradox's.  The mixing in the "Church" and school adds another level of complexity.   Throw in a few fallen folks who are somewhat immature in their view of faith and life and it becomes even more complex.  Almost mysterious...
There is a total lack of framework or understanding how all the pieces of the ministry fit together to accomplish a similar outcome.  I can't id too many success stories because I just don't know anyone who has taken the time to figure this out.  Most of us "inherit" a  ministry situation that has already been under development for decades and built up its share of wounds and scars.  Good leadership arrives, apprises the status of the ministry and begins the painful process of moving forward.
What is the benefit?  Each component of the ministry working for one goal or direction could be used by God so powerfully that the "gates of hell could not prevail against it!"  Yet those gates are closing down so many Christian schools ministries because they can't find the time or energy to look globally how they fit in accomplishing something bigger - that Christ calls us all to "make disciples?
Our LCMS school system began as a way to teach German and keep Catechetical understandings to equip the members of the club to follow the prescribed teachings.   It now finds itself in a time and place where the local church is trying to determine its own niche in order to sustain itself.  They attempt to attract "new" by hanging on to too much of the "old."  Those making those decisions not only grew up in the "old systems" but are "old." (like me)  It usually doesn't work out well.  Do they think of taking the school along with them in determining its niche?  Is the school part of the package they seek, or simply not enough energy to make this critical alignment work.
I don't know how to fix this thing... My gut says that unless the powers that BE - that set the mission and vision align these two big disciple makers, this struggle for survival will continue.
But I find strength in knowing whose gates I prepare to enter - The God of the Church commands and we must obey - make disciples - baptize - teach everything Jesus commands -  and He is with us always :)!  Even into year 39:)

"That's Why We Are Here!"

 
Yesterday we lost a mom in our school who passed from this life into eternity.  In 38 years in education, I can thankfully count the number of deaths in a school setting on one hand. Each time it leaves a family without a spouse, a parent, a friend and an empty place that was once filled.  The initial reaction to the community is one of grief and questioning the loss- and even projecting that event into the life of their own. "What if this happened to me...?" A HUGE teachable moment that becomes more real because so many have been engaged with this life that once was.
I can think of no better reason to have a Christian Day School and a place where this could happen. Here hope and truth can be shared openly and comfort offered to those who mourn.  This is the testimony of power that rears its head and gives us that Apollo 13 statement: "this will be our finest hour!"  "Oh death, where is your sting, oh grave, where is your victory? -  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15:55)  This becomes a sacred moment where God can show up in a big way. 
I find great comfort and assurance in Paul's words to the Thessalonians:
¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,^[d] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Please pray for families who experience this loss and through it find hope in the cross!