Ramblin' Dan

What Is a Christian's High Calling?

Dan Roloff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is the high calling of our daily work? The challenge is to take our whole selves into every arena where we serve.

We learn early in life to compartmentalize our lives. In school we start with different times for different subjects. We close one book and move to another. Rarely, do we dedicate time to assimilate our learning into anything approaching a single understanding. Poetry has nothing to do with the study of calculus. When one class ends, we close the book on that class and open another in the next class.

This carries over into our adult lives. We have a work life, a family life, a hobby life, a community life, a church life, and more and more ways to divide our everyday responsibilities. In fulfilling these responsibilities, we take on different roles. Sometimes we leave whole parts of ourselves at the door when we enter a different area of responsibility. Often our faith gets placed to the side.

In this post and on this site, we operate on a simple premise, “Where is God in this?” By breaking down the barriers that we create in our minds, which compartmentalize our thinking and acting, we live a life worthy of our calling in Christ. That’s our focus as we address work and all the differing responsibilities of everyday life. We encourage one another to take our whole selves into every activity we encounter and glorify God in the process.

Leadership and Power

Dan Roloff — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Leadership is fundamentally the ability to influence another. Power is fundamentally authority in action. If you are a leader who grants functional authority (like a supervisor, parent, elected official, pastor, military officer, etc.), then you have power. Specifically, you have the power to take action and direct others into action.

Jesus has a warning for positional leaders and managers. If you understand what’s expected and you misuse your authority by mistreating people and indulging selfish desires, then you’re in trouble. There’s a price to be paid. Be ever mindful of your faith and live it (Luke 12:35–48).

For a person of influence without a position of authority, power looks different. Power for the influence leader, as opposed to the positional leader, comes from followers who take action freely. They choose to follow a leader based on his or her influence.

Similarly, Jesus has a warning for influence leaders. In each of the Gospels, Jesus warns about leading others astray. (See Matt. 18:6–9; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1–2.) He says, "It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.”

Power can draw a leader in to wanting more. It can distract a leader from the organization's stated purpose. In fact, power can be an agent of sin.

That was Jesus’ warning. When we use our influence to cause others to sin, Jesus tells us that there’s a heavy price to pay. Prayer and discernment are important actions for any leader. They keep us centered in Christ, helping us to avoid temptation or subtle evil. Power is like money. Everybody needs some, but handled selfishly it can lead to destruction.

All Leadership Is Local

Dan Roloff — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"All politics are local." So it is with leadership; influence is local too. I serve on the board of a local Leadership Foundation, Partners in Ministry. Although part of a larger national group of Leadership Foundations, Partners is local and its service and influence are primarily local. It may be connected outside the local area, but that’s more for mutual support and best practices. By concentrating on local needs, a community gets healthy. A healthy community encourages other communities to do the same.

Leadership that focuses on the immediate, close-at-hand, and limited sphere has potential to save the world. Looking to Jesus as a model, we see him surrounded by a group of twelve. These twelve were his primary focus for leadership and his locale was basically Galilee to Jerusalem. We all can acknowledge that Jesus’ leadership and message went way beyond his local sphere of influence.

Managing expectations and staying on course were two challenges Jesus faced as a leader. The Jews were expecting a savior, and for many, Jesus didn’t match those expectations. He didn’t come directly to the priestly class to save the Jews, and he didn’t raise an army to drive the Romans away. Those expectations were never part of Jesus' plan. Also, when he went into the desert and faced temptation, he refused to turn the stone into bread and take care of his most immediate personal need—hunger. The second temptation Jesus faced was something highly seductive—power. Finally, Jesus was tempted with self-importance . . . the trap of leadership—pride (Luke 4:1–13).

Leaders need to look beyond immediate personal need to Jesus’ expectation for the Kingdom of God. There is something more to life than our next want. There is God’s purpose, and a leader should be dedicated to understanding what that means daily, in every circumstance.

Along with leadership comes power. Once a leader influences another, power is realized. With power comes responsibility. Jesus recognized power’s seductive nature, and he did not succumb to it. He used his power wisely and focused on his mission.

With influence comes power, which leads ultimately to pride. Leaders need to battle an over-inflated sense of self-importance. Thinking too highly of oneself puts the leader in the position of testing God by assuming or presuming God’s authority.

Recognize the power of your influence. Use it wisely to God’s purpose. Be aware of the temptations of leadership and be ever vigilant. Leadership is local. It starts with you and those immediately around you who are affected through your influence.

Leadership: Position or Influence

Dan Roloff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Not everyone placed in a position of leadership is in fact a leader. Just because a person has a title or position doesn’t mean he or she can lead. Leaders move people. They get people to act in ways the leader deems appropriate.

Leadership, including Christian leadership, is really about influence. A leader is anyone who influences the decisions or actions of others. People follow leaders. That’s why leadership carries with it great responsibility. If the leader is misguided, the followers become misguided as well. So the character of the leader is important.

Sometimes leaders come from places you least expect them. It might be wise to recognize who is leading in your workplace. Don’t just look at titles look to see who people are following. Anyone who exercises influence can benefit the future of any organization.

Joseph was sold into slavery, but rose to tremendous power in Pharaoh’s house. Daniel was also a slave to King Nebuchadnezzar. Jesus was carpenter who gathered common people to spread his message. We can say each of these people rose to positions of power and leadership, but there is another clear message. God’s work can be accomplished by anyone anywhere God chooses. Our responsibility is to be open to Christ’s leading.

If you have the responsibility for an organization, look for leaders. Cultivate influencers by recognizing their impact and building relationships with them. When looking for Christian leadership, follow people who reflect Christ-likeness.

Being an Agent

Dan Roloff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In our celebrity -driven culture, we’re aware of the role that agents play. They represent their clients in many ways. Usually when we think about agents, we’re thinking about money. Agents represent their clients in financial negotiations. Although agents may serve their clients in other ways, negotiating a favorable contract is what we expect them to do.

Have you ever thought or daydreamed about being an agent? It could be cool representing a pro athlete, a movie star, an author, or some other celebrity. Imagine walking into a meeting and announcing, “I represent Ms. Big Shot Client.” What an ego boost that would be. People would see us differently. To paraphrase Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, we could really be somebody.

So let me tell you about an opportunity. The most influential man the world has ever known is looking for agents to represent him. Jesus wants you and me to serve as his agents representing him to the world. He wants us to act on his behalf in our everyday life situations at home, at work, and in the community. When people see us, Jesus wants them to see him. Everything that we do needs to reflect the love of Christ.

We may not think that we’re worthy to be Jesus' agent, but we have been chosen to represent him. God’s faith in us needs to be reciprocated. God’s grace is sufficient, the Spirit is our guide. We are agents of Jesus.

Serve him well.

Subtle Evil II

Dan Roloff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In a continuing vigilance toward the workings of subtle evil and its insinuation in our daily lives, there are some concerns to note. There are many good causes in the world . . . all of them are worthy of our time, money, and efforts. Yet, we don’t have unlimited time, resources, or energy to help everywhere.

What are we to do?

To start, we stay in prayer. Communication with Christ helps us discern our proper path. Study the gospels and see Jesus’ clear plan for his life’s mission. He wasn’t dissuaded from his path of obedience. The temptations in the desert are the clearest examples, but there were other opportunities to veer from the mission set before him. Jesus stayed the course.

What often happens with us is that we get busy doing the next thing. Our focus on the big picture of our mission gets blurred. Someone comes to us with a great idea or an emotional plea, and we find it difficult to resist. It is a worthy cause or good idea after all. So we incorporate a new idea into our mission. It distracts us just slightly. But over time, we begin to devote more time, more money, and more effort into the new idea. Slowly, it becomes part of our mission, and we adjust.

Another idea or cause comes along and the cycle repeats itself. Now we find ourselves still doing great work but not exactly the work we were called to do. We adjust our mission to include new initiatives. Without stopping to analyze how each new idea, appeal, or initiative fits our overall mission, we find ourselves in a situation where we have several slightly differing missions, which are all good but not the one mission we were called to carry out.

This is how subtle evil works. There is nothing bad about doing good. However, if we allow outside issues, no matter how worthy, to distract us from our mission, we’ve given in to the temptation that Jesus resisted. Gradually we ask ourselves, “Why haven’t we accomplished more?” or “How did we get here?”

Reviewing our mission, whether personal or professional, requires vigilance.

Perspective on Sin

Dan Roloff — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We all have a perspective on issues that face us daily. The more convinced we are of our singular perspective, the more potential there is for damaged relationships. It’s easy to convince ourselves of how right we are and how righteous is our way of thinking. What becomes difficult is to consider an opposite point of view.

The perspective of those we work with can become an opportunity for growth or the stagnation that leads to destruction. (See "Them Midlife Blues.") Can we repent of the sin against each other, or do we save our repentance only for sin against the Lord? In failing to acknowledge our wrongs against others, we fail to recognize the principles Jesus set before. Our sins against others are our sins against Christ.

If we can’t be obedient in our everyday relationships, then how can we truly be obedient to Christ? Unless, of course, we’ve made Christ in our own image. Jesus taught us to serve one another, love one another, and to submit to one another.

When it comes to our own perspective, we can stand where we are and demand that others repent, or we can face the lonely path of repentance. We can turn away from our self-destructive behaviors that place the blame on others, or we can confess our own failings. We can recognize the sin in our lives and not the sin in other people’s lives.

They Will Know We Are Christians

Dan Roloff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dwight Lacy, chief financial officer of our organization, recently returned from a reunion at Harvard. While there, he ran into fellow Harvard MBA alum Andy Wasynczuk. Since 1988 when Robert Kraft bought the old Sullivan Stadium until 2005, when the Patriots won their third Superbowl, Wasynczuk worked for the Kraft family and served as Gillette Stadium’s and the New England Patriot's chief operating officer.

What has impressed Dwight is Andy’s commitment to live out his Christian faith in all he does. As a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard, Wasynczuk is in a unique position to influence future business leaders. He told the Boston Globe :

"So much of our society tends to glorify the individual, and sometimes the results end up well below the kind of output that people banding together for a purpose bigger than themselves would achieve—and that is true in the business world. To reinforce that message with the next generation of leaders is really important."

This is an example of how Christians act as culture-shapers in society. Church historians, such as Norbert Brox and Justo Gonzalez, believe that the quality of life in the community of believers attracted many people to the first-century church. The relational message of Jesus, to love one another, is a missing element in evangelism today. At the Foundations for Laity Renewal, we believe it’s the responsibility of every Christian to reflect the qualities of the Kingdom as we influence those around us through kingdom principles. As the song tells us, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

Education in the Faith

Dan Roloff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It is increasingly apparent that there is a strong need for theological education today. This is not only important in our seminaries for the clergy but also in our churches for the people in the pews. As followers of Jesus, we need a strong education in the faith.

Armed with theological understanding, the concept of Jesus as fulfillment of the Law becomes clearer. It can be discussed theologically and infused into the daily lives of the Christian community. The Scriptures are given to a community and need discussion within the community. The entire Church receives the vision for God's plan and the responsibility for carrying out that plan. The plan is embodied by Jesus' relational ministry, his message of love.

Putting theological and relational leadership into implementation calls us to work with God as co-creators. Creativity is what separates Adam from the other animals. He was, as we are, created in God's image. Although we are finite beings, we share with God the attribute of creativity. We have the ability to imagine possibilities and take those possibilities and bring them into being through our actions. We take what is and apply new ideas to generate something new.

Trinitarian servant leadership is the fulfillment of the commonly held notion of servant leadership. Where Jesus gives us the model of the servant as leader, the paradox that is a glimpse of the relationship between the Father and the Son, he also promises us an advocate. This advocate is the Spirit of unity. The Holy Spirit provides the unity necessary to make sense of the paradox of the servant leader.

Through theological understanding, we are able to create patterns of behavior, servant leadership, that advances society through the teachings of Christ.

Who Did the Work Before You Did?

Dan Roloff — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Looking at the history of the church can be daunting. With more than two thousand years to survey, we are left to sweeping generalizations. (Here's an example: The Reformation was a direct response to the selling of indulgences.) We reduce a very complex geo-political and theological conflict to some marginal issue that purports moral superiority. But history is not that simple.

There have always been shifts in church culture from its earliest days. Within the New Testament, we see church culture shift from a band of Jewish followers of Jesus to a diverse group of Greeks, Romans and Jews. We follow these early years of church history very closely.

At the end of the first century, we begin to shift form. Rather than follow the growth of the church from year to year, we begin to look at it by century and era. An era is a range of time generally speaking , and in this case, we refer to era as a range of time that includes more than one century. We speak of the Dark Ages, a period of time ranging from eight hundred to one thousand years. Commonly, people think of that era as having a limited influence on the church or causing changes so minor that they could all be linked together. Neither of these conclusions are valid, but we look for handles and sweeping generalizations to make sense of a world long past.

This understanding of church history has relevance for us today, in our daily lives and work. We have a tendency to look at history year to year or maybe decade to decade. In our own lives and the lives of our families, we celebrate yearly events and share memories of birthdays, anniversaries, and other family events. We share stories. Most of our stories center on three generations: parents, grandparents, and children. Rarely do we go beyond that range. So we know less and less about our roots and what makes up certain elements of our character as time moves forward.

At our jobs, the same is true except for an overarching theme that may drive the vision of the company. The Levi Straus story serves as a reminder to employees of Levi. Likewise Coca Cola employees know the story of Dr. John Stith Pemberton, founder of Coke. The image of the founder may carry the vision, but the work of the thousands of employees gets lost or combined into one story of the culture of a company. Yet each individual story matters in shaping that culture. Not each story is recorded. Even the founding story gets glossed and used for the purpose of the new generation, but all of these stories together create the company's culture.

You may or may not know the story of your predecessor where you work, but that person still influences the workplace. The functions and values of a workplace really depend in large measure on the people who came before us. We can ignore the people, but we cannot ignore the legacy of their influence. It exists as the spirit of the company.

Understanding history makes a difference. It serves as a helpful guide and informs future decisions. The positive as well as the negative issues are important as we look to the future. Ignoring history doesn't make it go away. We just repeat patterns without knowing why.

Trying to understand our family histories or our work histories helps us to make better decisions. Our Christian faith is rooted in history and understanding God's story and how it unfolds in our lives connects us to something beyond ourselves. We become connected to His story and not just our story.

Who Are You?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A college professor of mine once said, "You aren't who you think you are. You aren't who others think you are. You are who you think other people think you are." You might think that's just a bunch of double speak, but I find wisdom in those words.

We all have an image of ourselves. It's an image we carry out into public. Then people develop their own image of who we are. Our self-image and the way people see us are different. We aren't really either one of those images. Instead, we begin to project how others think of us, and this can occupy our thoughts. It begins to shape how we act, how we respond. It's like the eagle who thought he was a chicken. He was hatched among chickens, grew up among chickens, and thought he was a chicken.

At our Laity Lodge Youth Camp, we have a final night "Say So" where campers can share what the time at camp has meant to them. Over the years, a common theme arises in the responses: "This is a place where I can really be myself." What a wonderful gift that is, a place where we can really be ourselves. What's sad is that by the time we're teenagers, we've begun to base our self -image on what we perceive others think of us.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus delivers a consistent message about whose opinion we should value. Our image is tied to what God wants for us. Followers of Christ should think differently than other people. The Beatitudes explain this. John chapters twelve through seventeen deliver this message directly. The way the world thinks does not match the expectations of God.

We aren't who we think others think we are. We are Christ's and his alone. It's a message the campers at LLYC hear for two weeks every year. While they are at camp, they internalize this message and feel it and know it. It's a message that should be embedded in all of our hearts so we can live it out in our daily lives and work.

When Things Are Tough

Dan Roloff — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sometimes at work, things can get difficult. We may feel that times are tough and everything is caving in on us. It might be helpful to think about a group of men who were on the job when disaster struck. They are memorialized in song by the Canadian balladeer Gordon Lightfoot.

It was a cold blustery November in 1975 when a ship set out on its final voyage of the season. Departing from Superior, Wisconsin, the ship was headed through the Great Lakes for a steel mill near Detroit. Its cargo was twenty-six tons of iron ore. But the SS Edmund Fitzgerald never made it out of Lake Superior. It went down, taking all twenty-nine crew members with her.

Less than a year later, Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad was climbing near the top of the charts. His haunting lyrics captured the essence of work and camaraderie:

When supper time came the old cook came on deck sayin',
"Fellas, it's too rough t' feed ya."
At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
"Fellas, it's been good t' know ya."

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" memorializes the men who lost their lives doing their job:

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral."
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Lightfoot’s ballad honors the work and the men whose lives were lost fulfilling our need for steel. Rarely, if ever, do we think about the sacrifices of others who have provided for some of our basic needs. We don’t give much thought to the logger who harvested the lumber for our homes, the miner who extracts the raw materials we use daily, or the mariners who deliver those raw materials. It could be said that we take these people, and their risky jobs, for granted. We may feel the same way--that we’re being taken for granted. It makes a difference if we see our work as a high calling. We’re working for an audience of one, the One who knows us by name and loves us and calls us to give our very best and never takes us for granted.

Work & Play: Rejoice

Dan Roloff — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Theologically, play is the exercise of freedom, the freedom to recreate, the freedom to rejoice before God, and the freedom to know oneself beyond the bondage of toil. Instead, we turn our play into something utilitarian believing that usefulness provides meaning.

Just last week my daughter and I played disc golf at our house. Disc, or Frisbee, golf is basically throwing your disc to a target (hole) and counting the throws. We started out keeping score but soon began to just admire the good shots and laugh at each other’s bad shots.

After a few holes my daughter turned to me and said, “I don’t know what my score is.”

I said, “I don’t know mine either.” We just played—and had fun.

I believe my purpose in that game was the same as that of Paul in the letter to the Romans, “so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed” (Romans 15:32). The sense of joy and abundant gladness is what I’m looking for when I enter into play with my daughters. It’s a representative joy that a father has in his children and them in him. It represents the same joy we have in our heavenly Father.

When we express joy, or gladness, it is almost always a feeling of euphoria or heightened happiness. When we freely express that joy, we rejoice. We can sense this euphoria when Paul exclaims, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

The rhythm of work and play can be likened to God's plan for the Sabbath. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:11). Our Sabbath rest should include our free play before the Lord.

Work & Play: Aesthetics

Dan Roloff — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We’ve been professionalizing play for centuries. We call it patronage. The arts have been professionalized, and now it’s time for games. We can turn our play into work and justify it as noble gain.

At its best, art provides a glimpse of beauty. The poet, the painter, the sculptor, photographer, novelist, and on the list grows of people who play with their medium to produce joy. They are at play. But long ago, we surrendered art to work. Over the centuries, the arts increasingly became work. They’ve become professionalized. Bought, sold, bound, performed, and criticized, the arts are a utilitarian extension of our creativity. Our language confirms what’s already happened; an artistic creation is a work of art. It’s not a play of art because that demeans the artist and the artistic creation. One exception may be theater arts where the production is literally called a play. In that case, play has become a synonym for pretend, so we have play actors. Perhaps it’s our need to be taken seriously in all that we do that we avoid the word play in all that we do. We want people to know that our effort was more than some frivolous pastime.

Roger Kahn wrote a book about the Brooklyn Dodgers in which he laments being known as just a sportswriter. Literature was always what he strived to write. Being known as just a sportswriter seemed so limiting. Kahn relayed a story of the time he went on assignment to interview Robert Frost.

Frost greeted him, "So you're the sportswriter?"

"Yes," Kahn sighed, "but I write other things as well."

"Of course," Frost said. "When I was young," Frost told Kahn, "my family worried I would be a pitcher and waste my life. Later they worried I'd be a poet and waste my life." He flashed a wry smile. "They were right."

Even a distinguished writer like Roger Kahn longed for his work to be something more. His craft couldn’t be just about the wordplay, and his occupation couldn’t rely upon games. His writing had to be seen more seriously. We can’t allow play into our work. Art has been taken seriously for centuries, but it is something rather new for games. It’s only in the last century or so that games have moved to be taken seriously as work.

By contrast Robert Frost was a school teacher by trade. Even in his years at Amherst where he was a distinguished professor, he shared with Kahn the regret that no student ever asked Frost to recite one of his poems (Into My Own p.142).

We all long for validation. There must be some justification for what we do. We make our play into work instead of the other way around. If we bring play into our work, we celebrate God. We rejoice. The validation for our art comes from our Creator.

Work & Play: Transcendence

Dan Roloff — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Play expresses beauty, truth, and goodness. Wherever we find these attributes, we find play. Wherever we find play, we find God. Play serves as a sign of God operating in our lives.

Laity Lodge Youth Camp is an example of how we (The Foundations for Laity Renewal) engage in play and relate that to faith. Through play, we engage campers in fun activities. Their experience of God is connected to that fun. Eugene Peterson’s Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places is the message we want our campers to hear. Rather than being overburdened with shame and obligation, campers connect Jesus with joy and rejoicing.

LLYC incorporates free play and fun into the program to help campers form a deeper relationship with Christ. Free play means choosing to engage in play as opposed to being forced into an activity, which by the nature of force negates the idea of play. So play is voluntary. Free play is not without structure or rules because outside of structure, there is chaos not play.

About a year or two after the fall of the Soviet Union, we had a small group of Russian studentsand their interpreter spend a week at LLYC. On the night they were leaving, I had a conversation with the interpreter. She was a nice but very serious woman in her forties. I asked her about the experience and her thoughts.

What she said hit me profoundly: “My first impression was that camp was chaos. But I began to notice that every time you rang the bell the children showed up to where they were supposed to be.”

I heard her words, but the look on her face is what sticks with me. Her look was one of deep puzzlement. She didn’t understand why the kids responded so well without an authoritarian presence controlling them. This may have been a transformative moment for her, a real understanding of freedom.

In our Laity Lodge Youth Camp program, play is a decisive factor. The connection among the players with the spirit of joy and freedom breaks down the barriers that separate us from God. The presence of the Spirit is profound for campers but also for the staff. Through play comes recognition of beauty and its human expression. If we embrace the experience of free play without cynicism, doubt, or confusion, we deepen our spiritual response.

The LLYC motto is, “The best two weeks of your life.” The claim comes out of experience, and the experience is rooted in play. Campers and staff alike play freely and experience the joy of God. There exists within play a transcendent element that opens us to a relationship with our Creator.

Whenever we infuse play into our work, we find God. Whenever we infuse play into our families, we invite God in. The same is true of our work, social activities, community, or wherever we engage in play. As we play we express beauty, truth, and goodness.

Work & Play: Betraying the Spirit of the Game

Dan Roloff — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In our sports and games culture, we often betray the spirit of the game.

In the previous post , we answered the question “What is the spirit of the game?” By contrast, we could ask what does it mean to betray the spirit of the game? Consider the evolution of coaching in football, a very modern and American sport.

Full-time paid coaches were established in college football early in the twentieth century. It was a hotly contested issue with concerns about the professionalization of the college game. Those concerns have proven to be true and have even made their way to the level of youth sports, but we seem to have little concern about the dangers of turning play into work.

When professional football overtook college football as a fan favorite, coaches took more control of the game. Most prominently, Vince Lombardi shuttled players into the game with play calls from the coach. Before this, the captains were responsible for the team’s play on the field. The coach worked with the captains to prepare the team. Eventually, the quarterback took control of play calling for the offense. Usually, the middle linebacker handled the defensive calls.

Now, coaches control the play calling from professional football to youth leagues. Coaches have seemingly embraced the Vladimir Lenin philosophy, “Trust is good, but control is better.” The question arises, better for whom? Certainly not for players or people who want to play a game. It robs the player of creativity and reduces the role of player to that of pawn, becoming a piece to be manipulated for a coach’s purposes.

This isn’t to lay blame at the feet of coaches. Rather it’s to point out the dangers of encroaching professional attitudes on amateur sports. As we adopt the professional culture of the game, winning becomes the central focus. The spirit of the game suffers. It’s the culture we’ve allowed to take hold through our actions and our inactions. We’ve determined that to be our best means to win the most.

Manipulation for gain is the purpose of professional athletics, but it should not be part of the amateur ideal. Yet we’ve accepted it. Perhaps it’s grown out of some projected need for our child to succeed and earn a scholarship before proceeding to the pro ranks. Maybe, as a people, we’ve assumed play to be meaningless so we never wasted much time on the debate.

Whatever the reasons, it’s clear that we haven’t given serious thought to play as a cultural imperative. If issues of character development are important for our youth, then a more thorough understanding is essential. Through a more faithful understanding of play, we can incorporate a new ethos emphasizing the spirit of the game.

Work & Play: What is the Spirit of the Game?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Each sport or game starts with a premise or reason for its existence. I hesitate to call it a philosophy only because that sounds so high-minded. I'm talking about something beyond the rules and beyond the control of coaches or other participants. It is the spirit of the game.

The spirit of the game is where character is built. It goes beyond the rules to the foundation of an individual's character, how he or she responds to trials, successes, and even pain. It’s where we learn that striving for victory can be as beneficial as victory itself.

In the inaugural issue of Sports Illustrated (Aug. 16, 1954), Paul O’Neil gave an account of a race between the world’s only two sub-four-minute mile runners at the time, Dr. Roger Banister of Britain and John Landy of Australia. He wrote, “The art of running the mile consists, in essence, of reaching the threshold of unconsciousness at the instant of breasting the tape. It is not an easy process, for the body rebels against such agonizing usage and must be disciplined by the spirit and the mind.”

O’Neil’s description captures several important elements concerning the spirit of competition.

For another example, consider amateur golf legend Bobby Jones, who lost the United States Open Championship when he penalized himself in the first round for striking his ball after he caused it to move. No one saw the ball move, only Jones. As he was swinging through the grass the ball became dislodged and he technically struck a moving ball. He lost the four-round tournament by one stroke. He revealed great character and preserved the integrity of the game.

In life, we are shaped by the Spirit. In sport, we develop character through adhering to the spirit of the game. Fair play, sportsmanship, and integrity are all part of that process. As participants or players, we recognize the spirit in our play and its added benefit in our lives. Sport is not the only arena of life where spirit plays an integral role. It is, however, a common example that many of us can identify with. In fact, understanding the spirit of the game helps us understand the mystery of the Spirit as it works in our lives.

Work & Play: A Continnuum

Dan Roloff — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A game is more than just a win -or-lose proposition. When we objectify play, when we reduce it to the bottom line on the scoreboard, we professionalize the game. Professional sports are good business, but they aren’t a good model for healthy play. Consider what we’ve done in most youth sports. The kids don’t really get to experience the fullness of play because too many coaches control the movements of the players making all the strategic decisions. Instead of learning how to make decisions, the players carryout the decisions of the coach which diminishes the teaching value of the game.

Let’s visualize a continuum of play. One pole is “free play” and the other pole is “professionalism.” Free play is when the players are moving freely and making their own decisions. At the professional end of the continuum, coaches determine where players should be, how they should move, and what actions they should perform.

There are other elements to consider when we play. Improving our skills can give players more freedom in the game. Effective strategy enhances the play experience. Playing with teammates or against an opponent builds camaraderie in the struggle of the game.

Fair play is a major element of play that is eroding. The essence of sportsmanship is fair play, including playing within the rules and honoring an opponent. The ethics of games begin with obeying the rules. Outside of the rules, there is no game. So cheating negates play. Ironically, cheaters can be more common in professional games because of their win-at-all-costs attitude.

Excellence in play requires giving your best effort. But excellent effort creates beauty, whether it is the gracefulness of a player or a well-executed strategy. Through excellence, we recognize beauty. And the opposite is also true. Through beauty, we see excellence. The two are intertwined. And both bring us closer to God.

For highly competitive people, games still offer a fun experience if they keep a healthy perspective. Play is fun. The benefits are rich, and playing games offers much more than just a chance at winning.

Work & Play: A Competitive Person

Dan Roloff — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

You can turn any game into a win-at-all-costs experience. Before the game starts just say, “I’m a highly competitive person.” Somehow that’s accepted as a rational explanation for turning play into something else—unhealthy competition. In fact, it turns a fun game into work. Those two elements, work and play, can enter into any situation in a good way. Here we're talking about free play and unhealthy competition.

Playing a game can be fun. Winning can be fun. Playing to win can be fun. All these things can be fun, but the purpose in playing is to play. When we play sports and games, we give our best effort, within the rules, toward winning. A bad attitude destroys play. We can start to think “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

For years, I’ve played recreational basketball. The guys are great to be around, and the banter is always lively. When there are enough guys, winners stay on the court, and losers go off to wait for the next game. We play hard considering our conditioning level and age. We want to win to stay on the court, but nobody gets too upset when they lose. I enjoy playing with these guys because they play the right way. They include everybody on the team. The games are not self-absorbed or helter-skelter. We have a more disciplined way of playing because we understand the subtleties of the game. There’s a beauty to what’s happening on the floor. The right pass at the right time leads to a score. A back screen leads to an easy lay-up. A defensive pressure leads to a turnover and starts a fast break. Disciplined play has a certain aesthetic to it, a glimpse of perfection.

I was watching from the sideline when one of my favorite plays took place. There was a rebound with a pass out to the wing and a quick pass to a cutting player at mid court. He passed it along to another player further up court on the wing, who passed it to a streaking player right at the basket, who laid the ball in for two points. Four passes and a lay-up, not one dribble and all five players touched the ball. It wasn’t a bad play for a bunch of middle-aged men. In fact, it was beautiful.

Over the years, I’ve played thousands of basketball games. While the object of the game is to win, and to play hard to win, there’s more to the game than that. Winning is an ego boost, a sense of superiority over an opponent. The winner is honored and the loser steps aside. This is all fleeting and can be unhealthy if one ties their identity to it. The focus turns free play toward professionalism and play into work.

I have no idea how many games I’ve won or lost. I do remember certain plays and certain contexts. Usually my memories are about excellence in playing the game, sometimes they’re about character, but mostly it’s about the beauty of the game. There is so much more to be gained from free play than winning and losing. Be aware and enjoy play.

Work & Play: Classic Theories

Dan Roloff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

According to M. J. Ellis in Why People Play, there are five classic theories of play. Let’s look at a quick summary of the five classic theories and a couple more.

The surplus energy theory is about the buildup of excess energy in the body that needs to be expelled. This theory gets applied by people who work with children such as teachers and parents. They want kids to run around and burn off excess energy, so they’ll be more attentive and less restless.
Relaxation is another theory. The idea is that play and sport help us to recuperate from work. Going home and sitting in front of the TV for hours doesn’t help us to recuperate, but some type of activity such as games, sports, reading, art, etc. help us to refresh ourselves.
Instinct is another theory of play. There could be some interior drive that moves us toward play. An example of an instinct is the "fight or flight" response when faced with danger. Do we face the danger and fight, or do we flee? Of course, we are not faced with mortal danger on a regular basis. But our play can simulate danger and engage our instincts to respond appropriately.
Preparation for life is another theory for why we play. Mostly, it’s seen as preparation for adulthood. Children play to imitate adult life and practice what it may be like. Many manufacturers sell toys designed on this premise. They produce toys like ovens, construction tools, phones, dolls, uniforms . . . the list is long.
Recapitulation is the theory that we play to repeat earlier stages of human history. It explains how organisms develop from the earliest stages and has some similarities to the instinct theory. The development of infants and their play reenact elements representative of the historical development of all humanity. And later in life, for example, the sports we engage in represent a hunting and gathering nature found in primitive humanity.

Two of the more recent popular theories are catharsis and competence-effectance motive.

Catharsis is a theory where we release pent-up emotions through our play activities. We get angry, so we go out for a run to let off steam. Play is a release.
Competence-effectance is more complicated. First, it assumes that play reinforces our feelings of competence. At the same time, we’re also having an effect on our surroundings. So we play to sharpen our skills (competence) and to have an effect on what is happening around us (effectance). For example, we play catch to improve our eye-hand coordination, and for fun. We keep playing catch because we have some success and we want to repeat that success. Eventually, we expand playing catch into a game like dodge ball. We’re experiencing competence and having an effect on the environment around us.

Those are some of the more popular theories of play. The theories all have some validity to them. Also, they each have their limitations.

Rather than discuss their shortcomings as theories, we’ll move on with an understanding that there are theories of play which help us to better understand play and its relation to work.

There is one glaring limitation in each of these theories. None of them contain a theological explanation. This omission has influenced the way humanity has played throughout the ages.

Work and Play: Is It Useful?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Play is just something kids do to pass the time. That’s a totally ridiculous statement, but there’s a part of us that believes it’s true. We don't value play. Instead, we talk about work, purpose, and achievement. Of course, this is a website dedicated to the high calling of our daily work, but looking at play helps us to better understand the meaning of work .

Early on, we’re made aware of the burden of work in our lives. "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17). Culturally, we’re conditioned to work hard and achieve success. Play gets lost. We don’t have a good understanding of play, so as a society we’re not very good at it.

I remember several years ago, I used to play golf with my friends. One was a golf pro. He said, “Dan, don’t keep score. Instead just count good shots.”

Terrific advice. I tried that for awhile and realized that the good shots kept me coming back to the course. I wasn’t quite good enough, so I made two goals: shoot under ninety for an eighteen-hole round and shoot under forty for nine holes. I worked hard at achieving those goals. Then, after months of daily toil at the game, I finally reached my goals—in the same round.

I don't play golf anymore. The game had lost its joy. Once I achieved my goals, it wasn’t as much fun.

Instead of going out to the course with friends and counting the good shots, I had turned golf into work. I needed to toil at it, set goals and reach those goals. For golf to serve a purpose, I had made it utilitarian.

Why do we need everything we do to be useful? It is a persistent outlook. If our actions aren’t useful, then they’re a waste of time. Consider this: “Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.” Friedrich Schiller wrote those words in The Aesthetic Education of Man around 1795.

If we are only practical about the way we use time, we will turn all our activities into work.

Work & Play: An Introduction

Dan Roloff — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This is the first in a series of posts on work and play. I'm going to emphasize play because I've already said a lot about work here at Ramblin' Dan.

Broadly speaking, we tend to think of play as anything that is not work. That’s the end of any consensus about what play is. We can’t even settle on a decent definition. Mostly, we connect play to the arts, games, children, and to sports.

Over the centuries, the arts increasingly became work, even artwork. We've professionalized art, bought it, sold it, bound it, performed it, and criticized it. Often, we've reduced the arts into a utilitarian extension of our creativity.

Sports have more recently become a professionalized form of play. Professionalism in sports was hotly debated for about a century until the final arguments burned out during the 1980s. This makes the differentiation between work and play even more difficult.

Where does a conversation about play fit on a site about work? After all, TheHighCalling.org promotes the high calling of our daily work, not our "daily play." But our motto is “Glorifying God in Everyday Life & Work.” Life certainly needs to include play. In our efforts to better understand our work and how to glorify God through it, we also consider play and what play means in the context of everyday life and work.

Howard Butt wrote about this in his post, “Create a Beautiful Workplace." Beauty and play help us express glory to God. If we think along those lines, we can almost use the words "celebrate" and "rejoice" as synonyms for "play." They describe what we ought to be doing when we play. Aesthetics, goodness, and beauty might also be good synonyms, but even those don’t quite encompass the full meaning of "play."

Over the next several posts, we’ll set some parameters for understanding play in our everyday life and work.

The Only Jesus Some People See

Dan Roloff — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Longer Snapper by Jeffery Marx is about the football fortunes of Brian Kinchen. In it, Marx brings up an interesting dilemma. After his football career seemingly ended, Kinchen told his middle school Bible class that he was at their school because that's where God wanted him. Then Kinchen left the school for one more shot at glory.

One student asked, "I'm confused. Does God want him here or does God want him there?"

Kinchen's student may get her answer because she asked the question aloud, but how many others ask such questions silently and never received any insight or answer? Instead, they have to draw their own conclusions. They make up their own minds.

We must be careful about what we say concerning God's call on our lives because others are always watching. What we say and what we do need to be consistent, especially when we bring God into our statements. Maybe you've heard this tongue-in-cheek line: "Everybody's a Christian in church, but wait until they get in the parking lot and behind the wheel." We laugh but there's some truth in that.

It's important that we remember whom we represent. We belong to Christ. In many instances we're the only Jesus some people will ever see. Represent him well.

Individual Globalization

Dan Roloff — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the great serendipities of producing TheHighCalling.org is the relationships that develop within our complex community. It’s complex because there aren’t many straight lines and the type of community is not traditional. Most of us have never met face to face. Yet we share a commonality in Christ and our belief that work is a high calling.

In The World is Flat, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says, “This era of globalization is spearheaded by individuals.” According to Friedman, one of the four most influential flatteners is the PC. He explains, “For the first time, individuals can author their own content in digital form. And once your content is created in digital form, it could be manipulated into so many more ways by individuals and dispatched in so many more places.“

Through the proliferation of social networks, we can see how this concept makes it easier for a person to brand themselves and their content. For TheHighCalling.org, one example of the phenomenon of individual globalization is Adelani Aderemi. Ade’s insightful comments have brought Texas and Nigeria closer together. (If not geographically or politically, then certainly in the body of Christ.)

When we first began publishing TheHighCalling.org, globalization was not a major concern. In fact, we never considered that we might form community with Christians in Nigeria. Certainly we understood the global nature of the Internet, but specific realities about global community never really sank in. Over time, we noticed the amount of traffic we were getting from Nigeria and the insightful comments of Ade. He became a part of the blog network HighCallingBlogs.com. Eventually, we asked Ade to write for us, and this fall we’ll post an article by Ade on TheHighCalling.org.

We value relationships. The connections between people form a bond. In a flat world, those bonds are easier to forge. Regardless of geographic locale, we can connect around common themes. We can connect around a common faith and a common vision.

Paul

Dan Roloff — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From time to time, the following questions arise: Why does TheHighCalling.org exist? What is the driving purpose behind the Foundations for Laity Renewal? In N. T. Wright’s book Paul: In Fresh Perspective, he gives an illustration that captures the essence of what we’re about.

Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day; teach someone to fish and you feed them for life. Give someone a hand-me-down ethical maxim and, provided they bow to its authority, they will steer a straight course on that subject alone. Teach someone to think through, from first principles, what it means to live in a new age inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit, and you equip them not only for that particular topic but for every other question they may meet.(1)

Dealing with the question of differences in the teaching of Paul and Jesus, Wright points out that Paul is taking the teaching of Jesus and applying those principles in the different cultural settings where he finds himself. Using circumcision as an example, Wright points out that Jesus never mentions circumcision. Circumcision is the sign of the covenant agreement between God and Abraham. What Paul ran into was a Greek and Roman world where circumcision was a huge obstacle to overcome in bringing people to faith. Paul applied the message of Jesus and made faith the sign of the covenant agreement.

TheHighCalling.org and the programs of the Foundations for Laity Renewal are dedicated to this premise as described by Wright. We believe that our faith is a thinking faith based on the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah. He is the Anointed One, the Christ, who entered the world, becoming fully human, to redeem humanity.

Christianity is not a list of prescriptive maxims to be followed. It is a faith whose teachings confirm the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus teaches a style of living beginning with the restoration of the reign of God and his sovereignty and encompassed by two commandments from which all others flow. Love God and love your neighbor.

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(1) Wright, N. T., Paul: In Fresh Perspective, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2005 p 160

Stumbling Over the Text

Dan Roloff — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There are two concerns that occupy my mind when writing or presenting. One concern is proof texting and the other one is the “fusion of horizons.” I try hard to avoid stumbling over either concern.

A professor once told our class, “Any text taken out of context is a pretext.” He spent the semester instilling a sense of placing everything in its context and not using a verse or passage outside of the context for which it was meant—wise words.

Proof texting generally is a misrepresentation of any text. There are a few different examples of proof texting. One example is when we take a text out of context and use it inappropriately. For instance, we can read the Scripture, “the LORD said to him, ‘Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness’ ” (Hosea 1:2), and then apply that verse universally as a command to marry an adulterous wife and raise the children of unfaithfulness. Obviously, that verse taken out of context does not provide the meaning intended in Hosea. The example may be absurd, but the principle remains . . . taking a text out of context is a pretext.

Another example of proof texting is to have an idea and then look to the Bible for proof of that idea. Let’s say I believe I can earn my way into heaven by my actions. As proof, I cite the parable of the sheep and goats emphasizing verse 46, "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matt. 25:31-46). Using the text in this way is an inappropriate use. It distorts the meaning of the parable.

A third example is to open a Bible randomly and choose a text as a guide. Here, too, the following example is absurd, but the point is well made.

Looking for an inspiring word from God, a man randomly opens his Bible and allows his eyes to fall on the page. He is immediately drawn to a verse. “He went away and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:5). Abruptly, he closed the Bible and opened to another page. Immediately his eyes were drawn to a new verse, "What you do, do quickly" (John 13:27).

Proof texting is dangerous because it falsifies the meaning of the text. It is a pretext.

The second of my concerns comes from hermeneutics, the “fusion of horizons.” Hermeneutics is a philosophy term having to do with method of inquiry. When reading a text, there’s a specific criteria to my inquiry. In interacting with a text, there is the horizon of the author, the author’s purpose and meaning; the horizon of the text, the words deliver their own meaning apart from the author’s intent; and as a reader, I come to the text with my own horizon of meaning and purpose. Taking all of these horizons into account creates a “fusion of horizons” when interpreting the text.

Simple Principles for Workplace Communication

Dan Roloff — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A conversation between Jesus and Peter illustrates a common communication problem in the workplace.

. . . Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Matt. 16:21-23)

This is a common problem. People tend to take a vision and mold it to their way of thinking. Peter refuses to accept the vision of Jesus. Instead, he seems to be saying, “No, no, Jesus, you got it wrong.”

That’s pretty bold!

And it happens frequently in the workplace. Instead of being shaped by the vision that we’ve signed on to advance, we shape the vision to ourselves. We advance our own version of the vision.

Preceding the conversation quoted here, Jesus has just declared Peter the rock upon which he will build his church. Maybe that sense of inflated ego brought Peter to say these things to Jesus. Maybe it was Peter’s natural instincts of being a protector that made him react so strongly to what Jesus was saying. Whatever the reason, Peter missed the boat and his words are contrary to the mission of Jesus.

Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter with a gentle pat on the head either. He came at Peter hard, calling him evil, telling him to get out of the way. Yikes!

I’ve found that a good place to start with effective communication in the workplace is motivation. It’s always good to consider the motivation of others such as supervisors and other employees. But when communication breaks down and you become frustrated, check your own motivations first. Once you understand those and can examine the breakdown in terms of what’s best for the organization, you can move to addressing any additional problems.

The overall vision and direction of an organization is always important to communication. Peter lost sight of that. Whether his motivation was tied to his vision of himself as a protector or a grandiose vision of himself as the “Rock,” it diverted his attention from the overall vision and mission of Jesus. Peter had his own version, and Jesus confronted him with that fact.

Courtesy in Workplace Communication

Dan Roloff — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The struggle to communicate effectively and appropriately at work is a challenge for me. While I view myself as a fairly easy-going person, other people sometimes see me differently. I can be combustible. It’s easy to fire up my ignition because the switch is so accessible. I prefer the standby mode, but I must admit that I’m pretty much launch-ready all the time. I’ve just learned to keep my finger off the trigger.

This is so fresh in my mind because some minor failures in communication have forced me to reflect on how communication in the workplace can be confusing and challenging.

Here’s an example: I’m very guarded with my time and what I’m doing. My inclination is not to tell anyone what I’m doing or even where I’m going. Years ago, someone confronted me about this, and it angered me. I would get up from my desk and just walk out the door without saying anything to anyone. Since we have four office buildings and three storage buildings on our campus, I could be in any one of those. If somebody needed me, they might not be able to find me. (This was before everyone carried a cell phone.)

One day a frustrated secretary told me that I needed to tell her where I was going when I left the building. My immediate response was, “No, I don’t.”

That’s an example of poor communication. The secretary wasn’t trying to control my activities. She just wanted to be able to tell someone where I was if they were looking for me. My motivation was tied to my need to control my own actions. Her request in no way threatened me, but I interpreted it as a threat. I felt like I didn’t need to answer to her.

Well, yes I did. It’s called courtesy. I owed her as a coworker the common courtesy of telling her where I was going so that she could find me or relay the information to someone who was looking for me. I needed to get over my personal discomfort. My mixed-up motivations were getting in the way of effective operations. I knew my needs. I also had to consider the needs of others for an effective workplace.

Communicating the facts

Dan Roloff — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here's a provocative article from USA Today, "Tweeting, texting render avid users 'present yet absent'" by Olivia Barker. It raises many valid points about our use or over use of technology. This was such an important article that I chose to retweet it this morning on Twitter.

The section that really caught my eye was about our potential loss of creatureliness. I'm a sucker for a good philosophical debate that has theological implications. And creatureliness definitely fits under the category of theological anthropology. An illustration in the article got my attention. It was used to illustrate the point about our loss of creatureliness. Barker used it as part of a summary statement to support a point. The illustration was effective and supported the point. However, there were minor errors in her use of the illustration.

How important is it to get all the facts right in a news article? That question hit me not because it was a grievous error by a reporter. No it was a minor error that didn't influence the story or even the illustration. Here's the illustration: "that Verizon/ESPN MVP ad in which a woman being feted at a baby shower watches college hoops highlights on her cell instead of oohing and aahing over her little-girl gifts."

The woman in the ad isn't being feted. She's a guest at the party who is "present but absent" as she checks scores on her cell phone. At one point while guests are passing baby clothes she uses one outfit as a napkin as it's passed to her.

It's nitpicking to call this an error in the report but it is and it brings to mind how experts sift through biblical documents pointing out errors of omission or inclusion. Thousands of years after the fact scholars, with their own agendas search documents imposing a modern prism on the ancient texts. If these same scholars were critiquing Ms. Barker's work in a couple of thousand years would they be arguing about her report as being flawed? Or would they say that the illustration referred to a similar incident but it couldn't be verified because there were discrepancies, which couldn't be reconciled? Maybe they would be arguing over the meaning of a baby shower?

This is important to examine because scholars always have an agenda when they examine the facts. Trying to understand the agenda is helpful in sifting the information. Reporters have an agenda and that agenda isn't always just reporting the facts. We all apply filters to what we see, say, and do.

Of course, the facts are important too. I’m not trying to encourage misinformation here. Barker accidentally fudged some details in her article, but she got the message right. It would have been better if she had gotten all of the details right too. But she didn’t. And it doesn’t really affect her article. The message remains the same.

Facts are still important. But we need to be careful. Communicating the facts takes serious dedication to getting the message right. Sometimes we focus so much on getting the facts right that we lose sight of the message.

Gifts and Talents

Dan Roloff — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Recently, we received a request for helping people identify and use their spiritual gifts and talents. The request included resources outside TheHighCalling.org. We put together a list of resources we thought might be helpful and sent them to honor the request.

Below are the list of resources we passed along. We thought they might be useful to the users of TheHighCalling.org. The first two are links to online spiritual gifts assessment tools. Following that list is a few resources from our website that may be helpful. Finally, there is a book we think is useful.

http://archive.elca.org/evangelizingChurch/assessments/spiritgifts.html

http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1355371/k.9501/Spiritual_Gifts.htm

Some resources on TheHighCalling.org:

Discover Your Gifts, Discover Your Calling, by Bill Peel

http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=4986

Have You Unwrapped God's Gifts? by Ginger Geyer

http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=4359

Recognizing Divine Confirmation and Calling, by John Lewis

http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=3293

Body Parts and Church Functions, by Harold Fickett

http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=190

A couple of useful books are Discover Your Destiny by Bill and Kathy Peel; Live your Calling by Kevin and Kay Marie Brennfleck