Only the Lonely

In a report released this week from Duke University, Americans discovered that they have very few close friends. In a face to face study, over 25% of us said that they have no one to talk to about important things in their lives. Another quarter say they are only one person away from that.

The most astounding fact from this was that it was a replica of one done in 1985. In that 21-year time frame the number of people who say they have no one to talk to has doubled! And the number of confidants of the average person has gone down from three to two.

It likely is no surprise to many of us. Between longer work hours (not counting the commute to work), children's school and sports, taking care of our homes, and other things, when do people carve out time for developing deeper friendships? The implications for our communities are massive: fewer people to turn to for help in crises like Hurricane katrina; fewer watchdogs to deter neighborhood crime; fewer visitors to hospital patients and fewer participants in community groups. Perhaps that also explains the difficulty for some churches to see the growth of small group ministries.

For most of our married life, Christine and I have been "initiators" of friend connections. We have been the ones who invite and host people for dinners, wine tastings, parties, events, etc. For a long while, we felt somewhat bitter about that. But we have subsequently come to the opinion that we are just more oriented that way than many. Still it is difficult for us since many of our close friends live in cities (and countries) far from Seattle.

For me, traveling like I do can often be quite lonely. Airplanes, meals alone, hotels with limited transportation, amd minimal local contacts make it difficult. It is always nice to have Christine's smiling face and open heart to come home to. So here is the reason I am not among the lonely -- the multi-talented and most beautiful Christine!

Emergent Community

Many of you have asked me about my involvement with the emerging generation leadership and some of the challenges and opportunities they present. Even though he is not under 35, Brian McLaren is one of the key spokespeople of this movement. Here some of his thoughts about the interaction between emerging generation and existing established leadership.


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Just over a year ago, Doug Pagitt predicted that 2005 would be a year of criticism for the emergent community, and looking back, it’s clear that he predicted pretty accurately. Some of that criticism has been constructive and helpful, although a lot of it has been, sadly, less so. But even non-constructive criticism has its benefits: it gives its targets the opportunity to be gracious, forgiving, non-retaliatory, courageous, and persistent. It also can encourage humility and prayer. I trust that all of us who have felt the sting of criticism can feel ourselves, by the grace of God, benefiting from the experience.

It’s always wise to listen and learn from criticism, but it’s even more important to proactively examine ourselves. As Paul said, if we judged ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged (1 Cor. 11:31), and Jesus told us to examine our own eyes for lumber before worrying about the splinters in others’ eyes. So, in that spirit, here’s an exercise in self-examination for the growing global generative friendship that is associated with the name “emergent” in the U.S. and in many places around the world. It’s based on my own observations, and includes proposals for how we respond to the issues I try to describe.


You can read more of this article and other things from Brian at:
http://www.brianmclaren.net

Business as Mission

One of the great developments and trends over the past 5-10 years has been the involvement and participation of business and professional people in global missions. Many business people are seeing what they do as an opportunity for reaching the lost -- and assisting the emerging church around the world through providing employment and other business opportunities. This movement is called "business as mission (BAM)."

In the past, it seemed like the only way business people were involved in mission was either through the funding of missionaries, or assisting others in their "tentmaking" adventures. I called the latter "business as platform (BAP)," because the only interest from missionaries was just looking for a way to gain access to restricted countries. Those BAPers often gave Christians a bad reputation since most of them did so little business (and the locals knew it!).

These days, the list of restricted access countries is much smaller than it ever has been. Probably only North Korea and the Maldives are truly what can be described as restricted access countries. Thus, the opportunity for business and professional people to make an impact through what God has called them to has increased exponentially. Mostly, they seek to develop higher excellence in leadership which relates to business and ministry. It's an exciting development when the Body of Christ continues to learn and see how each of us has unique and great gifts to bring as God build His Kingdom.

Graduation Day!

Hard to believe that these two good looking and bright guys have now moved past High School. They're heading to Gonzaga Unversity in late August!

We had a great day on Tuesday of graduation beginning with the bacalaeurete in the morning followed by a nice luncheon event at the school. We had some of the family over in the evening before heading off to the big event. After graduation ceremonies, the boys had an all-night senior party with their class that Christine served as one of the chaperons!

Then today we had an Open House celebration where nearly 70 family and friends came by to pay tribute to the grads and wish them well.

Only during World Cup Soccer

In honor of today's launch of the World Cup, I offer the following. Yes friends, you, too, can participate in the current soccer fever around the world by going to a urinal near you (actually, this one's in Latin America). Hopefully, the advertizing for ESPN doesn't mean that taping is being done. What will they think of next!

Sorry, ladies, I have a feeling this one is for guys only.