Some Conversation Starters

EDUCATION

     Last time we spoke I wrote about poverty. In that conversation I talked about liberal education degrees. So let me expound on that a little bit. I believe that we need to overhaul public education in our country. Here is what I would do. 1) Remove all standardized testing or remove Individual education plans. 2) Calibrate high school education so that a high school diploma is equivalent to an AA degree 3) make all public Universities an optional continuation of high school. Therefore they would be free of charge and not mandatory and two years completing courses would result in a BA or BS in a chosen field. I believe this system would set up a lot more people for success and would reduce a great portion of debt in this country.

GENERATIONS

     I read a great article about Generation X, of which I am a member. It was very insightful about why my generation is reluctant to take up leadership roles. I had never given it much thought but for the most part those people that are of my generation are the not the ones out front but are behind the scenes. So the big picture I pulled from this article was that we the children of the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers were and are responding to a family life that was in total upheaval. (I personally did not experience that my parents have been married for over 50 years and worked at keeping a stabilized home.) We have a tendency to seek after peace and stability over all. This can be seen in our reaction to events. It’s why our children have to wear helmets for bicycles and stay in car seats far longer than any other generation. We are trying to regain control over our lives. I won’t take the time to speak about the economic impact that the past 4 decades has had on my generation.

RELIGION

     This is just a short reminder to all of my ministry friends that we cannot quantify our “success” in ministry. Attendance and the number of Baptism causes pastors to become CEO’s and our membership to become product. If we don’t produce we are failures if we produce we are successful. However in our common society we, pastors, have learned to manipulate our numbers just like big business does, if I grow a large church rapidly I am a success. Most likely it makes me a thief. Having stolen my congregation from other usually smaller churches looking for consumerist Christianity. Just be careful my brothers that we don’t lose sight of what we are trying to do.