Stewardship

I Am No Longer a Southern Baptist

Jose, his wife, and daughter just moved to our community and I dropped by to welcome them and invite them to church.  We became friends and eventually he came to church and was baptized.  Jose’s wife was a very large woman.  She was one of the first who had her stomach stapled to help her lose weight.  This was long before they started using those large rubber bands utilized today and they actually used staples.  I wondered if it might be just as effective to staple the refrigerator shut, but I didn’t say anything.  However, the surgical procedure was successful and she became a much smaller, more attractive person. 

With her new looks, she apparently decided she could do better than an illegal farm worker for a husband, so she divorced Jose.  He spent the next few years going back and forth between Mexico and the Texas panhandle, and she married and divorced a man in a neighboring community.

A car accident took the life of Jose’s ex-wife.  I did not want him to go to the funeral by himself, so I offered to tag along.  I found a sport coat and tie he could wear and we drove the twenty miles to the church.  Upon arrival, the local pastor met us and indicated that the family was in another part of the church.  He took Jose back to visit with his ex-in-laws and I waited in the sanctuary, just the casket and me.

In a few minutes, the pastor returned with a pained expression on his face.  He said, “I don’t know what to tell you, but they are throwing you guys out!”  He explained that her family was incensed when they saw Jose, fearing that he would attempt to claim custody of his daughter.  Their response was to grab him and quickly escort him out the door.  As the pastor spoke, I looked out the front door of the church, and sure enough, there was Jose walking down the street in a heavy rain (wearing my coat and tie) with an expression like a beaten dog.  The pastor apologized and I drove Jose home.  It was the first, and hopefully last time I was thrown out of a funeral. 

Now, I have been thrown out of the Southern Baptist Convention.  I have been a Southern Baptist all of my life.  My father was a pastor, Southern Baptist of course, even though we lived in Colorado, which is not a southern state.  I worked my way through all the badges and honors of RA’s and my sister did the same with GA’s.  If you are a Southern Baptist then I do not need to explain what that means.  I learned well the genius of the Cooperative Program as a method for supporting missions.

Why Do We Do the Right Thing?

Imagine walking out of the barbershop enjoying a new haircut and then you stumble over large bags of money lying on the sidewalk.  It would only take a few seconds for your mind to begin dreaming about all the things you could now do with all that money - travel, big screen TV, classic car, new house – the sky is the limit as they say. 

Although this seems to fall in the category that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is not true, it actually happened to David Jenks and Hanson Herring.  These two gentlemen stumbled upon several bags that they initially thought were filled with garbage.  Upon closer inspection, they realized they were filled with money – more than $300,000 actually. 

They soon realized that the bags of money had fallen from a Brinks armored truck.  The proper authorities were called and the money was returned to the rightful owner.  Showing their gratitude, the Brinks Company provided a reward for the two men - a T-shirt and a gold coin commemorating the company's 150th anniversary. 

I don’t know about you, but when I read about the reward given to these men who proved their honesty and saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, I was shocked.  All they received was a lousy T-shirt and a throwaway advertising token.  I admit, if I were one of the reward recipients, I would be a little disappointed. 

This recent news story caused me to reflect on why we do things.  What is the motivating factor when we choose to do the right thing?  Why did these two men in Syracuse, New York, call the authorities and return the money rather than pocketing it for themselves?  This is not a casual question.  It is the subject of many philosophical essays and the conundrum faced by numerous ethicists. 

Since I try to have realistic goals and expectations, I do not plan to resolve the ancient philosophical and ethical dilemma within these few paragraphs.  Instead, I want us to reflect on the value of rewards.  Do we normally expect some type of reward for doing the right thing?  Are we more likely to do the right thing if there is some type of benefit that comes our way? What would it take to get you to move from inertia toward positive action?

A New Chapter In My Autobiography

One of the great characters in the Old Testament was Abram, later known as Abraham.  The story of his life takes up a significant portion of the book of Genesis and he is referenced throughout the entire Bible.  I think the appeal is that he was an adventurer.  He was willing to take a risk, to make a change in his life if that is what was required to follow God.  He never allowed a fear of change to keep him from experiencing God’s best. 

If most of us were to write an autobiography, we would probably begin each chapter with an experience of making a change.  My autobiography would begin with chapter one, changing from a healthy baby boy into a child struggling for survival and fighting the effects of polio.  Another chapter might describe a change that led Sharon and I to move to Louisville, Kentucky, even though neither of us had ever crossed the Mississippi River.  I think I could easily describe my entire life by recounting the major changes I have experienced.  No doubt, you could as well. 

It is time to start a new chapter in my autobiography.  At an age when many of my friends are calculating their retirement account projections and talking about being content with the plan to retire from their present job, I sense God’s call to pack up and make a change. 

For the past twelve plus years, I have worked for denominational organizations, providing stewardship help and resources to churches.  I cannot say that every day of this work has been terrific, but the vast majority of them were.  Although I am a positive person by temperament, it is not an exaggeration to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the work.  Neither the occasional cranky denominational executive nor pigheaded pastor kept me from relishing in my daily tasks. 

I am taking all my education, several years of experience working in the secular world, and thirty years of learning how churches operate, and starting my own company.  I have thought about doing this for a while, but God made it clear in the past few months that now is the time.