It interested me that he obviously continued with the hard work and drive to be appointed by President Obama as NASA Administrator. I hope he was not made the sacrificial lamb. Obama just made some drastic changes in NASA’s mission, and the spaceflight team is reeling in shock. The shuttles are soon to be retired, and new launch vehicles and a return flight to the moon are canceled. Morale at NASA, at least for the spaceflight folks, has got to be in the basement. It will take a few years for the NASA employees to be highly motivated again, unless Bolden is a really good leader—if he lasts that long.

Look at all the parochial deals: extra Medicaid spending for Nebraska, exemptions from Medicare Advantage cuts for parts of Florida, special help for some asbestos disease sufferers in Montana, exempting health plans of union members from the “cadillac tax.”

Of course, this is how the Senate leadership crafted 60 votes to get the bill passed, but it bolstered the perception that the measure was pork barrel spending aimed at helping some more than others. And it makes us wonder what other dirty deals they did.

Most important, according to the survey, is a strong, stable strategy. “Companies that change strategies must usually change organizational structures as well… It forces employees to focus inward rather than outward and becomes a giant sink of time and energy.”

The data show that the structure of an organization is far less important than its strategy. The most admired companies don’t share a common operating model. What they do share is a focus on identifying and developing talent.

As I was reflecting on this article, I wondered how the principles these admired companies followed applied to my church, if at all. After first being tempted to consider them apples and oranges, I realized that both an excellent company and an excellent church require excellent leadership that lays out a clear and compelling strategy. A mushy strategy, or bouncing from one strategy to another, keeps a church from being effective.

Furthermore, like successful companies, a church, must concentrate on identifying and developing talent. This is exactly what Ephesians 4:12-13 means, “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

How is your church doing?

Even worse, in my opinion, is what this same group of of people have done to unintentionally damage the image of Christianity in our country. Because of intentional engagement of others with different beliefs and moral standards as political adversaries, Christians have developed a reputation as judgmental, unloving, homophobic hypocrites. In their drive to have their right and moral rules become laws, they have become just like the Pharisees that Jesus condemned as whitewashed tombs—shiny on the outside and full of death on the inside.

Both the Republican Party and the Christian Church need to recover their foundations before they become perceived as completely irrelevant.

Of course, one way of problem solving is to ask, “What is our biggest problem?” Then, we make solving that problem our priority. Lomborg suggests another approach: since we are almost always resource limited, prioritize on the basis of what will give us the best results for the resources we have available. I find it interesting to contemplate applying this idea not only to global issues, but to personal priorities, church priorities, and local government priorities.

Lomborg’s example (highly controversial) was that the biggest global problem facing us is climate change, but that we could get a far higher return (in terms of lives saved/quality of life) by solving AIDS. I think there are too many unknowns to be sure of his conclusions, but I am interested in thinking through setting priorities by carefully considering not only the biggest problem, but the most cost-effective solution as well.

November 9, 1932 headlines

In an old mining cabin high in the White Mountains, I found an old newspaper tacked to the wall. Besides the headlines proclaiming Roosevelt’s win, there was another page of the same newspaper with a full page ad by the May Company. I thought it appropriate to reproduce it here.

The campaigning is adjourned.
Now let’s get down to business and speed the return of prosperity…

Yesterday… We were a nation politically divided…
Today… We must stand united again as true Americans.

Now that the election is behind us… this fact looms clear: the job ahead of us is not a one-man job, a one-party job, but a whole nation job!

Yesterday we chose to label ourselves as supporters of one or another of the major political groups. Today those sharp lines of separation must fade. “Politics should adjourn”… and immediately we should become solidified into one all-inclusive party… We, the People of the United States, one for all and all for one.

For the past few months we’ve been fired with partisan enthusiasm. We’ve had healthy differences of opinion, and we’ve been airing them in the press, over the radio, at the street corner, and in the home. The Great American Political Compaign has been turned on in full force. Characteristically, in the last stages of the campaign, it’s been evident that politics in the raw is seldom mild.

Now, whether our candidates won or lost, we must bend in good spirit to the will of the people—to that fundamental doctrine… The Majority Rules. It is good sportsmanship as well as good sense for every citizen to place his faith, confidence, and loyalty in the administration which has been chosen. Strong government cannot be effective on any other basis.

The times call for united action. It’s everybody’s job to help. We must pool our energies and work together with a singleness of purpose as we did in war days and in all other national emergencies. Prosperity will play a return engagment sooner if we do! We have chosen worthy men as our pillots. We must cooperate unreservedly… to the end that the course which they chart will guide us more surely and more speedily through the storm.

by The May Company
in the Wednesday, November 9, 1932 Los Angeles Examiner

“We have no leaders, let alone statesmen, just ideologues, elected by like-minded ideologues, who care only about getting reelected, bringing government money back to their constituency and making lucrative connections in the event they aren’t reelected or are caught by term limits.”

Then, in his comment on Miki’s post, Ron Haynes from over at The Wisdom Journal said,

“…politicians think only about the next election, but statesmen think about the next generation.”

Miki goes on to say,

“Before you choose the ideology that makes you the most comfortable, think about your grandchildren’s children and what kind of world you want to leave as your legacy.”

In a very similar way, local churches must think about their future. Church leaders should think, plan, and act to insure the local church under their direction will still be fulfilling its calling 10, 20, or 50 years from now. Are the long term investments being made that will produce leaders and workers in your children’s and their children’s generation?

The incident in the photo occurred as a group of us were driving our 4×4′s around on the (nearly) dry bottom of an extremely low Indian Valley Reservoir near Clear Lake. Matt was up to his axles stuck and his Jeep refused to budge either forward or back.

It took a tow to get him out. In a situation like this, self-help just doesn’t cut it. Of course, I think this is a metaphor too. When you are stuck in life, don’t look for a self-help book. Find someone to throw you a tow strap.

In fact, Matt was stuck so firm we couldn’t get him out with just a normal tow. It took two vehicles in tandem. I’m trying to learn from this—but I’m kind of stuck.

Yes, we did get two Jeeps stuck in the same mudhole.

Sounds intriguing, but since I don’t know where Anonymous will post that, I’m hoping he will comment again.

We often talk about ‘stress management,’ by which we usually mean reducing the impact of stress-ors in our lives. Of course, we don’t really want stress to go to zero. It’s pretty boring with zero stress. In fact, manageable stress is what makes life interesting. Without stress, there is no impetus for us to grow or change.

I imagine crises work the same way. An organization (or church) can become bogged down in bureaucracy, laziness, and uncritical thinking, but a good crisis can jar them out of it. In what other ways is there power in crisis?