Archive for September, 2005

Teachers: Our Frontline Ministers

Published
by
Mike
on September 30, 2005
in General
. 44 Comments

My message on “Women, Gifts, and Ministry” is now available on the Highland website. Click here to listen to it. (Warning: it’s 68 minutes.)

- - - -

God bless you teachers. All of you. Those who still have the vision of participating in the mission of Christ through your teaching, nurturing, and disciplining of young lives.

I especially want to bless those of you who are in hard places (and isn’t this most of you?) where there isn’t much parental support, where school boards seem more interested in test scores than in learning, and where your students don’t have all the advantages.

Probably some of you wish you could do what I do: be a minister for Jesus. Are you kidding me? You are the front-line ministers! You are in the nooks and crannies of the mission of Jesus Christ. Your teaching, your love, your nurturing, your encouragement — that’s the best hope many of your students are going to have. Unfortunately, many of them don’t have moms and dads who are teaching, loving, nurturing, and encouraging. And it’s almost as if “the system” has forgotten them. “The system” has too much to prove about educational reform, test scores, etc.

But while all that happens, it’s still you in a classroom with twenty or so kids. (If you teach middle school or above, it’s a revolving door of kids.)

- - - -

One burden that many teachers have today (probably everywhere, but at least in Texas) is knowing that they’re being judged by the way their students perform on tests. It would be much better to ask, “Have we moved this students forward?” but that’s not measurable. And, of course, we want to quantify! So we have tests.

Here’s a piece Larry James just ran on his blog. It’s written by Joshua Benton and appeared in the Dallas Morning News. (Keep in mind as you read that in the vast majority of instances, the problem isn’t the teacher but the pressure of teaching to a test.)

TAKS push not so equal
Monday, September 19, 2005
The Dallas Morning News

Sometimes it takes an outsider. Something you’ve seen a thousand times may seem as normal as heat in a Texas summer - until someone new stops in and points out just how wrong it is.
That’s how I felt when I read an academic paper by Jennifer Booher-Jennings, a grad student at Columbia.

She spent months observing how a Texas elementary school prepared for the TAKS test. (She promised not to reveal its identity in exchange for the access.)

Her paper didn’t tell me much I hadn’t seen repeatedly across the state. But I’d never really stopped to think through the damage well-meaning educators can cause in pursuit of a high passing rate and a good school rating.

Here’s how it worked at the school she watched. In the fall, teachers gave students a sample TAKS test. Based on the results, students were divided into three groups: passers at the top, remedial kids at the bottom and bubble kids in between. The bubble kids are the ones whose scores put them just below the state’s passing standards. (That varies from grade to grade, but kids generally have to get 65 percent to 70 percent of questions right to pass the TAKS.)

The bubble kids are the ones who, with a coordinated effort, can be pushed over the passing bar. And pushing kids over that bar is everything in Texas. So how did the educators at this particular school react? By pouring all the resources they could into the bubble kids.

The bubble kids get special sessions with the school’s reading specialist. The bubble kids get after-school and Saturday tutoring. The bubble kids get small-group attention in class. The bubble kids get extra reading time with librarians and the P.E. teacher. All that’s great if you’re a bubble kid. That extra time and attention works - those kids usually end up passing TAKS.

But what if you’re one of the “remedial” kids - everyone below the bubble? You get the shaft.

Teachers aren’t stupid. They realize they’re going to be judged on how many of their kids pass - not how much improvement they can squeeze out of their weakest kids. So they go after the low-hanging fruit: the bubble kids.

Here are some direct quotes from the teachers Ms. Booher-Jennings interviewed:

“I guess there’s supposed to be remediation for anything below [a TAKS score of] 55. But you have to figure out who to focus on in class, and I definitely focus more attention on the bubble kids.”

“If you look at her score [pointing at one student’s score], she’s got a 25 percent. What’s the point in trying to get her to grade level? It would take two years to get her to pass the test, so there’s really no hope for her.”

“If you have a kid who is getting a 22, even if they improve to a 40, they won’t be close. But if you have a kid with a 60, well, they’re in shooting range. … Some kids are always going to be left behind, especially in this district, when we have the emphasis on the bubble kids.”

As one teacher said of the remedial kids: “It’s really a lost cause. They must have fallen through the cracks somehow.”

These are third-graders we’re talking about.

These kids are getting written off as hopeless cases before they turn 9.

Ms. Booher-Jennings only visited one school. But I’ve talked to dozens of teachers who do some version of the same practice. Principals call it being “data-driven.” I call it an excuse to ignore the weak.

But it isn’t just the weakest students who lose in this system. Bright kids, the ones schools know are going to pass, don’t get much attention either. Neither do the special education kids whose scores don’t count against the school, or the kids who transfer into a school after October and aren’t counted for ratings either.

Here’s the criminal thing about focusing so much attention on the bubble kids: All it does is make the adults look better. It makes teachers look better when their classrooms’ passing rates are posted in the teacher’s lounge. It makes principals look better when they get called to a meeting in the central office. It makes superintendents look better when test scores get published in the newspaper. And it makes legislators look good when the statewide passing rate marches up every year.

But does it help children when teachers are willing to pour hours into turning a 64 into a 71 - but consider moving a kid from a 31 to a 59 not worth the effort? It’s the precise opposite of “no child left behind.”

I hope every TAKS-giving teacher reading this asks herself a simple question: Is there anything I do for bubble kids that I don’t do for weaker kids? And if the answer is yes: How can I justify that?

The final irony in Ms. Booher-Jennings’ paper comes from one constant among almost all of the teachers she interviewed. They always complained about their colleagues in earlier grades. Those other teachers didn’t do enough to prepare these kids when they had them, the teachers argued. Now these hopeless cases are going to lower my passing rate.

Gee, I wonder how those kids on the bottom got there? Perhaps if they’d gotten the same attention the bubble kids had, their futures wouldn’t seem quite so hopeless.

Grisham, Blueberries, Football, Teaching

Published
by
Mike
on September 29, 2005
in General
. 34 Comments

Michael Brown said his greatest mistake in directing the Katrina relief effort was in not realizing for so long that Louisiana is dysfunctional. Does the man not read Grisham novels?

- - - -

My favorite dessert: blueberry pie. (Or blueberry cobbler. What’s the difference other than the shape?)

- - - -

We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of 7th grade football yesterday. Nothing like football on a cool, crisp autumn day. (It was 104 degrees.)

- - - -

Yesterday in freshman Bible I remembered why I love to teach. A student who has seem uninterested so far started coming to life as I talked about the kingdom of God and the mission of Christ in Mark 1. As the class went along, I could see her eyes brighten and her body start to lean forward. At the end she came up and said, “That was really good today.”

It’s a small thing, I know. No need for dancing in the endzone or high fives. But what if . . . what if this student had a switch flipped . . . what if she realized that life isn’t about trying to be happy and that faith has almost nothing to do with the health/wealth stuff preached on television . . . what if she heard again the invitation of Jesus, “Come, follow me”?

This teaching thing is pretty amazing. (Any stories out there from those of you who do it all the time?)

However, on that note . . . I’m looking for ways to follow my own advise from the last couple days. Something needs to be cut out of my schedule. And as much as I hate to think about it, teaching is a possibility.

- - - -

One week until the Zoe conference. Brandon, can we just pretend we’re ready and quit stressing about it?

- - - -

Last night Randy Harris spoke on Balaam’s donkey. Want to imagine what that was like?

Easing Off the Accelerator

Published
by
Mike
on September 28, 2005
in General
. 17 Comments

So many great comments yesterday about the possibility of easing off the accelerator pedals in our lives. One that I’m afraid got buried after a lengthy essay I put in the comments section is from Tammy:

At many points in my life it has seemed that I am not able to see the forest through the trees. The busyness of motherhood, a side job, serving in church, just general things that are “good” but for whatever reason seem to fill up a space of time with no time for rest or Sabbath. When my son Jack was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, my busy life came to a screaching halt. I suddenly saw how little time I had spent playing with my kids, spending time hugging on them, spending time thinking about romancing my husband, luckily I had time invested in scripture and prayer, so when this all hit I had the Rock of my life to cling to. It was the little things that I realized I was taking for granted that they would be there tomorrow. I could play later when the dishes were done, I could take a walk tomorrow when laundry was finished…..as Jack was being wheeled into surgery to remove the tumor from his brain I realized I might not ever get the chance to hang out with him again. Thanks be to God that I have been blessed with alot of times since then to spend time just “being” with my kids, and alot more time to not only read but meditate on scripture. I don’t know when Jack’s tumor struggles will be over, but when they are and it is time for me to start adding extra stuff into my life I will be adding it with guidance through prayer and God’s leading. One of the many blessings that has come through Jack’s diagnosis is I make a conscience effort to not take relationships for granted, family, friends, and the awesome blessing of a God who never leaves me the same for even one day.

Just wanted to be sure you didn’t miss that!

- - - -

Tonight Randy Harris continues the series that he said was inspired by my four weeks in Leviticus. I think he’s calling it “Almost Irrelevant Ideas from Nearly Obscure Passages” (or something Harrisesque like that).

- - - -

I’ve found myself praying a lot for Judge Roberts recently, knowing that, at age 50, he could be leading the Supreme Court for the rest of my lifetime.

- - - -

Another quote from Honore’s In Praise of Slowness:

“There is something in the nature of cooking and eating together that forms a bond between people. It is no accident that the word ‘companion’ is derived from Latin words meaning ‘with bread.’ A relaxed, convivial meal has a calming, even civilizing, effect, smoothing away the smash-and-grab haste of modern life. The Kwakiutl people of British Columbia warn that fast eating can ‘bring about the destruction of the world more quickly by increasing the aggressiveness’ in it. Oscar Wilde expressed a similar sentiment with a typically barbed aphorism: ‘After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.’”

- - - -

While surfing last night, I happened to catch Alison Krauss singing “A Living Prayer.” That’s a religious experience.

In Praise of Slowness

Published
by
Mike
on September 27, 2005
in Books, General and family
. 25 Comments

When I have time to breathe, when I’m not pressing at full speed for an extended period of time . . . I am happier, I’m a better husband and father, I’m a more prepared and compassionate minister.

But when I feel like I’m in a full-court press all day long for an extended period of time . . . depression creeps in, I become fragmented and abrupt, and I look for ways to retreat from people.

Anyone else out there feel like life needs to slow down? Not always, of course. There are times we need to speed along. But we weren’t made to stay at that pace. There is a rhythm in scripture that calls for rest, fun, joy, and relaxation that we too often miss out on. In the words of Gandhi, “there is more to life than increasing its speed.”

I’ve been reading a helpful book by Carl Honore called In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed.

Honore says the idea for the book came when he was rushing through one more airport and he saw a book entitled The One-Minute Bedtime Story. His first thought was that this was an answer to prayers. He had been in tug-of-war battles with his two-year-old son over reading every night. He’d been wanting to get through stories more quickly so he could get back to his agenda: supper, emails, reading, bills, more work, etc.

But a moment of insight fell over him: “Have I gone completely insane? . . . I am Scrooge with a stopwatch, obsessed with saving every last scrap of time, a minute here, a few seconds there.”

I’m not suggesting this applies to any of you — :) — but just in case there are one or two others needing to ratchet it down a bit now and then, I’m going to include a few choice quotes.

“This book is not a declaration of war against speed. Speed has helped to remake our world in ways that are wonderful and liberating. Who wants to live without the Internet or jet travel? The problem is that our love of speed, our obsession with doing more and more in less and less time, has gone too far; it has turned into an addiction, a kind of idolatry.”

“Then there is the human cost of turbo-capitalism. These days, we exist to serve the economy, rather than the other way round. Long hours on the job are making us unproductive, error-prone, unhappy and ill. Doctor’s offices are swamped with people suffering from conditions brought on by stress: insomnia, migraines, hypertension, asthma and gastrointestinal trouble, to name but a few. The current work culture is also undermining our mental health.”

“All the things that bind us together and make life worth living — community, family, friendship — thrive on the one thing we never have enough of: time.”

“Despite Cassandra-like mutterings from the speed merchants, slower, it turns out, often means better — better health, better work, better business, better family life, better exercise, better cuisine and better sex.”

“In this book, Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change. They are shorthand for ways of being, or philosophies of life. Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient, active, quantity-over-quality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity.”

“In our hyped-up, faster-is-better culture, a turbocharged life is still the ultimate trophy on the mantelpiece. When people moan, ‘Oh, I’m so busy, I’m run off my feet, my life is a blur, I haven’t got time for anything,’ what they often mean is, ‘Look at me: I am hugely important, exciting and energetic.’”

Well, enough quotes. You see where this is going. The book isn’t just full of chastising. It is chocked full of glimpses at life lived at a more sane pace.

Some of the chapters are:

“Food: Turning the Tables on Speed”
“Medicine: Doctors and Patience”
“Sex: A Lover with a Slow Hand”
“Leisure: The Importance of Being at Rest”
“Children: Raising an Unhurried Child”

Let me encourage you to check this book out. If your library doesn’t have it, you can rush to the local Barnes and Noble or put in a rush order at Amazon!

Think back to some of those best moments in life. Honestly, didn’t many of them involve a slower pace? “Quiet time” when you didn’t feel like you had to wind up the reading and prayer in ten minutes. Preparing a meal where the cooking and the conversation were part of the ritual. Taking a walk, a hike, a bike ride. Reading a book to your child or grandchild as the child soaked in the words and the attention. Visiting at length with a friend. Looking across the table at your Beloved during a two-hour meal, remembering births, deaths, challenges, and joys.

Many of us need more than an evening off. We need a radical change of lifestyle. Does that resonate with anyone?

Just As I Was . . . and Am

Published
by
Mike
on September 26, 2005
in General, memories and music
. 45 Comments

Yesterday we worshipped our way through Psalm 51 in the first part of our assembly–confession, petition, thanksgiving, and praise. Then during communion we sang “Just As I Am.”

For some reason, at both services, I had to fight back a tear.

We don’t sing “Just As I Am” much anymore. It hasn’t completely disappeared, thankfully, but it’s less common.

It is, of course, THE invitation song. The one with 50 verses sung until that last white-knuckled sinner turns loose of the pew and comes forward.

Yesterday it really was an invitation to me. An invitation to ingest the words of Psalm 51 while receiving again the body and blood of Jesus. An an invitation to remember.

In my mind I traveled back to the age of 18, a freshman at Harding listening to the spell-binding words of one of my heroes (then and now), Jimmy Allen. And I also time-traveled back to the age of 21, when I began holding Gospel Meetings (not revivals–that was the Baptists!) in places like Seneca, Mount Vernon, Neosho, and Hottel Springs, Missouri.

Just as I am!
Thy love unknown
has broken every barrier down;
Now to be thine,
yea, think alone,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

What invitation songs (or any other spiritual songs) still take you back to sweet moments of spiritual revival?

Our Houston Evacuee

Published
by
Mike
on September 24, 2005
in family
. 12 Comments

Our house has been a blast this morning. We have a Houston evacuee who’s studying for a week of exams at Baylor Medical School. But so far today, during his “breaks,” he and his brother have played ping-pong and NFL Blitz (Play Station); they’ve thrown the baseball in the front yard; and they’ve eaten all the pancakes and bacon I made for a late breakfast. And now we’re all heading out for soccer. Cramming for cardiology will have to wait!

Friday, September 23

Published
by
Mike
on September 23, 2005
in General
. 7 Comments

Hurrah! After two days of stubbornness, Blogger is finally letting me post.

We’re so thankful that Matt and Jenna got out of Houston yesterday. They caught a Continental flight to Abilene. Apparently it was terrible at the airport (though not as bad as some of the images on CNN since they got there at 5 a.m.); but that was nothing like so many people suffering on I-45. I’m sure there are some who visit here regularly who were in that mess. I hope and pray that you’re in a safe place now.

Last night I was in Washington, D.C. While there, I got to spend a little time with Larry James, who always encourages me to take seriously the call of the kingdom.

Things Unseen

Published
by
Mike
on September 21, 2005
in Books and Church of Christ
. 15 Comments

My buddy Leonard Allen has this great paragraph in his book THINGS UNSEEN: CHurches of Christ In (and After) the Modern Age:

The restorationist vision is fundamentally a means of critique and dissent. For this reason it will never fit comfortably with mainline or establishment forms of Christianity. Its sins tend to be those of severity rather than laxity, blind obstinancy rather than easy compromise, too-quick exclusion rather than too-ready inclusion, irrelevance rather than trendiness. Restorationists are constantly putting burrs under the seats of the sleepy and comfortable. They work from the conviction that accommodation and compromise are far easier and subtler than most suppose and that the call of Christ is higher, more serious, and more demanding than most care to entertain. That restorationists often fail to embody their own ideals should not obscure to our eyes the truth and power of the ideals themselves.

Wednesday, September 21

Published
by
Mike
on September 21, 2005
in General
. 47 Comments

Assembly blooper. Those of you at first assembly Sunday morning saw a beautiful communion clip prepared by Matt Maxwell. Those of you at second . . . did not. It’s too painful to talk about. The wrong video was played.

- - - -

I pulled this off of Greg’s blog from a few days ago. It’s a May, 1955 article from Good Housekeeping. There have been a few changes in the past half century, eh?

The Good Wife’s Guide

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people.

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

Gather up schoolbooks, toys, papers, etc. and then run a dustcloth over the tables.

Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for your husband to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimise all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

Be happy to see him.

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first- remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.

Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

A good wife always knows her place.

Youth Ministers

Published
by
Mike
on September 20, 2005
in Church, food and guacamole
. 39 Comments

Yesterday’s comments include a couple people wanting to know how to fix dove. The very question misses the larger context of this blog. The answer to serving dove is guacamole.

Tonight I’m fixing dove fajitas — with fresh guacamole (starting with Haas avocados), beans, onions, peppers, and tortillas right off the tortilla-maker at HEB. I’ll grill the dove with a little bacon and a bit of sauce and then slap them on the fajita plate. I’ve also been known to make quail fajitas and sandhill crane fajitas.

Mmmm, good.

- - - -

Just a word about youth ministers here. I’ve been blessed to speak at lots of conferences for youth ministers through the years, and I’ve gotten to know many of them.

Here’s what I’ve discovered: so many of them are among the most passionate, godly leaders I’ve ever met. They tend to fly under the radar a bit since they are “youth ministers”–but trust me, their influence permeates throughout their churches.

Most of them are thinking theologically in a way that connects with culture. They have to answer the question “Where was God in this?” constantly, because teens aren’t afraid to ask. They have developed a knack for seeing beneath the surface to the deeper issues. For example, when everyone was blathering on about Generation X, most youth ministers saw beneath those “studies” to the deeper cultural shifts involved.

Church leaders are, thankfully, talking more and more about missional living. I think many youth ministers led the way. Over the past couple decades they have moved away from the ski trip model of youth ministry (though there’s nothing wrong with a good old ski trip!) to the mission trip model. They know that their job isn’t to meet all the perceived needs of their teens or to compete with the next megachurch down the road but to help in the transformation of students into passionate disciples of Christ who seek to participate in the work of God.

So many youth ministers I know are passionate about kingdom, mission, incarnational living, authenticity, and — of course — the gospel. They have little time for denominational concerns and have been moving beyond those borders long before others decided that is a good idea.

In my freshman Bible class each fall, I ask my students to fill out a sheet to help me get to know them. One question asks them to tell me about the most influential person in their spiritual formation. As you would guess, moms and dads lead the list. But the next group is youth ministers. Isn’t that amazing? So many university freshmen remember them as their mentors/guides/teachers!

Does your church have a youth minister? Or if not, how about volunteers who pour themselves into the ministry? Then thank them! Pray for them! Encourage them! Support them! Can you imagine what a word from you might do to give them new strength? Or an invitation to go to lunch? Or a promise to pray for them by name each week?

So today, I give thanks to all of you out there who are involved in the faith formation of teenagers. As the dad of a 7th grader, I know just how important you are!