Via Bleeding Green Nation, an article that connects military thought to Chip Kelly's innovative football ideas: "...once you look behind the glitz and glamour of Kelly's offense, it becomes clear that speed is just a byproduct of a much larger innovation."

Points:

• "...it wasn't the best equipment or the number of soldiers that defined a Great General, but rather their ability to quickly adapt and out-maneuver an enemy."
• "...conflict was just a series of decision loops."

The article mentioned most decisions in battle happen instantaneously. This sounds similar to Gary Klein's ideas about Recognition-Primed Decision-making (RPD) where the decision-maker cycles through patterns until he or she finds a familiar pattern to apply to a situation. This is an instantaneous process.

According to JC Ryle in his book, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots: "A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all his duties and relations in life."

Some key points:

• It's more than just staying out of trouble or doing the assigned task. Ryle says anyone can do that, including "others who take no thought for their souls."
• The challenge, for Ryle, is "Holy persons should aim at doing everything well, and should be ashamed of allowing themselves to do anything ill if they can help it."
• Ryle's examples include being "good husbands, good wives, good parents and good children, good masters and good servants, good neighbours, good friends, good subjects, good in private and good in public, good in the place of business and good by their firesides."
• Ultimately, Ryle concludes, "Holiness is worth little indeed, if it does not bear this kind of fruit."

That's a tall order, and it involves, instead, greater vision, effort, and endurance.

• It involves greater vision because the holy person needs to strive for excellence in all things.
• It involves greater effort because great achievements come at a great cost.
• Operating at such a high level requires great endurance, and that's where faithfulness comes in.

Faithfulness, therefore, can be seen as having a sense of unfinished business that should drive Christians beyond ordinary living. Ryle points to Jesus's questions in Matthew 5:47, the final in a set of rhetorical questions that conclude his exhortation to do more than return an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Instead, Jesus charged his disciples to turn the other cheek, give one's coat in addition to one's cloak, and go the extra mile. Those final questions, "What more are you doing than others? Do not the Gentiles do the same?" are a challenge to live above the ordinary every day.

How can we find the great endurance to stay that course day in and day out? It's no coincidence that faith is not only belief but also perseverance, that is, keeping faith, or as Ryle expresses it, faithfulness. That distinction corresponds to Ryle's distinction earlier in Holiness between justification and sanctification.

• Justification is the initial act where God immediately sees the individual as righteous and sanctification is the lifelong process of growing toward God's vision every day.
• In other words, justification is how God immediately sees His followers, but sanctification is how God shapes His followers over the course of their lives.

John Piper said that distinction is the root of the endurance needed to consistently do everything well without flagging. In studying the lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce, Piper discovered this secret to endurance:

• Justification, God's grace act of covering our sins with Christ's sacrifice, was not sanctification, the lifelong process of holy living.
• Too many people, Piper said, believe once justified means fully sanctified and don't take on the hard task of spiritual growth.
• That means they're surprised and discouraged when they discover holy living is hard.

Newton, Simeon, and Wilberforce didn't lose sight of that, so justification became the basis of hope that got them through the hard times that inevitably come when trying to do the right thing.

• They looked back on God's act of justification in order to look forward to the great tasks ahead.
• They were encouraged that God's act of justification meant they would never lose that relationship with God and, resting in that knowledge, attempted great things for God day in and day out.

How can we make that endurance our own as we fight the Sunday night blues thinking of the week ahead? In his great hymn, Amazing Grace, John Newton tells us how.

• We first understand just how great God's grace was to bring us to Himself. Newton, a former slaver, understood his condition before God, calling himself a wretch and equating his transformation to going from lost to found, from blindness to seeing.
• After his conversion, Newton accepted the path of growth in holiness as grace taught his heart to fear.
• Knowing that grace his fears relieved, Newton accepted that life was full of dangers, toils, and snares, but anchored himself in God's grace that brought him safe thus far and would lead him home.

This formula for endurance is what allowed Newton to counsel Wilberforce during a time of self-doubt to stay in politics, advice that led to a change in British law regarding slavery. It's a formula that can motivate us to stay the course. To steal Douglas MacArthur's words from a different speech, anchoring in God's grace will "build courage when courage seems to fail…regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith…[and] create hope when hope becomes forlorn."

Jump start your prayer life with prayers from the Bible

A way to pray by using Bible prayers. 

Example: Jabez prayer. 1 Chronicles 4:10 NASB. "Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!' And God granted him what he requested."

Make a table like this one, a row for each part of the prayer:

Bible prayer.	What it means to you.	Ongoing prayer concern. Something you pray about on a recurring basis. What does the specific part of the Bible prayer mean for your ongoing prayer concern?	Immediate prayer concern. Something you call upon God right away. What does the specific part of the Bible prayer mean for your immediate prayer concern?	God's responses. How is God responding? How did God finally respond?
Bless me.
Enlarge my border.
Your hand might be with me.
You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me.

Via Instapundit and the New York Times, operations management contributes to improved treatment of heart attacks:

From 2003 to 2013, the death rate from coronary heart disease fell about 38 percent, according to the American Heart Association citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the primary federal agency that funds heart research, says this decline has been spurred by better control of cholesterol and blood pressure, reduced smoking rates, improved medical treatments — and faster care of people in the throes of a heart attack.

Faster care comes from streamlined processes. The article provides insight into how that came about and how it's also helping stroke victims.

A page in your prayer journal

Don't be afraid to start with asking. Prayer is one of God's tools for changing you. Over time, you'll start with praise and thanksgiving.

Prayer item: Describe what you're praying about (be specific), then start to fill out the table below: 

Purpose in your heart: Commit to God's general will. Write down God's commands, commissions, and promises you think apply. Feel free to change these over time. They will help you reflect on God's purposes below.	Wait on God for His specific will: Progress and preparation toward answered prayer (list what you think is God's movement toward answering your prayer) Your preparation (what seems related to moving you as part or as all of God's final answer; what seems related to preparing you to become part or all of God's final answer)
God's final answer: What God finally answered.	Act decisively: Your decisions and commitments in response to God's answer
Purposes: God's specific will as revealed in His final answer (reflect on the alignment between your original request and God's final answer)	Person: Reflect on these to help you identify aspects of your character to bring in line with God's. God's, names, character, and attributes Christ's names, character, and attributes

How to make prayer that comes from you and not vain repetition:

• Follow the matrix clockwise:  - Supplication leading to asking God to exercise His attributes.
• Counterclockwise - Praise/thanks for exercising His attributes. 

Christian Theology 101: One mind with God

Via JC Ryle's Holiness:Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, one characteristic of holiness: "Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find his mind described in Scripture."

Ryle makes these points about what "one mind" means:

• Agreeing with God's judgments. The more we agree, the holier we become.
• Measuring everything by the standard of God's Word (Bible)

"Holy" means "set apart," something Ryle's two points about "one mind" bring out. Here are a few thoughts:

• Servants adopt the master's priorities over their own, the foundation for servants achieving "one mind" with the master. 
• Servants make decisions based on their understanding of the master's priorities. This helps servants do what the master wants even if the master is absent. In the military, we called this the commander's intent. What did the commander want to accomplish? Knowing that priority helped us use the right tactics for the situation.
• Measuring everything by God's Word requires studying God's Word.

Is this a harsh thing? It might be hard, but it shouldn't be harsh because we set ourselves apart everyday in many ways. We pursue the priorities of our employers. We go to school or training courses to understand concepts by which we measure things in our professions and pursuits. 

"One mind" makes for more effective groups as well. Teams must be of one mind to win the game. The military invests much money into training units so they're of one mind. "One mind" in that sense grows from having the master's priorities in common and a common framework for evaluation and decision-making. That level of team and individual accomplishment doesn't come without an investment of properly focused hard work.

What happens when you reach the state of "one mind"? In the movie, The Last Samurai, the character played by Tom Cruise was having trouble mastering the samurai sword skills. The chief's son advised him, "You must have no mind." In other words, don't overthink it. Just act. Thinking about what you'll do in high speed combat will get you killed.

Reaching the state of "one mind" is Christianity's version of "no mind." You've internalized God's priorities to the extent you can respond to situations, confident you're fulfilling His intent. In Christianity, "no mind" really means "not your mind but God's."

Christian Theology 101: Justification versus sanctification

Via JC Ryle's Holiness:Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, the difference between justification and holiness: "Justification is the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the actual making a man inwardly righteous, though it may be in a very feeble degree."

Justification happens once and his how God sees people who truly follow Christ. Sanctification is ongoing, a process of becoming that which God sees. It reminds me of a different way to use the potter illustration. God as potter sees a lump of clay (His followers) as the design He originally intended. That's justification. God as potter works that lump of clay (His followers) to realize that design. That's sanctification.

Use the servanthood model to translate spiritual principles into real-world action

How does a general servanthood model demonstrate what Biblical concepts would look like when translated into workplace activity? By creating linkages between Biblical doctrine about God and His character and attributes, major servanthood elements, transformational leadership perspectives, and specific workplace competencies, it's easier to understand how the model could operationalize spiritual principles. 

The servanthood model consists of 3 broad elements: relationship, duties, and accountability. Such operationalization reflects a fusion between the spiritual dimension and the intellectual and social dimensions and serves as a method for granting God control over the daily activities of one’s work. The linkages are illustrated in the table:

Elements of servanthood model → How it helps turns Biblical principle into daily action ↓	Master-Servant Relationship We serve a master	Master-Servant Duties The master's priorities must become our priorities	Master Servant Accountability We must gain a return for the master
Person and attributes of the Trinity	God’s sovereignty as the attribute of the Trinity that grounds the relationship.	Christ’s sufficiency as the attribute of the Trinity that reconciles the world to God.	The Holy Spirit’s strengthening as the attribute of the Trinity that enables followers to achieve great things for God.
Christ's work	Christ’s position as the only door to the Father as the manifestation of God’s relationship with people.	Christ’s teaching of obedience as the evidence of being reconciled to Himself.	Christ’s Great Commission as the tangible goal given His followers to achieve.
Transformational leadership perspective	Calling-based leadership as the transformational leadership perspective that manifests the individual as God’s agent.	Servant leadership as the transformational leadership perspective that positions the individual to integrate diverse stakeholders.	Global leadership as the transformational leadership perspective that manifests the Great Commission challenge in terms of the complexity of the modern world instead of a national church perspective.
Workplace competencies	Alignment as the workplace competency domain that operationalizes the relationship in projects.	Integration as the workplace competency domain that brings diverse business functions and people into harmony on projects.	Management as the workplace competency domain that operationalizes the achievement of the Great Commission.
Faith-work tension	The tension between achieving business objectives and God’s objectives as the central issue confronting transformational leaders in this area.	The tension between assessing people’s workplace performance and judging their worth as humans deserving of God’s love as the central issue confronting transformational leaders in this area.	The tension between relying on management methods and relying on the Holy Spirit’s strength as the central issue confronting transformational leaders in this area.

A take on men's ministry

The involvement of men in ministries seen during the Manila Overture made me think about American men's view of themselves and how that relates to men's roles in ministry. Maybe it has some implications for how we do men's ministry. So Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit linked to a Business Insider article about "lumbersexuality." Apparently, it's enough of a trend to challenge "metrosexuality' as a major men's movement. The article made these key statements:

• "…these bearded, manly men even earned themselves a pithy nickname: the lumbersexuals."
• "What links the mythic lumberjack [Paul Bunyan] to his modern-day incarnations is a pervasive sense—in his time and ours—that masculinity is 'in crisis.'"
• "The economic downturn disproportionately affected men, and it is clearer than ever that the single-breadwinner family is finally dead."
• "…the men who sought these identities were searching for something authentic, something true. But that 'authenticity' often came at the exclusion of real working men and a romanticization of 'real' work."
• "Beards and plaid may well just look good, and I hardly think that the man wearing both while coding on a MacBook Air in a coffee shop is really attempting to sell anyone on the idea that he’s an authentic ‘jack."

The article about lumbersexuality made me think about my experience with men's ministries and what real ministry to men could be. Ranging from Promise Keepers to local churches, I experienced men's ministries as being a youth group for older guys. Worship times, retreats, and Bible studies were the standard fare and emphasized personal holiness and accountability to each other. What never really came to the fore was men and their work.

The lumbersexuality article tried to portray adoption of that style of appearance as a response to the economic and legal emasculation of men. The recession destroyed industries like construction that primarily employed men and vaporized jobs that will never return. Men, assuming they could spend their lives in such jobs that required lower levels of knowledge-based skills, were cast adrift and have likely left the workforce. Dr. Helen Smith(Glenn Reynolds' wife) added her observations about other demographic developments like men's lack of desire to marry, arguing that men not marrying is a rational response to what they see is a legal deck stacked against them through family law. These trends, according to the lumbersexuality article, have caused men to look for a way to express their frustrations. The larger issue, then, is men's search for meaning, place, and identity in the this new media and knowledge-driven world.

Enter theology of work, not something I've heard preached in churches and certainly not in men's ministry events. At least, not much more than acknowledging one should see work as a good thing ordained by God. Theology of work goes farther and can address men's concerns by elaborating on the details of how men can make their work count. Such ministries have a role in pushing men to buckle down to preparing themselves for this new world.

I visited The Master's Mission in Robbinsville, North Carolina, a missionary training center, and saw immediately how their formula could put specific action to theology of work and men's ministry. An eleven month course, The Master's Mission not only provides theological training to missionary candidates, the center also provides skill-based training to the candidates. Making them live in cabins without electricity and raise and gather their food, the candidates receive training on the essentials for living in austere places like first aid, construction, small engine repair, husbandry, and home economics. The center even puts them through a physical fitness program. Why? The center's staff analyzed environments in developing countries and created a curriculum designed to prepare the candidates to thrive in those environments.

Men's ministries can harness theology of work concepts and the handiness training like that at the Master's Mission to rescue men from the  supposed neurasthenia of the modern male that shows up in phenomena like lumbersexuality. Here are some steps:

• Communicate that men's ministry programs are practical and serious in nature, not overgrown youth groups. One related effort is F3, a men's workout movement that blends faith, fitness, and fellowship.
• Build on the theology of work foundation to establish the sacredness of work.
• Demand that men continually develop themselves.
• Provide the means for development by assessing what men need to be able to do in the modern world and providing that training as well as pushing men to get the training outside the scope of men's ministry programs. For example, men's ministry programs can provide key life skills training like communication and can push men to improve themselves in professional areas.

Taking the extra step can make men's ministries more powerful because those ministries will have a role in helping men develop in more dimensions.

Faith talk

Via Relevant, some tips on talking about one's faith:

• "As you confront people’s ideas and argue with their religion, seek to learn their stories."
• "As you talk about God and faith, resist the temptation to try and move people anywhere. That’s God’s job."
• "As you passionately voice and furiously defend your position, whatever that may be, fight relentlessly to remember there’s always a chance (and a pretty good one), that you may not be completely right."

This brings to mind another facet of our attitudes when talking with others: look past the individual to the worldviews that influence attitudes.

The robot tipping point

Via CEABlog from a short time ago, we're getting close to the tipping point in spite of any reservations:

..there is still hesitation about surrendering too much control to artificial intelligence. Some factors that deter consumers from purchasing robots include total expenditure and technical faults. As a result, industry players are unable to generate enough sales volume, leading to an unhealthy reliance on government funding for research and development initiatives.

Nonetheless, it is a matter of time before a household robot manufacturer hits the performance versus pricing sweet spot.

 When robots take off with consumers, we can expect consumer spending to take off and fuel real economic growth.

Christians in society

From a sermon by David Gibbs of the National Center for Life and Liberty about the relation between Christians and society in the ancient world:

• Ostracized by their families for following Jesus Christ.
• Oppressed by government as potential seditionists.
• Hated by society for saying Christ is the way.

A question: What is the best response? Fight or flight? How about serving others? A statement attributed to the Roman Emperor Julian suggests the impact of serving: "...the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

Turning business IT upside down?

Via Business Insider, a primer on Facebook's Open Compute Project: "...anyone can look at, use, or modify the designs of the hugely expensive computers that big companies use to run their operations — all for free."

The claim is Facebook is doing to hardware what open source code did to software and led to the creation of Linux and Android. Apparently, Facebook decided hardware like computer servers, switches, and routers were not its competitive advantage and began sharing its designs and layout. This has spawned collaboration between professionals in different, sometimes competing, organizations.

What kinds of business models will emerge, and what kinds of skills will people need to make the most of what we used to pay for?

OFWs

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) indicate the economic potential of the Filipino workforce that is also a potential for ministry and mission. The economic potential is such that remittances from OFWs comprise 10 percent of the Philippines' Gross Domestic Product. The workers are called "economic heroes" because of their economic impact, and they have developed a global reputation for competence and dependability. To get to that point, however, OFWs endure homesickness and difficult and, sometimes, inhumane working conditions. Additionally, the absence of such workers means they are unavailable for work in the Philippines, creating shortages in areas like teaching that impact the country's development.

The ministry and mission potential is clear. Ministry to OFWs seems to me to be in two areas: the workers themselves and their families they leave behind. OFWs are also recognized as potential missionaries in the lands where they work, bi-vocational workers in true tentmaking roles. How extensive is the training and preparation for OFWs who want to go this route?

Some ideas:

• Do schools like Asian Theological Seminary have programs to train and empower OFWs? Such preparation would include not only theology but practical matters like laws and customs of the lands where they will serve. Perhaps preliminary travel to those countries for acculturation and language study would be part of the preparation.
• Practical preparation would include practical skills like those taught at The Master's Mission, a rigorous missionary training center in North Carolina. Such skills can breed confidence in people working in new environments. Perhaps partnerships between these kinds of schools can lead to robust training programs.
• Christian schools might be able to increase their preparation of professionals like engineers, lawyers, and accountants for overseas jobs. Such positions gain greater salaries and place the workers closer to key leaders in other countries.
• Christian schools might also equip those professionals to be entrepreneurs so they can do business globally from the Philippines, a development that might reduce dependence on exporting labor.

Of course, the desire should be to bring labor back to the Philippines. Remittances are fine, but the wealth remains overseas. Companies in the Philippines owned by Filipinos mean wealth stays in the Philippines, creating investment opportunities that lead to growth and more employment in country.

Your robot: Coming to a home near you

Via the Economist, in what seems like an economic recovery, the seeds of the next recession may be found: "...sooner or later, policymakers will face another downturn. The danger is that, having used up their arsenal, governments and central banks will not have the ammunition to fight the next recession."

What are those seeds?

• Wage growth.
• National debt.
• Ripples of shrinkage of more fragile economies.
• Too much quantitative easing.
• Not as much consumer spending.

The Economist's solutions focus on policy:

• Raise interest rates after solid wage growth and inflation at target levels.
• Invest in infrastructure.
• Reform policies affecting product and labor markets to stimulate growth.

One area that may stimulation consumer spending, which is the cornerstone of economic growth, is the growth of consumer robots. Robots around the house may sound like the Jetsons but may become the cell phone phenomenon. I recall not understanding why I'd want to be leashed to a phone in my pocket, but now I can't live without one. Some are predicting 2015 will be the year it happens.

Mission matters

The visits to wealthy Manila brought to mind some attitudes to consider, especially when it comes to a gospel for the well-off. The efforts of individuals and organizations in the Philippines also made me think about the impact we can have on this world if we just partner. I came across a blog item about how our everyday work matters to missions. The key points are:

• "Everyone can be involved in more than going or sending."
• "Your faith is more than hot air."
• "You can model the power of the gospel to people around you."

The blogger encouraged readers to think of their involvement in missions as more than becoming a missionary or supporting missionaries. It means treating every day in their lives as a day on mission. The three points seem basic, but they are foundational and reflect a framework I have come to conclude is virtually universal. It's the servanthood framework.

Servanthood has three elements: agency, duty, and accountability.

• Agency: A servant represents (is an agent) his or her master, not himself or herself.
• Duty: The servant takes on his or her master's priorities, not his or her own. This means servants must also develop a level of competence to discharge that duty.
• Accountability: The servant must account to his or her master about the results of his or her activities.

The blogger's three points correspond to the servanthood framework this way:

Servanthood	Blogger	Comment
Agency	"Everyone can be involved in more than going or sending."	Changing one's perspective about missions recasts missions as alignment with God's will in all things.
Duty	"Your faith is more than hot air."	Thinking of missions as more than a specific profession leads to the realization that faith becomes the priority in all areas.
Accountability	"You can model the power of the gospel to people around you."	Rethinking missions underscores the importance of demonstrating faith with action. Action is what God requires.

Those three elements could also apply to the workplace and show the workplace is a mission field. For example, the basic functions of managers correspond to the elements of servanthood, creating an opportunity to turn management into a servanthood opportunity and a way to turn the workplace into a mission field:

Servanthood	Blogger	Management functions
Agency	"Everyone can be involved in more than going or sending."	Alignment. Managers align plans with business objectives.
Duty	"Your faith is more than hot air."	Integration. Managers make priorities real by integrating the different business functions under the business priorities and objectives.
Accountability	"You can model the power of the gospel to people around you."	Management. Managers ensure accountability to the business owners by doing things to turn plans into action.

SEC is always in season

No, not that SEC. For most people, SEC is the Southeastern Conference, home to great athletes, great sporting events, and a proud athletic tradition. For organizations building excellence in the workplace, SEC is Succession, Execution, and Culture, the building blocks for a great workforce, high quality products and services, and a compelling brand. What does that mean?

Succession

During the Manila Overture, one of the presentations included mention of helping organizations develop succession strategies. It may be old news by now, but it's still urgent. Your organization is staring down the barrel of the greatest generational shift in its history as the Baby Boomers exit the workforce and a new generation takes their place. Will your organization be ready? Every organizational leader I've spoken with has identified succession as a top concern. We're in the middle of helping one organization develop and implement a succession strategy so they can prepare key people in their workforce to take on greater responsibility, and we expect more organizations to put succession strategies in place.

Execution

During the Manila Overture, I learned about Glenn Yu of SeaOil, who grew his business from one station to two hundred stations. That growth is an example of execution. Developing your workforce at all levels makes your organization better at turning plans into action. That requires skills for understanding the organization's business objectives, aligning plans to support those objectives, and integrating people who have different specialties into cohesive teams. Your workforce, in other words, needs management systems like supervisory management, operations management, and project management in their competencies to succeed in turning plans into action.

Culture

Organizational culture is at the heart of all the presentations during the Manila Overture. Your organization's culture brings your brand to life. Communicating that culture comes via formal means like onboarding classes and informal ways like peer interaction. Have you determined your organization's culture? Is what and where you want it to be? If not, how would you go about changing it?

Don't hesitate to ask for help. There are many experts who have practical experience as well as deep knowledge in the field. By staying current in your industry and discipline, you'll know who these experts are. You can also find them via your network of peers, relationships you developed that can expand your reach.

Remember, SEC isn't just an athletic conference. It's a way to look at your organization and think about the difference between where you are and where you want to be.

Keep going, keep growing

The example of a pastor during a visit to Payatas in the Philippines included how he lost what was probably a decent job. It made me think about how we have to keep building our skills. I thought about Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael and how Nebuchadnezzar considered them ten times better than his own magicians and conjujrers. The three Jewish youths succeeded in what had to be a killer job interview through God's grace and a demonstration of skills developed through study and practice. That small episode is relevant to today's workers.

A recent article took on the issue about wage decline in the face of an improving employment picture and suggested wage decline may not be the bad thing some people think it is. The same person wrote the articles looking at both sides of the argument.

Points from the articles:

A bad thing Employers are holding out on employees	Not to worry Younger workers and reentering workers command lower wages
"…every time it looks as if there might be some upward pressure on what people are seeing in their paychecks, the number ends up dropping again."	"Boomers are retiring and younger workers, who necessarily make less at the moment, are replacing them. Therefore, the overall real average hourly wages being paid out to workers are declining, even as workers are seeing more in their paychecks."
"Employers are basically cutting their employees' ability to consume…a lack of wage growth will eventually choke the growing economy. "	"…when you look at the amount of cash being paid to workers, adjusted for inflation and per worker, compensation seems to be going up."

In addition to younger workers (lower wages) replacing the retiring Boomers, the blogger mentioned another contributor to wage decline - the long term unemployed returning the workforce with outdated skills. That is, "…those out of the labor force for an extended period would see a staling of skills that left them less likely to find employment. Over the past year, those long-term unemployed have been returning to the workforce in force — rapidly enough to offset the demographic drag on participation."

No matter what we think is the cause of wage decline, one thing holds true: upskilling is your hedge against falling behind. Employers must invest in their workforce to stay competitive, and individuals must invest in themselves to move forward.

What is upskilling? It's a real word, not something I just made up, and is a priority of the US government. Upskilling is the next step after skill-building. You learned how to do your job. Now it's time to learn what it takes to get to the next level.

How can you upskill? Here is a basic approach that can apply to employers and individuals:

• Take stock. Where are you now, and where do you want to be?
• Find the gaps. Why aren't you there yet?
• Point the way. What will it take to get you there?
• Take action. Don't wait, and do what it takes to move down the path you set before yourself.

What do you need to upskill? There are three general areas affecting your success. Individuals need to upskill in these areas to advance, and employers need their workforce to develop in these areas to build excellence in the workplace:

• Job skills. Like athletes who want to stay on top, you have keep getting better at the job. Don't just show up and go through the motions. Do things like get a higher level degree or go after a professional certification. At a minimum, take advantage of the many training courses available from different providers. Joining professional organizations can put you in touch with people who can give you great advice.
• Soft skills. Develop your ability to communicate with other people. Build your understanding of business etiquette and gain knowledge of other cultures. Another term for behavior, soft skills like emotional intelligence affect how well individuals do in the workplace and well organizations compete in the economy. Here's a quick way to take stock of where you stand: are you making the people around you better or do they think you're a drag on the group? Don't let soft skills trip you up.
• Organizational savvy. If you want to move up, you have to move around. That is, you have to understand what makes organizations tick? At some point, you'll have to integrate the efforts of diverse groups in the organization to accomplish a common goal. Success will come from know how groups with different functions can complement each other so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Where can you find out more? Your Internet browser and your public library are your best friends. These resources can open up a world of knowledge.

Trends for the church in 2015

The social transformation work seen during recent trip to the Philippines could be an example for American churches to engage their communities. Thom Rainer began a blog series about trends in 2015 for churches.  Rainer (2015) suggested one of the trends would be "Congregations growing in favor in their respective communities." In other words, churches will become more active as partners in serving their communities. This suggests some ideas for churches in cities like Manila: instead of operating behind church doors, get out into the world. In light of concerns about decline even among evangelical churches, a more activist approach can be a demonstration of authentic Christianity.

Churches can do something similar. Our small church in Lacey, Washington, Life Pointe Church, committed to serving their community, reaching out to the military and to subdivisions in the area. Life Pointe served the subdivisions by providing logistics support to homeowner association programs supporting events like National Night Out. Life Pointe Church became especially valued by the high school whose facilities they rented, providing backpacks full of supplies for homeless students, preparing breakfast for teachers during in-service days, holding clean-up days of the school grounds, and creating a scholarship program. The lease, originally restricted to two years by district policy was waived for the church because of their value-adding ministry.

Church leaders and members, however, need training for this. Churches are uniquely positioned to take the lead in communities undertaking joint projects involving different kinds of entities. These might be called megacommunities where businesses, nonprofits, and government entities united to solve a problem. To be effective, church leaders and members need to embrace development in practical areas like project management, interpersonal communications, and finance, to name a few. Congregations are also uniquely equipped because they are the ones with a broad range of disciplines represented. The other entities have specific competencies, but congregations have specialties ranging from handymen to attorneys and from mechanics to doctors.

Megacommunity thinking

A great pastor, Lowell Bakke, explained Paul's letter to the Philippians as a treatise on partnership, which made me think about the concept of megacommunities. A megacommunity consists of organizations from the business, government, and civil sectors joining forces to solve a common problem. The civil sector means non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the non-profit sphere interested in development or humanitarian work. Joining together, the organizations must navigate the learning curve via a relationship called "permanent negotiation" because their different mindsets naturally set them in some opposition to each other. Businesses seek efficiency and returns in the short term. Governments seek the approval of a majority of people in diverse constituencies. NGOs seek resolution of specific problems regardless of the cost. Permanent negotiation involves continually finding ways to move forward in ways that help each other.

Do churches have a role? Maybe, but I doubt the modern church can collaborate its way out of a wet paper bag. Last year at The University of Alabama, we were trying to put on a conference on aging, relying on the churches in the area as the backbone of the effort. Two years later, we put on the conference but only after walking away from the churches and involving non-church organizations and people. The church leaders who were on the planning committee couldn't agree on the content of the conference, its format, and its logistics. Different denominations weren't interested in working with each other on theological grounds, and one large church that could have had an impact, told the conference's champion to never approach that church again.

Church members, not leaders, may be the key to turning those situations around because current trends indicate church members may be less parochial. That suggests they may be more ready to work with each other. BGU can play a role in facilitating that by channeling some Mustard Seed Foundation support to accelerating training on transformational leadership perspectives through the theology of work programs. For example, shalom leadership, the pursuit of reconciling relationships that results in wholeness in the community and in individuals, can provide a foundation for such collaboration (Bakke Graduate University, Student catalogue, 2014). Shalom leadership can be a way to use that trend for the benefit of the Gospel  and break down walls between churches.

Four hours or so

A recurring theme during a recent visit to the Philippines has been that of understanding that people with business and technical skills have much to offer in service to God's kingdom. This requires taking time to develop those skills for a specific purpose. Paul challenged the Ephesians to commit to "making the most of your time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16). It made me think of one person's definition of evil: it corrupts the good. When it comes to being fruitful in the workplace, we face a similar prospect: we can fritter the time away on what is adequate but not the best for us. Christians, in particular, are called to bear fruit in the workplace (Ephesians 6:5-9) because that's how we earn the right to be heard on Gospel matters.

You may have heard of the 10,000 hours rule. That's what Malcolm Gladwell popularized as the time you have to spend in deliberate practice to master something. Are you a violinist? If you want to play at Carnegie Hall, you have to put in 10,000 hours of practice to get to that level of mastery. Are you a chess player? A football quarterback? Same thing. 10,000 hours to achieve the potential you were born with.

Even if you disagree with Gladwell's argument, you probably agree with its basis, that you need to develop your skills to reach the potential you were born with.

Enter another set of numbers. Productivity improvements have reduced the work week from 70 hours in 1870 to 40 hours in 2000, a 30 hour decrease. What are we doing with that time? We watch television for 28 hours per week. In other words, the four hours per day returned to us through a reduced work week has been reinvested into four hours per day watching television, or so the argument goes.

What are we doing with our time? Here are a few resources to get you started:

Cal Newport

Lifehacker

Self Made Scholar

MOOCS for learning

• MIT Open Courseware
• Open Learning Initiative
• edX

As you explore, you'll find many more resources you can use to develop your skills.

Don't be afraid to pay for training that leads to enhanced skills. The training you pay for will include hands on instruction and activities to help you internalize your newly learned skills. Such training is less costly than a degree, focuses on specific skills you're targeting, and gives you something valuable with which to impact your organization.

Wall-breaking

Some thoughts on seeing a prevailing feature during a trip to the Philippines.

Walls. Everywhere in Manila walls rise up, cinder blocks or concrete slabs topped with spikes, barbs, or broken glass. Manila is a walled city, the thick mossy wall of Intramuros that can no longer protect against invaders represented for me all the walls seen and unseen. Built by Spaniards, the wall protected for a time, but progress soon overtook it. The wall became a way to keep people in since it could not keep invaders out. At Fort Santiago, the Spaniards kept Dr. Jose Rizal until his execution, and the Japanese kept prisoners there during World War II.

The walls I saw in Manila work the same way, the most noticeable function being to demarcate the gated communities and businesses. I also saw human walls, the omnipresent white-shirted security force controlling entry into beautiful buildings and the green-uniformed police controlling movement along the busy streets. Diverse and competing interests can form walls blocking fruitful collaboration as we heard time again. Lazarus outside the rich man's gate (Luke 16:19-20) seems so obvious and easy as a comparison. If so, it's probably because it comes to mind so quickly and easily, just as easily as condemnation for the rich man comes to mind. Like the rich man's walls and the walls in Manila, however, Jesus does not seek to condemn but to enter.

So what should we do about walls so Jesus can enter through us? Here are some thoughts.

• Walls could never keep ideas out, bearing out Lowell Bakke's argument that society doesn't change through government action but through cultural transformation. Rizal's writings against Spanish occupation continued to fire Filipino imaginations, and General Douglas MacArthur's promise to return to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation sustained Filipinos and the Americans left there in World War II. We can get past walls with the idea of the Gospel.
• Walls could never keep people in or out. We're living in an era of great migrations, and even if governments don't allow it, people still find a way to get through walls. We can think of ways to make the most of the movement of people.
• We can break through walls through partnership by becoming of one mind, love, spirit, and purpose (Ph 2:2).

Can we be that force that shifts the ground and breaks walls that the American poet, Robert Frost, spoke of when he said in his poem, Mending Fences:

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun,

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

Like the Holy Spirit, the force Robert Frost spoke of is unseen but it's effects are seen. Will God make the ground shift through us? Maybe we can be wall-breakers like that, the unseen Holy Spirit energizing us in a servant role, which, by definition, is an unseen role that has visible effects. Melba Maggay made reference to such invisible activity, saying Christians work in the informal domain versus the technical and formal. It may not be seen by the world, but it will follow us in eternity.

Myers-Briggs is pretty popular in organizational development circles, and us middlebrow folk are always interested in something that gives us some insight into where we fit.

Via Wired, "...the MBTI quiz has morphed into a new form of astrology" because it's appealing to figure out what labels and categories fit us.

Critique:

• Based on dichotomies, opposing pairs of characteristics like perceiving/judging and introverted/extroverted.
• Nobody is one or the other but all have characteristics of both.

Benefit: Dichotomies keep things simple so you can jump start some self-reflection.

M-B has been an interesting experience for me. I've done the full inventory four times and got the same profile each time. During one session, the people burst out laughing, saying, "That's you to a T!"

I'm more intrigued by the DiSC profile. It's an inventory of behavior types like Myers-Briggs but has the added layer of adapted profiles. Here are the elements:

• Dominance: Person places emphasis on accomplishing results, the bottom line, confidence
• Influence: Person places emphasis on influencing or persuading others, openness, relationships
• Steadiness: Person places emphasis on cooperation, sincerity, dependability
• Conscientiousness: Person places emphasis on quality and accuracy, expertise, competency

Completing the inventory shows you the behavior styles you tend to favor. You have a natural DiSC profile (what you're really like), but you also have an adapted style where you change aspects of your natural behavior style to fit how you think you need to behave at work. For example, you may naturally favor Steadiness, but at work, you think a more dominant style is more appropriate so you adjust. I think a potential problem is not really understanding how to act under the adjusted model. You may think a dominant style requires more yelling when it really doesn't.

The intriguing part is the potential for identifying the DiSC profile associated with success in a particular job and then seeing how a candidate's natural or adapted profile line up. Us middlebrow folks don't drill into such niceties and may need to be aware of that aspect of hiring, especially if it's not valid.