Russ Blowers is a minister who is active in his local Indianapolis Rotary club. At club meetings each week a member gives a brief statement about his job. When it was his turn, Russ said: "I'm with a global enterprise. We have branches in every country in the world. We have our representatives in nearly every parliament and board room on earth. We're into motivation and behavior alteration. We run hospitals, feeding stations, crisis pregnancy centers, universities, publishing houses, and nursing homes. We care for our clients from birth to death. We are into life insurance and fire insurance. We perform spiritual heart transplants. Our original Organizer owns all the real estate on earth plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations. He knows everything and lives everywhere. Our product is free for the asking. (There's not enough money to buy it.) Our CEO was born in a hick town, worked as a carpenter, didn't own a home, was misunderstood by his family, hated by enemies, walked on water, was condemned to death without a trial, and arose from the dead--I talk with him everyday." The church is the most amazing organization in the world!

What We Do For People: mnemonic for Worship Witness Discipleship Fellowship Prayer Also (this is ET's) 3 ships and a praying witness

The Swedish navy announced in May that because of slashes in the military budget, it would cut back from around-the-clock operations to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The army and air force said they have not yet decided whether to remain open on weekends, but that they, also, were hard hit by the legislature's ban on overtime work. [Reuters, 5-16-01]

A home missionary is without honor in his own district.

John Maxwell, in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, writes: During World War II, when Britain was experiencing its darkest days, the country had a difficult time keeping men in the coal mines. Many wanted to give up their dirty, thankless jobs in the dangerous mines to join the military service, which garnered much public praise and support. Yet their work in the mines was critical to the war. Without coal, the military and the people at home would be in trouble. So prime minister [Winston Churchill] faced thousands of coal miners one day and told them of their importance to the war effort, how their role could make or break the goal of maintaining England's freedom. Churchill painted a picture of what it would be like when the war ended, the grand parade that would honor the people who fought the war. First would come the sailors of the navy, the people who continued the tradition of Trafalgar and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Next would come the best and brightest of Britain, the pilots of the Royal Air Force, who fended off the German Lutwaffe. Following them would be the soldiers who fought at Dunkirk. Last of all would come the coal-dust-covered men in miners' caps. Churchill indicated that someone from the crowd might say, "Where were they during the critical days of the struggle?" And the voices of thousands of men would respond, "We were in the earth with our faces to the coal." It's said that tears appeared in the eyes of the hardened men. And they returned to their inglorious work with steely resolve, having been reminded of the role they were playing in their country's noble goal of pursuing freedom for the Western World. Citation: John Maxwell, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork (Thomas Nelson, 2001); submitted by Kirk MacLeod, Keswick, Ontario

Fifteen years ago, Preaching published an interview with Bill Self (Nov-Dec 1988) in which he talked about "preaching to Joe Secular." Since then he has moved to another congregation and led that church to a new location in the affluent northern suburbs of Atlanta. In a new interview in the current issue, Bill explains what today's 'Joe Secular' looks like: "They're very interested in getting religious services delivered as you would get lawn services or household services. They're very concerned about 'please serve me, what's in it for me?' and they don't trust churches. They don't have the facility to really test out doctrine, and since they don't know doctrine they don't trust churches. Then they read stuff in the paper that increases their anxiety. We have had people who have placed their children in our nursery for worship service, then get up and go back to the nursery to check on the child two or three times during the service because they don't know if the worker is going to take care of the child. One of them went to the worker the second visit back to the nursery and said, "Can you tell me which child is mine?" I mean, they don't understand a thing about churches. "Also they're very immediate. There is no patience with their processing of the gospel or processing of ideas. It's 'say it and understand it or I won't use it because it's not immediately usable.' They know more about movies, television, and the general media than they know about the gospel. They know every movie that's out there. Most of them have three car garages full of adult toys. They have boats, all kinds of bicycles, skateboards. You can drive through our neighborhood and see that third garage over there full of all these toys they've bought. That's a secular influence. They wouldn't dare be caught without the latest indulgence, fad, toy or whatever. Their children are the same way . . . "Their worldview can be very selfish. If the Bible helps me fine, but show me where it helps me. Why do I need it? They have no history. Anything that happened before 1985 they are not aware of. Before 1985 the world is flat and everybody is just sort of jumbled up out there. You can't refer to "as Spurgeon said" — if I use a quote from Spurgeon and give him credit for it, I have to explain with two sentences who Charles Spurgeon was. If I quote any piece of literature that was written before 1985 or wasn't on their college reading list I have to put in a sentence or two about who that was. Any biblical reference I have to do that."

Why do you stay and pray when I told you to go and sow." -- British Du Pont Executive, Geneva, Switzerland

When the famous missionary E. Stanley Jones asked Gandhi how to become a better missionary, Gandhi said, 'Become more like the man you follow.' By: Jeff Comment Source: Mission in the Marketplace, 1995, MITM Publishing, p. 42-43