Open Letter To President Obama

Dear President Obama:

As your constituent, and on behalf of the nonprofit organization I represent, I urge you to oppose limiting the deductibility of charitable donations - whether in deficit reduction legislation or funding for jobs programs. The donations we receive are used to help those in our community who are most in need. Tax deductibility of donations to charities is an important incentive for Americans to invest in the works of charities who benefit fellow citizens of our country and those around the world. That incentive makes it possible for charities to return much greater benefits to those in need. Americans historically have given a greater percentage of their income to charities than most other nations, and our government has encouraged and fostered those efforts. The gifts we receive - whether in good or in difficult economic times - reduce the burden on government to assist citizens in need. In turn, the deductibility of charitable gifts helps charities reduce the demand for government services, helps us invest in our communities and helps us improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

I appeal to you not to support removing this important incentive for charitable giving. Do not increase the demands for government assistance because charities must pull back their programs. Do not end the long-standing American commitment to encourage supporting nonprofit programs that help those less fortunate than we are. Placing the burden of deficit reduction or funding for jobs programs on the backs of the neediest Americans is not the direction our country should take. Please oppose any attempts to undermine our work and hurt our beneficiaries.

Sincerely,
Dane W. Fowlkes, Ph.D
Director of Major Gifts
East Texas Bapttist University

More Than What I Need

Resist the tendency to define God by what you need. We often hear, "God is all I need." While that sounds pious, the truth is that God is far more than what I need and what you need and what the whole world ever has needed or ever will need. When I self-prescribe blinders so that all I see is my need or hurt or wish, and then err by understanding God only according to the light of my own experience, I reduce Him to a shadow of myself. Does God care? Absolutely! Is God the solution? Without a doubt! But the Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer cannot be contained by my imagination or confined by my despair. Instead of asking God to act the way you want at any given moment in order to meet any given need, bow before Him and surrender yourself unconditionally to Him, then allow Him to reveal His glory and plan in your situation.

Consumerism to Generosity

When will the American Church awaken from her narcissistic coma and return from consumerism to generosity?

Leadership Is Like...

Leadership is much less like Captain Horatio Hornblower shouting commands to those below while scanning an open horizon, and much more like explorer Allan Quatermain slashing his way through dense rainforest with a mere two feet of visibility.

Expectations

Always exceed expectations, especially those you have of yourself.

The Arc of Our Lives

I love the quote I heard yesterday from Dr. Dub Oliver, president of East Texas Baptist University: "God wants the arc of our lives bent toward love and justice and mercy."

Invest Your Love

The most profound quote, in my opinion, from today's Willow Creek Summit is a line from a song: "Where you invest your love, you invest your life."

Be The Miracle

"Never pray for an easier life--pray to be a stronger person! Never pray for tasks equal to your power--pray for power to be equal to your tasks. Then doing your work will be no miracle--you will be the miracle" (Phillips Brooks, Harvard graduate and prominent preacher, 1835-1893). The role of suffering in the Christian life remains a mystery, yet it holds enormous potential for molding our response to human agony in the world as well as to our own upward climb. Robert Kruschwitz, Director of Baylor University's Center for Christian Ethics warns, "We must be very careful how we assent to suffering, for it's as difficult and dangerous as walking on a knife-edge. We must avoid, on the one side, the wrong sort of passivity that glorifies suffering as something good in itself and, on the other, the wrong sorts of activity that would eliminate suffering at all costs."

Perhaps our greatest help in getting a grip on this slippery subject is in revisiting an extremely familiar and oft quoted Scripture passage in the New Testament Book of Romans, the eighth chapter and twenty eighth verse: "All things work together form the good of them who love God and are called according to His purpose." Frequently this is invoked as a sort of Christian talisman. If I belong to God, here's my insurance against extended suffering and ultimate disaster. But is that its real meaning and proper application? According to Henry Blackaby, "God's primary concern for us is not our position on the corporate ladder, our retirement benefits, or our comfort. His ultimate goal for us is Christlikeness. He will allow whatever is necessary into our lives so we become like Jesus" (God in the Marketplace).

So, what does Romans 8:28 promise to us? Stated simply, regardless of how difficult and demanding our circumstances, by relying on God and responding toward Him rather than away from Him, God will see to it that we emerge on the other side of our situation more like Christ. When we decide that Christlikeness is more important than momentary ease and comfort, we are the miracle.

Wresting With a Dilemma

How may we explain the undeniable imbalance between evangelistic efforts by the average American church and the equally unavoidable lack of involvement in efforts to alleviate poverty, abolish crime, restore ex-offenders, minister to children of offenders, etc.? I’ve given a lot of thought to this and wonder if we might resolve the dilemma by acknowledging the existence of an artificial distinction in practice between ”redemptive grace” and “transformative grace.” What in the world am I talking about? Allow me to briefly explain. I have seldom met anyone who denies the fact that no one is outside the reach of grace and that Christ will save anyone, regardless of their sinful past. Certainly, we include ourselves in that redemptive reality. We expound Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and in the next breath we hasten to Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ He Jesus our Lord.” We read those statements with an “of course” on the tips of our tongues. This is what I’m terming redemptive grace: Romans 5:8, 9, “But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” As before mentioned, rarely have I encountered anyone in the Christian community who would deny this saving reality. However, it seems that while we joyously proclaim the possibility of salvation regardless of past sin, we hesitate and falter at the point of helping those who receive new life to implement it, especially those who need a lot of help at the point of practicing it. We mean well and often are convinced that we’ve completed our task by proclaiming the good news of Christ. But when measured against the standards declared in Scripture in places like Isaiah 58; Amos 5:14-15; Micah 6:8; Matthew 25:31-46; and James 1:22-27; the actual application of our belief system is called into question. Stated simply: we readily believe in redemptive grace (God will save anyone), but do we correspondingly believe in and practice transformative grace (God is willing and able to transform everyone)? Clearly, if we truly believe that God is not only willing to save anyone but also able to transform everyone, we will passionately engage hunger, poverty, homelessness, crime, substance abuse, unemployment, the restoration and reintegration of ex-offenders, and anything else required to ensure that every believer experiences what Jesus declares in John 10:10, a life that is full and meaningful in every possible way.

Awakening to the Power of Mentoring

Have you ever been exposed to something your entire life without really knowing anything about the subject or item or person? As far back as I can remember, I've been aware that something called Big Brothers exists. Perhaps it was due to a program at school or strategically placed billboards, but the vague recognition has been "there" (wherever "there" is). But all that changed yesterday during a visit with Olivia Eudaly in the offices of Big Brothers Big Sisters North Texas. First of all, Olivia Eudaly is an extraordinary person. As Executive Vice President-Government Relations for Big Brothers big Sisters Lone Star and State Executive Director of Amachi Texas, Olivia Eudaly is at the helm of groundbreaking initiatives in mentoring at-risk children. Working closely with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Education Agency, One Star Foundation, the Office of the Governor, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and ten Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies across the state of Texas, Olivia coordinates Amachi's efforts to place one-to-one mentors in the lives of children of prisoners. A former candidate for U.S. Congress, Olivia is also active in local, regional and national politics. In 2000 she was elected delegate to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia where she served as the National Credentials Committeewoman from Texas. She also teaches a popular Ladies' Bible Study class at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth and currently mentors a young girl in the Fort Worth area whose father is serving 8 years behind bars.

But it was standing in a room just outside her offices that something "clicked" for me. Out of curiosity in the name, I entered the T. Boone Pickens Mentoring Hall of Fame. What soon captured my attention was a pictorial timeline that depicted the history of Big Brothers and, essentially, a history of efforts in mentoring at-risk children. For years I have told my students that everyone should have a mentor and be a mentor, but yesterday was a sort of epiphany for me in recognizing the intrinsic and eternal value of intentionally mentoring at-risk individuals, whether they be children, youth, or adults. What could be more Christ-like than one-on-one mentoring of someone who may be lost in many ways without such a valuable relationship? I plan to make this a priority and encourage others to look for individuals in whom you may invest yourselves. Only eternity will reveal the significance of taking a little time to be a mentor to someone who desperately needs to know they matter.