The Biggest News Flop of 2011

I'm sure everyone has their own idea of what the biggest news flop of 2011 was, but as a career military man, mine was the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT). Evangelicals were all over this in 2010 and early 2011, and I chimed in several times. If interested, see the following posts:

My Thoughts on Homosexuals in the Military
Don't Ask Don't Tell Study Results
Chaplains and Don't Ask Don't Tell
Message to Navy Chaplains

However, just as soon as September 20 came around, a switch was flipped in the evangelical camp, and the Catholic camp as well for that matter. Suddenly no one talked about DADT. I remember being a little disappointed that it was suddenly a dead issue. I guess that's how a losing side will handle things. The irony is that the winning side dropped it too. If I were them, and as seeing that no major problems came from the repeal, I would have been flaunting the “success” of the program.

It is true that couples were married. Yet to my knowledge no one was beat up over the repeal, there was no mass exodus to the doors by service members trying to get out of the military, and no chaplains have been fired for refusing to marry gay service members.

Which is why this is a news flop. It didn't turn out like the evangelicals thought it would. If I were the other team, I'd flaunt it like an Ochocinco touchdown. I can promise you that the evangelicals would have if it had gone their way.

What are your thoughts on the repeal of DADT? If it isn’t the biggest news flop of the year, what is?

Merry Christmas from the Smiths!

Several of my friends, particularly on the missionary front, have started using the web for annual Christmas reports. I've enjoyed reading them and realize that we should at least let people know what has happened this year. So, as a short rundown, here is what happened to the Smiths this year:

Samantha: As with any child who has to deal with the effects of a disease, much of Samantha's year had to deal one way or another with cystic fibrosis. By the spring of 2011, Sam had pretty well rebounded from some weight struggles the previous fall. Unfortunately, she had developed by then a pretty real need to have surgery in one of her sinus cavities. We had originally scheduled it for August, but with my news for the year, we had to delay it until September. So, on September 26th, we took Samantha to Children's Wisconsin for three surgical procedures. She had her tonsils taken out, her adenoids removed, and one of her sinus cavities were opened up and cleaned out to allow for better drainage. Once her recovery was complete, we noticed an almost immediate change in her. She was breathing better, had a better attitude, and didn't snore anymore at night. So thankful for that surgery and for a great team in Milwaukee!

Timothy: One of Timothy's biggest moments was when he got glasses. Yep, you heard that right. He actually enjoys having glasses. The good news is that he didn't have to go through any of the extra meanness that kids went through when I was growing up (being called four-eyes, etc). I'm glad for him. He loves them and takes them wherever he goes, even though (according to the eye doctor) Tim doesn't need the glasses all the time. We think a little differently though. He really seems to have trouble when he doesn't have them. Both kids continue to enjoy AWANA and they also started gymnastics this summer and both love it.

Once Timothy tried on this pair, there was no going back! He wouldn't even try another!

Alicia: Perhaps our biggest news of the year is also Alicia's biggest news of the year. We found out in August, while I was in the process of Chief Petty Officer Indoctrination, that we are expecting our third child! We've been pretty excited about it since finding out.  Alicia also started a fellowship for  coordinates support for military homeschooling families in the Great Lakes area.

Dan: Most of you already know this, but my biggest news of the year is that I made Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy. This has been a goal of mine for a long time and after 15 years in the Navy made it. I am quickly learning that it is a different world and continue to adjust considerably. I've settled into a new job as the lead instructor. With our 3rd child on the way, I teeter between anxiety from essentially starting over again and the joy of being a new father. I haven't been this excited since finding out we were pregnant the first time with Timothy. The kids' excitement is contagious!  Finally, on seminary note.  This year I completed the hours needed to earn my MA in Theology.  I will be continuing on with the goal of getting my MDiv, which is another 48 hours.  I also have the opportunity through our church to preach occasionally at a local hospital chapel.

Well, that about sums things up! We are ready for the New Year with thoughts of our new baby girl, Hannah Grace!

FAQ #3: Can I be mentored by an unbeliever?

The short answer is yes. It's even possible to be mentored by an unbeliever about spiritual things. I was spot mentored recently by a Senior Chief who is not a believer and yet held me to the standard (as best as he knew how) that I should maintain as a Christian. I've also had a great mentor on my last ship who still advises me on issues pertaining to the military. He's not a believer either.

While it can be done to a certain degree, it is not the recommended solution to your mentoring problem. For one thing, an unbeliever cannot counsel you on matters of your faith. He can only hold you to the standard that you tell him you're trying to maintain. He can tell you what he thinks about your faith, or what you should do, but there is no reason to seriously consider it. After all, how in the world could he understand Christ's principles if he does not believe in Christ?

If you are looking for a mentor to fill a specific role, like teaching you how to be a good professional in your job field, then go for it. However, if you're looking for a good mentor who can help direct your life path, then you need a believer, and an experienced one at that.

Praying for North Korea

I can't get to North Korea to attempt to share the Gospel in the absence of the great leader. All I can do is pray, so I have been doing that. I've prayed in the past for the North Korean people, but big events like Kim's passing definitely spur me along. I freely confess that the last time I prayed this much for North Korea is when they launched an attack on an island belonging to the South several months ago.

What follows is what has been my general prayer for them over the last few days. Please feel free to add your prayers in the comments section.

Father,
Great sorrow and great events spur us to think about our own mortality. Please bring the North Korean people to an awareness that, though their great leader is dead, there is one greater than him who has died and can never die again. Please show yourself to them in whatever means are available and if possible, bring people to them who can share the Gospel in person. Please also bring about a regime change that will facilitate more people knowing about your son and how he is the only way to you.

In Christ's Name I pray,
Amen

North Korea and Christianity

I have written before about North Korea and its implications for Christianity in the Asian region. My thoughts in the previous article had surrounded the idea of a rapture and seeing the signs of the times. I had written another article regarding the idea that Christianity will never have a chance in North Korea unless the North falls. Of course it was all theory. It looks like we'll now see some practical implications of spirituality in North Korea.

With the death of a strong, dominant Kim Jong Il, the questions abound. What does Kim's Death mean for the military situation on the Korean peninsula? Will the South find a way to unify the peninsula? Will the North push the button and go for unification under their flag? Will the North modernize under a new leader? Will the torture, the human rights abuses, and the starvation end?

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait and see. It looks like his third son is going to take charge. However, whether his son can maintain the family control or not is still to be seen. His father was able to court the military leaders in a way that the son may not be able to.

But the implications for Christianity are even more open-ended. Whereas the line of succession was already established by Kim once his health started failing, there is no information on how Christianity will fare in the new regime. In fact, no one is even talking about it.

Well, that's what Navy Christian is for! The sailor side of me is just about to pop with ideas on how this might affect the military landscape in the North Asian area. The believer side of me (which accounts for more of me than the sailor) is uneasy. I want to hope that an army of Christians has been waiting at the border between China and North Korea for the death of Kim. Yet I am concerned that there is now Christian army at the border, that Kim's son will be more of the same, or that the military will take over and there will be more of the same.

In these times, during situations like this, my heart aches for what must be a desperate situation. I have to remember at that God is sovereign. If ever there was hope for North Korea, then it goes through Christ to the Father.

Bottom line: I am hopeful that North Korea will open up to the Gospel because of the death of their supreme leader. I'll keep updating as I learn more.

How to Start a Mentoring Ministry in your Church

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming e-book on mentoring in the church:

1. Church leadership must begin to scan for possible mentors. The initial group will be hand-picked to lead the church in a mentoring culture. They should all be experienced Christians, well-versed in theology, able to answer real-life questions about spiritual matters, and worldly wise, so that they can teach the less-experienced Christians how to apply God's word to a given situation. These men and women will need training on how to mentor if they haven't already learned how. The training is designed to be informal and should be as loosely planned as possible so as to mirror how the actual mentoring lifestyle works.

Jesus and Footwashing

Every now and again I see an article in a magazine, or I hear a sermon preached, that deals with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. I have given this issue some thought, admittedly because of a seminary assignment, and have come up with the following. Enjoy...

It was Jewish tradition to wash one's feet before reclining at a table for a meal. As this was normally done by a servant or slave, and since Jesus didn't have any, Kostenberger presumes that this hadn't been done.[1]  Nevertheless, it was a cultural norm; it needed to be done and it was a surprise that it hadn't been done already.[2]

I believe this is a testament to something important relating to Jesus and his disciples. The fact that Jesus and the disciples had already reclined at the table to eat without accounting for the cultural norm of footwashing suggests that Jesus was more informal with the disciples than many teachers would have been in his day. He was more of a mentor to them than a rabbi.

Jesus teaches us that everyone in his Kingdom is a servant, including the Son of God himself. If he has left us this precedent, then there is no excuse for anyone not to comply with his ministry. This was, as Kostenberger points out, a horribly convicting moment, causing the usually impetuous Peter to flip back and forth between extremes.[3]  In fact, his response is indicative of what the disciples all undoubtedly felt. Pushed against a rock and a hard place, with old culture on one side and Christ's call on the other, they had no choice but to make a decision. 

Kostenberger makes it clear that the church was never supposed to implement actual footwashing as a rite as that would have been to institutionalize what Jesus meant to be an example.[4] Therefore, the key is to know that it was an example. Finding examples in modern life are not difficult. Outreach magazine reported on a church that placed urinal cakes with the name of the church on it in local public restrooms as an example (no citation because I can't find it in my stack of past copies). I don't believe this was a good example, but it does show that churches are at least looking for them. What would have made a good example would be adopting a public restroom and cleaning it. Caring for the hygiene of the homeless would be another example, as I saw personally with The Outpost Ministry in San Francisco.  Finally, I think that (inside the church) cleaning a fellow believer's house or clearing out a garage or gutters might be a more precise example, as Jesus was ministering to believers in the actual example.

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[1] Andreas J. Kostenberger, Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1999), 146.

[2] Ibid., 145.

[3] Ibid., 147.

[4] Ibid.