Here’s another Weekly Whiff of Economic $scents

Fondling the Job Knob

The most frequent word used during the Republican party presidential nominee debates is reported as “job.” Honestly, the term has become a fixture on the dial of the words each and every politician has pre-programmed into every public utterance.

The problem is, a real world challenge has become a simple point of reference or  keyword that is a required utterance…It’s just a teaser…it’s foreplay. It’s just “fondling the job knob.” The problem is, foreplay typically results in an appetite for something more.

American voters deserve a discussion that gets to the meat of the matter. If values and beliefs about how someone proposes to run  the largest economy in the world – both parties need to give up the specifics…what they believe will result in a vastly more satisfactory experience for the participants involved. American voters need the full meal deal…to determine whether this critical component of our compatibility is present…prior to making any  commitment about marriage for “four more years.”

To use a phrase from David Brooks column today, what must be done is to “select bold policies from both ends.”

“Ready on the set…Camera…Action!”

The whole world’s watching…

Here’s my  Weekly Whiff of Economic $cents:

“Yet each turn of the spiral gives rise to similar questions about the nature and purpose of an economy. How much inequality can be tolerated? When bets go sour and the economy nosedives, who gets bailed out and who are left to fend for themselves? At what point does an economy imperil itself politically, as large numbers conclude that the game is rigged against them? Most fundamentally, what and whom is an economy for?”

Excerpt above from: Reich, Robert B. AFTERSHOCK – The Next Economy and America’s Future, Alfred A. Knopf New York, New York Copyright © 2010 by Robert B. Reich, p.4.

ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. , He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into twenty two languages, and the best seller Super capitalism.  His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also cofounding editor of the American Prospect magazine and provides weekly commentaries on public radio’s Marketplace. He lives in Berkeley and blogs at www.robertreich.org.

Capitalism works only when institutions are forced to absorb the consequences of the risks that they take on. When banks can pocket the upside while spreading the cost of their failures, failure is almost certain. P.13.

Mallaby is clearly not a proponent of “privatizing the gains and socializing the losses.”

Excerpt above from: Mallaby, Sebastian More Money Than God – Hedge Funds And The Making of a New Elite, Penguin Press, New York, NY Copyright © 2010 by Sebastian Mallaby. p.13.

This 463 page treatise is a wonderful accomplishment and is likely to become required reading for those interested in the history and development of economic thought. As Nasar, writes: “Most journeys start in the imagination.” Friedman, Hayek, Keynes, Sen, The Webbs,  Schumpeter, Marshall, Robinson – they’re all here – and many others – come alive in this magnificent weave of history, biography and economics. The manner in which it is written makes the entire subject area vastly more approachable – accessible – and shall inspire others to dedicate themselves to the the same sort of challenge that the author embraced here..

I was particularly impressed with how Nasar weaved her challenge (stated above) as cleverly, and with an unbelievable depth and breadth – yet maintained an appetite for the reader to come back for more. This is a work of art from the heart – Sylvia Nasar’s.

I truly enjoyed the journey. You will too. However, the subtitle will likely turn many off from the purchase decision…The Story of Economic Genius – probably is not one that magnetically attracts too many folks today.

]]> http://www.billdahl.net/articles/grand-pursuit-the-story-of-economic-genius-by-sylvia-nasr/feed/ 0 http://www.billdahl.net/articles/person-of-the-year-2011/ http://www.billdahl.net/articles/person-of-the-year-2011/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:56:18 +0000 bill http://www.billdahl.net/?p=3351

Image above by Bill Dahl – All Rights Reserved.

Click on image to enlarge.

What Time Is It?

TIME MAGAZINE got it wrong…terribly wrong. On December 14, 2011 TIME announced their Person of the Year for 2011 as “The Protester.” Their cover image is below:

Well, it seems to make sense on the surface and looks good too. Yet, there’s something that TIME missed – something beneath and beyond the faces, voices and actions of the protesters – that has been beamed incessantly into the global consciousness during 2011 by every media outlet that could connect to the web. Other media outlets have suggested that “If you protested in 2011 for ANYTHING at all, then YOU are TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” — REALLY?

Stay with me…

Trust and Time

Here’s what TIME dismissed that I discovered. I refer to it as “THE Dis…” – My Person of The Year for 2011. Discretely buried beneath the image of The Protester one discovers a pervasive sentiment that involves a population far larger than those who “protested in 2011 for ANYTHING at all.” 

THE Dis… include the disenchanted, the discouraged, the disillusioned, the disturbed the discontented, the disdainful, the disheartened. THE Dis… includes those who were disengaged from any form of active protest yet, experienced a degree of disgust and disappointment at the disintegration of expectations that they had learned to rely upon for certainty, stability, security and serenity. THE Dis… may not have occupied anything tangible….they may or may not have been participants in the encampments, and the public discussions or the disorder.  Yet, they were/remain dismayed. Not that they were disinterested or dismissive of the disorienting tremors that seemed to displace what one thought one knew. During 2011, disruption, in every sense of the word, seemed to display itself in duration, forms and degrees that displaced hope, trust and confidence. 2011 was a time period when distrust seems to have achieved new levels of dispersion.

In his most recent book, The Price of Civilization – Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity, economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University writes:

“We have become a country of strangers. And that estrangement is accompanied by falling trust. Markets cannot overcome the distrust…No significant economic trend in any part of the world leaves the rest of the world untouched…Without trust, there is little chance for coordinated global actions needed to fight poverty, hunger and disease.” [i] (emphasis is mine)

For THE Dis… 2011 was a year when disillusionment seemed to disburse itself without regard to borders, boundaries or birthright. Sociologist Daniel J. Levinson describes the challenge that was pervasively experienced by THE Dis… during 2011 – and shall, in my opinion, remain our challenge in 2012 and beyond. Levinson describes it in the following:

As he attempts to reappraise his life, a man discovers how much it has been based on illusions, and he is faced with the task of de-illusionment. By this expression I mean a reduction of illusions, a recognition that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true. This process merits special attention because illusions play so vital a role in our lives throughout the life cycle.”[ii] (emphasis is mine).

During 2011, disorientation became a vastly more common, and perhaps intense, experience for the global citizenry. The task of de-illusionment described by Levinson above is not an event – as he states, it’s distinctly a process. For THE Dis… becoming dislocated or dislodged from the fact that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true is laden with distress. What do you think of an elected governing body that has a 9% public approval rating? (The U.S. Congress) For far too many in the U.S., 2011 contained an ongoing experience of unemployment, stagnant wages, healthcare coverage and costs, rising energy and food prices, shelter, hunger, the costs for education, and homes that are not worth their current mortgage debt. Does this sound mental, spiritual, economic, disruptive and discombobulating? Is a sense of fairness, confidence, the absence of corruption, and a sense of hope fundamental to the human condition and the effective functioning of a democracy? Well, actually – it’s all of that. These are not illusions – they are indisputable facts of human life. They are matters of the soul for individuals, organizations, movements and a nation.

The Alarm Clock:

 Economists George Akerloff and Robert Schiller have said that “we must pay attention to the thought patterns that animate people’s ideas and feelings”…..that, even in the arena of important economic events that occur within human civilization  “their causes are largely mental in nature.” [iii]

Yes, My Person of the Year for 2011 is THE Dis… the year when we were all required to confront our respective and collective disenchantment…with others, with institutions, with circumstance and condition – with ourselves. 2011 is a year when the disempowered discovered their tolerance limits, when the disinterested became engaged, when the dismal, global economic conundrum endured, when the disreputable were dislodged, when the discouraged became courageous, when the disheartened became desperate, when the dislocated and dislodged began to come together. A year when untold precious human lives were destroyed – disfigured – even dismembered – in the process.

2011 is the year when the alarm clock went off. The disillusioned began to embrace the truth that only the process of de-illusionment can produce – an awakening – a recognition that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true.  Did you find yourself dismayed by the discord, dissension, discourse and disruption in 2011? Well, wake up! You have a planet full of company. The sensations of your soul are not dissimilar to those experienced by the world around you.

Counter Clockwise:

Ok…it’s 2012. I’m concerned. Why?

I’m hopeful that 2011 was simply part of the process of what economist Joseph Schumpeter referred to as creative destruction. Yet, people like to throw that term around without understanding what Schumpeter was really talking about. Schumpeter, as recounted by Thomas K. McCraw of the Harvard Business School, shares the following:

“Destruction, however painful, is the necessary price of creative progress toward a better material life. But the correct sequence is vital: creative innovation first, then the destruction of obstacles that lie in its way.” [iv]

This is my concern for 2012: It’s when we humans destroy as our initial response and assume that the construction will simply appear thereafter – the opposite of Schumpeter’s principle – the result can be catastrophic.[v]

The Dis… as celebrated as it may have been in 2011 – can have unanticipated, destructive consequences. You see, The Dis… can morph. It’s virile and viral nature can endure and replicate into new forms that may continue to plague us. This is particularly true when it morphs into cynicism. As Sachs points out: “When the political and economic situation is as dangerous as it is today, cynicism and loss of time are far more dangerous than they look.”[vi]

History reveals that cynicism is cyclical. I have referred to this phenomenon by creating the term cynclical (sink-li-cal) [vii] Cynicism has properties whereby you always end up in the same place you started. Yet, this phenomenon possesses energy, inertia, and a trajectory; like a whirlpool…round and round and down. Whether you are the originator of cynicism or the recipient of it, it has an energy that negatively impacts all concerned. It maintains the loss of essential balancing reference points and sustains a sense of dizziness essential to preserving the illusion that we cannot make progress; retarding the willingness to expend our energies toward the pursuit of positive possibilities.

If you can relate to my characterization of The Dis… my prayer for you is to consider the implications of how you use your time in 2012 – as productively and constructively as possible. May it be a year for you when innovation precedes destruction. A year when you recognize that your thought patterns are animate – how you think and what you think matters. A year when you accept the process of de-illusionment as an essential aspect of human existence –that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true. A year when you look back and reflect on 2011, you will seek to muster a renewed sense of trust in both the present and the future. A year when you humbly acknowledge we all have much to learn about change; that “learning how to change requires understanding how we go astray.”[viii]

I will close with a quote from David Brooks:

“The human race is not impressive because towering geniuses produce individual masterpieces. The human race is impressive because groups of people create mental scaffolds that guide future thought.[vii] (emphasis is mine). [ix]

Think about it…the clock is ticking.

NOTES

Reggie Dahl

“In his element“….Click on the above to enlarge or go to here and then click  slide show for some terribly unique winter images — a truly wonderful day.

Click here for the You Tube Video:

My review of the David’s book is here and my interview with David is here:

See Sojourners article entitled “Millennials to the Church: Wake Up or We’re Outta Here” — as well here:

The U.S. Congress has adjourned….leaving an impending payroll tax hike and an essential extension of unemployment benefits – Negatively impacting millions of Americans…“SEE YA!”

With an approval rating of around 20% prior to this action, the U.S. Congress – despite what you may wish – can still sink lower in the minds of the American voter.

“See Ya!” —- trust the American voter — you certainly will see us.

]]> http://www.billdahl.net/articles/economiasma-by-bill-dahl-12-20-2011-see-ya/feed/ 0 http://www.billdahl.net/articles/economiasma-a-weekly-whiff-of-economic-scents-the-rivers-backed-up-december-13-2011-by-bill-dahl/ http://www.billdahl.net/articles/economiasma-a-weekly-whiff-of-economic-scents-the-rivers-backed-up-december-13-2011-by-bill-dahl/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:07:17 +0000 bill http://www.billdahl.net/?p=3260

Here’s my Weekly Whiff of Economic $cents for December 12, 2011:

Pulitzer Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has written in Freefall: – America, Free Markets, And The Sinking of The World Economy:

 “This book is about a battle of ideas, about the ideas that led to the failed policies that precipitated the crisis and about the lessons that we take away from it. In time, every crisis ends. But no crisis, especially one of this severity, passes without leaving a legacy. “(p.xii). (emphasis is mine)

As Stephen Johnson says in The Ghost Map:

“The river of intellectual progress is not defined purely by the steady flow of good ideas begetting better ones; it follows the topography that has been carved out for it by external factors. Sometimes that topography throws up so many barricades that the river backs up for a while.” P. 135

I lived in Washington State on May 18th 1980 and distinctly recall the eruption of Mt. St. Helens that morning. The debris laden mudflows and caused both forks of the Toutle River to become raging torrents carrying fallen timber like toothpicks and lifted homes from their foundations – smashing them into one of the few remaining bridges left temporarily in tact.

Clearly, the river of economic ideology  is raging and backing up. There are so many ideas floating around, battling to become the assemblage of strategic economic policy (both globally and domestically) – that what appears to be a breakthrough of the logjam one week – becomes a discarded pile of rubbish beside the swollen banks of the torrent the next.

History is littered with the devastation of comparable, cataclysmic economic events….many of which, just like Mt. St. Helens – were not predictable in terms of timing and scope. Yet, I am reminded that the resolution of these matters is a process, not an event. Of course, we humans have the penchant to believe that the current economic challenges that occur during our lifetimes are both unique and unprecedented.

Ideas about what to do about debt, deficits, taxes, R&D, stimulus, Medicare, immigration reform, defense, budgets, social services, the disabled, Social Security, healthcare, Medicare, fiscal policy – unemployment, homelessness, hunger — all currently creating the logjam – clogging the flow 0f the river of economic progress. Here’s an insight from last week to throw onto the pile:

The OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development  released a report last week measuring tax revenue as a percentage of GDP.  The United States ranked 27th out of the 30 nations examined. In the U.S., taxes are currently the lowest since the early 1950s.

Hmmm…which ideas will break free from the logjam and unleash the flow of employment, certainty, trust and progress that we so desperately require? During the next several weeks, I will be looking at the ideas of thought leaders about how truly constructive ideas come together to form breakthroughs – when the River’s Backed Up.

This week, I’ll leave you with two thoughts from author and thought leader Stephen Johnson:

“Part of coming up with a good idea is discovering what those spare parts are, and ensuring that you’re not just recycling the same old ingredients.” (p.42)

The River’s Backed Up – I just have the sense that recycling the same old ingredients – just ain’t gonna cut it. If we continue on that course, the outcome may be a history for this period where the folks who write it well after we’re gone characterize this historical epoch akin to Stephen Johnson’s observation in his work, The Ghost Map:

“But the blind spots on the map, the dark continents of error and prejudice, carry their own mystery as well. How could so many intelligent people be so grievously wrong for such an extended period of time?” (emphasis is mine – p.15)

Click image above to ENLARGE. Image created by Bill Dahl – All Rights Reserved 2011.

Watch David and some young people talk about the book here on YouTube:

Here are the interview questions I have posed to David Kinnaman, President of The Barna Group, regarding his new book, You Lost Me…Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church….And Rethinking Faith (BakerBooks – October 2011).

If you have questions you’d like David to respond to, please send them to me.

This is a book that moves the earth beneath your feet, rewires the arteries in your heart, and causes one to reconsider what you think you know about discipleship.

David Kinnaman is President of the Barna Group – unequivocally the ongoing source of reliable social research about Christians, Christianity and the Church. David has designed and analyzed a wide range of projects for a variety of churches, parachurch organizations and for-profit clients. As a spokesperson for the firm’s research, he is frequently quoted in major media outlets. He also speaks and writes about new models of church experience, the profile of young leaders, and generational changes. In 2007, Kinnaman released his first book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…and Why It Matters.

Below are the interview questions I  posed to David. His responses are in red.

David:

I devoured the book and ranked it #3 in my BEST Books of 2011.  Here are a few questions that arose.In my opinion, this is a terribly important book….frightfully important. Thus, I have taken ample care and time in considering the weave of the context for the questions I have posed below. I hope you enjoy my inquiry approach and the opportunity I have provided for you to respond.

Here we go:

 1. Question: How are you and your family doing?

We are doing well. Everyone is excited about the holidays. My wife and kids are serious elves: decorating, baking, ornamenting, lighting things. My mom keeps calling from Arizona trying to find out what day we will arrive. I love December. It’s my wedding anniversary and my birthday…. And, oh yeah, Christmas. Thanks for asking.

 2. Context: Allow me to construct the context for my question — Rick Warren has written: “God wants you to be in regular, close fellowship with other believers so you can develop the skill of loving. Love cannot be learned in isolation. You have to be around people – irritating, imperfect, frustrating people.” He states that we learn three things through fellowship: a. Life without love is really worthless b) Love lasts forever (leaves a legacy) c) We will be evaluated on our love — It is not enough just to say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is “T-I-M-E.”(The Purpose Driven Life pp. 124-127). Question: In terms of the research that is the basis for “You Lost Me…Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church…And Rethinking Faith” – can you illuminate a few parallels between the above from Pastor Warren and what your research reveals as laid out in your book?

I think this is a perceptive question. Our research leads me to conclude that many of us try to shortcut our way to building a faith legacy with the next generation. But it really does require more of a commitment to give of ourselves to the teens and young people around us. Most of the young adults we interviewed said they did not have a trusted adult friend at their church while they were growing up. In other words, in many cases we do not take the time to really become friends with young people.  

And youth ministers, even at their best, should not put be expected to befriend all the students that come through youth group. It is not a youth pastor’s job to become “friends” with everyone. It has to be a churchwide, intergenerational commitment to make friendships with young people — really loving them — a priority.

3.      Context: In his book, A Whole New Mind – Moving From The Information Age to the Conceptual Age, (2005 – Riverhead/Penguin USA), author Daniel H. Pink writes: “The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind — computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBA’s who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people — artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers — will now reap society’s richest rewards and share it’s greatest joys.” Question: You write on page 15, “As a faith community we need a whole new mind (emphasis is mine) to see that the way we develop young people’s faith – the way we have been teaching them to engage the world as disciples of Christ—is inadequate for the issues concerns and sensibilities of the world we ask them to change for God.” In Romans Chapter 12:1-2, Paul exhorts the church to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” — What is the parallel between your use of the term “a whole new mind” and the same phrase used by Daniel Pink and the Apostle Paul – as it relates to the “dropout” problem your book so comprehensively reveals?

Again, great question! Daniel Pink’s book was a big inspiration to me. This shift from right-brain to left-brain thinking is descriptive of the growing gap between the generations. Today’s younger Christians are not just sort of different than previous generations. They are very different, and the shift to right-brained aptitudes — things you mention above — are very much part of younger adults’ profile. In fact, the church is losing many of the kinds of people Pink identifies. Look at the list again — the kinds of people Pink says will reap society’s rewards. These are also the kinds of people struggling with their experience of Christianity. That’s a recipe for disaster, to have the culture shapers most disillusioned by the Christian faith.

Then, you raised the question of scriptural connections. One of the key biblical references for me was Isaiah 43:19 (Behold, I am about to do a brand-new thing… do you not perceive it?). Also, Jesus’ description of new wineskins relates to the subject at hand. God is always doing “new” things. But we are more comfortable in our ruts. And the next generation is paying the price for our lack of inspired thinking.

 4.  Context: You state the following in your book: “We are at a critical point in the life of the North American church; the Christian community must rethink our efforts to make disciples. Many of the assumptions on which we have built our work with young people are rooted in the modern, mechanistic and mass-production paradigms. Some (though not all) ministries have taken cues from the assembly line, doing everything possible to streamline the manufacture of shiny new Jesus-followers, fresh from the factory floor. But disciples cannot be mass produced. Disciples are handmade, one relationship at a time.” (pp.12-13). In his book, Out of Our Minds – Learning To Be Creative,” Sir Ken Robinson writes: “We all live our lives guided by ideas to which we are devoted but which may no longer be true or relevant. We are hypnotized or enthralled by them. To move forward we have to shake free of them.” (p. 7). Question: What are several “ideas” identified through your research that “disciple-making” must “shake free of” or unlearn – to reverse the dropout trend?

We need to unlearn the idea that the more people who attend our group, the more disciples we are making. We need to caution ourselves in the most strident possible way that our Twitter and Facebook following is not a discipleship headcount.

Think of it this way: we know that parents of young children and prospective college students seek classrooms with favorable student-to-teacher ratios. No one chooses classrooms that have more students. We generally desire the most intimate of instructional settings. But we somehow have bought into the notion that the bigger our ministries, the more people we are making an impact on.

 That’s just not the model Jesus used. I think we need to relearn mentoring, and better yet, rethink apprenticeship. We desperately need to find new models of mentoring and apprenticeship in order to properly develop the faith of today’s youth and young adults. In fact, we need this kind of intimacy in our faith development more than ever, regardless of our age.

5. Context: You write: “When the Christian faith is no longer autopilot for the broader culture, Christians who are comfortably in two worlds can orient the Christian community toward faithfulness in a new setting.” (p.86). For more clarification for readers of this interview, you are drawing a parallel between what you define as “current day exiles” with a close study of how God has used “exiles” in the Bible. In Author Steven Johnson’s work, Where Good Ideas Come From – The Natural History of Innovation, (Riverhead Books/The Penguin Group 2010), he states: we are often better served by connecting ideas than we are by protecting them. Like the free market itself, the case for restricting the flow of innovation has long been buttressed by appeals to the “natural “ order of things. But the truth is, when one looks at innovation in nature and in culture, environments that build walls around good ideas tend to be less innovative in the long run than more open-ended environments. Good ideas may not want to be free, but they do want to connect, fuse, recombine. They want to reinvent themselves by crossing conceptual borders. They want to complete each other as much as they want to compete.” P.22 (emphasis is mine). Question: How might communities of believers begin to “tear down the walls” that suffocate many good ideas, particularly those who can be identified as “exiles” – Christians who are comfortably in two worlds can orient the Christian community toward faithfulness in a new setting.”

The world is flat, as Thomas Friedman has persuasively written. And this is not more true than with the next generation. Their media (largely the Internet and video gaming) is bidirectional and interactive. The expect to participate and to dialogue. They want to mix it up. The globe feels like it’s shrinking and more accessible to them. Most churches and faith communities are not comfortable with this new participatory future.

This is part of the reason why there is such suspicion toward authority. They have come to expect more give and take. We can be threatened by this and shut down. Or we can see the tremendous opportunity for the Gospel. I think the generation must be confronted with the false hope of their narcissism. But they can also find the Christian community willing to engage them with truth and dialogue and participation. Jesus trusted his Church to a messed-up bunch of men and women after just three years of participatory ministry. That’s more trust than we typically show toward the next generation of leaders and influencers.

6. Context: In their book, “Surveying The Religious Landscape – Trends in U.S. Beliefs,” George Gallup Jr. and D. Michael Lindsay wrote: “Spirituality in America may be three thousand miles wide, but it  remains only three inches deep” (1999 – Morehouse Publishing). You write in You Lost Me in  2011 regarding young adults: “The Christianity they believe is an inch deep….Thus, the Christianity some churches pass on is a mile wide. Put the two together and you get a generation of young believers whose faith is an inch deep and a mile wide — too shallow to survive and too broad to make a difference”(pp.114-115). Which is followed by your thesis that “the Christian church in the U.S. has a shallow faith problem” — and – “we have a shallow faith problem among all adults” (p.120 – emphasis is yours). Question: As a leader of a community of believers, where does one start with addressing this, seemingly enduring “depth” issue?

That is such a challenging question. I think we need to first appreciate the rich faith legacy we have in this country. The fact that more than 7 out of 10 Americans call themselves a Christian is a remarkable fact and a reason for hope. Most of us want to think of ourselves as believers!

Of course, our faith leaves much to be desired. And I guess it comes down to two simple insights we might learn from Jesus: (1) being willing to tell the culture the truth (you wicked and perverse generation), but (2) working out the spiritual depth problem in your own life first. I think part of the reason we struggle is that we are so busy worrying about other churches, other Christians that we fail to keep growing ourselves. Matthew 6:33 says we should, ourselves, seek first the kingdom.

I wonder if we spent more time pursuing the Father ourselves — and modeling that for the next generation — if we wouldn’t be better off. I have a deep faith today, such as it is, because of what I saw modeled in my parents and grandparents lives. Not because they spent so much time worrying about the problems in the world.

One more thought on this: I hope our research and writing (like in unChristian and You Lost Me) helps point people to addressing gaps in their own life first, before it causes them to hand-wring about everyone else’s problems. Research is strange that way, because it can be abused when it simply creates this overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

The shallow faith problem in America is daunting. But it’s not really our problem to solve. It’s God’s. We can only work out our own feeble faith with fear and trembling.

7. Context: Dr. Billy Graham has written: “numbers by themselves are never a true indication of what God accomplishes.” (Just As I am – The Autobiography of Billy Graham pp.133-134 1997 HarperSanFrancisco & Zondervan). You suggest in You Lost Me, “What if, instead of measuring our success by the numbers we changed our metrics…that the hallmark of mature Christianity is a willingness to invest in a young person for a period of two to four years, teaching him or her the fine art of following Christ” (p.128). Question: In terms of the “depth issue” referred to in question # 6 above, how do we go about “measuring” whether one is “qualified” to invest in the mentoring of a young person? What might “qualified” look like? Might one look for “qualified personnel” amongst those “outside” an established church community?

Lots of stuff here and a whole book could be written on this. Of course, I think the idea of measurement is important. And I agree with Billy Graham. I would say it this way: we have to be careful not to measure what is important to man and miss what is important to God.

I find it interesting that what is important to God is very difficult to measure: a broken and contrite heart. But these are not impossible to find. I think we should be searching for teachability, eager pliability to learn and grow, willingness to apologize, people who are able to think about themselves in the third person, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We should be looking for these characteristics in both mentors and their apprentices. Jesus was the Son of God, yet he had this readiness to learn from his father.

I guess this means the most important leadership quality is pliable, ready, willing souls.

8. Question: What tools are currently readily available to measure “spiritual growth and transformation” in young adults (or adults for that matter), that you might be aware of?

The best tool should come from our own clarity about what we are trying to create in young people. We need to first start with the hard work of being very clear and concrete in what we think counts before God. And then we should develop some process to “notice” those things in the lives of young adults.

 You might think of creating five questions before and after a sermon series that measure the key outcomes – both knowledge and attitudes. Then use the same questions at the end of the sermon series to see if your teaching had any effect.

9. Context: a central thesis of You Lost Me is every story matters. This thesis assumes several things a) somebody cares b) somebody is willing to listen c) there is a huge “relational” component to capturing the essence of this opportunity. You also suggest moving away from “experts” to another mode of relationship development within the Christian community. Question: What might that look like?

I think that the Christian community does care about the lives of individuals. That’s what got most pastors into this line of work. Most of the influencers in ministry (paid or volunteer) want to see transformation in the lives of people.

The relational opportunity is huge, but it is the hard part. I think we have the interest, just not always the capacity to love people the way we should. Part of the key to this might be the next generation. They are highly relational. They want to get out there and engage the world. They want to be involved and invested in the lives of others. I think helping them to understand the relational opportunity and to become God’s listeners and healers is a huge way that God could use young adults in his Church today.

10. Context: I stumbled onto a guy named John Medina and his book entitled Brain Rules – 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. John is a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant (I have no clue what that actually means other than he’s a lot smarter than I am). He’s also an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. In his spare time, (the guy doesn’t really have any does he?), John is the Director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. (Makes my brain ache just thinking about all of the above). Medina writes: “Researchers have shown that some regions of the adult brain stay as malleable as a baby’s brain, so we can grow new connections, strengthen existing connections, and even create new neurons, allowing all of us to be lifelong learners” (p.271). In You Lost Me, you suggest, the media perpetuates “the damaging misperception that older people do not have much of value to offer the younger generations, thereby increasing generational fragmentation in our cultural imagination” (emphasis is mine – p. 118). Question: How might we invigorate the truth of “lifelong learning” as a biblical principle that might serve to accelerate diminishing the destructive nature of this deception, within Christian communities?

The church is the one place on earth where the generations come together without any ulterior motives. Really, this is the picture of the Body of Christ — not just our giftedness, but our intergenerational potential.

Being intergenerational is hard work. It takes intentionality. Being a good basketball player helps if you’re tall and can jump, but it also takes will power and practice. The book includes a lot of practical intergenerational examples. But it takes leaders prioritizing the interdependence of generations and making it happen in their ministries. It’s not easy. But it certainly can be done through human intention and God’s blessing.

David, I realize this book was incredibly difficult to write. The reality of biblical truth spoken so boldly – and its implications – typically cause us to question what we think we know – and how we behave – both as individuals, organizations and social institutions. We would like to thank you for your display of courage…and pray…that minds, hearts and behavior shall be changed – for His glory.

Thank you!

Bill Dahl