The Not-So-Secret Sauce, Part Deux
- ddhowe0
- Feb 21, 2023
- 8 min read
As we said last time, we never want to lose the secret sauce the Lord has given us: providing high quality, welcoming, engaging environments that overcome broad negative biases towards faith or religion, and offer adults a high caliber opportunity to truly discover what brings them more fully alive, more purposeful in life, at confident peace with the Lord, and more able to serve the ones they love and lead at home, work, play, and service.
Yes, that was a mouthful, so we broke it down an invited you to reflect on it. If you missed that post, perhaps go back to it here. Otherwise, here's a brief look at how we roll, and why:
Providing...
Hospitality is a major theme we learn from the Bible (1 Peter 4:9, 1 Timothy 5:10) and our Lord's leaders are especially charged to practice it (Titus 1:8), and it is a most compelling and powerful witness (Acts 16:25-34). Imagine a time when even jailers and their households met the Lord, and instantly returned hospitality to those around them, and when a self-centered tax collector met the Lord and couldn't help but have generosity springing from him like a fountain (Luke 19:1-10). For all of the proselytization and even well-intended evangelizing that I've seen and heard about in my lifetime, I've wondered what would be happening if we overdid it on hospitality and under-did it on putting words in people's faces. We're answering that question in Insignia's ministries.
High Quality...
We believe that excellence honors the Lord and inspires people. Don't you agree?! Have you ever been to a sing-along, perhaps at a beach or home or church hall (I know, it doesn't happen as much anymore but work with me here), and a beautiful song can turn just cringeworthy if the guitar guy's ax is out of tune, or if the piano player has to keep stopping and going back to play the right note, or turn the page. And who really wants the help of a handy friend if their handyman skills aren't so skillful? On the flip side, we marvel and are blessed by excellence, whether it be the Opera, a non-nonsense ballgame, or that wonderfully prepared meal, presented with panache. ...Jim Rayburn, the Founder of Young Life, said "We're telling the greatest story ever told; let's not wrap it up in a plain brown paper sack."
Welcoming...
Even as a young kid, I knew the power of a good welcome. When your parents are divorced and you show up for baseball practice on a new team with no friends on it -- with all of the insecurities that a school age kid pretends he doesn't have -- you never forget a guy like coach Bill Cooke, who's bellowing voice would exclaim across the diamond, "Haaaallllooooww Doug, glad you're here!" Or when a coach named Merle -- known for his intensity and his passions as well as his discipline -- barks across a crowded school hallway, "Dr. Howe it is!" ...A good welcome not only says so much but it does so much! Yet even as Christians, how many of us settle for greetings like "They'll let anybody in here," or "Look what the cat drug in," or "geez, who invited you?!" And that's just our words, let alone body language and attentions paid. So we work at welcoming, whether it's to our formal events, or spontaneous gatherings, our tone on a phone call, ...and of course the kind of environments where a beverage is offered, clear invitations/instructions are given, expectations are created and managed, and those who visit are always made to feel like they've been in the inner circle all along.
Engaging environments...
So much of what passes for group engagement is often mostly people talking or singing from the stage and some brief or occasional Q&A. We aim for the opposite. Every man has a story. Every woman, too. Jesus made time for people's stories, most notably when a woman in need of healing reached out to touch him in a crowd. While the disciples pushed and the crowd pulled and a community leader's crew all were rushing Jesus to the bedside of an ailing girl, Jesus stopped and gave the woman not ony a healing touch but a healing ear (Mark 5:21-34). Let's do that for people. Engaging people not only means asking compelling questions but also listening for the answers, and responding appropriately. Often, "appropriately" means not rushing to give advice, but asking more questions. We aim to offer genuine interest, genuine care. And we build the time into our events and trips so that the engagement part doesn't get rushed or blown off.
Overcome broad negativity...
Let's face it: we're surrounded by negativity. Whether it's the gossip in the hallways, the tone of social media, the venting of friends or the irritating and biting Victimitus and Blame-O-Rama that surrounds us all, we take in a lot of negativity. What does, "Film at 11" usually mean? Was someone caught doing something good? Or did someone crash, or get robbed, or blown up, or blown out. What sells newspapers? Negativity. What drives clicks? Negativity. (Okay, or maybe a really good deal on something, but I digress.) ...And when it comes to matters of religion and faith, things can really get negative...
Negative bias towards faith or religion...
Much (in fact, most) of what happens in churches and parishes is really good. Not perfect, of course, but good. (We'll go deeper on churches and Churchitus in a future post.) But for now, I think you'd agree that many, many people have negative impressions of organized or not-so-organized religion. Research shows that general beliefs are that religion either wants your money, or to check your brains at the door, or forfeit your business competitiveness, or become judgemental of others, or turn black the clock to the 1950's, or justify bad things, or become a nice guy who finishes last and likes it. And for some, it's a lighter thing, like giving up golf or Starbucks and the Times on Sundays. ...Whatever the issues, we're looking to prove and reprove that there is wonder and amazement and abundance and excitement and purpose and fulfillment and life when we get connected and aligned with our Creator, our Savior, our Helper. Whatever we can do to overcome the potential obstacles for others, we will do it.
Offer adults a high caliber opportunity to truly discover...
I was once the Founding Pastor of a church designed for people who weren't necessarily into church. Our invitation said we were "Yours to Explore." Everything we did (and the church still does) is designed for people to have a potentially high-impact experience in their faith, but at a pace that isn't pressured or forced upon them. We did (and do) the same things in Young Life with adolescents. And with several degrees and decades of experience behind me I can tell you with authority that all adults are really just overgrown adolescents! So with all of the challenges and pressures facing the heads of families and companies and soccer teams and neighborhood BBQ's, we're committed to honoring the hour (at ToTR) or the weekend or week (on a trip) they give us with compelling and comforting opportunities to consider the most important matters in life. And we pray many would eventually be compelled to respond to the amazing grace and compelling truth of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14). Jesus made The Almighty visible to us: we seek (as best we can) to make Him visible to those around us. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
What brings them more fully alive...
Jesus said He came to give us "abundant life." However, I lot of people miss the fact that He didn't just promise abundant life, but He made the offer in the midst of a sobering and strong proclamation that the enemy of our Lord seeks to rob that from us, steal that from us, kill that from us. Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). There is a wonderful world of not only eternal life but real, transformed, vibrant, dynamic life here in this world. Right here! Right now!
More purposeful in life...
Ephesians 2:10 speaks to the marvelous, creative, inventive ways of the Lord. Long before there was ever LIV, personal branding, the blogosphere, the Internet, Social Media, and other present-day forces to emphasize each of our uniquenesses, the Bible proclaimed our Creator's inventions of us! Not only did He invent us each as unique and wonderful people
-- His "masterpieces!" -- but we were created to accomplish good works, for purposeful achievements, for being difference-makers, perhaps even game-changers in the lives of others!
At confident peace...
Psalm 37:1-7. Read it here. It's worth the search. Let these words of scripture sink in. Instruction for us. Opportunity that we have to share with those around us who act like they need it the least when they desperately need it the most.
With the Lord...
Psalm 4, Psalm 16:1-2, 7-11, and Psalm 127 contain the words of the Psalmist long ago who apparently longed for what we long for, as do our family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. (Yes, even our in-laws!)
More able to serve the ones they love and lead at home...
Long before Patrick Henry famously ended a powerful, passionate and pursuasive speech with the words, "give me liberty or give me death," a saint of old proclaimed, "as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15. The New Testament is filled with stories of those leaders who not only eventually chose faith in the Lord but led their families accordingly, including Cornelius, Lydia, and one of Paul's jail guards. We are surrounded -- surrounded -- by those who would love so, so much to be a healthy, strong, servant-hearted, relational, and solid leader in and among their families. But first they may need to admit they could stand to be a better version of themselves for that to happen...and we can help.
At work...
Whether our peers and friends are business owners, corporate executives, mid-level workers or sole craftsmen, work is a vital part of how we do our lives and how we feel about our lives. Many wish (or at least wonder) if there's a better way. There is. Here is one example of how a different mindset will produce different results.
At play...
Yes! There's even a purposeful (and safe!) way to look at leisure, diversion, balance, freedom, laughter, and the like. James 1:17, calls it a gift. Psalm 19 reminds us of what happens when we're sure to get outdoors often (like we do on our flyfishing, golf, and hunting trips). 1 Corinthians 10:31 teaches us how to party. And those who fear teatotaler-ing might be surprised to read Ecclesiastes 8:15. ...The point here is that we are actually purposeful when we not only provide the food and water but the adult beverages as well.
And in service...
As you finish up this post, you've probably noticed that as we moved through it, my explanations got shorter and the scriptures became more prevalent. That is a little bit of the flow to quite a bit of what we do. Everything is Biblically-based, but we're not always leading with Bible Backstop or Trivial Trivia when it comes to sharing the wonders of Biblical truth with others. We've noticed that Jesus even described what He was about with metaphors, similes, parables and examples before getting to his Old Testament references or the words that would become our New Testament after His resurrection. We follow that a bit, but not always. More to come on that. It's all part of working out how to continually become better versions of ourselves and then to pass it on. It only happens by His grace. See you next time, -D
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