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July 18, 2007

 

 

 
In this Edition:
Practitioners: Kevin Kuemichel, Cleveland, OH
Backtalk: Displaying the Flag in Church
Cutting Edge Book: Leadership on the Line
Events
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To the Point:

What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease. George Dennison Prentice

Funerals are a terrible trial to me, but I must admit that the stolid courage and quiet grief of most mourners is a real source of inspiration.... It is quite easy to see that religious faith prospers because of, and not in spite of, the tribulations of this world. It is because this mortal life is felt as an irrelevancy to the main purpose in life that men achieve the courage to hope for immortality.
Reinhold Niebuhr, Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.A.A. Milne, Pooh's Little Instruction Book

I'm afraid one actually has to allow for the denial and self-delusion that make it possible for people to be both self-righteous and sleazy at the same time. We are all capable of fooling ourselves in a grand variety of ways. Molly Ivens

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Kevin Kuemichel Practitioners:
Kevin Kuemichel, Cleveland, Ohio
Kevin has done something a lot of pastors would envy: he planted a church where there wasn't one before, in metro Cleveland, Ohio. Here he tells about the Teen Esteem Christian Teen Center he and volunteers started in a down-at-the-heels part of Cleveland. LGS 

A few years ago I volunteered at the local recreation center, coaching teen baseball and flag football. Eventually that led us to the idea of having our church having a teen center. We rented a 2000 square foot storefront on a busy city street about 6 blocks from our church. The location of the center is crucial to our success. We are on a major bus thoroughfare, where kids walk by to go to and from school. Kids won't stop into a church building, but the store front is a different story.

We have over 300 names, addresses and phone numbers of kids who have entered our teen center at least once. It is open to them five days a week, 52 weeks of the year. We have a core group of about 50 who we've developed quite a relationship with. We have seen behavior and attitudinal changes in the kids, and people in the community are noticing it.

The center has a pool table, table tennis, foosball, air hockey, board games, puzzles and crafts. Everything is free for use from 6-9 PM, Monday through Thursday. Friday evenings we only open for 1� hours. We have six donated computers for educational games and homework. (No internet yet but we'll add that when money is available). We also have snack and soda vending machines.

On the first and third Fridays, we hold an event called  "teen talk." We offer popcorn and beverage while we talk about real teen issues: drugs, alcohol, teen sex, violence, and school and family issues. The second and third Fridays of the month there's a modified vacation Bible school with Bible stories, crafts, coloring, etc. On occasion we will show a Christian video or do a puppet show and discuss the moral of the story.

We have never advertised except by word of mouth through the kids, and the visibility of the storefront as people pass by. We hold to a strong disciplinary stance within the building, but should someone have to be removed for bad behavior, we practice grace when he or she returns.

We won't open with fewer than two adults, and we prefer at least one male on site. Many of these kids come from single family homes, and need male role models. We teach the adults to keep healthy boundaries with the kids, which includes not giving them money, setting limits, and loving them in appropriate ways. The adults are not there to stand on the side lines and watch; they are to talk to, play with and get to know the kids. Interaction with adult volunteers is the primary mission of the center.

This past January, we started a Pathfinder club in the center. We've decorated it with Pathfinder flags, banners, posters and pictures of club events and members. It is a fledgling club that is gaining momentum, and will eventually have more non-Christians as members than Christians.

This enterprise has positively affected not just the kids; we have seen enormous changes in our adult volunteers. We have several non-members volunteers who are now attending church. Our vision for this center is to be totally community centered and to serve people as Jesus would. We hope to open our center to more age groups and activities. The only thing holding us back right now is volunteers. This has been without question the most important enterprise this church has undertaken since its inception--and the hardest thing we've ever done!

Find out more about the Teen Center at the Walk of Faith Fellowship website. Write Kevin at kev.kuehmichel@integrity.com.

Are you or a colleague doing something especially interesting and innovative in ministry? Tell us about it at BestPractices@ameritech.net.

Back Talk
Responses to displaying a national flag in church.
  • Amen on the flag issue.  It is not a fight worth fighting, but the principle that we are Christians first and last and that our citizenship is really in heaven needs to be kept very clear.
    Bob Brauer
  • When democracy and Western civilization are under Islamic attack, flying the America flag is especially important.  If it were not for freedom, Seventh-day Adventism as well as millions of other Christian churches would be forced underground.  Without the fight for freedom, America would not exist. And, if it were not for godly values, civilized freedom would not exist. I think it is shameless to even consider not flying the America flag in our churches.
    Randy Mills
  • When we go over the 13th baptismal vow, how can we justify the flag in front, for any Adventist church in any country? Are we not a world church, a movement spanning the earth? I'm proud to be an American, but I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian first. And history tells a story of great trouble where nationalism, patriotism and Christianity are blended together.
    Michael Cook
  • The flag is only a reminder of a place in the wilderness God has provided, where freedom of worship has triumphed. We have pastored a church which had 27 different nationalities. And everyone respected that the Canadian flag was in the front.  Everyone appreciated the opportunities that were available to them. Many were working and sending their money back to family in a different country. Several had fled other countries because of war and civil uprisings and were so grateful for a place of safety for their family.
    Donavan Kack
  • We would not think of posting the logos of the companies we work for on the walls of our churches even though we believe it is our Christian duty to serve our employer whole-heartedly. How much riskier is it to display a national flag, given the history of national involvement in evil, such as racism in the South where I grew up decades ago, or Nazism which co-opted nearly all German churches (including the Seventh-day Adventist Church)? In both cases gross evil was "sanctified" as the national way. It was "American" to keep blacks in their place and protect the privilege and status of whites. I love the United States. I pay taxes cheerfully. I obey the law. But church is where I remember there are limits to patriotism. There is a flag that flies higher than the American flag.
  • I'm glad the flag is back in your church. Being patriotic is no conflict with being a Christian, or a conflict with people from other countries who are here for whatever reason. We welcome them to America, the free-est place on earth. They are here because it is America. Your comments reminded me there is not a flag on the stage in the church I pastor. I had not even noticed. Shame on me. I'm going to work on that!
    Gary Venden
Cutting Edge Book
Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading,
by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky

Point:  To lead is to live dangerously, because when leadership counts, you challenge what people hold dear--their daily habits, tools, loyalties and ways of thinking-with nothing more to offer perhaps than a possibility.

Key word:  "Adaptive":  Leadership would be safe if we only faced problems for which there are technical solutions.  But, there is a whole host of problems that are not amenable to expertise or technical procedures.  These are called adaptive challenges because they require people to adjust and change their attitudes, values, and behaviors.  

Pros:  Insightful examination of the perils of leadership and effective responses to specific dangers.

Cons:  Costs $29.95!

Why you should read it:  Your understanding of, and approach to, leadership in the church will be permanently transformed.
Review by Raj Attiken

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Events
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NAD Church RESOURCE Center
Best Practices is an e-publication of Vervent
NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER
Editor: Loren Seibold, Pastor, Worthington OH