The Origins of FINK: A Brief History

I've often been asked for the short story on how and why FINK started. Long story. Here's my short answer:

1. I had a mom who played classical music all day, read scripture daily, read stories daily, said our prayers with us every night and sang us to sleep
2. I had a dad who knocked on doors to build a mission church and still had time to tell me stories every night
3. I was always a bored kid - maybe ADHD or dyslexic without knowing it – and had to go to “special class” for reading, but always liked to draw stories and would narrate my stories for my mom to write down before I could personally write a word
4.  I loved God, but hated sitting listening to people lecture me in church (ie, I was a boy)
5. As a young person I loved Bible camp (I ended up working at one for 5 summers and met my beautiful wife Arlyce there 35 years ago... not a bad connection)
6. When I became a parish pastor, I always wondered why camp worked and confirmation class didn’t
7. I tried to get church to be more like camp (small groups, music, games, skits, servanthood... And a counselor who loves kids... But isn’t gone at the end of the summer)
8. Two suicides of two boys I’d known from 6th – 12th grade in my first youth group changed me from trying to do camp at church alone to experimenting with building a cohesive team of youth workers who loved God, liked kids, and were willing to incubate
9. Replacing a youth pastor who committed suicide at a large church changed me from running parentless programs to trying to do parent-engaged processes
10. Having two children of my own (after 5 years of infertility at the Mayo Clinic) made me want to be a good dad AND THE faith mentors for my own children
11. Writing an article called "Conformation (sic!) is Dead" in 1993 launched me out on a one year, 75 city sabbatical to talk about better educational systems (I'm still on my sabbatical) My mantra then: "We don't need a better workbook. We need a better way."
12. Having 275 churches immediately decide to scrap their confirmation programs and ask how, when and what to teach got me scrambling to figure that out
13. Getting criticized as “confirmation lite” by the seminaries of the church sent me into process systems thinking and brain-based systems designs on an arts-based platform
14. Going personally $250K into debt for the ministry (on credit cards with a double mortgage on the house) made me read a few business books, too
15. And, as I wind up my last It’s our 15th year anniversary at FINK with a 79 city tour in the next two weeks, one more thing has become apparent: Call this the...
    
    Brief History of FINK's FUTURE:
    
    We’ve spend the bulk of the last 15 years trying to change from a “classroom” to a “community” model of learning. From left-brain lecture to whole-brain relationships. From opening the workbook to opening the kid. From filling in the blanks in workbooks to filling in the blanks in lives. We’ll spend the next 15 years trying to bring the church home. Less program. More process. Less parentless-professional ministry. More parent-engaged priesthood.
    
    Every night. Every home.

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