The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Six Days Into Lock Up

The sun is glistening on the waters.

The grass is lush and green, dotted with yellow flowers, and in need of mowing.

The moon will rise, full and bright, over the lake tonight.

The geese are pooping on the dock.

I'm locked in the log cabin, writing 16 hours a day.

My cell phone is dead and won't take a charge.

All is well with the world.

Four days alone at the cabin, and one insight:

Learning to let go
Is not so hard
Once you first learn
That you don't own
anything

The Picture

I happened to buy an interesting book "Brain Rules" by John Medina a while back while sitting the the Phillie airport. The author is a molecular biologist who has a lot to say about brains, learning, sleep, exercise and a lot of the points about active learning I taught on my 79 cities last year. His stuff clarifies how the brain works best, and his advise applies both to rethinking education and to rethinking the way businesses operate to get maximum productivity out of workers.

The Harvard Business Review says: "Few people are better qualified to help managers sift through all the hype than John."

One particularly interesting study he cites tells you why you want to be visual as you teach. In one room, a lecture was done without pictures. In another, the same lecture with pictures. 72 hours later, the lectured group remembered 10% of what was said.

The group with pictures?

65%.

What does that say to you, teacher?

What does that say to you, preacher?

Caption Contest

How about a caption for the photo below?

A) "Let me tell you about the essential historicity of the Pentateuch..."

B) "Lefse? Esta una tortilla Norwegas..."

C) ????? (post one of your own... the grand prize will be my cement-dusted socks from the trip)

Rich's Dirty Dozen

I had a marvelous Yucatan Mission experience with 80 kids (both of my own included) and my wife this month. Deep, deep questions and talks while sitting on the roof every night with a small group of senior high boys, looking at the stars and listening to the waves on the shore. The speakers for the event were all seniors and their talks were phenomenal. The kind of stuff that makes you laugh, cry and think every single night. Restored my faith in the future of the church.

Aside from coming home sicker than a dog and losing 12 lbs in 10 days, I feel it was worth it.

I've been thinking a lot since then about the church, mission, the future and why young adults disappear from church at a certain age. I need to do some work on this further, but a few initial things occurred to me on the trip and since then:

1. Young adults don't have a lot of time for things they consider insignificant or irrelevant.

2. Young adults ALWAYS will find time for their friends.

3. Ergo, if you want young adults (with all their beauty, confusion, passion) around the church, you'd better capture their hearts for Christ and Christ's people BEFORE the teenage hormones hit, and then love 'em, love 'em, love 'em in junior high, then put them and their friends DIRECTLY into hands-on front-row mission. They need to own it. Grow up with it. Grow into it.

4. The church that is not in mission is not the church that a young adult of this generation will waste their time with.

5. The church that is not in mission is not the church of Jesus Christ.

6. The church that is not in motion is not the church of Jesus Christ.

7. The church that is not in debt is probably not the church of Jesus either.

8. Junior high is not the right age to teach abstract thought, theology, or doctrine. Their brains just aren't wired for it.

9.No amount of doctrine is going to bring a kid back a week after confirmation.

10. Jesus didn't say, "No greater love has anyone than to lay down their life for their teacher."

11. Friends mean everything to early teens, late teens, and young adults.

12. If a kid only knows one thing on confirmation day, it needs to be "I love this church! I love God's people! I want to be around these people! They know me. They love me. They put up with me. They value me. They call me to do significant things with my gifts!"

13. If you can retain the KID long enough for them to become a young adult - you'll have them when their brains are finally wired well enough to do theology. And let me tell you from last week's experience on a roof with six young men seven nights in Yucatan, it is a beautiful thing.