Survey Results

Almost a year ago, I requested help from pastors in the form of completing a survey for my final Doctor of Ministry requirements. That survey was closed in September and the results have been compiled and compared, analyzed and assembled into something resembling a conclusion.

I learned much in this survey, much of which surrounds the idea that writing survey questions that tell you what you want to know is very hard. And sorting data is is not for us inexperienced people. In the future, I intend to stick to counting noses and nickels and leave this kind of stuff to people like Ed Stetzer and George Barna. Of course, neither of them were willing to do this survey for a price which I could afford, so I did it myself.

As promised, for those interested, you can read the narrative of the results here and see the raw data here. I will probably some reflections on it here.

For those of you who took the time to take the survey, my sincere thanks.

Around the Horn

At first, here’s a good article on doing something. Almost anything. It’s a good thought on the possibility of spending a lot of time on things that ultimately don’t matter much.

At second, here’s an article on dress codes in schools. It’s interesting, on the one hand, how many school districts have gone to uniforms in recent years to avoid these (and other) kinds of problems. It’s also interesting how a lack of specificity about expectations creates problems. While it might sound great to have a minimal dress code (or rules about anything), it can be very unwieldy and impractical at times. It’s also interesting to see the total self-focus of an honor student who says, “I’m paying attention in class. So why are you making a big deal about it?”, as if she is the only one who matters. Unless you are home-schooled as an only child, you paying attention in class is not the only thing that matters.

At third, here’s a short clip from an interview with Bubba Watson, the now two-time Master’s champion where he talks about his faith and fatherhood. It’s a good, short reminder about things that matter. It reminds me that mostly good King Hezekiah’s greatest failure was probably his son Manasseh, who was probably the worst king Judah ever had.

Last, here’s an article about an avalanche on Mt. Everest that killed more than a dozen people. It reminds of the book Into Thin Air that I finished just last week about the (up until now) greatest tragedy on Mt. Everest in 1996. Oftentimes, at tragedies like this, people say, “He died doing what he loved.” To which I reply, “Yeah, but he’s still dead.” Dying while doing what you love is only worthwhile if you love things worth dying for. Climbing Mt. Everest, driving a fast car, and a whole lot of others things aren’t on that list.