Month: February 2012

Slowing Down

Posted on by Rich

I published my first post on this blog last year in March. Since then I have posted once or twice a week “religiously”. I felt that I had a lot to say about my own experience in ministry, ministry leadership, ministry volunteerism, and as a ministry participant. For a while now, I have been engaged on twitter, following a broad variety ministry leaders, ministry consultants, and pastors, and other weirdo’s like me. I have been greatly encouraged by all of you, and have been inspired to respond to some of your ideas in this blog.

I also started a new blog that is primarily about my “day job” as an IT consultant and application software development leader. More recently I started a blog about political, cultural and economic topics – in which I espouse some really oddball views.

Recently, my thoughts on ministry have slowed down, and I have been posting more biblical topics, and I don’t know that my skills and gifts lead these to benefit anyone but me. For the moment, I have decided to slow down the pace of posting on this blog from weekly to monthly – of course, I will continue to post as frequently as I am led.

Shrewd Managers

Posted on by Rich

Luke 16:1-15 provides us the parable of the shrewd manager. What does this mean for us as believers, or as church leaders?

Here is my current paraphrase:

An executive was told that one of his reports was “taking some liberties” with his expense account. This manager was hauled into his boss’s office and told to pack up his stuff and get out. The manager was terrified, because the job market was bad, and he was too proud to accept a position of lower title. So he quickly contacted some of the corporation’s customers, saying, “I am losing my job, but I will cut your bill in half before I go, if you will help me find a job”, to which they readily agreed. When the executive found out, he praised the dishonest manager for being clever.

 

When I think about this, what strikes me is not the dishonesty of the manager, but the willingness of his boss and his customers to accept this practice. It tells me that then as now, worldly people are motivated by money, and they are willing to overlook improprieties, if it means that they can profit from it. Continue reading “Shrewd Managers” →