Domino’s Pizza has been creating quite a buzz by running television commercials that trash their product.

The spots confess that many consumers thought their crust tasted like “cardboard” and the sauce like “ketchup”. The company had encouraged feedback from the public and they were stung by their honesty and/or meanness. Their reaction was to get defensive and hidden and childish. No wait…that was Congress. By stark contrast the Domino’s leadership decided to make changes in the recipe and be completely honest about the process. Experts have weighed in about how dangerous it is to trash your own product. That this kind of honesty is doomed to fail. They trot out the disaster of New Coke as a comparison. But I love the new campaign. Covering up what is obvious to many seems like a much worse strategy. I will try the new recipe soon and my sampling will be entirely because of this campaigns refreshing candidness.

I remembered a similarly bold admission that took place in the Dallas area a little over a year ago. It came from, of all places, a local church and the text was stunning in it’s raw honesty.

“We followed trends when we should have followed Jesus. We told others how to live but did not listen ourselves. We live in the land of plenty, denying ourselves nothing, while ignoring our neighbors who actually have nothing. We sat on the sidelines doing nothing while AIDS ravaged Africa. We were wrong; we’re sorry. Please forgive us.”

That was a powerful and sobering admission. I was shocked. And I was greatly encouraged by the courage and the humility needed to admit such an embarrassing message to the public. Since I loved the ad I am sure Springcreek Church in Garland, Texas got a lot of criticism. I don’t think like most of the herd. For example, I opened my first book When Bad Christians Happen To Good People with these words.

I must begin with some words of disclosure. I am a hypocrite. I can be arrogant and selfish. I have been known to stretch, conceal, or slightly massage the truth. I am sometimes inconsiderate and insecure. I struggle with lust and impure thoughts. My ego often rages out of control, and I battle foolish pride. I can be lazy and foolhardy with my time. I get angry, petty, and ill tempered. I am sarcastic and cynical.

I am a Christian.

Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. If there is one theme about our faith that should be communicated, it is that we all fall short of the goal spelled out in Christ’s teachings. Author Max Lucado has a wonderful line. He says that God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. So all of us believers are somewhere on that continuum of where we started and where God wants us to be. But that realization seems to penetrate our thinking only sporadically. In fact, there are those among us who will call me a counterfeit since I admit to such unflattering traits. They will write and tell me that if I had their brand of faith I would be above any of these sins all of the time. I believe they would be wrong.

Obviously a “bad Christian” like me was intrigued to hear how Springcreek Church explained their very public confession. Senior Pastor Keith Stewart wrote this in an open letter on the church website.

No one is perfect. No one lives sin-free. You blow it. I blow it. And the church does, too. I’m sure that you (like me) have, on more than one occasion, had to make something right by apologizing. So why is it so rare to hear a church apologize? The truth is, an apology from the church should not “stand out.” It should not make the community sit up and take notice. But it does, precisely because that the church rarely does what it tells others to do.

In all sincerity, we want to change that. The church in America has a serious credibility problem. Those outside the church look at us and often don’t see anything that even remotely resembles Jesus. Instead they see judgment, hypocrisy, and very little compassion. They hear our words, but don’t see a lifestyle that aligns with those words.

I had the same thought that you may have entertained. Is this Godly or a gimmick? Pastor Stewart began his open letter with this Scripture.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (1 John 1, NIV)

I would love to go to a church that can confess with humility and grace that they have erred. I trust that Pastor Stewart’s heart is sincere and his congregation shares his authenticity. I am careful about when I write in absolutes but one thing I have found is that truly Godly people always demonstrate humility. From reading the comments at the church website I am struck by the humility of Pastor Keith Stewart.

I hope to have a followup this week with the Springcreek leadership to see how they feel the advertisement worked in the community and especially in their own church body.

I am convinced that the community will believe your words if you create an environment of grace. A place where people can walk in flawed and hurting and be accepted for who they are and where they are. A place where they don’t have to wear a mask to be accepted. That is when, in my humble opinion, the community will believe your words. I pray that many of us will follow your example both personally and corporately.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Dave’s website “Confessions of a Bad Christian” and republished here by permission.

Well, yesterday I celebrated my 65th birthday! Although my two oldest “children” (44 & 43 yrs) were not able to visit, my youngest (Katrina) was and so she, Viv and I spent a great day together. Terry (my oldest) and Tammy both called a talked a long time on the phone and that was nice. We spent some time sitting the the front yard talking and listening to the nature sounds: wind in the trees, birds singing and water trickling down the fountain. Later, we had a delicious meal out on the patio and enjoyed some of the most lovely weather you could find anywhere on earth! Except for a couple of minor interruptions of rain, weather in South Louisiana here has been FANTASTIC for the past 6 or 8 weeks! It has made my construction project more of a pleasure.

Did I mention that I have been remodeling my home? Well, Viv and I tore out the carpet in the downstairs area and installed porcelain tile in the living and dining area. Katrina then came over and she and I installed the tile in the master bedroom.

Then we decided to rebuild the stairwell. That was about six weeks ago. We STILL do not have stairs! <grin> But Katrina has hung in there and, although we have built and tore out three sets of “stair stringers”, we finally have a set that will work properly (I hope). I am trying to build a solid oak stairway and it is a lot more difficult that I ever imagined.

But the entire project has been a great experience. It has been very therapeutic for me. This year is a major milestone in my life. In February, Viv and I began receiving our Social Security checks; Last week was the first time I used my Medicare card; My birthday was yesterday; Today is the celebration of my retirement as pastor of the Agape’ Fellowship Church; and tomorrow is my last Sunday there as pastor – plus it is “Pastor Appreciation Day” at the church. A lot of CHANGES to absorb. But having this work to occupy my mind AND having Katrina to work with me has been a very enjoyable thing. Although I am a bit anxious for the time when I can again get to my upstairs office, I almost want the work to continue.

I don’t believe that I have gotten old yet. I think I may LIKE this retirement thing!!

Well, I have been pretty much absent for the past few weeks. There have been some personal issues that have restricted me but there were also some very significant issues related to this site. Particularly, I was able to acquire the chiefshepherd.com domain. I already owned the .net version and that is where the system has resided for the past year or two. Now, I am working to make BOTH domains point to the same site. That is significantly more difficult than it seems on the  surface but it is almost done.

The BIG difference is that the new site will have a new look and theme. I hope you like it! It seems much easier to read and it loads faster. There are also some minor changes that, hopefully, will make your visit here more pleasant. Everything (existant and new) should be intuitive – it should work as you would expect. If you are not sure what something does, just TRY IT! You will not break anything here or on your computer <grin>.

For those of you who have registered on the .net site, you will need to complete another registration for the new site (sorry, but I cannot find any way to avoid that). However, I have started the process and you should receive an email with instructions. Basically, you should not have to do much more than click on the link in the email.

For those of you who have subscribed via email or RSS, I don’t know what the effect will be. Please let me know if you do not receive any updates within the next few days. I will be adding new articles and they should appear as they normally would. If they do not, please visit http://chiefshepherd.com and click on one of the subscribe links.

Alternately, if you have any difficulties that you can not seem to fix, use the links on the Contacts page http://chiefshepherd.com/contact-us/.

The world has been abuzz for the past week about the governor of Alaska, Mrs. Sarah Palin, who is the Republican VP candidate with Senator John McCain.  There has been a lot of stuff flying around as people attempt to know her, to understand her and to size her up as a possible leader of the free world.

I listened to her speech on Wednesday night and drew some conclusions about the way we value leadership and assess its potential. See what you think… Read the rest of this entry »

Been reading a fascinating book called “The Post American World” by Fareed Zakaria on the change in worldview of America and its impact on the future. One of the things we tend to overlook is how global the world has become in the past 20 years. As an example, the major financial markets of the world are no longer in the USA but in London. The rise of economies in Brazil, Kenya, Venezuela, China and India have transformed the view of how the world trades. Companies which have future plans for growth are looking outside the USA for new markets and its impact on future economic development in this country is unclear. Politically, the USA has become isolated and many leaders are creating alliances which do not include us. Read the rest of this entry »

Terms like “change” are full of personal and emotional connotations.  For example, change can be a positive word as it is expressed in terms of improving a mindset or organizational concept.  On the other hand, change can be difficult when it means leaving good friends and colleagues.

Kathy and I are going to reposition in Akron, Ohio as state overseers of the Church of God (our denomination) after 6 very productive and energizing years in Louisiana. This is a very bittersweet moment in our lives. Transition is not easy whether it is across the street or 17 hours away from comfortable environments.  Yet, life requires adjustment, repositioning, advancement and change.

Two years ago, I challenged our Louisiana family with this question “what now?” and sought to shape our view of the future after Katrina as one determined by a God who sees the end from the beginning.  We cannot..we only see this present moment, remember those before and anticipate the next one.  I like the word “anticipate” because it captures the excitement of change…of what will be or could be.

So, in a week, we will “change” locations with an eager anticipation of what will be in Ohio but we will never forget the incredible people, experiences or days we spent in this wonderful place, serving God and each other.

Link to Forward Leadership Blog

Recently, Bill Isaacs posted an article titled,”How much right do I have in wanting change in the COG?” In that article, he described some of the attitudes that people express about “their” church. Some of the more poignant remarks were, “This is our church and the pastor has no right to change it!”;  ”We were here before he came, so he should respect what we want”; “This is not the kind of church we want.”

In response to those comments, Bill offers three suggestions:

• This is not my church, but we are privileged to be part, to belong to the community.
• What I want/think must always be subservient to what He is calling us to do (in other words, I may have to put up with something I’m not comfortable with so that the larger good of the group can be achieved)
• The future belongs to those who are centered in what God is blessing, not what we are doing.

I particularily like the 3rd point. Too often, we want God to bless what we are doing but we may be doing the wrong stuff. God help us to hear from our Father, do what He says and then His blessings will be assured! What do you want?