Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

A lot of people have been asking me what I think about the Sarah Palin choice by John McCain to be his running mate. In a word…. “Delighted!” At first, I assumed my positive feelings were simply relief that it was Lieberman or Ridge. But after reading reams of information on her, her family, her faith, her political strategy, her ethics and her values — I’m sold.

In addition, she has some key ingredients that should serve McCain well….

• She doesn’t fit into the stereotype of a conservative, Republican, evangelical woman that a lot of liberal Democrats have.
• I think when America learns more about her rather blue-collar-but-all-man husband he’s going to become a cult-hero in some circles.
• WHAT a PRO-LIFE story she has! Her compassionate decision to refuse to abort her son whom many liberals would consider “defective” renders her virtually above the usual verbal bombs pro-abortioners like to hurl.
• She’s taken on the slimy ilk that has given Alaskan Republicans a bad name and won.
• She’s tough, confident-but-not-Hillaryesque and a little sassy.
• She has a Presidential “air” and is pretty and feminine, but the pulled-hair and glasses give her just the right amount of don’t-mess-with-me gravitas that fits well in our superficial society where every appearance matters.
• She’s got the Dems running around in circles bumping into each other. As of yet, they don’t know what to do about this ticket and it’s funny to watch.

My evangelical political friends are doing backflips — the first enthusiasm I’ve seen in months. She might re-energize this part of the Republican base. She’s even gotten my voting hand twitching slightly whereas I had almost completely bored with it all.

My only complaint? I think we might have the order of Prez/VP candidates wrong.

At least it looks like it will be more exciting than I previously thought.

Whirled Views has been a bit too serious the last few weeks, so it’s time for a quick rant.  Oddly, I posted this article earlier today and it immediately crashed my site (yes, AGAIN) and then disappeared into cyberspace.  Never fear, I actually saved a copy of “most” of it and we’ll see if it stays up this time.  Several had already commented on it, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to recapture those comments or not.  My crack blog-manager, Eric, is going to do his best.

If you’re new to my blog, you may not know what to expect in a rant, but it’s a brief peak into my ADD addled brain which amounts to a rather public venting of all sorts of randomness and weirdness.  So buckle your seatbelt and put your serving tray in the upright and locked position — here I go…

I have never been more ambivalent about a Presidential election in my lifetime than I am about this one.  I will truly not be voting “for” anyone.  If I vote at all, it will be against someone, not for them.

When I lived in Charlotte, everytime someone dropped a snow cone in the street, they declared a winter storm emergency and closed the schools.  In Miami, everytime  someone lets a moist sneeze rip, they declare it a Tropical Storm and close the schools.  What’s the deal with closing the schools all the time.

I have become officially addicted to Café Cubana.  If I don’t get my thimbleful first thing in the morning, I keep smacking my keyboard with my forehead for the first three hours of work.

Someone should count how many times every newscast NBC Anchor Brian Williams says “As Always….”.  It’s very annoying.

Apparently the new fad at the Democratic Convention is for all the media people to wear those little microphones that fit over their ear and across the cheek.  But oddly, it seems to make everyone of them sound like they are talking through their nose.

No matter what he says, no matter what he does, deep down in my heart, I will always believe that John McCain loathes evangelical Christians.  I simply do not trust him with Ronald Reagan’s conservative legacy.  Not even a little.

I’m thinking we should all be paying a whole lot more attention to what the Russians are doing these days than we currently are.

I really, REALLY hate to admit this – but those Chinese people really know how to throw an Olympic show.  I’m also guessing that most Chinese people wish they could have each received the $30 PER PERSON that their government spent on the Olympics.  For some of them, that would have been like 2 months pay.

The Jamaican Bolt fellow can sure run fast, but he was really classless every time he won.  He made a fool of himself with all the gloating and histrionics.  Took all the fun out of watching him break the world records.  Now that Michael Phelps?  First class every time.

I now have 12 beautiful green Conyers parrots who feast at my bird feeder.  I know that some little kid probably cried when their pet parrot escaped, but I’m really enjoying having them visit my house now.

You know that commercial that Visa ran during the Olympics that ended saying “Go World”?  I really hated it.  Couldn’t decide if it was an effort at being politically correct, whether some other planets had decided to barge into our terrestrial games or this was the brainchild of some limp-wristed, commie-hugging member of the illuminati – but anyway you cut it, it just irritated me.

If I was a Democrat, (let us pause and consider the implausibility of that postulation) I’d be really ticked off that Obama and Clinton didn’t figure out a way to be on the same ticket.  If they had, it would have been wise for the Republicans to have just ceded the election on gone on vacation.  Now, it’s going to be an actual race.

A mother Muscovy duck (a Muscovy duck is the UGLIEST bird known to mankind.  The can only get vultures to go with them to the duck prom.) just brought her THIRTEEN hatchlings into my yard last night and they are as cute as little brown and  yellow cotton balls which only goes to prove that everyone was “cute” at some point because if something has ugly as a Muscovy duck can have cute babies, there’s hope for everyone.

You will not find SCUBA diving on my list of 100 Things I Want to do Before I Die.  I would, however, be interested in trying another Fried Twinkie but I need to leave that toward the end of my list as it is likely to go ahead and kill me.

I don’t think watching the political news is nearly as fun now that Tim Russert is gone.  He made politics a spectator sport.  He was to politics what Harry Carey was to the White Sox.  It just doesn’t seem right to be at the “game” without him.

I’d rather watch a test pattern – no make that a SNOWY test pattern than anything on MSNBC – particularly anything in which Keith Olbermann has the slightest chance of appearing.

Why is it that local FOX stations have a reputation for being over-the-top, out-of-control sensational?  Charlotte’s FOX station had a weatherman that acted like a drunk hamster on speed most of the time (come to find out, he WAS on something many times on air which is why he received a nice extended “vacation”).  In Miami, the FOX affiliate turns every line of Thunderstorms into the offspring that would occur if Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina were to have ever conceived.  “Buy Milk!  Hoard your bread!  We’re all going to die!!!!”  It’s really quite ridiculous.  If a bad storm were actually to come, they’d just all have to burst into flames to get our attention.

I think Latino worshippers are the most passionate worshippers I’ve ever worshipped with and I love it.  It makes me wish I had just a little Latin blood in me somewhere.  Unfortunately, I’m THE whitest white boy in the room.  Except for one other guy who shall remain anonymous, but his first name is “Jim”.

I consider Cashews and Macadamia Nuts to be the Royalty of the “Nut Food Group.”  However, I also am secretly very fond of the crazy-uncle-you-keep-locked-in-the-attic member of the nut family — the boiled peanut. 

I’m not a Joel Osteen fan at any level, but I think that stewardess was trying to rip him off by suing his wife.  I mean, seriously, the woman claimed she got hemorrhoids over an altercation about a spilled coke?  My goodness, if someone really got ticked at her, the she’d probably would immediately breakout in hemorrhagic boils from head to foot.  And who would want to experience THAT at 30,000 feet?   

I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me, “Are you ready for some football?!?!?!?”.  When they do, I’m going to say “YES!”  I just wish I knew how to play Fantasy Football.  But it’s probably good that I don’t as I would probably be so obsessed with it that I wouldn’t write another blog article until February.  And that mere possibility will probably be enough for a lot of people to ask if they want me to have them tutor me in Fantasy Football.  But I’m going to pass.  Don’t hate me.  I’ve gotta’ write. 

And with that…..Consider this rant OVER!

I enjoy writing commentaries. It gives me a place to vent my varied and often pointless opinions. Some people golf, others play video games — I write. This blog is more or less an outlet for my writings. For years, I had a radio broadcast called “Sound Counsel” that was another venue of my urge to comment. I have also written a regular column for Evangelical Press News that was a personal commentary on something in the common culture.

Part of the job of a commentator is to provoke thought. If you never disagree with a commentator, then it might be a sign that you’re not thinking. And it is in the hope of provoking thought that I write these commentaries. It is in that vein that I broach the topic of politics and the church. I’m braced for some strong disagreement on this topic and if I’m to be honest, I’ve moderated my view on this from my more firebrand days of when I was in my 30’s thanks to some wise counsel I’ve enjoyed from others over the years and a relationship with my friend “Candy” who has served as a reporter and editor at some pretty major newspapers. (I call her my “Liberal Journalist” friend and I think I’m probably her “Psycho Fundy Friend” but hopefully we learn from each other — I know I have from her.) But Labor Day is just around the corner and as this week’s Democratic Convention and next week’s Republican Convention herald — the heady days of the quadrennial American tradition called the “Presidential Election” are here again and many of us are starting to pay attention to this historic and sacred opportunity.

Several years ago, then Tennessee Senator and Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, made quite a few headlines when he appeared, via tape, at a rally arranged by the Family Research Council and hosted by a large Baptist church in Louisville, Kentucky. The purpose of the rally was to educate the Christian right and to encourage support for a rules change within the US Senate which would prevent Democrats from filibustering President Bush’s nominees to federal courts. Sometimes referred to as the “nuclear option”, this rare – though legal – maneuver would have limited an occasionally-used parliamentary procedure that requires a super-majority of 60 votes to permit passage of a bill or nomination. The filibuster continues until 60 votes (requiring senators from both parties to participate as the Republicans only had 55 votes and not all of them were dependable) are cast to limit the debate and permit a vote which then only requires a simple majority to pass or fail. A deal, partially brokered by presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and thirteen other senators eventually made the impasse moot and it was proven to be as largely ineffective as most deals made among devils are. (Ooops, did I just get controversial there?) On top of that, the Republicans were voted out of the majority shortly thereafter — largely due to shennanigans like this.

Many in the media and multiple fringe religious groups with liberal agendas decried the fact that Senator Frist was taking a political case to the church. In my opinion, Mr. Frist and any other politicians should have the right to speak anywhere and everywhere he so chooses and which is acceptable to him. I had no criticism whatsoever of his decision to address this significant legal and political issue publicly.

More recently, mega-pastor (oh how it grates me to write that description), Rick Warren hosted a “church hall” meeting between Obama and McCain that won kudos for its even-handedness though most pundits believe that McCain benefitted more from the exchange. Republicans saw it as a chance to shore up the evangelical base (something that, in my opinion, will take more than John McCain taking the historic conservative view of life beginning at conception) and Democrats were eager to use this as some sort of sign that Obama’s got faith (and we’re not talking about just the “God D*** America faith of his radical pastor) and that the Dems really do, deep down somewhere, have warm-and-fuzzy feelings for the evangelicals that keep pushing their nemises into the White House with what has become alarming regularity over the past 30 years. But I digress…

I do have some concerns about using a church to become a political venue that have grown over the years. By raising this topic, I’m quite aware that I open the door to some personal criticism because I’m not afraid at all to make some rather strong statements on matters of politics and politicians from the pulpits from where I often speak. Many churches, including the ones where I served as the Senior Pastor, have a policy that allows any politician from any political party to greet the congregation when they are running for elected office. I believe that part of being a good Christian is to be a good citizen and part of being a good citizen is being an informed voter. I also believe that it is the privilege and prerogative of the Pastor to take positions and make statements regarding political matters of moral and community concern.

But with all that said, I question the wisdom of turning the church into a political rally or a venue for politicians to come and make their case on a matters that are purely political. I believe it is important to speak, yes….from our PULPITS on matters of morality and justice and values even if they do become political issues as a matter of how our government functions. That includes speaking up for the Sanctity of Life, the Institution of Marriage, the dangers of immorality including homosexuality, questionning pre-emptive wars, decrying genocide (such as is happening in Darfur) by political and radical religious entities (China and Islam) and other controversial topics. But when it comes to endorsing or even being perceived as endorsing political parties, candidates, rules of governmental institutions and other clearly political positions, I question whether or not it should be done in the church.

I have two concerns regarding the use of churches as political centers for conservative causes or as is becoming more in “vogue” these days — social-dare-I-say-liberal-even causes that seem to be gaining voice among some branches of evangelicalism.

First, I no longer believe it is the mission of the church to be a political force or even too closely affilitated with one. Let’s face it, the Republican Party has used conservative religious types for the better part of thirty years and we still have abortion on demand and can any body at all make the case that the Republican party is any more righteous or has even a decent reputation because of our involvement (let’s see….can we think about Larry Craig, Mark Foley or even the dual wife-dumpers Gingrich and McCain?) I don’t think so.

No, we are called to evangelize the world, disciple believers in the Scripture, fellowship with the family of God, minister to those in need and to worship God. I don’t believe we have to withdraw from the political process altogether, but it simply isn’t in the Biblical mandate of what the church was founded to do. (And I think we abuse the “salt” and “light” passage to justify this way too often.) Quite the opposite, Jesus Himself refused to embroil Himself in matters related to the government from taxation to slavery. He had a laser-like focus on what His Father had called Him to do and nothing distracted Him from that mission. Maybe we should pay more attention to His example.

A secondary concern grows out of the first. When the church becomes too intertwined with politics, we endanger our reputation and we invite political retaliation unnecessarily. It is highly likely that the Republicans are going to be relegated completely to the bleachers in both the Legislative and Executive Branches of governments by this time next year. Inspiteof the Kumbayah spirit of the Democratic “Interfaith” prayer session of this week-end and Barak’s lofty-rhetoric about coming together and swaying gently to the strains of “We Shall Overcome”, there’s some serious payback coming. Politics is a dirty game. You can count on the fact that, given the chance, regulation, scrutiny and other forms of hostility will be part of the consequences of the religous right and it’s causes face in the future.. I don’t mind scrutiny and hostility for things that are eternal in their origin. But I’m thinking that many of the battles we’ve “fought” as lapdogs of the Republicans really weren’t all that important in the long run.

I wonder how many people no longer view the church as a conveyor of the Gospel and have started thinking of her as an arm of some political ideology because we don’t take care to guard some basic principles of involvement with politics. Liberals have twisted what Jefferson was warning about when he penned that infamous line that called for a high wall of separation between church and state. However, evangelical Christians would be wise to remember and respect that the wall serves us as well. Knowing that such a wall has been suggested need not silence us from being personally active or vocal on moral issues that have worked their way into political positions. It should serve as a cautionary reminder that we serve a Higher Authority and His mandate for us has always been to “preach the GOSPEL” to every creature – not the GOP agenda.

As I wind down my series of articles on Christian Education, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss some things that a Christian School can’t, won’t or should be expected to do for your child.

1.      A Christian school will not ensure the salvation of your child.

Placing a child in a Christian school no more no more ensures that he or she will be converted to Christ than having them stand in a garage will make them a Chevrolet.  Parents who are concerned about their child’s relationship with Christ may find that the atmosphere in a Christian school lends itself to frequent and open presentations of the Gospel, but whether or not a child is genuinely converted (as opposed to “praying a prayer” or “making a decision” to accept Christ) is a work of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual and not necessarily relevant to where they attend school.

2.      A Christian school will not necessarily be the primary values instructor for your child.

Survey after survey in research spanning decades reaches a consistent conclusion regarding the primary influences in a child’s life.  At the top every single time is good ol’ Mom and Dad.  (And yes, when both are present – the good values stick better according to the research.)  At best, what your child receives in a Christian school will reinforce what they learn in a positive Christian home or will temper the ones modeled in a home dominated by non-Biblical values.  There are always exceptions to general rules and you’ll find individuals who might point to their values-based parochial school experience as the foundation forum for their adult values, but no one does it better than mom and dad.

3.      A Christian school will not shelter your child from all worldly influences.

If you can find a place where children are never exposed to worldly influences, please don’t tell anyone because it won’t stay that way long if word gets out.    Scripture clearly warns us that Believers will struggle with their contact with the world as we try to keep our conduct from being influence by the world.  The values of our post-modern/post-Christian culture are inescapable and fill the airwaves, media, advertising and yes, our churches.  If you simply rely on control and isolation to protect your child from worldliness, you are doomed for failure.  Our children must be taught how to resist, discern, counter and intellectually reject the false philosophy of the anti-Christian world John wrote about in his three epistles.

4.      A Christian school does not replace the role of the parent.

Some parents mistakenly think that dropping their kids off at the Christian school at the appointed hour and stuffing a check into the payment envelope on a monthly basis fulfills their educational involvement.  Not so.  Christian education is a partnership with families who care about their child’s holistic education – physical, spiritual, academic, social and philosophical.  The more active the parent is in the educational process, the better the child will flourish in whatever school he or she attends.  Christian school students need parents who are engaged and proactive throughout the school year.

5.      A Christian school will not be able to provide all the spiritual instruction your child needs.

There was a day when a certain level of Biblical literacy could be assumed.  Kids went to Sunday school.  Parents read Bible stories.  Vacation Bible Schools were filled with flannelgraph boards that told the Gospel story.  Most children – even from so-called Christian homes – often have significant deficits in Biblical literacy and are ignorant of simple facts and details like the Garden of Eden, Noah, Moses, Abraham and the Patriarchs, the Miracles of Christ, the Crucifixion story and more.  Spiritual instruction requires three “fronts” – home, church and school (in that order.)  The school is vital in that between the ages of 5-18, unless you homeschool, your child will spend more time when they are conscious in a school classroom than they will anywhere else five days of the week and forty weeks of the year.  A school can reinforce or it can undermine.  But it still is a partner with the local church and an extension of the Christian parent. 

6.      A Christian school will not assume responsibility for the way your child turns out.

Several years ago, a fine parent of one of the students in our Christian school drove by my house where I was working in the yard.  He stopped his truck, whipped around and pulled into my driveway.  He hopped out of the truck and grabbed me by the hands and began thanking me profusely for the impact our school had made on his son.  He said something like this, “My child would not be the man he is today if it weren’t for your school.”  I immediately stopped him and said this, “If you child was in prison today, I would not accept the responsibility for that.  Nor will I accept the responsibility for the success your child is showing.”  I went on to explain that God had blessed him with a terrific young man, but that he as the father had insured that the boy went to church, had a good role model, went to a good Christian school, got prayed over and tucked in safely at night.  The father was right – he had a terrific son.  But the role of his parents and their assumption of the Biblical role of authority in that kid’s life was what brought about the blessing (notwithstanding the grace of a Sovereign God) and the role of our school was just a bit player in that process.

7.       A Christian school will not provide you with every benefit of a government school education.

Let’s face it.  The typical Christian school is on a tight budget.  They can’t offer state-of-the-art computers and fancy science labs as a general rule.  Their facilities are often converted church facilities and their teachers are frequently under-compensated.  They may not play in major sport tournaments and they don’t necessarily receive the best of scholarships when they graduate.  There is a trade-off sometimes for what you receive in a Christian school.  They DO get a better environment in which to mature in their faith.  They DO get role models that love the Lord and are committed to their faith.  They DO get instruction from a curriculum with a Christian worldview.  They WILL sit in chapels and Bible classes to be challenged to think Biblically.  They WILL learn discipline, self-discipline and principles of Christian identity and responsibility.  They WILL be sheltered from condom giveaways, massive peer pressure of the negative kind and much of the violence found in large public secondary schools.  The parent has to decide what their child needs most during those most influential and formative years.  The parent who chooses to emphasize that which will still matter in a hundred years, that which cares more for the soul than the body, that which guards the heart while training the head and hands is the parent who chooses wisely.

In the end, that parent will eventually realize that Christian education doesn’t really cost — It Pays!

No….not THOSE kind of contacts, but the contacts in my Blackberry.  I foolishly took a ride in a golf cart around our campus during the midst of a rain band from Tropical Storm Fay and my BB got toasted.  Verizon doesn’t save contact info and they don’t put SIM chips in their phones, so I lost about 300 VERY important phone numbers.

If we have exchanged phone numbers over the years, would you please be so kind as to text me your number? (You’ll need to include your name as I obviously won’t be able to identify you with an empty address book on my new BB.)  Since we were already “contact buddies” — I’ll assume you already have my number which didn’t change with the new equipment.  I’m not real keen on putting my cell phone number on the worldwide web.

Thanks in advance!

Every year at Dade Christian Schools, we ask our faculty to read a book over the summer as part of our on-going in-service training and philosophical “level-setting”.  This year, our Superintendent, Dr. Jim Virtue, selected an outstanding book written by Worldview expert, Jeff Myers of Bryan College and who has founded his own organization that promotes teaching young people a Christian Worldview called “Passing the Baton International, Inc.“  (If you ever get a chance to hear Jeff in person, do whatever you need to do — he’s excellent.)  The book is called “Handoff — The Only Way to Win the Race of Life” and you can purchase it HERE.

In this book, Jeff writes the following:

“In the 1400s a weakened Christian culture found itself under constant attack by a growing Muslim culture.  As Amurath I, rule of the Ottoman Empire, conquered more and more territory, he decided that if one-fifth of the spoils of battle were the Emperor’s share, he should also have a right to one-fifth of the captives.

Amurath instructed his troops to choose the smartest and strongest of the sons of Christian families he had captures.  These boys — as young as seven years of age — underwent training in everything from agriculture to statesmanship.

Many Christian parents voluntarily turned their sons over, treating such slavery as a “scholarship” that would guarantee food, supervision, and education to their children.  What they didn’t seem to realize — or just ignored — was that the young men were being indoctrinated in a fanatical ideology and shaped into a brutal fighting force.  They were called the Janizaries.

Over time, the power of the ottoman Empire grew, while that of eastern Christianity declined.  In 1453, hordes of Muslim Ottoman Turks surrounded Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern church.  Sultan Mehmet II. a ruthless and shrewd commander just 23 years old, led the siege with 100,000 troops, including 70,000 trained infantry and cavalry, 20,000 skirmishers known for the love of raping and looting, and 10,000 Janizaries.

A mere 7,000 tropps rallied to the defense of Constantinople.  They were well trained and desperate to protect their families, but weeks of pounding attacks made Mehmet’s victory inevitable.

 Just as the exhausted defenders steeled themselves for Mehmet’s final onslaught, they were frozen by the blood-curdling screas of thousands of young voices:  Mehmet had unleashed the elite Janizaries.  These young warriors swarmed against the walls, found a breach and charged through, wreaking havoc and slaughter.  

The Janizaries had no idea — or didn’t care — that their swords were drenched with the blood of their own families.

Someone will train the next generation.  The question is who, and for what purposes. “  (Handoff; Jeff Myers, pages 45-47, Legacy Worldwide, 2008.)

Something we should all think about before we put our children under the tutelage of “Mehmet”.

Many of you know that I am deeply involved in ministry in an island nation just south of Florida whose name starts with a “C”.  (I have to be very careful about what I post on the internet and have found that some of their officials peruse the net for information by using google searches which is why I don’t actually type the name of the country fully.  It’s just best not to invite the scrutiny.) 

As you know, Tropical Storm Fay just cut across central “C” before hitting Florida.  We experienced no damage at all in our neck of the woods, but we have 32 pastors who live in homes that are often very substandard in that part of their nation.  I have received preliminary reports that several of them had some serious damage to their homes that also serve as their ministry location.  I am getting ready to send funds there this week to help them with the repairs.

The pictures on this post are the homes of two of the pastors with whom we work — the first one is actually a converted metal shed.  For security reasons, I can’t show you the family, but this is the home of a wonderful pastor who was introduced to Christ by Dr. Charles Keene and he lives there with his wife and two boys — one of whom is mentally handicapped.  Believe it or not, some of the pastors live in homes that are not as well built as this one.  This pastor was in the direct path of Fay.  When I visited him last March, we enjoyed a wonderful baptismal service in the ocean where nearly a dozen new believers gave testimony of their faith in Christ.

The second one is in  a small town.  It has 4 rooms and no running water or working toilet.  The young couple that lives here are  just incredible servants with such sweet spirits.  I wish I could introduce them to you personally.

If you would be willing to send an offering to help these pastors rebuild their roofs and repair the damage, you may send it to:

Missions Connect
P.O. Box 210716
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421

Please mark your gift for “Tropical Storm Fay Repair“.

I don’t ask my friends to support projects that I don’t support personally.  My check for $1,000 is already on the way.  Thanks for considering them and their needs.

Dan

After my last few articles dealing with some of the reasons why you shouldn’t send your kids to a Christian school, allow me an article on why you should. Before I wade into the topic, let me also add some necessary caveats. Nothing in the case I’m trying to make should be interpreted to an extreme. For example, if you chose not to send your kids to a Christian school, it doesn’t mean you are a lousy parent who would be quite fine with your kids going to hell. Nor does it mean that if you graduated from a Public School that you suffer from some spiritual deficit that will never be overcome. We all know really evil/bad/wicked kids who went to Christian school all their lives. We also know really spiritual/wonderful/balanced kids who went to public school all their lives. Sending your kid to a Christian school does not mean that they are going to turn out right.

With all that said, there ARE some good reasons for people to consider sending their kids to a Christian school. Here are a few:

1. 1. Christian curriculum

A Christian curriculum and Christian textbooks are vital to a good Christian education. I’ve often said, “I’d rather use a poor Christian textbook and supplement it with academic material than to use an academically better secular textbook and try to excise all the flawed philosophy from it.” (Yes, I realize that I just left myself wide open for criticism with that statement, but I can live with that.) I don’t have the time to explain all the reasons that a Christian curriculum is important, but at the base of any argument is how “Truth” is defined. There is a foundational difference in the secular worldview and the Christian worldview that is reflected in the curriculum. Adding a few verses of scripture to a curriculum that is secular in its orientation in order to make it “Christian” is like icing a cow patty (for you city folks that’s cow manure for you) and calling it a birthday cake. It make look prettier, but it is still what it is.

2. 2. Christian teachers

One of the great strengths of Christian schools has always been their faculties. By and large, most Christian school teachers view their work as a ministry. Otherwise, they’d be making more money in a private or public school. (There is nationally about a 25-33% disparity between public education salaries and Christian school salaries.) These teachers believe in what they are doing – it is a spiritual mission for them. They want to have a positive spiritual impact on their students. For many, this is as much a calling as being a pastor or a missionary would involve. To be able to teach Christ openly and freely is a huge factor in where they have chosen to serve.

3. 3. Positive Values

Every school teaches values – explicitly and implicitly. Sure Christian schools have plenty of kids with lousy values, but they aren’t embraced and accepted. Many kids who will roll their eyes at chapel services and class lessons on integrity, purity, respect, submission, etc… will go on to accept those values as they mature and yield to the work that the Holy Spirit does in their lives. I wish every kid would buy into the message of the Gospel and the truth of Scripture immediately and eagerly, but after a quarter of a century in Christian school leadership I realize that for some, it takes years for that seed planted in a chapel or Bible class or counseling conversation to germinate and take root. What you will not find is a system designed to denigrate, mock, undercut or undermine the values of evangelical parents and their churches.

4. 4. Parental Partnerships

Many have referred to the “Three-Legged Stool” of successful Christian education. It entails a picture of a stool with three legs and good balance. One leg is the parent, another is the church and the third is the Christian school. With these three legs supporting the same message, the child has a secure seat on which he/she can learn. Christian education works best when there is a partnership between the parents and the church and the school so that the kids are getting the same message from three different sets of voices.

5. 5. The Gospel

The Gospel is at the core of the missions of any Biblical church. The Gospel should also be at the core of the Christian school. Someone privately mentioned to me that my article on the kinds of Christian schools revealed my personal bias against ‘closed enrollment’ schools. I was trying to be objective, but apparently, I failed in that effort. So I’ll admit it – I really don’t have a lot of time for closed enrollment in spite of the fact that I had many a long conversation on the topic with my late friend and mentor, Walter Fremont (chairman of the Education Department at Bob Jones University). I’ve seen too many kids hear the Gospel at a Christian school and have their entire lives revolutionized as they trusted Christ. I’m not interested in the cloistered, often elitist (and also racist), exclusivist mentality that I’ve seen in many closed enrollment schools. (Closed enrollment are generally schools wherein only church member’s children are accepted or in which both parents must be professing Christians in order to enroll their children.) If that’s your desire, go for it. It’s simply not for me. It’s the Gospel of Christ that changes lives and it is fundamental to the mission of the local church and the Christian school.

I’m running out of time and space and I’ll close this for now. However, I want you to note that there were many other reasons that I could have added, which I have chosen not to emphasize. Things like discipline, safety, role models, etc… They were not excluded because I don’t find them factors – I just think the ones I listed are stronger.

Feel free to add your own reasons or make an argument against the ones I’ve listed. Just don’t use the “I know of a….” illustration that happened to you. They make for great examples, but they don’t really make a reliable empirical case.

There will be more later on this topic….

I apologize once again for the problems with my Brinkster hosting service which has knocked this blog offline three time in three weeks.  Thanks to all of you who wrote me to let me know.  Some even thought it was due to Tropical Storm Fay that is blowing through as I type this, but it had nothing to do with it.  Just one of the cyper-gremlins about which I know absolutely nothing.  Thanks to my good friend, Eric, for staying on top of Brinkster to make them get their act together.

Schools are closed for a second day tomorrow and though Tuesday’s are generally a very busy appointment day for me, I suspect that tomorrow won’t be so bad and perhaps I can get my next installment on Christian education posted.  TS Fay is no big deal and no cause for alarm.  Most Tropical Storms aren’t as bad as a good thunderstorm in the midwest.  We’ve had quite a few “bands” of rain roll through this afternoon and evening, but by noon tomorrow, we expect it to be all over.  South Florida needs the rain and hopefully some of it will head due North to the Carolinas where they could use their lakes refilled as well.

Lots of news items I’d also like to comment on or at list post some quick links to as well.  I’ll see if I can get some of those up shortly as well.  Until then….

Dan

As I continue my series on Christian education, I want to address one of the more ludicrous arguments that I often hear regarding not sending one’s child to a Christian school/enrolling one’s child in a public school.  I call this the “Children as Missionaries” argument.  It goes something like this:

If all the Christians pulled their children out of the public schools and sent them to private Christian schools, then we’d have no missionaries in the public schools.

That’s really a great thought and it sounds very noble and high-minded.  However, there is one problem.  I’m still working on getting my youngest kids to quit picking their noses in public and belching outloud as an expression of appreciation for a good snack.  They are really, and I mean REALLY, not ready to be missionaries yet.  My son pretends to be a ninja on a regular basis (not THAT son, the other one, though sometimes….).  My youngest daughter thinks “Hannah Montana” is a real person and I really don’t want her to know that there is a Hannah Montana at ALL — so much for my sheltering skills.  They still think that the way dad gets money to buy groceries is from the “magic machine” that spits out bills from the side of the brick building.  And I expect them to be “salt” and “light” by standing up to a teacher who has 4-5 years of training in an anti-Christian philosophy of education?  Give me a break!

We don’t teach our kids to be good soldiers by giving them semi-automatic rifles in Kindergarten.  They aren’t going to change Washington by running for Congress when they are in middle-school. (Though I don’t know that they would do a worse job if they got elected than what we currently have.)  We don’t give our kids driver’s licenses when they are in elementary school.  Good grief, we are so concerned with their immaturity that we’ll give them the ability to drive a tank in the U.S. Army before they can legally buy a beer at the PX.  So what in the name of sanity are people thinking when they are willing to use their innocent, naive, immature children as some sort of spiritual placeholder in a school system that is programmed to undermine the absolute values of orthodox Christian doctrine?

If mom and dad want to be a missionary to the public schools — get a degree and go teach at a public school.  That’s great and I applaud people who do that.  Run for school board and given them a fight every time they try to give free condoms and pills out at the middle school health clinic.  Do what Mel and Norma Gabler did in Texas for twenty years and fight against each new textbook that undermines family and faith-based values before the boards of education.  Exercise your right to speak at school board meetings as an American taxpayer who is forced to underwrite a system that is reprogramming our children.  But where is the logic in sending our kids to fight in a battle that they are completely unprepared to fight?  They aren’t missionaries; they are kids.

I know someone is going to want to give me some precious anecdote about a high school student who took a courageous stand at his or her graduation by invoking the name of Jesus Christ and created the annual flurry of news stories and forwarded internet emails.  I applaud these young people.  But let’s be honest — they are nearly 18 then and they are also exceptional.  I’ve known a few amazing young people who did indeed take amazing stands against things that they knew were wrong.  I’m proud of them and commend them.  But they ARE rare and they RARELY win.  It’s a GOVERNMENT educational system and whether we like to admit it or not, we are in a post-Christian, post-modern generation and we are vastly outnumbered.

I still hold my kid’s hand when we cross the parking lot at the mall.  I do turn off Hannah Montana and Zack and Cody.  I don’t allow my kids to use slang and vulgar terms even if all the kids in Sunday school do.  All my kids have stunning moments of spiritual insight (not to mention moments of extreme self-righteousness and Pharisaical piety which they probably get from me) that leave me gasping with pride.  But half my kids are still too young to be missionaries.  Plus, my kids have either been homeschooled or in Christian schools all their life and whether its in a support group activity, in a neighborhood ball game, at church or in the Christian school — they already regularly have times where they must stand up for the values of Scripture and/or our family as they take ownership of their faith.  They aren’t ready for the full-onslaught of pressure, but gradually, they are learning and strengthening themselves for that day when they can’t stay in the green house and they really will become their own missionaries for Truth.  Until then, I’ll continue to take the lead as the father — protector/provider/priest — of the home.

So someone’s going to have to give me a better rationalization than teaching my kids to sing “I’m in the Lord’s Army” as they march into a secular school as missionaries.  I’m simply not buying it.