Author: glenn.matlock.jr

“You sank my battleship!” That was the famous phrase from the classic Milton-Bradley game, “Battleship.”[1]While that may have been an enjoyable game played by families for decades, the premise is based on a military strategy of “search and destroy.” That’s obviously darker than the red plastic pegs finding their way to your pretend plastic ships (or even the cool sound when you made a “hit” with your torpedo on the electronic version). 

A traditional Navy battleship, a Coast Guard cutter, and a Navy mercy-class hospital ship, and a cruise ship – they share the same personnel capacity relative to their hull sizes. In fact, pound for pound, you could probably fit more people on a battleship than a mercy-class hospital if it weren’t for all the ammunition and weapons they carry. 
 
Yet, their missions are all so different! A cutter is intended for protection, search, and rescue. A hospital ship is protected under Geneva convention and is solely to care for the sick and injured. And a cruise ship – that’s to get from one point to another – and have a blast doing so! 
 
But a battleship, or more poignantly, a destroyer (which has the lowest ratio of hull to crew size due to the amount of weaponry it must carry), has one purpose – to destroy. 
 
There are those who read this from Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (ESV): 

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. The key word there is, “destroy.”[2] 

Couple that with Paul’s talk of the “armor of God” in Ephesians 6, and it feels like William Wallace (Braveheart) stirring us into battle!
 
It’s tempting, then, to take up our arms and sound “General Quarters” – we’re going head-to-head with “the evil of the culture around us.” We justify ourselves by saying, “It’s time to take a stand against sin.” 
 
Perhaps that’s why there is a popular mantra circling around Christian circles, which says, “Christianity is a battleship not a cruise ship.” While that might seem rallying and inspiring, it’s also how to get the Gospel wrong in eight words or less.
 
Maybe it’s true – that we’re not on a cruise ship. Exclusively shut in with luxury and pleasures without a care about where we’re going or how we’ll get there. But Christianity is not a battleship with a mission to “search and destroy.” 
 
First, in 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul wasn’t talking about destroying or taking down people. Listen to how the NLT phrases it:  We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We’re not fighting – we’re sharing hope and grace – with the truth of the Gospel. 
 
Second, the “armor of God”? All of it is for defense – not offense. Even the “sword of truth” used a Greek word that meant a “dagger” – something you could defend yourself with if you had to – but not to charge the enemy with across the plains of battle.[3]
 
So, no, we’re not on a battleship. Unless that battleship has had its main guns removed and ammo unloaded so that it has more room to rescue people.

Nowhere in the Bible are we called to go on the offensive against people – or even governments or culture. Nowhere does God tell us to condemn and convict people of sin (by the way, that’s His job). Nowhere are we commanded to “wage war.” In fact, Paul says just a couple verses earlier in 2 Corinthians 10:3 (NLT), “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.” 
 
By contrast, we are commanded to “preach the Gospel,” “be salt and light,” “make disciples,” “pray for open doors to the Gospel,” “turn the other cheek,” “love our enemies,” “bear with one another in love,” “show mercy,” “be compassionate,” “care for widows and orphans,” “show brotherly love,” etc.

The irony is, figuratively, it takes more courage to board the cutter or the hospital ship than the battleship. As one of my seminary professors recently posted, “Outrage is easy. Outreach . . . not so much.”
 
“When are we going to be tough on sin?” We’re not! That’s not our job. And just saying, aren’t we glad that the One who really has that job wasn’t tough on us for ours? But instead took that toughness – that penalty for us on the cross? That’s grace. 
 
Jesus – He just sank our battleship!

————————————————————————————-

[1] The Battleship game is now produced and sold by Hasbro. 

[2] The NIV uses the word, “demolish.” The Greek word there is καθαιρέω (kathaireō), which means “to bring down,” “to dethrone,” “to tear down,” “to destroy.” 

[3] The word, “sword” in Ephesians 6:17 is the Greek word, μάχαιρα (machaira), meaning “short sword” or “dagger.” Incidentally, the root of our word, “machete.” 

Jesus has a peculiar encounter with the infamous Pharisees in Mark’s Gospel, where we see these teachers of the law quizzing Jesus about why His followers weren’t fasting – Mark 2:18-22:

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²² And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

This passage may seem puzzling. That may lead to us scratching our heads. Yet, this may be one of Jesus’ richest theological lessons. He says, if you have an old piece of clothing – one that’s been stretched and worn by being washed over and over again – and then you sew on a patch that’s brand new, the new patch will stretch, and when it does, it will pull the old piece of clothing apart and destroy it.

These days, many people wouldn’t understand this. When our clothes tear or get a hole in them, we just throw them away and buy something new. But there was actually a time when you repaired clothes when they tore. Waste not, want not.

Jesus also talks about not putting new wine in old wineskins. You put new wine in new wineskins. We may not relate to this, as we usually use barrels to store and age wine. Back then, they used bags made out of animal skins.

The trick was, the animal skins were soft and pliable when they were brand new. As new wine fermented and aged, the new wineskins were flexible enough to stretch during the fermentation process. Old wineskins had already been stretched. In that stretching, they became weak and brittle. Old wine in an old wineskin worked just fine – the two had expanded and stretched as far as they would go. New wine, though, would destroy an old wineskin because the expansive gases from fermentation would rip the brittle wineskins apart.

Why did Jesus use these examples? Because these examples are actually His teaching. The Law that the Pharisees held so dear was what they had counted on to save them. To point them in the right direction until God, Himself, came to restore people and creation to Himself. Only now, God had come – His name is Jesus Christ. He came to do what they had always been hoping that He would do. He came to reveal His Program. His new deal.

Jesus came to reveal His program of redemption and salvation. A new deal now made available to all.

Jesus came to roll out His new deal. His program. He didn’t come to abolish the Law. In Matthew 5:17, He said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”

But He didn’t come to polish the Law, either. He came with something totally new. That’s why He says, I’m not bringing my new deal to be a patch on your old tattered robe. Nor did I come with an awesome new wine to put in your old worn wine bags, only to watch the combination ruin them both. And that leads to the theological headline of the New Testament:

To accept the Jesus way, you have to let go of the old way.

If we do a side by side comparison between the Traditional Approach of the Pharisees and the new Jesus Program, we see a contrast between who, what, how, and why:

	Traditional Approach	The Jesus Program
Who	Jews/Keeper of the Law “Good Christian Folk”	Sinners, tax collectors Rough crowd, Outcasts, the Broken
What	Be worthy before God	Be made worthy by God
How	Keep the Law “Follow the rules”	Rely on God’s grace Not “striving,” but relying
Why	Gather the good ones Spotlight on human holiness	Find and save the lost Spotlight on divine mercy

Just as with the new patch on the old shirt, or the new wine in the old bags, the Jesus Program is not compatible with the Traditional Approach.

In the old way of thinking: You were good before you were accepted. In the new: You are accepted before you are good.

In the old way: You were worthy to be with God. In the new way: Being with God makes you worthy.

In the old way: You earn your salvation by following the rules. In the new way: You stop striving to earn God’s acceptance and instead rely on Him and trust Him. You obey not because you have to but because you love Him.

In the old way: The Christian life is about preserving ourselves. In the new: It’s about connecting people to Jesus. To God.

In the old way: The focus is on us. In the new: The focus is on Jesus.

That’s why it is said that the church ought not to be a museum for saints, but rather a hospital for sinners. Jesus says this clearly in Mark 2:17:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Crowds can mislead us away from the truth. The sad reality is that many of the people in the crowds that followed Jesus didn’t follow Him for the right reasons.

They didn’t follow Him because He was the truth. They followed Him because of what they had heard from others. Sometimes, what they heard brought them to the truth. Still others drew them away from the truth. In Mark 13:6, Jesus warns:

 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.

Today, we can see the impact that crowds can have in misleading others about Jesus. Without using their names and calling them out, we know that there are groups (crowds) who mischaracterize and actually damage the message of the Gospel. And they often do so in Jesus’ name.

They do this by distorting the truth about Jesus. The truth that Jesus is the one God sent to make all right with the world. The eternal Son of God, being in every way equal to our Father in heaven. The One whom if we accept and follow with our whole heart, we can be healed from eternal and spiritual death.

Not because of anything we’ve done or that we could possibly earn, but simply and completely through His sacrifice – His death on the cross. Grace that is undeserved, given to us freely by a God who loves us and desperately wants to reconcile us to Himself.

There are many ways, though, that this message of truth is polluted, corrupted, and twisted. Either people twist His identity into something it isn’t. They twist the impact and significance of His death and resurrection. Even calling into question the truth of that death and resurrection. Or they twist the means by which it is that we enter into relationship with Him.

Scripture is very clear on His identity, the significance of His death and resurrection, and the means by which we enter into relationship with Jesus. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:2:

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Jesus, Himself, tells His disciples in John 14:6:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

In the world that Jesus entered, crowds often had the impact of being an obstacle to true faith and relationship with Him. The same thing often happens today.

Which brings us back to the question:  What is our response to Jesus’ authority? What do we do with this knowledge that He holds the power to life and death in this life, and in eternity to come?

Crowds can delude us. One of the dangers of crowds isn’t just that they overtly block us from Jesus. They can also subtly block us in that we become deluded and self-deceived. We can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are with Jesus simply because we’re in the crowd.

Crowds are essentially large masses of groupies. And groupies watch and admire, but they don’t actually form any real relationship with person they follow. They are fans, but not friends.

On February 2, 2020, 62,417 people attended the Super Bowl in Miami (maybe the last major event before all the shutdowns). Believe it or not, that was the second to the lowest attended Super Bowls in history. And 98.2 million watched it, which is also the lowest in the last 11 years. That said, that’s still quite a crowd!

The people at the Super Bowl were there.They got to see Patrick Mahomes lead his team to a comeback win in the last 6 minutes of the game. So, it might be easy to delude yourself into thinking that if you were there, you were somehow connected to the team. That you were there with your good friend, Patrick Mahomes (the quarterback) and your old pal, Andy Reid (the head coach). But the truth is, you’re not best buds with the stars of the winning team. You’re not with them – you’re with the crowd. And there is a big difference!

The tragedy is that this is exactly the kind of relationship many people have with Jesus. Of all the people in the crowd who saw Jesus perform His miracles, how many of them actually had a real relationship with Him?

Sadly, it’s no different today. Even the people who are in churches today. They assume that they attend church, so they are with Jesus. Worse, some think that since they once upon a time went to church, they are with Him. The folks who feel like they don’t need church at all. That their own vague beliefs are superior to organized religion. When in reality, they are not with Jesus, they are with the crowd.

Being part of the crowd around Jesus does not equal being a disciple of Jesus.

People can be deluded and self-deceived into thinking that they have nothing to worry about in terms of their eternal destinies because they’ve heard of Jesus. But there is a big difference between hearing about Jesus and actually hearing Jesus. This is why He came – that He could preach and that we would listen. That we would understand. That we would actually know Him. James 1:22-24 says:

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Crowds can block us from Jesus. This is exactly what happened with the paralytic man and his friends. The reason his friends had to crash the party (punching a hole in the roof), quite literally, was because of the crowd.

Sometimes, a crowd draws you in. In fact, being too small can deter people from being interested in the first place. After all, if you ever want to find a good place to eat in a new town, you look for the one with all the cars and people waiting out front – there’s usually a reason for the wait. By contrast, you tend to drive right by the one that seems deserted – we assume there must be a reason for that, too. But just like a restaurant that draws a crowd, it can have the effect of keeping people from entering.

Sure – all analogies break down at some level. On that note, if churches manage to draw big crowds, that’s a good thing! We hope and pray for the Gospel to be preached and for there to be revival – many people coming to faith in Christ. All over the world, that’s happening. Yes, and that includes the trendy megachurches. Small isn’t always better.

There is a tendency, though, for the crowd to drown out real connection and real relationship. Often, the church crowd gets so busy with itself that it fails to even see those looking in from the outside. Let alone the people who will never seek the crowd out in the first place.

By the way, that means they need to be invited. They need someone to seek them out and bring them. They don’t have any connection to the church, and they don’t have any connection to God. Unless someone invites them. Unless someone brings them. Sits with them. Connects with them. Does life with them. Matthew 23:13 says:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

It’s much easier to form a circle than to join one. When you are joining at the beginning – at the ground floor – it’s easy to feel like you belong . . . that you’re part of it all. But, when you’re a latecomer, it’s often difficult to break into the inner circle. What’s even worse is when people in the circle make others feel unwelcome or even purposely exclude others. Wittingly, or unwittingly, we (in our crowds) can often block people from Jesus.

When Jesus healed the paralytic man, as detailed in Mark 2:1-12, He proved that, as God, Himself, Jesus has authority over BOTH physical AND spiritual life and death.

He also was able to read the minds of the teachers of the law, which means that He has authority and power over the body, mind, and soul.

The significance of this miracle shouldn’t be lost. Yet there is something else that this miracle teaches – the dangers of the crowds. It was the crowd that forced these sincere seekers of Jesus to literally tear a hole in the ceiling to get their friend to the feet of Jesus.

Everywhere we see Jesus in the Gospels, we see a crowd. So much so that Jesus actually retreated from the crowds and wanted to move on. Why? Because of the crowds.

And this seems counterintuitive. After all, we would consider a large crowd a good thing, especially when it comes to people who are interested in Jesus. Certainly, in popular evangelical Christianity, this seems to be the thing.

Pastors who aspire to doing great ministry dream of being involved in ministries that draw in the crowds. In fact, there is great pressure on all pastors to grow their churches. We are seeing pastors burn out and assume they are not successful or cut out for ministry because their churches aren’t running hundreds or even thousands of people per week. Because they’re not drawing crowds.

Yet, as we seek to draw the crowds and to be part of the crowds, Jesus was always seeking to get away from the crowds. Why? Because the crowd often gets in the way of His purposes. He said in Mark 1:38:

“Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

The crowds were flocking around Him because they heard that He healed people. That He performed miracles. That He did amazing things. That’s understandable. Most of us are looking for a miracle. Many of us are looking for and hoping for healing. But Jesus came to meet eternal rather than temporary needs.

That isn’t because He doesn’t care about our present, earthly needs. He does. He demonstrated that in the way that He had compassion on people and healed them – even when they often failed to see His larger purpose. However, He didn’t want our fixation and anxiety over the worries of this life to blind us to the big picture. Unfortunately, crowds often hinder our ability to see that big picture. We’ll unravel these in the next set of posts.

The last time I posted anything here, we were all living in much different circumstances. At that time, there were some guidelines about meetings or gatherings of more than 200 here in Washington State (similar in the State of Oregon). That quickly changed on March 16^th, when Governor Inslee essentially ordered what most states then referred to as a “Shelter in Place” order.

We’ve been operating in that manner continuously, ever since. That includes the church where I pastor, Ingle Chapel in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, especially since many members live in Washington. The church building has been closed, and we went to virtual since then. Certainly, I need to make that clarification, as one might see my previous post and assume that we have been defying the authorities, continuing with our traditional church services and meetings, despite what is now being asked of us as citizens.

It has been an interesting time! We are discovering new ways of connecting and being creative. And we’re also getting a picture of who is really out there, listening, and tuning in. We’re also seeing true colors emerge in many different ways. Contrary, in fact, to being a pastor who defies authorities by continuing to meet, in the past month I actually defied local pastors in not supporting an Easter event at the local drive-in movie theater. The reason I didn’t support this was that I see the mission of the local church as not existing solely for the good of itself. For me, Easter is about outreach to a world that desperately needs to connect with Jesus Christ.  

After all, these local church pastors are acting out a passion play of Christ’s crucifixion. They are gathering volunteers to direct traffic, collect tickets (yes, you read correctly – tickets), hand out programs, and operate the production (just the crew’s activities violate the local orders). It was already acknowledged that this event would be attended almost exclusively by believing, die-hard Christians rather than outreach to earnestly seeking people looking for hope. We know already that it will be attended by local media.

At my own local church, in particular, many of the parishioners that I serve are in the high-risk category (elderly), and many are very fearful, and rightfully so. Moreover, it feels to me like this is pushing the envelope of what the lawful authorities are pleading with us to do (and not do). It just didn’t seem like the neighborly thing to be doing. I am very concerned about the image and the metamessage this sends to the onlooking community, especially if this is intended to serve us rather than provide for the felt needs of the community.

Being the Northwest, this local community is full of people with an ax to grind with people of faith. I would much rather spend my energy overcoming their objections through the way we love them, protect them, and act as good neighbors. For me, Easter isn’t about a ritual. It’s a celebration and reflection of perfect sacrifice leading to eternal resurrection. And sacrifice is what we’re now being asked to do, also.

This is what I communicated to our church in light of the current Corona Virus concerns. We are still meeting, as our church is very small. However, we are exercising precautions, and stand ready to move to completely virtual means as the situation develops further.

Dear Ingle Chapel Family,

In moving forward as we navigate through this, the current situation and uncertainty that it brings reveals a few things. Firstly, situations like these in the past have had the effect of driving people to the local church. In times like these, people want and need to connect with and hear from God. We should provide ways, both face to face, and creatively through technology to keep these lines open.

Secondly, situations like these are a time when our societies and world bring their questions, even using the present state of the world as a major objection to God. Whereas this may seem like an obstacle, it is fertile ground for our own testimony in pointing to the God who is there, who loves us, and who is ultimately in control. Use it as an opportunity to give hope, peace, and faith to family, friends, and others. 

Thirdly, this situation underscores a basic human need and divine design. We were meant to be in contact with each other. While I don’t want to read too much into this new virus, I do believe that the enemy tries to use situations like this to increase distance between people, which ultimately creates distance between people and God. This, combined with many already practicing “social distancing” thanks to new technology, have the potential to diminish the impact of God’s people and the church . . . even into the long run.

May I remind us all that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). And the church that He has established will stand, and the gates of hell will be unable to prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Therefore, let’s allow His power and His strength to get us through and overcome this crisis, and commit to renewed passion and purpose long after this situation has passed.

Hope to see you tomorrow at church, even if in spirit rather than body. 

All the best, and God bless!

Pastor Glenn

Mark 2:1-12 tells us that Jesus was returning to Capernaum. The last time He was here, after preaching at the synagogue, Jesus ended up at Peter’s house for dinner. Only, he couldn’t really relax, because everyone and their brother ended up at the door wanting Him to do a miracle for them.

Now, He’s back in town. Probably back at Peter’s house. Word got out that He was back in town, and they made their way back to Peter’s house. So many people are there that there wasn’t any room – even for those waiting at the doorway.

Jesus used the opportunity to preach, which is what He had intended all along. Then, some men brought a man who was paralyzed and lying on a mat. They wanted to get him close to Jesus. But they couldn’t because of the crowd.

Since Jesus was inside and surrounded by the crowd, they decided they would carry this paralyzed man up the exterior stairs.And get this – they literally dismantle the roof and lower this man down through a hole they made in the roof.

Can you imagine that? How determined would you have to be to do something like that? They know Jesus is something special. He must be from God. He can heal our friend. So, Jesus, moved to compassion does exactly what you expect Him to do. He bends down and says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Huh? What just happened here? We just pressed through the crowd, tore a hole in our neighbor’s roof. And for what?

Oh, but it gets even better. Because among the folks who heard Jesus was back were the Pharisees – the teachers of the Law. And now they were in shock. “He can’t do that! Only God can forgive sins.” They thought to themselves. “Who does He think He is!”

They were thinking these things to themselves, but they hadn’t called Jesus on this yet. Before they could, Jesus asked them, “Why are you thinking these things?” Did you catch that? Jesus knew what they were thinking. He could read their minds. And He asks them:

“Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?”

That’s when Jesus makes this very important statement:

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.…” He said to the paralytic,“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Amazingly, the paralyzed man stood up, picked up his stretcher, and walked away. Can you picture it? He’s lying there one second, and then Jesus tells him to get up, and he does. Can you imagine that? Neither could they! That’s why the people in the crowd said, “We have never seen anything like this!” Indeed, who has! This proves that:

As God, Himself, Jesus has authority over BOTH physical AND spiritual life and death.

Jesus wasn’t looking for an answer. He was the answer. The question that the Pharisees were so concerned about was regarding His identity. If He was just a man, then He just declared Himself God by telling a man that all of his sins were forgiven. They were onto something that is profound and important:

Forgiveness of sins is always the exclusive right of God.

That’s why Jesus refers to this word, authority, in verse 10. It’s the Greek word, exousia. It means to rule over, to control over, to have power over. Jesus demonstrated His power over physical paralysis and disease. To prove that He had the right and authority and power to heal physical disease AND spiritual disease.

In this one short scene, He proves that He has power over the body, the mind, and the soul. Truly, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Hello, World! My name is Glenn Matlock, Jr. I currently live in Eastern Washington. This is my first post ever. The bad news is, according to another blog I read recently, that your first blog post will be terrible. The good news is that your 10,000^th blog post should be amazing. Therefore, I have every confidence that at least the first part will be true!

My hope is to have more to post here, and that as I get the hang of it, I will share updates more regularly/frequently. Most of the advice I have come across recommends having an overall theme for your blog. For me, that’s the tough part. As a mid-career and mid-life person with many varied experiences, I don’t know where to start.

I will start with my first passion – for preaching and teaching God’s Word. That explains why I have spent the last couple of decades volunteering as a leader, preacher, and teacher at the local churches I have served. Amassing more than 100 sermons under my belt now, I have the distinct privilege of serving as the part-time (bi-vocational) pastor of Ingle Chapel Congregational Church in Milton-Freewater, Oregon.

As for other interests and experiences, I am originally from Fremont, California. My father, Glenn Sr., was a retired senior pastor (he passed away five years ago). In all honestly, I wasn’t seeking out a career or life in the ministry. In fact, I originally aimed at something much difference.

On that note, I graduated from West Point in 1996. I served as a Combat Engineer officer in the Army for five years (and 3 months and 25 days, but who’s counting). Three of those five years were at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California – 58^th Combat Engineer Company, 11^th ACR. The joke then was that I actually left the service so I wouldn’t have to be an engineer any longer!

As they say, when you think you have your life figured out, God is laughing! My first job leaving the service was as a staff engineer, where I worked in construction management in California for four years. From there, I found a similar position in the federal sector, and I have been working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla, Washington ever since. Along the way, I obtained my license as a civil engineer and became a federal supervisor. My current position is Supervisory Resident Engineer and Administrative Contracting Officer (don’t worry if you don’t understand what that means!).

The last couple decades have exposed me to experiences in the military, leadership, organizational management and behavior, and project management (especially construction and contract management). I also served as the lead risk management specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Work Cost Center of Expertise. That’s why my tool belt also includes experience and expertise in risk analysis, risk management, business process improvements, as well as expert facilitation skills.

Along the way, I have earned an M.Div. from Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary, an M.S. in Engineering Management (what is now Missouri S&T), and an MBA (UMass, Amherst). This, with a sack full of licenses and certifications. Which will explain why I may dabble in musing here about a wide variety of issues and topics.