Pan Dulce

The Bear Did It

I have spent this week explaining our new organization, new staff, and growth plans. But what happens when things don’t turn out like you planned them? This happened to me today. I am taking the day off to get some honey-do things done when I discovered some spilled paint in my garage at the top of the day. So my brother, who is visiting from Nashville, and I quickly began cleaning it up. We could not find how the paint was spilled, leaked, etc. Honestly, no trace. My 3 year old nephew Seth, said he thought he heard a noise when he was taking a nap and thought a bear got into the garage and spilled it. Great imagination. I am sure there is a life lesson in this or a sermon illustration in the future. Today, it is not much fun and now I am behind getting the list of honey-do’s done.

Isn’t life like that? What happens when life takes turns you did not expect? Something was taken away before you thought it was time. That is when the full complement of emotions in grief come to help us. God has made us that way. Not that I am grieving the paint spilled in my garage but you know what I mean. So we welcome shock, disbelief, denial, depression, anger, acceptance, and new purpose. This is part of the hard work of grief.

Anyway, you make plans and then adjust when it comes time to implement. Or you can have a plan b, plan c, etc. So we will move forward with our plans at BCFS, deal with the set backs when they come and make adjustments as needed. But always, we keep our eye on the goal of serving children who have very little hope in this world. We reach forward to the Lord who seeks to redeem the whole of our lives, the good and the bad. He who did not spare his own Son, will he not also freely give us all things?

That’s all for today. Enjoy your holiday weekend. I will not be writing again until next Tuesday.

Strategic Planning Leadership…What’s it all about?

Why even bother with Strategic Planning? Because the world has changed, is changing, and will change. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. I had the privilege of meeting Peter Goldberg, President and CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families www.aliance1.org this week who delivered a compelling quote from Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca, in his book entitled Where Have All the Leaders Gone, provides a vignette about change by asking two questions:

First Question: What is the Truest Definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana’s Death

Second Question: How Come?

Answer: “An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scotch whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This posted by an American, using Bill Gates’ technology, and you’re probably reading this on a computer that uses Taiwanese chips and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by Mexican illegals. That, my friends, is Globalization!”

Recognizing that Iacocca is stretching the imagination some by suggesting hijacking and using controversial language such as “Mexican illegals,” he has nailed what the world looks like today and what it will look like in the future.

Because our world has changed, is changing, and will change, I felt it necessary to develop a new position entitled Director of Strategic Planning for BCFS. The new Director is Melissa Opheim, mopehim@buckner.org formerly director of the BCFS Residential Care Network. Melissa has over 19 years of experience as a practitioner in social service ministry as a frontline care provider and an executive director for a local site. Her role will be to finalize our strategic plans, execute our plans, and coordinate corporate resources from External Affairs such as marketing, community relations, and communications as well as resources for development in the Buckner Foundation. Melissa will also develop a framework for assessing organizational effectiveness at BCFS.

There is a saying in Spanish that says: El hombre propone y Dios dispone. Roughly translated, it means, “Man proposes…God disposes.” We recognize that our best laid plans may not be sufficient to engage the imagination of the Redeemer of history. However, we will plan, pray and work toward finding what God is doing in the world and then join his activity of drawing children and families to him so he might bless them. Melissa’s role will be to help us ask, everyday, what our plan is for that day. Pray for her as she begins this new and exciting assignment.

Mission Resource Leadership…What’s it all about?

The third leadership group at BCFS is the Missions Resource Group led by Victor Upton, vupton@buckner.org who serves as the Vice President of this group. Patricia Spurlock pspurlock@buckner.org provides support for Victor Upton. The primary focus of this group is to provide resources for the Ministry and Missions Group as well as the Global Initiatives Group. The task of this group speaks directly to the vision we have developed for BCFS: “To become a global force maximizing Christian resources and leadership to serve children and families around the world.”

Maximizing Christian Resources is the part of this vision that is the core of the Missions Resource Group. One facet of Christian Resources are the resources resident in the 5700 congregations related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the 23 institutions affiliated with the BGCT. Another facet of resources is found in sister congregations affiliated with national Baptist denominations as well as congregations related to associations and state conventions across the country. Another facet to these resources will be found in congregations in other Christian denominations as well as Christian ministries, radio, Christian colleges and universities, Bible colleges and seminaries, and individual followers of Christ. North American Christian resources that are willing to collaborate with us to serve “the least of these” will find a welcome place at the table with BCFS. We will also entertain the notion of business and other non-faith affiliated organizations who seek to serve children at risk, families, and orphans around the world.

The Missions Resource Group will provide Missions Support for short-term mission trips under the leadership of George McCain gmccain@buckner.org by providing total logistical support including orientation, training, travel support, vaccination and visa instructions, ground transportation, in-country lodging arrangements, teaching materials, and Buckner Staff serving as mission coordinators who travel with teams as well as connection to indigenous Buckner staff in-country. We also provide humanitarian aid through Missions Resource Management under the leadership of Jackie Belt jbelt@buckner.org who coordinates the management of physical resources from shoes, to clothes, and emergency aid from our 50,000 square foot humanitarian aid center. The Missions Resource Group will also provide an economic development strategy for investment into communities in the USA and around the world in order to provide economic infrastructure and sustainable economic activity for families. Another strategy under consideration is a Human/Leadership Development Strategy that will consider life development plans for the children in our care, leadership development for our children and for our staff.

We have a vision for the future. Missions Resource is about securing the provision for this mission. Let’s begin to pray now that the Lord will open the hearts of Christians in North America to bless the nations with wealth, expertise, investment, presence, and the love of Jesus Christ. As you sense a calling to invest and advance the Kingdom on mission email one of the folks listed above and join us at the ends of the earth.

Global Initiatives Leadership…What’s it all about?

Buckner is already a globally positioned ministry with staff on the ground in 7 countries and in hot pursuit of the interest of children and families in another 8 countries. Leading the way for this initiative is Randy Daniels rdaniels@buckner.org , former director of international ministry at Buckner Children and Family Services. Randy has served as a pastor, social worker, administrator, and is currently Vice President of Global Initiatives. His primary focus is to catalyze new ministry in countries around the world. Gloria Rojo grojo@buckner.org serves as his administrative assistant and he has a growing organization that supports work along the US-Mexico Borderlands, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ethiopia, Kenya, Russia, Romania, and Latvia.

Serving on the Global Initiatives staff includes Leslie Chace lchace@buckner.org who leads our work in Guatemala and Peru as well as new work in other Latin American Countries; Dexton Shores dshores@buckner.org, formerly of BGCT Border and Mexico Missions, who leads Ministry Development for the Border and Mexico; and Phil Brinkmeyer, pbrinkmeyer@buckner.org , who provides leadership and supervision for Eastern Europe. Randy directly supervises our leaders in Africa. They include Dickson Masindano in Kenya and Getahun Tesema in Ethiopia.

Our primary focus on these countries is the expression of a deeds ministry among the least of these. We serve children and families along a continuum of care that mirrors our Ministry and Missions Group (see my blog for August 26, 2007 on this topic). The difference is that in global initiatives, we are looking for opportunities to come along side churches, governments, private ministries and individuals to serve the children, orphans, and families in those communities. Our philosophy is to position ourselves as the servant of national leadership. National, indigenous leadership is best equipped both cultural and linguistically, to provide the most effective means of delivering the kind of ministry Buckner has developed over the past 128 years.

Is Buckner an international missions agency that sends missionaries? Absolutely! We send about 80 short-term mission groups numbering close to 3,000 volunteers every year. Would we also send longer term American missionaries overseas? Yes! However, we would have two stipulations: First, we would send them as Buckner staff…Second, we would assign them to work under the national leadership in those countries in supportive rather than leadership roles. We would balance the effort of sending a limited number of Buckner staff over against the potential of mobilizing 2 million Texas Baptists and Christians of other faith traditions. We also have sent and continue to send and take humanitarian aid to 55 countries through Shoes for Orphans Souls. Imagine the potential of serving 143 million orphans in the world.  Why do we do this? It is our mission and it is what the Lord requires of us…

“What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Our God, who is just, says that pure religion is to serve orphans and widows in their time of distress. We follow a merciful God to people who wait for mercy. And we walk by faith and humility to those places where God is calling us. Can you hear him? Why not join us to the ends of the earth? Email me at areyes@buckner.org to go global.

Ministry and Missions Leadership…What’s it about?

This week I am going to use a few lines to describe the BCFS Executive Leadership Team and how we are poised to serve congregations, children, and families. I want to start first with Felipe Garza fgarza@buckner.org , Vice President for the Ministry and Missions Group who provides leadership for our core ministries. Ministry and Missions is at the core of what we do at Buckner Children and Family Services. This group is comprised of following three networks:

Residential and Transition Ministries Network
This network is a collection of six residential and transition facilities led by Michelle Harris mharris@buckner.org . Michelle is the new director of this network. The RTM Network is primarily focused on providing residential care for children in Beaumont, Lubbock, and Mission. Michelle also directs the work of our transition ministries through facilities in Lufkin, Dallas, Amarillo, and Midland. We also provide transition services in Beaumont, Fort Worth, and Lubbock. The primary focus of transition ministries is to provide a safe place for mothers and children who need a place to recover from abusive and destructive relationships. The RTM Network has presence in 9 Texas cities and we have plans to expand in two additional Texas cities in the near future and other states in the coming months. Melissa Opheim previously led the Residential Care Network and beginning September 1, 2007 she will assume responsibility for Strategic Planning for BCFS. Michelle would be glad to field your inquires about residential and transition ministries.

Foster Care and Adoption Network
This network is led by JoAnn Cole jcole@buckner.org and comprised of staff located across Texas. Foster Care Staff are located in Dallas/North Texas, Longview/Northeast Texas, Lubbock and Midland/ West Texas, and Beaumont, Houston, Lufkin/Southeast Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley. This staff serves children who need families even if only on a temporary basis. Adoption Staff are located primarily in Dallas and serve families who desire to adopt in Texas as well as international adoptions. We also provide adoption support in other states through Buckner and affiliated agencies. If you know of someone who is seeking to be involved in foster care or adoption contact JoAnn Cole.

Church and Community Network
This network is currently being led by Felipe Garza fgarza@buckner.org until a new director is hired. This network is quite expansive with services throughout Texas. We provide STAR (Services To At Risk Youth) and UCAP (Universal Child Abuse Prevention Programs) in Beaumont, Port Arthur and other cities Hardin, Orange, and Jefferson Counties, McAllen, Harlingen, as well as Willacy, Cameron, Brooks, Kenedy, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties. We also provide Community Ministries connected to congregations in Amarillo, Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock, Knoxville, Fort Worth, and Seattle, Dallas, Waco, Longview, Lufkin, and Rio Grande Valley. In some of these locations we offer after school programming, counseling, and child development centers. We also provide leadership across the state for Kids Hope, a nationally based program that enables members in churches to mentor local school-aged children in 40 congregations across 16 cities in Texas as well as cities in Tennessee, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Our goal is to collaborate with congregations who desire to serve their communities. This is ministry and missions at its best. Let us know how we can serve you and your community today!

New Organization…New Future

Today I am announcing three new vice presidents and a director for strategic planning at BCFS. Felipe Garza, a 25 year veteran at Buckner, will serve as Vice President of Ministry and Missions. His primary focus will be to lead the core networks of BCFS such as Residential and Transition Ministries, Foster Care and Adoption, and Church and Community Collaborations. Felipe will lead the expansion in Texas from 14 to 17 cities and across the country from 4 to 18 states over the next 24 to 36 months. Randy Daniels, a 19 year veteran with Buckner will serve as Vice President of Global Initiatives. He will lead our efforts to begin new ministry from 7 to 15 countries over the next 24 for 36 months. Victor Upton, formerly chief operating officer of Worldconnex will serve as Vice President of Missions Resource. He will focus on missions support, mission resource management, mission resource development, and human/leadership development. His primary focus will be to connect Christian resources to the BCFS mission.

I have combined two networks (Residential Care and Transition Ministries) into one network called Residential and Transition Ministries Network that will be lead by Michelle Harris. Joann Cole will continue to lead the Foster Care and Adoption Network. Melissa Opheim has been appointed as Director of Strategic Planning. Her primary assignment will be to finalize our strategic plan, lead its implementation, develop research and collect data for BCFS, and lead our organizational effectiveness effort.

These changes represent a finishing touch to our reorganization and puts BCFS at the forefront of missional efforts among Baptists in Texas as well as those from other denominations who wish to bless the children in Texas, the USA, and in other nations. Please pray for these individuals as they begin their new assignments. I am very encouraged by our future and our capacity for reaching the least of these. We will be looking for churches, associations, denominations, universities, ministries, and individual Christians across the nation to join us in this effort. We are confident that God will provide the right people, with the right skills, and the right resources at just the right time. We recognize that this is a faith journey and we expect to encounter the Lord in the midst of his work along the way. To him be the glory forever and ever!

Back on Friday

My next post will be on Friday with announcements and staff changes. I am going to take a day off from posting. See you Friday!

Retreat to Advance

Today is the second day of my first Annual Management Retreat at Camp Buckner. The drive to get here relaxed me. Then when I arrived at the camp I could not believe how beautiful it looked, especially since we lost a week of the camp being open due to flooding. The views are beautiful, the hills, the trees. It is the handiwork of the creator.

Jesus often pulled away to the mountains, the sea, and the desert to retreat from the business of life to get alone, be with his father and to pray and reflect on his ministry. In my ministry as a pastor I made it a point to pull away every week to refresh my soul, to keep my sanity, and to reflect on where I was going. It is a good model to emulate.

It seems counter-intuitive but one must retreat to advance. At Baptist University of the Americas we used to call our Retreat an Advance. During our time here at Camp Buckner we will consider our plans to advance but it is done in a retreat setting. So we will spend our time in a relaxed atmosphere thinking trying to unwind and yet we will also spend some significant time thinking about the future. Today we will hear from Dr. Ken Hall, Scott Collins and the external affairs team, and we will hear from Dr. Karen Bullock who will speak on the topic of History of Buckner.

Yesterday I shared the plans for the future of BCFS with staff from across the state. We had a discussion time that allowed for them to give a response to the plan, to raise questions they had, and to discuss what needs to change about us to embrace this future. The interaction was electric and contagious. The discussion was strategic and useful. We also heard from David Slover and the Buckner Foundation as well as Tony Lintleman and the Accounting and Finance Department. What emerged was a spontaneous and active discussion session. We learned quickly that we need more time with these groups to really work as a team. We learned that we need more training, perhaps cross-training to consider ways we can work more closely together. This time was quite invigorating to me.

I introduced three new Vice Presidents and a Director of Strategic Planning (I will write about them in the next two days). I also unveiled an organizational chart that shows how we will organize ourselves for the growth we have planned. What was the response? “Yikes!” was one “theological” term that was suggested. There was a mixture of excitement and measured caution…Risk and security. The team came up with some top-shelf questions we need to consider. I was moved by the interaction and encouraged by the caliber of leaders that we have.

Today we will hear more reports and take a peak at the big picture. We will also break away for some fun and have an opportunity to deepen our relationships. We are retreating in order to advance. And advance we will (To borrow from Yoda’s syntax). Now to him who is able to do far beyond what we would ever ask, dream, or imagine, to him be the glory forever and ever amen!

What to do with a used stamp?

I never thought that used stamps glued together would ever take my breathe away. A few years ago I was traveling with my pastor, Charles Foster Johnson, in Mexico City when we walked in into the Edificio Central de Correos (Mexico City’s Central Post Office) when we stumbled upon a mural that left us speechless.

Imagine two Baptist preachers with out a word to say? We both gazed upon the artistic work of Pablo Magana who formed 48,234 used Mexican stamps dated 1890 to 1934 to create one of the most beautiful murals I have ever seen. Keep in mind that these were used stamps that were collected and then used to create the image of Mexico’s eagle with the snake in its mouth and perched upon a prickly pear.

From a distance the mural was masterful and when we approached the mural up-close, we saw that the artist took used, redeemed, stamps with no value to create this beautiful mural setting forth the pride and history of a nation. He found purpose, symmetry, beauty, and vision in something that was used and practically worthless. What do you do with a used Mexican Postal Stamp? Probably nothing. What do you do with 48,234 of them? If you are Pablo Magana, you create a masterpiece.

Today I am driving to Buckner Camp to for my first experience at the annual Buckner Management Meeting. In one sense, we have no purpose in and of ourselves. But together, we are woven into God’s tapestry to serve the needs of children at risk, orphans, and families. Together we are a strong force for good among children who are discarded and abused. I am reminded that it is “by faith grace that we have been saved, through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is a gift from God—not of works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV).”

What do you do with a life that has been used, abused, and discarded? If you are God, you take the least, the last, and forgotten and you make something beautiful from it. What do you do with 143 million orphans in the world today? If you are Buckner, you reach out to them because we realized that every single child is work of art in God’s hands and eyes.

Dr. Jim Denison, Pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church said “You really never find real purpose in your life until you connect your life to God’s purposes.” Then your value, your creativity, and your potential are unleashed. Your imagination begins to make sense in a cosmic context. God begins to make something beautiful of your life. Please pray for the Buckner International Staff this week as we consider what God wants to do in us, through us, and for us.

Dealing with Cords

Ecclesiastes says “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Eccl. 4:12 NIV).

“The Prophet Isaiah said “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” (Isaiah 54:2-3 NIV).

I am writing about cords today because I am preparing to head to Camp Buckner on Tuesday to meet with the broader leadership team of Buckner Children and Family Services and the staff of Buckner International. It will be an exciting three days as we meet to plan our future, coordinate our work, and prepare for an exciting year. So, I would like to say a few things about cords.

First, wisdom writer says that a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. I am hoping that our time together will be a mending of the cords, an intertwining that has a strengthening effect. We will have time to network, talk, listen, ask questions, and form the kind of team spirit that will make us stronger for the challenges ahead. We can defend ourselves and find strength in numbers. I think communication is the vital key to this process. I expect we will have ample time to communicate and improve our communication. I met with a group of BCFS staff and challenged them to consider ways they might advance our work. One of the questions was “if we have an idea, how do we communicate it?” This was an excellent question. We will probably have to create new ways of communicating, new ways of intertwining our hearts and minds we become one voice.

Second, the Prophet Isaiah speaks of preparation for growth. He talks about enlarging the place of our tent (dwelling place, work place) and stretch our tent curtains wide. He encourages us to lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes anticipating growth. This is a faith issue. See my posting on Friday, August 17, 2007 on Faith. We have to prepare for what we do not see today. We have to get ready to meet God at core of his activity in the coming months. It is hard to envision what is around the corner. It takes faith. Our Annual Management Meeting is about preparation, coordination, communication, and anticipation for what is around the corner.

We will spread out to the left and to the right. We will move into uncharted waters and explore territories that are new to us. We will be changed. We will develop new work habits, new disciplines, new business practices (See my posting on “The Business of Ministry), and we will move into a new era of growth.

Finally, we go to Camp Buckner to consecrate ourselves. Joshua said it this way to the people about to move into the promise land. “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” (Joshua 3:5 NIV).