profiles in courage

We were at the Second City play a couple of weeks ago. The first part of the play was pretty funny. They made fun of speed cameras, Arizona politics and our “dry heat”. The second part denigrated into the bawdy humor that characterizes our modern sensibilities. They particularly focused on those that believe in traditional Christian values. One skit portrayed an uptight, “frozen chosen” type Christian couple quoting scripture to defend their belief in traditional marriage. They through around passages like Leviticus 18:22 “you shall not lie with a man as you do with a woman”. There were 2 other “couples” that were fun, warm and homosexual to contrast with the unlikable traditionally married couple. They had another skit featuring children competing in a spelling bee. The one child, who was Jewish, was given the word heaven to spell. She asked for it in a sentence and the unseen judge yelled indignantly “you will not go to heaven unless you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior”. Most of the crowd roared during these pointed depictions of narrow minded stupid Christians. I just sat quietly and took the expected shots without seeing red. My actual feelings were that of remorseful grief that the author of the play had such a poor opinion of Christians. Certainly there are “Christians” that are poor representatives of Christ in that they miss the centerpiece of what Jesus taught. He told His followers that “they will know you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another”. I am sorry that portrayal didn’t make it in the play. But, frankly in America Christians are used to being ridiculed to the point where a crucifix submerged in urine is considered “art”. So you would think that in America where those in the arts use our First Amendment freedom to “courageously” press the limits that they are so silent when it comes to ridiculing Islam? Recently South Park did a bit about Islam that was really pretty tame and the creators have been targeted for death on an Islamic web site, even including their addresses. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the book “Infidel”, has been calling on the American media to explore Islam particularly how the religion treats women and yes poke fun at inconsistencies like they do Christianity and Judaism. She has been targeted for death and believes if the American media and entertainment industry would treat Islam like they treat Christianity that she would not need body guards. There is some great material just waiting for the stage and screen. You could do a skit with Ali holding the hand of a young boy proclaiming what it says in the Quoran "that a man should not love a man as he does a woman". Ali would say "it's ok I don't love him!". Gee, the silence is deafening. Could it be that they only have courage when those that they attack do not fight back? It is quite different ridiculing Islam and getting your head cut off than attacking Christianity where we turn the other cheek.

Thankful

Are you thankful for the good things that have happened in your life? Sometimes it is triggered by seeing how bad someone else has it. I am thankful for my wife when I hear stories about some menopausal crazy wife stabbing her husband in the chest, or running up all the credit cards on marathon shopping expeditions, or the wife that gave up sex for lent (but that was 5 years ago!). But, hearing about other peoples problems is not the best reason to be thankful.

I was with a friend of mine for lunch and he reminded me of a reason to be thankful. Our first radio station KVOI was owned by Grace Chapel. They had received ownership of the radio station as a “gift”. But, sometimes there are gifts that keep on giving! When the original owners bought KVOI it was a bad deal. The previous owner was very shrewd and sold them the station with no real estate and little assets (the equipment was old and much of it worthless) for $1,000,000. The business men bought the station with the heart to have a Christian station and let their church (Grace Chapel) own and operate the station. Their intentions were wonderful and they put 20% down to boot. Once the church began to run the station they realized the downside, (how much it cost to run a radio station!). My boss brought me to Tucson because he was buying the station and wanted to get it humming before he closed. His deal fell through and he told me to go back to Albuquerque. Long story short, I didn’t. We started seeing a turn around at KVOI and Grace Chapel gave me an opportunity to buy the station with my partners Dan Carless and George Mehl. We took over the debt and I wrote a letter to Grace Chapel giving them airtime on KVOI “until the Lord comes”. Five years later Tom Regina had replace Dan Carless and we had just put KGMS 97.1 FM on the air. The new station strained us financially because I was not able to get enough money from the bank to build and operate the station until we had cash flow. Airtime was very valuable on KVOI and I realized that if I had the time Grace Chapel was given I could monetize it and relieve some of the financial pressure. So I looked at the letter and my mind started working (this can be a dangerous thing). I thought about what it meant “until the Lord comes”. Practically, Jesus already came 2000 years ago so perhaps this was already fulfilled? No one knows the hour of His return, so maybe it already happened? Then I began to justify not honoring the agreement, after all we had relieved Grace Chapel of $800,000 in debt on a station that was worth half that. When I came to my senses and quit trying to lawyer my may out of the agreement I decided to humble myself. I wrote Pastor John Casteel a letter and shared our plight. I told him that we would honor the agreement, but asked him if he would consider forgiving the debt. John called me and was very gracious. He told me that because I had asked him in an honorable way that he was relieving me of the obligation! This debt relief greatly helped us through a very difficult time. I am thankful that Pastor John Casteel showed me forgiveness and grace.

I have been told by friends that I am not a good business man. I do things often that fly in the face of Karass’ negotiating training. But, that isn’t the whole truth. My mind often whirls with crafty ideas that seem very shrewd and wise. When I run some of them by my wife she tells me they will lead to an indictment! But, when I quit my scheming and talk to God the right thing comes to mind.

You may find yourself in a difficult time. It could be a difficult financial situation like I was in 18 years ago. You may be dealing with creditors, banks or a landlord. Perhaps God wants you to humble yourself. Jesus told us that the truth would set us free and to ask and you will receive.

Some think that being good at business means being a shark. Sharks don't have any friends and spend most of their lives alone. When you operate in truth and love you will not only be successful, but you will never be alone.

Change Tucson

When my wife and I moved to Tucson in 1985, I had never seen the city. I was asked by my boss to take over a radio station (KVOI) that he was buying in Tucson. I had been managing his station in Albuquerque prior to that. Albuquerque is where we grew up. My family and friends were there, the radio station was thriving, and I loved my church (Calvary Chapel). When my boss asked me to “pray about it” I didn’t take it seriously. But when I told my wife she was excited and when I told my pastor (Skip Heitzig) he said “they have palm trees (he grew up in California) maybe I will start a church in Tucson!” All of this gave me pause and made me pray about it. I had 2 unusual things happen that convinced me we were supposed to come to Tucson. Skip and I were flying out to Tucson and the plane was overbooked. We sat in the coffee shop and we were talking about Tucson. A man in the booth next to us asked if we were Christians and why we were talking about Tucson. When I told him the story he looked at me and said “God wants you to go to Tucson”. This seemed strange to me, the guy didn’t even know me, but I filed it away. Then I had a dream where I was in a city surrounded by mountains and I felt like I belonged there. We decided to come. When we were driving in to Tucson I looked at the mountains surrounding me and knew we were in the right place. The first few years were a struggle for survival, but I felt God’s hand helping me every time I got discouraged. It was so tough I sought to escape from Tucson, but every time the door closed. Over the years I have grown to love Tucson and the people here. I believe that we have a future and a hope, and that we don’t need to be a second class city known for drug trafficking, despair and dilapidated buildings and streets. What will happen in Tucson is clearly in our hands. The tendancy we have as we get older is to become less active, when it is at this point in our lives that we really have something to give. I am hoping that you will join me in changing Tucson. There are three areas that we all can participate in impacting:

1. Politically – Our city has been run by power brokers who wield that power for their own personal benefit. We have lacked vision and insight as to what will make this city a great city. We need new leaders, let's find them and vote them in.
2. Business - The established businesses in Tucson are happy with the status quo. It is almost like Mexico where an oligarchy controls things and leaves little opportunity for anyone outside their elite domain. We need to hold our city officials accountable to change the culture in our government to treat everyone (homeowner, business person, neighborhood association, non-profit etc.) regardless if they are new to town or part of the establishment with the same rules and respect.
3. Church – Our church community has been very disconnected. When you have a vibrant church community like in Knoxville or Littlerock where the churches work together for community development (education, poverty, drug addiction etc.), the community is transformed. If you belong to a church, encourage your leadership to work with other congregations to transform our city. We all have different gifts, together it is very powerful. 4 Tucson is beginning that process now.

And visit the 4 tucson web site to see what you can do to transform our city.

www.4tucson.com