Employee Survey Results

During this week's Focus Meeting at the home office, the results of a recent employee survey were shared with our employees. We recorded this meeting and shared it with all of our remote employees. As I explained to the staff, questions for this survey were aligned to measure our progress toward certain outcomes for the Organizational Stewardship section of our strategic plan. This part of the strategic plan (which is approved by the GCE each year) has to do with how we function as an organization. It focuses on matters of communication, compensation, administrative policies and practices, understanding the vision and mission of the church, and revenue.

In the coming weeks we will continue to have follow-up meetings with both employees and administrators, using the results of this survey as a guide for digging deeper and looking for areas for improvement.

ABC Career and Education Module

I was happy to see Andy Lee and Troy Phelps back at the home office. They, along with Lisa Fenchel, were helping out with the third and final Career/Education module for Ambassador Bible College, focusing on thriving as Christians in the workplace. Andy Lee started the module off with a Bible discussion focusing on the importance of being a light in our workplace. People with whom we work should see a difference in who we are because of our beliefs, even if they don't understand them.

Troy Phelps, who has a passion for conducting interviews and helping people through the process, spent time with the students discussing best practices for interviewing and conducting mock interviews. During a panel discussion (which Mike Cook and Lynette Fenchel joined, as well) students had the chance to ask questions which included how to handle issues surrounding the Sabbath and Holy Days, co-worker relationships, handling conflicts and planning out your career. As ABC wraps up in a couple of months and students make their next-step plans, discussions such as these are extremely helpful!

Don't Start a Rock Fight

Have you ever thrown a rock and wished you could get it back? This is particularly true when you have accidentally broken something, like a window.

The same is true of the words that we speak. Did you know that on a daily basis we speak somewhere between 7,000 to 20,000 words? That's a lot of verbal rocks that can be hurled.

How many of those words are used to build up another person? How many are sarcastic or judgmental and offend or tear down?

I personally cannot count the times when I have inadvertently misspoken, been inconsiderate with my words or reacted emotionally to a situation when I should have kept my mouth shut. I wish I could get those words back. Perhaps you can relate.

As a long-time minister, I take very seriously what James, the brother of Jesus Christ, warned us about: "we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all [ministers and members alike] make many mistakes" (James 3:1-2, New Living Translation, emphasis added throughout).

In general, the third chapter of James makes me, and I suspect many others, wince inwardly. James doesn't spare anybody in this chapter.

But while it might make us grimace a bit painfully, James also holds up an important mirror for us to intently look into, especially as we examine ourselves and approach the Passover (1 Corinthians 11:28). This spiritual mirror reflects important principles to continue to "grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18), who, of course, is the standard for who we aspire to become.

So, let's gather our courage and take a quick look at what James had to say about our daily speech, and what we can positively do about it.

James starts with an obvious rhetorical statement: "If we could control our tongues [our capacity to speak], we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way" (James 3:2, NLT). Of course, that is an impossibility. Even though we regret it time and again, we all from time to time inadvertently blurt out some reactionary harmful word or boast falsely about some aspect of our life or perspective. We are but human. But there is a consequence. We pay the price for doing this, particularly when we don't try to correct or prevent this with God's help.

James points out that although the tongue (representing our capacity to speak) is but a small part of our human body, when it is controlled by casual, unthinking and selfish motives, it can make "grand speeches" and "it can set your whole life on fire" (James 3:5-6, NLT). When we get to this point, the probability of causing divisive, possibly long-lasting offense is high.

Illustrating the dual power of speech, James describes how words can tame or control all sorts of things, but at the same time, "Sometimes it [the tongue] praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God" (James 3:7, 9, NLT).

The unfortunate dichotomy? "So blessings and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth" (James 3:10). How does James react? "Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!" (James 3:10). James goes on to contrast a spring of fresh water with a well of bitter water. "You can't draw fresh water from a salty spring" (James 3:12), inferring that we would all do well to carefully examine our motives, as "what you say flows from what is in your heart" (Luke 6:45, NLT).

That's the center of the matter. What we say can illuminate what's in our hearts, what's top-of-mind in our motives.

If we're honest, we'll come to the conclusion that we all need help here.

What does James say to do? "If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom" (James 3:13, NLT).

How do we prove this? If we begin to use spiritual power to speak with favor instead of sarcastic, inconsiderate or judgmental words, we will find our human minds and feelings following suit. To do that, we need the power of God to truly change how we speak because, as James notes, we all fall short in this. We really have to start by asking God for help first thing in the morning and then keep it up throughout the day, as "Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin" (Proverbs 13:3, English Standard Version).

Nature abhors a vacuum, so just removing harmful words is not enough. We need to intentionally speak favorable words, replacing hurtful words (and thoughts) with words of encouragement, words that are authentic and show that we care. We must strive to avoid the temptation to verbally "poke people in the eye."

When we're considering how we should speak, sometimes we review Proverbs 25:11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Elements of this can powerfully help us with our daily speech.

Consider that this verse illustrates a high-impact positive outcome. The word—the encouraging or helpful phrase—comes exactly at the right time, and very importantly, in the right place. The proverb implies that careful thought has been deliberately made beforehand about content and the positive comment is intentionally delivered in the proper place to achieve maximum effect. There is nothing casual about it.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have an awesome responsibility to fulfill this. As we approach the Passover, let us take the advice of James. Let us prove that we understand God's ways by deliberately delivering words of heartfelt encouragement, speaking words of favor and strengthening each other.

Sure, it's tempting in this day of toxic, fake news, but don't start a rock fight. Instead, use your daily 7,000-plus words to "encourage each other and build each other up" (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NLT).