Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[From Fortune]

What business are you in?” Peter Drucker famously asked his clients. The wisest of all management thinkers knew that fundamental question was most important. If we could ask his question of the entire Fortune 500 today, the answer would be especially important because it isn’t what it used to be.

The implications of the change are considerable for all of America’s big companies and for the country. Here’s the change in a nutshell: Until recent years the Fortune 500 was in the business of solving people’s problems. Now, increasingly, it’s in the business of solving the world’s problems.

Ford  is promoting – not better things for better living, but “Better World.”

Wal-Mart is saying, “Change a light. Change the world,” to promote the environmental advantages of fluorescent bulbs.

Exxon Mobil is “Taking on the world’s toughest energy challenges.”

GE says it’s helping “solve some of the world’s toughest problems.”

Starbucks  buys “fair trade coffee

What’s going on? A major part of the explanation is that we’re an incredibly rich society. One must never minimize the plight of the poor, but the reality is that on the whole we live amid greater abundance than any nation has ever known, and that changes people’s priorities. We can worry more about helping the world to the extent we can worry less about helping ourselves.

Read about it here.

[From me]

When I saw the headline it caught my attention.  As I read the article it hit me that corporations are attempting to do what the church should be doing.  Corporations are no longer just trying to make a profit they are trying to change the world.  Isn’t that the job of the church?

Didn’t hospitals, orphanages, and other social agencies used to be run and funded by churches?  Not anymore.   What are a few churches known as today?  In the eyes of unbelievers they are seen as “freeloaders” because they don’t pay property taxes.  Sometimes churches go asking for donations when in my opinion it should be the other way around.

I pray our church gets to the point if we weren’t around there would be a void.  If Fortune 500 corporations are getting “religion” isn’t it time that churches became known for changing communities, cities, nations and the world?

What do you think?

[From  Yahoo Sports]

Nick Saban is already filling Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium — and then some.

An overflow crowd of 92,138-plus fans attended the Crimson Tide’s spring game Saturday, nearly doubling the school’s A-Day attendance record and forcing university officials to start turning people away in the first half.

That kind of turnout for essentially a scrimmage was yet another indication of how much Saban’s hiring in January has stirred up a rabid fan base hungry for a championship.

“It shows the passion that people have for the University of Alabama, and it certainly makes me feel great about being here as head coach,” Saban said.

“It was awesome,” Quarterback John Parker Wilson said. “We were standing around there like, ‘Man, there’s a lot of people here.’ We didn’t expect that many people. To see that kind of support just makes us feel good.”

“I still can’t believe it, really,” Cornerback Simeon Castille said. “It’s a spring game and we have 92,000 people here.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

Makes me homesick.  

[From Christian Post]

A major New York real estate and land developer has proposed plans to build a Bible-based theme park in Tennessee which would depict stories from the ancient text.

Officials from Rutherford County, the fastest growing county in the state, met with SafeHarbor Holding to speak about possible plans for â??Bible Park USAâ? this past Friday.

The amusement park would be much like a â??story parkâ? and would include traditional rides that are found in amusement parks.

Read about it here.

There is also one planned in the UK called Ark Alive.

[From me]

What are some rides that you think should be in the Theme Park?

The highly misguided people from Westboro Baptist Church are at in again.  Now in the midst of the worst school shooting our our nations history the folks at Westboro are planning to protest the funerals of the victims.

Read about it here.

When is does this go too far?  Come on those students did nothing to deserve what happened to them.  Now in the midst of this tragedy the Phelps gang is going to inflict more pain.   If you have never watched my interview with Shirley Phelps-Roper you can watch it here.

To the Phelps family if you are looking for a place to protest I invite you to come to Charlotte.  I would love to share with you the “TRUE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.”

When does free speech go too far?