Dave Travis Now

How External Changes Can Quickly Change our Thinking

I have been thinking lately about how small, externally forced changes can alter our thinking and behaviors. Some of it is driven by the Nudge, Freakanomics, Age of the Unthinkable type books and some by current events.

Stick with me, and help me think through some more practical examples.

Let’s start with Up in the Air, the current George Clooney movie about a very frequent traveler. (I will review at the end of the post) It sure had its moments of interest to me as some of the character’s behavior when it comes to travel mirrors my own.

My patterns of packing, check in, zipping through security routines and being the first on the plane to stow my carryon bag are very familiar to other frequent flyers.

I am a committed one bag (plus my book bag) traveler. That philosophy drives lots of my purchases. It drives me to search for the ultimate carry one luggage that fits me. Unlike “Ryan Bingham” I detest the roller boards and prefer the soft sided shoulder bags. That in turn influences my choice of clothes I purchase and wear on a regular basis. I look for items in a standard color collection that can work well when I am on the road for a week. I am always thinking, will this go in the carry on bag and allow me the flexibility I need? Ditto shoes.

In fact my “travel light” philosophy impacts me in many more ways as I try to eliminate as much “stuff” from my life as well. These are positive impacts for sure.

The second line of thought came after the reaction to the Christmas day attempted airline bombing. Rumors flew around the various light travel web sites about further restrictions on carry on bags. What if all carry on bags save women’s purses and clear totes were enforced? What if all other bags must be checked at the counter?

That would change my thinking. On the one hand, it would mean more time and hassle when I travel. As the character notes in the movie, it means another 70-90 minutes each trip. But it would also influence my luggage choice. I might choose a brighter color. I would definitely go with a larger bag. I would carry more shoes and workout clothes. I might even carry a portable printer or other gizmos. I would go back to roller bag versions for sure. You get the picture.

This is something that could change overnight, with one “external force” making the change.

I note that in the past year as airlines have begun charging for bags to ride in the luggage hold that more travelers are stuffing the overhead bins with more and more large bags and not just simple totes. So that external change created part of the situation we have now. Passengers respond to rule changes and laws to create “new normals.”

OK, so what?

This gets me back to thinking of other disruptions that could impact larger culture, society, organizations, churches and our work here at Leadership Network.

What are the “unthinkable” or even mundane changes that would alter how we look at various ways of how we do things?

For example, the loss of tax deductibility for certain large gifts to churches and other not for profits, how will that change our approaches to these issues? What if there is a “national health care plan”? Will that change our churches involvement with health issues?

So help me build a list of “external changes” that will have an impact on churches and their leader’s thinking. Just hit me on an email (dave.travis (at) leadnet.org) or hit the comment button below.

OK, the quick review of Up in the Air – I didn’t like it. On the one hand it was a great commentary on our times as to lay offs, firings and life in the air. But there was no joy or fun in it. I like comedies and this wasn’t one. I like some drama’s too, but this wasn’t that either.

 Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

On the Holiday Reading List

First thing to do over the holidays? Work on my blog presentation. Second thing, some pleasure reading.

Thanks to my staff and some others who sent Amazon gift cards my way I now have a pile of books that are more “fun” to read over the next 10 days or so.

Here’s what’s in my pile:

“A Genius for Deception: How Cunning Helped The British Win Two World Wars” by Nicholas Rankin. This is a British Import. Oxford Press does such beautiful books. Heavy cream pages. True life book. I think saw this one in the Economist.

“The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” by Carmine Gallo. I think I saw this one on Michael Hyatt’s blog. I don’t speak often but I read multiple books each year to improve my speaking ability. Should probably invert that equation.

“Management Rewired: Why Feedback doesn’t work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science.” Tony Morgan turned me on to this one in his blog and then did a great interview with the author. I have read the introduction and so far, so good.

“What Americans Really Want…Really” by Frank Lutz. I think this one came via Nelson Searcy. I really enjoyed the insights of the author’s previous Words that Work about how language shifts how we think about certain issues.

And finally on the list is “The Predictioneers Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future.” I think this one came via the Economist as well and is about game theory.

As you will see my holiday reading is not the same as my regular reading. I want to read far afield this holiday.

What’s not on my list that should be? I have another $60 Amazon card.

How Megachurches Celebrate Christmas

Short Answer? In a Big Way.

Had a nice call with a print reporter on “How Mega Churches Celebrate Christmas” last week. Before I brief you on what I said, let me just say how much I appreciate print journalists that still cover religion. This has been a hard year for newspaper and magazines and I appreciate those that do the due diligence on a story.

It’s a tough job because I give them 20 minutes of background and of course they can use at most, one small partial sentence. I am often unclear why they chose that sentence instead of others but they are trying to do their job.

On with the story. The reporter was primarily interested in the differences between “normal” churches and megachurches in their approach. In his community, “normal” means a “First” Church of an old-line denomination. His own community is dominated by Large Catholic Parishes and large, evangelical churches are in the real minority.

I had several areas of emphasis and they all don’t apply to all mega churches but here is what I think he would find:

a. Context and Community dictate – Just as the “normal” church follows a tradition for their worshipping community, the context and community of a megachurch follows. So, for example, in broad generalities, if a megachurch is in a newer community with lots of young families that tend to “travel home” for Christmas, their schedules will look different from communities where lots of people “stay home” for Christmas. Normally, communities with lots of new housing, new elementary schools and new kids is a “travel home” community vs a settled community which is a “stay home” community.

b. Likewise the aim of the church is also important. Again in broad generalities here and not being critical of either “normal” or “mega”. “Normal churches” tend to design Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services around those that are already believers. It is surely a high holy worship day for believers and that is a logical and fruitful path.

Megachurches tend to design Christmas Season and Christmas Eve services for those who have yet to believe. That is also a logical and fruitful path. True, most of those that attend these services are already followers of Jesus BUT the intent is to give an opportunity for those that follow to invite those that don’t follow.

In other words, Megachurches tend to make this a strong season for reaching out to non believers and that influences a lot of the other things below.

c. LOTS of services – For “normal churches” the pattern seems to be perhaps one extra service on Christmas Eve and perhaps one on Christmas Day (though I am seeing less of that these days.)

For Megachurches it seems like double or triple the number of special services during the season. I noted that many started this past weekend and will also have multiple services on the 23^rd and 24^th this year. A few of these have specialized services targeting children but most use an identical format for all these special services.

All of these services have a Christmas/Advent theme, clear message, lots of music and are designed for those that may only attend a church service a few times a year. I will say that they rarely if ever acknowledge verbally though that they know you are only here once a year.

For “normal” churches the services may have a nod toward the “once a year” crowd, and often make a comment that way, but the service is designed more for the regular worshipping community that gathers on a regular basis at the church.

I can see value in both approaches.

A shorthand way of saying it is that many megachurches make this a season focused on reaching the ungathered in the community and “normal” churches focus on gathering the community of faith.

d. Outreach to the Poor – I see many more megachurches emphasizing outreach to the poor during this season. Normal churches do the same. Megachurches tend to have big, high profile projects that match their scale. In some cases due to their scale and profile, megachurches attract local business and community support that a “normal” size church does not.

I think “normal” churches also do a good job in customizing care, concern and outreach to the poor and give it a greater emphasis during this season.

In the case of some megachurches, this outreach to the poor is often the central celebration of the season.

e. The Anti Consumerist Christmas – the growing trend, helped along by the Advent Conspiracy folks and others, is the move to de emphasize the consumerist binging at Christmas. I have seen lots of churches picking up on these themes and at the same time adopting projects, both local and global, that serve the poor in specific, tangible ways.

“Let’s give the kids small gifts and give big gifts to the world.”

This is similar to “normal” churches special financial offerings for missions and local benevolence funds during this season. I think the difference is in specificity and targeting for these offerings. The difference is in the anti consumerist messages.

 These projects are being adopted by churches of all sizes but you hear about them more from megachurches, again due to scale.

f. “We shut down for Christmas” – This was the story that made lots of ruckus and news a few years ago when Christmas actually fell on a Sunday. A minority of prominent mega churches did not hold services that day. They became the subject of great ridicule in many quarters.

I actually believe that TOTAL attendance across all Christian congregations in the US reached a record that year for the week before through Christmas Day. It is clearly an educated guess but I had figures from the same churches being criticized on the overwhelming numbers of people attending the weekends before and the special Christmas Eve services. I had strong reports as well from churches that had Christmas Day services. Plus we had record mild weather over most of the US that December meaning that people could go to church without hindrance during that month. (Unlike the Blizzard this weekend in the mid atlantic states). We are going to have the same story again in a few years.

The other factor is a growing number of megachurches that tend to have extensive Children’s ministries that either don’t have services the weekend after Christmas or on Christmas Day due to the scramble to have enough workers that day. Instead of creating a sub standard experience for the children, they choose to “give workers a weekend off” and as a back up, some have special family services that weekend or none at all.

I note that this year, with Christmas on a Friday, that many larger churches are having abbreviated schedules on Sunday the 27^th and many cancelling their Saturday night services the 26^th.

Another group is not having services at all after Christmas Eve.

Again, see letter (a) above for community and context. This tends to be the pattern based on “travel home” or “stay home.”

I have a few more Christmas Season posts to share later in the week. Another thing I have noticed this week is that many of my emails to pastors are bouncing back as “out of office” as preparations for the Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve Eve services are in full prep.

So if you are one of the few still working this week, please comment and share what you are seeing in your community. Who knows? Maybe the reporter will call you next time.

 

 

A Multi Site Road Trip Tour - Mighty White?

Full Disclosure note: The authors of this book include Warren Bird and Greg Ligon work with me at Leadership Network. Plus they are great friends. Surratt is a friend. He used to work for us. He is now a Leadership Network alumni staff member. But they didn't pay me or send me any special Christmas gift for writing this post.

Plus, I like the book. I think for any church doing or considering a multi site approach to ministry, you need to get it. A Multi-site Church Road Trip.  

And today I am a proud to be a part of their blog tour.

My question to them was pretty simple.

I really appreciate your book and the diversity of the movement you describe. Is it just me or is this primarily a white, evangelical thing? Does it just fit anglo culture? Or are you seeing it in other cultures in the US?

 

Great question. Suburban, heavily white megachurches have been the most visible in publicizing the movement, but that is certainly changing. Yesterday I read that T.D. Jakes and the Potter's House are trying a multi-site experiment for New Year's Eve. I've visited other predominantly African American megachurches that are multi-site. Some high-visibility ones include: 

- New Direction Christian Church, Memphis, where Stacy Spencer is lead pastor (www.n2newdirection.org)
- Eastern Star Baptist Church, Indianapolis, where Jeffrey Johnson is lead pastor (www.easternstarchurch.org)
- Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, Memphis, where Frank Thomas is lead pastor (www.theblvd.org)
- Mount Zion Baptist Church, Nashville, where Joseph Walker is lead pastor (www.mtzionnashville.org)
- Word of Faith International Christian Center, Southfield, MI, where Keith  Butler is lead pastor (www.woficc.com)
- Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, where Charles Jenkins is lead pastor (www.fellowshipmbchurch.org)
- Elizabeth Baptist Church, Atlanta, where Craig  Oliver is lead pastor (www.elizabethbaptist.org)
- Triumph Church, Detroit, where Solomon  Kinloch is lead pastor (www.triumphch.org)
We've had conversations with predominantly Hispanic or Asian churches that are doing and exploring multi-site as well. If the primary motivation for multi-site is to reach new people for Christ, and to take the church closer to where they are, then race should not be a limitation.

 
If you want to see more questions and answers on the book you can follow the tour by linking over to The Leadership Network Books Blog at http://books.leadnet.org

Birthday Reflections of Thanksgiving

I meant to do this yesterday on my birthday, but it got way too busy.

I turned 48 yesterday. Yes there were rumors around the twittersphere that I was much older. I take lots of grief for "acting" old and having graying hair. Lots of pressure to color it but so far I have resisted.

But it was a great day.

I worked. I love my job. I stayed mostly at the desk and did what I needed to get done. We have a big week ahead of us next week with staff, board meetings and other special events. I spoke to several of my closest colleagues on these matters and I felt productive.

We had our weekly team call with my colleagues from around the country. We do this by video conference so I can see all of them as well. They sang Happy Birthday to me.

We prayed together for our friend and client Matt Chandler of The Village Church who was going through brain surgery yesterday for a tumor. Probably the best present of all was hearing that he came through.

Everyone asked what I wanted for my birthday. Truthfully, nothing. My needs are well satisfied. Sure I have my little vices (like my pen collection) but as to needs, we are well supplied of simple tastes.

I have the books I want to read and when they run out, I go get more.

My kids gave me shoes (which I selected) and I am wearing them now.

I paid all the tag fees and taxes on my rolling stock in the driveway and applied the stickers.

My wife gave me a pen and made me a cake. That's plenty.

I did get lots of well wishes from facebook and twitter friends. I am grateful for each one. I was proud to see wishes from old high school friends like Kevin, Craig, Stephanie and others. As well as work, business and friends from around the world.

We went and picked up my Tech Daughter and had dinner at Mary Mac's Tea Room in midtown. I had chicken livers, a rare treat.

Last night I got to watch the final episode of my favorite TV show - Monk. I think the end was a little strange but ultimately satisfying.

Today I will continue my celebration by reading for several hours. I then will trek up to a friend's wedding. He is in his late 70s. He used to work for me. His first wife died a few years back and now he is marrying a widow in his new community. I am looking forward to joining them in this marriage service.

And then I will get back and watch the ACC Championship Football game.

Who could ask for more?

What IS Changing in the CHURCH

(Long Post Warning) (and this was posted a few days ago over at learnings.leadnet.org)

This is the first part of my speech to the Cornerstone Knowledge Network. The speech was in four parts:

Things that ARE changing in the Church World

Things that AREN’T changing but some say they are

Things that AREN’T CHANGING YET but I think are coming

Things that SHOULD BE changing but don’t seem to be happening

Some caveats:

One, this is all my opinion based on my keyhole view of the world. Feel free to disagree.

My key hole that I see through involves lots of leaders of very large churches in US (and a few in Europe). The avg size for our clients is around 3700 in weekly attendance.

I believe that the things these churches deal with often set the tone and direction for other churches (for better or worse). So some will read my observations and say “that doesn’t apply to my church.” Fine by me. You may assign a particular point to another bucket. Fine with me.

My attempt with these lists were to help these business leaders whose livelihoods depend on working with churches be better equipped to deal with their challenges.

And part of this reflection is based on my comparisons to some notes from conversations with Senior Pastors of large churches 15 years ago. So they are “what has changed.”

So, Things that I think ARE CHANGING:

I am just going to touch on them here and if demand is great enough write a small booklet or a blog post on each one.

1. The rise of Multi Site churches – multi site changes everything as we say.
2. Social Media penetration – I read that 85% of Americans aged 18-29 logged onto at least on

   on
   

   e social media site in August 2009. That’s one month not year to date. I think widespread
   adoption of this communication medium changed how we perceive leadership so I think it changes churches.

3. Internet Campuses – They’re here and they are about to be “in a box” so any size church can have one if the want. For some this will be a fad but for others this is going to be a big part of their reaching strategy going forward.

4. Growth of Teaching Teams – that is a big, accepted change from when I joined
   Leadership Network almost 15 years ago. It’s almost like everyone wants to do it now while they may not know quite how to do it.
5. New Church Development by young 20/30s. People say this generation is not going to church. They are. They aren’t going to existing churches, they are flooding some new churches.
6. Online giving – this number continues to rise and some churches in Europe tell me that they get 80% of their giving through this channel. That is way above US. So I think eventually the number will rise. They tend to get it by automated draft by the way. Probably the most consistent way to get it.
7. The iPhone revolution of communications. Probably more accurately called the smartphone revolution with others now coming on market. How will we communicate in the future – lots being driven via these hand held devices. Pay attention to that.
8. Big change – Availability of appreciated stock . So what does that matter. Lots of gifts in the past came through that type of giving. When it ain’t around no more its hard to build an extravagant building. Might be a good thing.
9. Availability of home equity. Not as much as there used to be. Plus is that it is driving folks to be more fiscally responsible. My guess is that it might have some short term affects on churches in subtle ways.
10. More thinking of church “beyond the walls”. In Leadership Network language that means “Externally Focused Churches” being the best church FOR your community. (We have lots on this one)
11. Lots more multi racial churches (though perhaps not multi cultural churches). We have been tracking these numbers for some time. What this means? Well if you are in the building and advisement industry, (like these people are ) it means that the committee or team you are working with may have different assumptions within their own team to be worked through.
12. Mobility of Americans – I recently read how that total percentages were down. I attribute mobility factors as a big reason for megachurch attraction. If people aren’t moving at least 10 miles away as much, they tend to stay in their same patterns.
13. The book/magazine/church conference business – Anything print seems to be suffering so there is a big restructuring going on there. Also in the church conference business, there are going to be a few winners, a few that can survive and a lot that go under. So a restructuring there as well.

OK – that was the highlights of my first list.

Any to add?

Some may actually be on one of my other lists but I would love to hear your thoughts. Just hit the old comments button and send them in.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

A blessing and a haunting

The man on the left in this photo is my friend Peicho Muhtarov. Peicho lives and works in Bulgaria where he pastors and serves with the Bulgarian Bible League helping them to plant churches.

I got to know Peicho through our European Church Planting Network program we run at Leadership Network

I don't write about our European operation too much, but we have worked with two dozen or so churches and planting organizations over the past few years in our goal to help them catalyze 500 new churches. I will write more on that in the coming days.

Peicho came to Atlanta to share about his work in Bulgaria and I was blessed to go hear him last Sunday at Calvary Church in Dunwoody, Ga.

He had a great message and testimony.

(That is his wife Dede on his arm and another friend from the Bulgarian work who came along)

But something he said just haunted me.

We were talking about his calling and work and he said: "David, I had a friend who was an evangelist and preached to many in my country after the openness. (the fall of communism) And they responded and became believers. Praise God."

But then he added:

"But the churches were not able or ready to receive them. They could not handle such an influx of baby Christians and the harvest was mostly lost. I want to make sure that never happens again."

And that is the haunting feeling I have had since he told me.

I have often used that scenario as an exercise with American Church leaders. "What if God moved mightily in your region, and massive numbers of people were becoming believers....How would you have to change your current way of doing things to disciple them?"

Those questions, many times conducted within our various Leadership Communities help leaders to stretch their thinking to get to new ways.

But Peicho has lived it. And it haunts him. And me.

What about you?

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

50% of Today's Pastors will not retire as Pastors

50% of today’s pastors will not retire as pastors - How can we reverse this?

 Not sure we should.

@TomRHarper posted this on twitter today. Actually he just posted the first line, the second is my response.

Let’s just state for the record that Tom is an excellent church consultant, smarter and better looking than me. And I think I get the drift of his statement and he means – Some really good people are being run off from the pastorate and how can we reverse that trend?

Tom has agreed to post a response on his blog and when he posts that response I will amend this tweet. Please feel free to join in the comments on both blogs. I am posting this at davetravisnow.com, learnings.leadnet and Tom is over at Church Central I think.

But I also got to thinking about some of my friends that I went to seminary with that have “left the ministry” even though they really haven’t…….and that is where we need to expand our thinking.

So let’s get a few things out of the way.

Some pastors leave the ministry due to moral issues – I am not saying these should not be restored to ministry roles but some take a permanent leave after those circumstances. I doubt Tom is talking about this group.

Some pastors end up in jail for a variety of offenses. Hey I am not saying they can’t eventually serve again either (remember Paul and Martin Luther King Jr. did some jail time too).

Some mess up in other ways. Perhaps in their confusion about leadership models and what leadership is they split churches, cause division and carry a poor reputation with them and are unable to find (or plant) a church. Don’t think Tom is talking about those but hey, it does happen.

Some become professors at colleges and seminaries. Not for me I don’t think but they seem to find it fulfilling. Sure, they occasionally take an interim pastorate but I don’t think they consider themselves pastors.

Some become consultants, fund raisers, denominational servants, church builders, and other things in the “church related industry.” For many of these people, the new role brings great satisfaction. In fact they feel that God has uniquely equipped them for that role. I doubt Tom is talking about these folks but technically, they are no longer pastors. I know my own seminary considers me to have “left the ministry.” So does my grandmother, but I don’t feel that way.

I know multiple friends at smaller mission agencies and parachurch groups that took a key role to help that group expand its ministry. It’s not that they didn’t feel called to pastor, it’s just that they feel called to help those groups advance the kingdom outside the local church.

I even know of some pastors who have left to serve in the Private Foundation and charity world. Their skills for people development, vision casting and evaluation are highly valued. But they are not a pastor in the formal sense.

I know of some other pastors, who were great “successful” and prominent who entered another line of work. Some were related to family businesses where the whole of their clan needed their leadership. Some entered the teaching profession and have now teach in middle and high schools. Some did this for steady income or benefit reasons but most did it because they saw a great mission field that they felt they could serve. In their heart, they are somewhat still a pastor but just don’t serve in a formal church sense. I know a few that had family situations, such as a special needs child, that exited church leadership for the business world to better serve their entire family’s needs.

I know a fair amount of pastors who have gone into industrial, prison and military chaplaincy and have found that very fulfilling. I also know some that have become involved in the courts system and parole system. They still use their pastoral gifts to serve people but outside formal church structures. Have they left the ministry? Not in my mind.

I think the queasiness I have about Tom’s statement (in tweetable form mind you and he didn’t elaborate) is that I think our definition of “pastor” is too limited. My five-fold friends would say it is actually our view of the all the five fold ministries is too limited to “local church” as we have traditionally defined them.

I think the queasiness is also the assumption that I made that what Tom meant was “full time” or even “bivocational” pastors serving as lead pastor of a local church.

I just think there are lots of pastors who never serve a church and we probably don’t call them pastors. But we should. They have pastoral gifts and are exercising them to advance the kingdom.

 Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

30th Reunion Reflections Part 2

Ok. Waiting on a plane again and have a few minutes to jot down notes again on my 30 th High School Reunion. This is mainly for the folks I went to high school with.

They say every good blog post has a visual but I left the camera at home with the photos so your imagination will have to do. I have seen some photos of the event on facebook which left me with two feelings.

1. Glad I don't have to explain some of those.

2. Kicking myself that I see people in the photos I didn't get to speak to personally.

So - folks like Karen Sands - who looks just as she did when we graduated. Anne Hall, Clark Nance and the like. I heard Liz Freeman was there and I missed her. Trish Wharff Evans calls it "Reunion Regret." She's right.

I did get to see some folks that I haven't seen in a long time. Folks like Ricky Morgan, Beth Reagin, and the like.

There was Kevin Cochran, who was to me the most enthusiastic reunion goer in the sense that he was excited to see everyone. He is back from a sojourn in Colorado and excited to be living in Rabun County now. We love Rabun County too and can't wait to connect with him at Rumor Haz It . I had not forgotten Kevin but had forgotten about his siblings which have given him numerous nieces and nephews.

I think the last time I saw Frank and Sally Hanna was the last reunion, though Frank and I had corresponded recently about his book.

I don't guess I had seen Danny Wine since High School. He used to be so skinny thin that he would go down the drain if you pulled the plug. He has filled out but looked much healthier in the face. I wonder if he still has a good tennis stroke like he used to?

I know I mentioned Craig Riley in my last post but his cousins Russ West and Eddie Price were also there. (As was their cousin Alison Lindsay Rhodes) It was good to see those cousins. So different and so alike at the same time.

Steve Hunter and I see each other fairly regularly and he is always good to send me news of former classmates as he gets it. His lovely wife Kerri, who I missed at the Smyrna celebration was also there.

I will save a few runnin buds for a later commentary but I will mention a few friends that were not there.

Jeff Holder wasn't there. Jeff is in California still in the Hollywood mix. I get to see him about every 18 months when I visit LA. He is still a great guy. I think I saw online he was leading a conference last weekend.

Thanks to the Facebook thing, I think many of us have connected to Mary Catherine Carson, who frequently comments on my page and twitter. I had hoped she would get to come down but saw that she couldn't. Somehow she is related to Mike Hatcher but I can't remember the connection.

OK - an etiquette question - In our High School days people went by different names - Tommy is now Tom, Jimmy is now Jim, Mike may now be Michael and so on. I get that, I go more now by Dave than David. So I hope I didn't offend anyone by calling them by their "old" name.

And finally I am asking about some old friends that I didn't see there and have no idea where they are, do you?

Where is Joyce Smith? She was yearbook and Homecoming Court and all that. Where is she these days?

And where is my friend Marlece Ellenburg? We used to play mixed doubles tennis and ping pong, dominating the Orris ping pong parties?

And where was Jon Fennell? a guy I have had some email contact with but haven't seen in a long while and whose brother I have in my Facebook friend deal but not Jon.

Anyone know?

Joe Lattanzi told me that he and Jeff Malone should start a collections business because they found almost everyone. Good for them. Good job guys.

OK, plane is calling. Praying for friends back in Atlanta. Saw photos of Brian Johnson's back yard and it looked really bad.

Reunion Reflections Part One

Ok - this is more for my High School friends. The rest of you will have no idea what I am talking about.

The 30th Reunion was a big success. Thanks again to Michael, Joe, Jeff, Ruby, Dana and Trisha.

I have already seen photos of people that I had hoped to see but didn't get to see last night. Which is a bummer. But there were lots of great old friends I did get to see. And many I haven't seen in 30 years.

A few to start.

As I walked to the table I saw Chandra Trautman, who I have seen in the last year, but always good to see her. She reminded me that we sat next to each other from 6th grade on. Glad she made the trip from Orlando.

Doug Black looks better today than he did 30 years ago. How did he do that. I kept running into him last night and continued to marvel.  I put Craig Riley in that category as well. Looks better now than ever. As my wife said - "you haven't aged as well as some of these people." What a great encouragement.

Bev Smyly is beautiful in every way as always.

Joe Lattanzi reminds me more and more of his dad. Of course we miss his dad, as does the whole community of Smyrna.

Ed Buckner (and his lovely wife Diane Jenkins Buckner) were there and he told me of his retirement last FRIDAY from the US Army. The Army has kept them young and Ed, thanks for your service to our country.

Jeff Malone says he has his whole family close to him and that fits right in with who Jeff as always been.

That reminds me that one person said that core personalities have not changed since high school. Which is a corrolary to my "life is just an extension of high school to most people."

So, Gary Orris' humor has not changed. Bret Redferns enthusiasm to dance didn't seem abated. Brian Johnson's sarcasm? Still there.

Enjoyed seeing friends from birth like Randy Shepherd, one of Smyrna's finest firefighters and hearing of his new baby. Mike Hatcher, another friend since birth, has twins on the way.

I was glad to hear of many of the parents of friends who are still kicking especially Ed Tinney's mom, who drove the school bus for many years.

Among those that had seen my facebook page they all wanted to know about my CNN appearance earlier this year. They didn't see it on TV, just on my page. Bill Black has a good friend that is an anchor there. Good to see Bill as I had seen his parents the week before at Grandma's 100th birthday.

One of the most distinguished looking guys there had to be Bernard Perry, now principal Perry apparently up in DC in a middle school. He doesn't have the hair he used to have but none of us do. That's especially true of my old buddy Andy McClure. But what Andy doesn't have in hair he makes up for in fitness. He told me he had pitched 10 innings of adult baseball in the last few weeks. 

I miscalled a few names including one as I was walking out calling Gayle Bishop, Gayle Parker instead. Gayle and her brother lived up the street maybe 4 houses from us for years, The Parkers were at the end of the street), so upon review I was embarrassed. Of course some of these ladies have different last names now but I can't recall those.

More later as the plane wants to leave now.