Monday, August 26, 2019

Movie Review: Overcomer


Movie Review: Overcomer



Pastor Bob Tousey

The Kendrick brothers hit another out of the park grand slam with this movie. I saw it with my 12-year-old granddaughter, Gabby during the Thursday night pre-opening and we both enjoyed it. We do, however, recommend that you bring a box of tissues as several scenes brought tears to both of our eyes.

Overcomer is a story of overcoming obstacles as well as redemption, grace and forgiveness. The movie starts of with a hopeful high school coach, John Harrison played by Alex Kendrick, and his basketball team being confident of winning the state championship next season. However, an announcement that the town’s primary employer will be closing the local plant quickly dashes that dream as many of the school’s families including those of key basketball players, are forced to move to find work.

The once hopeful basketball coach becomes the reluctant coach of the school’s cross-country team. The coach does not even like cross-country but is encouraged to take on the new role by the school’s principal who does not want to cancel another program.

After agreeing to assume this new duty the coach is disappointed when only one student, Hannah Scott shows up for tryouts, and as it turns out Hannah is asthmatic. With the help of his family, a newfound friend and Hannah’s relentless commitment, Coach Harrison, embraces the challenge. As other students hear about Hannah story, she begins to attract a strong cheering squad at her competitions.

As Hannah begins to grow in her athletic ability she also grows in her faith and accepts Jesus Christ as her Savior.  While Hannah improves her athletic talents throughout the movie, she continues to fall short of a win. Then comes the biggest race in Hannah’s life where she comes from behind to close the race neck and neck with the race’s favorite. They finished with identical times and the race had to be reviewed for a winner to be declared. I’ll let you watch the movie to find out if Hannah pulled off an amazing upset. This is a must see movie and will be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Celebrating the Individual Masterpiece God Created: A celebration of life vice a traditional funeral service.


Celebrating the Individual Masterpiece God Created:
A celebration of life vice a traditional funeral service.



By: Pastor Bob Tousey, MACM

        We are each God’s masterpiece that He created anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the things God has planned for us (Ephesians 2:10, NLT). He designed each of us for a unique role (Erik Rees, S.H.A.P.E, Finding & Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life, 2006, pg 18). It would seem that when our journey on this earth ends, we should celebrate the Masterpiece that God created, but sadly that is not often the case. We often focus on the loss that we are feeling because our loved one will no longer be part of our daily lives instead of focusing on the gift that our loved one was to us during his or her time on earth. We mourn instead of celebrating the gift we were given.

As a child I remember funerals being a gloomy event, where the focus was on the loss of a loved one, rather than celebrating a life well lived. The viewing would typically last two days after the death with the burial taking place on the third day. There was little to no laughter in the room, most people were dressed in black and weeping could be heard. The room was filled with flowers rather than memories of the life the person lived. The funeral service or mass would be very ritualistic and boring. It didn’t end there because the family was expected to wear black for an entire year to mourn. I remember when my dad died my mom had to go out and buy black clothes so she could “properly” mourn.

This ignored the Christian teaching that life on this earth is intended to be for a season, a very short season at that in comparison to eternity. Our loved one in fact does not die but goes on to eternal life. Several years ago, before his death Billy Graham reminded us of this with the words "Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God."  Ideally this should be the destination for each of us. When our life on this earth ends, we enter eternal life in which, ideally, our loved one no longer will suffer earthly pain, suffering and loss. Isn’t this something to be celebrated?

Today, the family has more freedom to choose when the viewing and service is scheduled as well as setting the tone for the event. Sometimes it is even a week or longer after the death. This allows loved ones to travel in. The family can decide how long the viewing will be often choosing to hold the viewing and service the same day. Very often an atmosphere will be created to celebrate and honor the life of their deceased loved one. There will be pictures at the viewing, if the person had an artistic gift, some of his or her creations would adorn the room or if they were competitive, trophies won will celebrate those achievements. I recently even saw the deceased’s motorcycle next to the casket and have been greeted by the deceased’s well-behaved dog who was allowed to attend the viewing.

The service whether religious or not can also be used as a time to celebrate the life lived.  While most of the services I conduct are Christian, I have on occasion lead a service for a family who preferred to celebrate the life without religious references. Unless the family is asking me to do something that would violate my convictions, I am more than honored to help the family obtain closure in a manner that they are most comfortable. Whether the service is Christian or non-religious we can always celebrate the life. I find that celebrating the life is consistent with Christian beliefs as God as created each of us to be a unique individual and the celebration of life honors the masterpiece God created. This takes a little more time than it would if I just simply read from a prayer book. I need to speak to the family and learn about their loved one. This can involve a phone call, multiple phone calls, a visit to the family home, a meeting in a diner or at the funeral home. I have done each of these. Sometimes it takes a few minutes and sometimes the better part of a day, but my philosophy is to do what it takes to minister to the family and help them heal. I often arrive at the funeral home early or even the night before the service to meet extended family and friends to view the pictures and get a better sense of the life the person lived. I encourage family and friends to speak at the service if they are comfortable doing so and if they are not but want to share something, I will offer to read it for them. I also provide the family with a copy of the service so they can read it later or keep it with mementos of their loved one’s life.

The religious portion of the service contains uplifting scriptural readings and prayers followed by short explanations of comfort and often will connect the reading to the deceased’s life. I will typically use a poem to transition from the religious portion to the celebration of life portion of the service. The idea is to honor the way the deceased lived and assist the family with closure.



Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Movie Review: Unplanned


Movie Review: Unplanned

By: Bob Tousey, MACM



Normally, I will view a movie on its opening day so that my review can be out early, but this was not the case with Unplanned. As much as I hate to admit it, I had reservations about watching this movie as I was not sure I was strong enough to handle some of the more graphic scenes. However, this morning God clearly placed it on my heart to watch the movie and I am glad I did. There certainly were scenes that made me uncomfortable and some that even brought a tear to my eyes but that is what makes it such a powerful movie. The story it tells is an important one and I pray that those who need to see it will see it.

The movie is based on a true story about a former Planned Parenthood clinic Director, Abby Johnson. Abby was raised in a conservative Christian home with staunch pro-life parents. Her husband was also pro-life. Abby was very transparent in her story sharing that in her early years she had two abortions herself. Abby rose from the ranks of a volunteer at Planned Parenthood to one of its most successful clinic directors. In fact, shortly before her transformation she was named Planned Parenthood’s Employee of the Year. Her career with the organization appeared to be on the fast track until she questioned some goals that were established to double the number of abortions performed. She was reprimanded for questioning the goals but went back to work the next day more determined to carry out the mission of the organization. This determination all changed when Abby was called into a procedure room to assist with an abortion and she watched it on the ultra sound. What she saw changed her life forever. She not only left her position as clinic director, but she became an avid advocate for the pro-life movement.

The scene with the ultra sound hit home with me as my conversion from pro-choice to pro-life came as the result of an ultra sound. Although mine was not viewing an abortion. Mine came about when my wife was twelve weeks pregnant with my daughter, who is about to turn 29. I accompanied my wife to the ultra sound appointment and when I saw my daughter moving, I knew she was not a clump of tissue, but she was a baby, my baby. In a matter of seconds, I knew I could no longer support abortion.

I encourage you to see this movie. The story is one that we all must understand. I encourage you to also read my blog post “Healing: Mark Bradley Morrow, Post Abortive Father.” This tells Mark’s story of 4 abortions, a vasectomy, 1 adoption, 2 reversals, a miscarriage, and 2 beautiful babies.

Friday, April 5, 2019

Iron Sharpens Iron: The importance of mentoring


Iron Sharpens Iron: The importance of mentoring

By Bob Tousey, MBA, MACM

           When we think of mentorship the biblical verse that often comes to mind is Proverbs 27:17 (NIV) which teaches that “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”. For teams to be strong it is important for senior members of the team to take time to share their experience and wisdom with junior team members. For this to work it is equally important for the junior members to be humble enough to accept the guidance of their mentors.

            The power of mentorship can be seen in Exodus 18:13-22 (NIV). In this passage Moses father in law, Jethro, observed Moses hearing disputes of the people from morning until evening. When Jethro inquired why he was spending so much time hearing these disputes, Moses replied these people have come to me to seek God’s will. Jethro admonished Moses that this was not good, it was too heavy a burden and would wear him out. Jethro then goes on to advise him to find other capable and trustworthy people and allow them to hear the minor disputes pointing out this would free Moses to hear the more difficult disputes. This advice resulted in disputes being heard in a timelier fashion and Moses did not wear himself out by hearing all the disputes himself. Moses was humble enough to follow the advice of his father in law and adopted the system he suggested. 

In a future post I will discuss the importance of delegation as I see too many leaders who fail in this task but today, I will focus on the importance of mentorship which is a valuable developmental tool. Early in my career I was taught that the first responsibility of every leader is to groom his or her successor. This is what keeps an organization healthy and when done properly allows for an orderly succession plan, which prevents chaos when a leader leaves the organization because there is already someone ready and able to fill the outgoing leader’s shoes. It also helps the organization grow. As the more junior members of the organization grow through mentorship, they can begin to assume more responsibilities which free up the senior members of the team to spread their wings a bit by taking on other new and innovative tasks, which can improve the organizations overall effectiveness.

            Too often I see organizations stagnate because of the lack of growth and worse yet fall apart when a leader suddenly leaves and there is no one ready to assume the mantel of leadership. It is important to prepare for the unexpected as it can occur. We must remember that leaders can be tempted away from an organization with more lucrative offers and even if they are not, they can become disabled and or worse yet die suddenly. When this happens there is a big hole to fill when no one has been groomed to take over. So, begin now. Mentor the next generation of leaders. This will keep your organization healthy and more effective for many years to come.

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