Bill Easums Observations

Again, I think all of you who have emailed, Facebooked, etc sharing your prayers and offers to help. Unfortunately there’s not much anyone can do other than myself and the care givers.

Update:

As you know my wife Jan had a stroke July 4.  After two week in ICU and the critical care unit she was moved 12 days ago to the skilled nursing section of the hospital and today she was moved to a Skilled Nursing Rehab Center because she was not considered able to return home.  At the moment her returning home doesn’t look promising, but we all know that somethings the impossible is possible.

At the moment she had said five or six words.  She can now drink with her right hand if she thinks hard about it but she cant feed herself.  She still can’t sit up nor remain vertical without some help. And she really doesnt know how to communicate.  I know its frustrating for her at times. What she really comprehends we dont know. Later in the week Im going to take our dog to see her and see if she lights up.

I’m returning to work tomorrow for some sanity of my own.  Im going to St. Louis to speak the the General Baptists. I hope I can do my usual work. While Im gone we have two excellent care givers who will be with jan.   One of them has been with us for almost ten years. Both are like family. She will be in good hands.

That’s about it. Again, I can’t tell you how much your prayers mean to me.

Bill

www.effectivechurch.com
easum@aol.com

Jan is now stable after a stroke.  She is in rehab and is making slow progress each day. Example- five days ago she never tried to pick up a cup and drink. four days ago she picked up a cup with her left hand (the uneffected one and drank. Two days ago she tried to pick up the cup with her right hand (the effected side) and  with a little help drank. today she tried to pick up the fork with her right hand but couldnt hold it hard enough to feed herself.  Today she cried when she couldnt communicate what she wanted to. that is progress. Yesterday she put the cover back over the food to tell us she didnt want any more. that is progress. as you can see it is slow.

So, its going to be a long process.

For all the prayers, cards, flowers, etc. thanks.  Payers are what is needed the most.

Bill

First, again let me say “Thanks” for all the emails and phone calls and prayers. It’s amazing how connected our world is.  Now to Jan.

I’ve got good news and bad news.  The good news is that Jan is still alive. We weren’t sure yesterday.  The bad news is so far she cant talk at all and her right side is very very week. And she is having trouble breathing and clearing the carbon out of her lungs.  She is awake now but cant communicate other than nodding her head but she does understand.

Its going to be a long haul and I know she doesn’t want to live this way. We’ve talked about it many times.  I told them no heroics of any kind at this point.  We’ll wait and see. I’m praying for God to be merciful either way this goes. When enough of this is in the past, I will share some lessons I’ve learned through all of this.

Again, thanks for all the prayer. 

They will remove the ventilator today.  We know that she will have some weakness on the right side.  How much we wont know for some time.  We do know she will have some speech issues, how much we will probably have a good clue later today.

That’s all i know for now. Update later today probably

Bill

Since so  many people are emailing and calling I feel the need to give everyone an update on Jan’s condition. 

She is in the hospital on a ventilator following what we think was a stroke sometime in the night of the 4th. She is sedated so its hard to tell much.  They did an MRI late yesterday and we’re waiting the results.  She is moving all extremitees some but weak on the right side.

Jan and I both have the same mind about heroic efforts to keep one alive. When i agreed to the ventilator I said for three days only. Its now the second day. It’s just a waiting game at the moment.  It’s been a long four years for Jan.

Thanks to everyone for your prayer and concern.

Bill

Mainline Churches could take a lesson from what has and is happening to Network TV.

Remember when there were only three, count them three, TV Networks? ABC, CBS, and NBC. They had a monopoly on the Television market.  Sound familiar mainline church? Up until the 1960′s mainline denominations had as close to a monopoly on the market as you could get. Like the three Networks, mainlines were the mainstream Christianity.

Now look at what has happened.  Over the past twenty years cable networks like USA and TNT have emerged with almost as much new programming as the three TV Networks. I wonder if mainline leaders here the train coming?

Now look even closer.  As the Network TV ratings continue to go down every year, the programs of the three Networks take off more and more time each year until we are lucky if they do 20 shows a year. And they take all the summer off while the Cable Networks flood the summer with some of the best programs of the year.  Mainlines are you listening? Most mainline churches take the entire summer off when it comes to the Choir showing up.  Can’t you see what is happening? Like the three Networks you are losing market shares.

I loved the mainline tribe I was part of.  But still I watched my tribe decline every year because, like the three TV Networks, we thought we owned it all and that would never change.  We were the second biggest denomination and were too big to fail. Will, believe me it has changed. Mainlines no longer own center stage. And if the trend continues most of us will be out on the streets looking for a job or merged with another group with whom we don’t have much in common.

I could make a pun about us as mainliners. Maybe that’s what we are mainliners, people who shoot up with some form of magic dust that clouds our eyes and hearts to what is happening to us. Maybe we should wake up and smell the roses and quit doing things that shoot us in the foot like continuing to increase the salary of pastors who don’t produce disciples, or allowing a full time choir director to have only one choir, or the choir taking off the whole summer, or reducing services in the summer, or hiring a youth director before hiring a full time worship leader, or giving our pastor a sabbatical after just a few years, or excusing our decline by saying we wont water down the Gospel like the independents, or allowing bullying church members to rule the roost as they attempt to keep God’s grace to themselves….. well the list goes on.

I hope I haven’t offended anyone.  What am I saying?  I hope I have pissed you off enough to cause you to say, “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to stand for this anymore.  I’m going to do something about it.” “I’m going to change the way I pastor and the way the church makes disciples.” If I’ve done that I’ve succeeded.

Every church I’ve seen turn around did so because it got a new pastor.  Either it literally got a new pastor or the pastor had an epiphany.  Maybe it’s time you and I had one. Better yet, maybe its time our leaders had one.  You think?

Over the years I made some predictions, most of which have or are becoming true. I have one to make about mainline denominations. Here it is: Unless we change our ways and regain our passion for those far from God over the next 20 years every mainline denomination will lose  more than 1/2 of its total membership.  For some denominations that means either merger or extinction. With a declining membership with an average age of 60+ already, one doesn’t have to be very smart to do the math.

Bill Easum
www.effectivechurch.com
easum@aol.com