We Got That Goin’ for Us

If you’re not a middle-aged American male you might not catch the humor that’s about to hit you.  Does the name Carl Spackler ring a bell to you?  If so, you’ve got that goin’ for you, which is nice.

Carl was caddying for the Dalai Lama.  Carl schlepps the Lama’s bags for eighteen holes and it’s time for the tip.  Carl says (think of Bill Murray talking here), “So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, ‘Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.’ And he says, ‘Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.”

We’ve got this new CDF Capital thing going for us, which is nice.  We’ve got some new CDF Guys goin’ for us, too, which is nice.

I spent the last week hanging out with (l-r) Steve Carr, Jim Nash and Mark Senseman, three new CDF Guys who have a lot in common and a lot of differences.  Steve is a marathoner.  Jim said he once ran down to the Marathon gas station to get a candy bar.  Mark didn’t sell candy bars, but he sold a lot of cheesecake as the manager of the Cheesecake Factory at the Kenwood Towne Center in Cincinnati.

Jim preached for fifteen years in Central Illinois and Missouri.  Mark served on the staff at Christ’s Church at Mason before making the jump to CDF. Steve planted Echo Church in urban Cincinnati in 2005 where he still serves as an elder.

Mark and his wife, Patt, helped start River Hills Christian Church, just outside of Cincinnati, as lay people who wanted to use their gifts to help grow a church from the ‘gitgo.’  Steve’s wife Kelly is the editor of the Lookout magazine, a staple in Christian Church adult Sunday School classes for as long as I can remember.  Jamie, Jim’s wife, has a Masters in pastoral care and counseling from Lincoln Christian University and is an author of small group curriculum.

All three guys went to Bible College - Jim at Lincoln, Mark at Anderson University and Steve’s the overachiever with a bachelors and masters from Cincinnati Christian University, a masters from Xavier and a PhD from Gordon Conwell U.  Steve would make Carl Spackler proud.

When I asked Jim what he liked about coming to CDF he quickly responded with his wry sense of humor, “That I get to work with Brad Dupray.  That guy’s awesome!”  How could I not like a guy like that?!  Then Jim turned to the serious side.  “The whole reason is I want to be a part of helping churches grow.  A healthy church transforms the environment, the culture that it exists in. I want to be a part of helping churches that are healthy.”  Steve and Mark would echo those sentiments.

They’re different.  They’re the same.  They all have great senses of humor.  They have distinctive life experiences. They all love Jesus.  They all want to see His church grow.

They’re different.  They’re the same.  Steve’s built like a runner.  Jim’s built like a linebacker.  Mark’s somewhere in between.  They all have great senses of humor.  They have distinctive life experiences.  They bring diverse gifts to the table.  They all love Jesus.  They all want to see His church grow.

CDF Capital has three elements, financial capital, leadership capital, spiritual capital.  Three parts of a triad that support one another and provide value to the church.  Jim, Mark, Steve.  Three parts of a triad that support one another and provide value to the church.  We got those guys goin’ for us, which is nice.

We’ve got this new CDF Capital thing going for us, which is nice.  We’ve got some new CDF Guys goin’ for us, too, which is nice.