A few weeks ago I was invited by some friends to attend the Nobles Rock Cattleman’s Association banquet. When I arrived I was surprised to find over 450 people had gathered to hear from John Phipps who is the award winning humor and commentary writer for Farm Journal and Top Producers magazines (Well, that and /or to enjoy a nice big juicy scrumptious rib eye steak complete with taters, corn and ice cream).
After the meal, recognizing those in our county who had made significant impacts in the beef industry, and completing the business, they introduced Mr. Phipps. Now at this point, I always wonder how a speaker seeks to motivate and inspire his/her audience from a secular perspective (my assumption was Mr. Phipps would not base his talk on God’s Word). See because truth from a secular perspective is most often determined by the person who has the greatest power or by the opinion of one that is affirmed by the greatest number of people.
Well, after Mr. Phipps shared how exciting it was to speak to a group of people other than corn or soybean growers, he briefly gave his outlook for commodity prices in general for the next few years. In a very nice way he kindly expressed somewhat of a bleak outlook, especially for the beef producer. And it was because of the challenges that lie ahead, he suggested that we must embrace the following four values.
First, he believed we all need to do a better job listening to each other. And one of the reasons we need to be better listeners is because social media seems to have evolved into a platform where everyone apparently has the right to freely offer their opinion. Another reason we need to be better listeners is because we are distracted by so many things. I was totally in agreement with this point and I was eager to hear more about his insight into our level of distraction, but then I got distracted by the caterers when they started cleaning up the tables from which they served. Buy the time I was ready to become a better listener, Mr. Phipps was about to move on to the second value we must hold to in challenging times. However, I began to wonder what would happen in the church if we spent less time offering our opinion and more time listening.
The second value Mr. Phipps suggested was that we must avoid shaming each other when we fail or make mistakes. There are just some things that happen between friends, families and co-workers that don’t have to end up on Facebook or in the coffee shop. If I remember right, he shared the story about a soybean farmer’s son who began combining his field when he forgot to put the cover back over the return elevator and the result was the son combined a great distance and all the soybeans poured out into a nice row on the ground. Then instead of keeping the costly oversight between the father and the son, the father shamed his son by making a big deal out of it in the coffee shop in town. I began to wonder what would happen in the church if we stopped shaming each other when we fail.
A third value in challenging times Mr. Phipps suggested was that, because farmers are often known as whiners, beef producers must quit whining about their hardship and figure out ways to be more competitive and productive. And the reason why a person must quit whining about the challenges, and instead must focus on new possibilities or practices, is because there is always someone out there who is going to figure it out and take your place. I began to wonder, what if the church stopped whining about how the old ways of doing things aren’t working and began focusing on new possibilities and practices before someone else takes our place.
And then a fourth and final value Mr. Phipps closed with was the power of community. Because the natural tendency in the midst of hard times is fear that leads to independence and isolation, the key to success is in the power of community. And in particular he highlighted the importance of being kind to one another—to do unto others as you would have them do to you. I began to wonder, what would happen through the church if we actually started thinking community, and we began with the virtue of kindness.
Although it became clear that Mr. Phipps was a Christian, he used no scripture, but he still gave the audience an inspiring and motivating picture of what life is like when you and I bring the kingdom of God in challenging times.
To God be the glory,
Mike Altena