Barnabas File

I put my foot in my mouth recently.  You know how that works—you make an off the cuff statement and suddenly realize that you may well have offended someone in the room.  I was leading a training session for lay leaders in a congregation and I said something to the effect, “I don’t really think much of long range planning.” I immediately realized that this evoked a reaction among those present, and then it was driven home when one person said, “Well, I guess he just stepped on your toes, pastor.”  Rather than explaining what I meant, I pushed on. The pastor and I are still friends, but I should have clarified  the difference between several terms we use interchangeably. First, “long range planning” is still a very popular term in corporate America, even though most companies have no idea where they will be a year from now much less 5 to 10 years down the road.  The world is too unstable to assume that plans and goals set today will have any meaning in a re...