Moving to my Website

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Scott Ranck

If you have subscribed to my blog, I’d love to invite you to my new website: http://www.improvingchurch1.com. I will be writing a daily blog on helping struggling churches become vibrant again. I’d love to have you follow the journey!

Scott

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Gender Ideology

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Scott Ranck

As a corporate leader, I was always taught to work within a normal framework of rules and guidelines and then manage the exceptions. Most guidelines for business, law or life will have exceptions to the rule. Because there are some exceptions you don’t discard the rule, you manage the exceptions.

The rule of life when it comes to gender is 95% of the population identify as heterosexual males or females. Biologically, there are only two possibilities. The human species has only two possible gametes. Some people produce eggs, and for millenia have been known as the females of the species. Some people produce sperms, and for millenia have been known as the males of the species. These two are the only two required for the continuation of the race. The human norm is females have XX chromosomes and the males have XY chromosomes.

There are chromosomal variations that impact a small percentage of the population, 5.41 out of 100,000, which represent thousands of individuals. The variations do not necessarily cause infertility and the binary option of producing egg or sperm still applies. The only other option is infertility. Many people who have chromosomal deviations from the norm, never know it, 32% never discover until they are adults, and operate in society as heterosexual males and females. In a smaller number of cases there will be physical variations that lead to the discovery of a deviation from the norm. Those cases need compassion and management between Doctor and patient. For the most part these deviations have nothing to do with gender ideology but rather are used by those pushing gender ideology as evidence for their agenda.

The recent phenomen sweeping our country is an effort to make the 5% of people who identify other than heterosexual males and females the norm, while attempting to make the 95% the exception!

In the modern concept, biology doesn’t matter, rather how you identify yourself is only in your head and can change whenever you change your mind and is not based on any science and is narcisstic delusion. It is criminal to take a “normal” infant or child and take away from them one of the earliest stabilizing realities of their lives. The rule for most the population is, look between your legs and you know you are a boy or a girl. To tell a child that biological reality doesn’t mean anything but what does mean more is how you feel inside is child abuse. You are setting a child up for anxiety, uncertainty and all types of other mental distubances and skew their entire understanding of reality.

Society needs to be ordered for the 95% and we will manage the exceptions. The exceptions don’t dictate for the rest of society with made up pronouns and all the other nonsense being hoisted upon us! All humans are worthy of love and emphathetic treatment, but you don’t create rules based on the exceptions, you manage them!

Blessings,

Scott

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We Want Something Different!

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Scott Ranck

In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is recorded in the early days of Israel’s history, the nation was a theocracy (God ruled). The nation was to have a distinct purpose therefore they were also to be distinct from the other nations. But, fickle as the human family is, the people wanted to be like the other nations rather than a light to the other nations. They wanted a king.

The United States of America, for her brief history, has been a unique experiment. We did not want to be like other nations, we were going to be a uniquely free country where everyone had certain unalienable rights given by their Creator. We were to be a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world. With limited government and freedoms guarded by the constitution!

As I travel in the energy world, though the USA has had the highest standard of living, the least expensive energy and is viewed with envy by the rest of the world, I often hear people say, but Germany is doing this, or look what Europe is doing. As an east coaster, it is also very common to hear, California is doing this or that.

I say, I don’t care what the rest of the world is doing! We have low cost energy, the ability to move ahead in life, opportunity for common people is every where if you aren’t afraid to work. I have no interest in paying $0.30+ for a KWH of electricity. I have no interest in paying $5-8 for gasoline and I have no interest at all in paying 50-60% of my salary in taxes so the government can control every aspect of life, like in other countries!

This Covid-19 exercise should be a warning to all Americans. Just like that, within days the government has the power to basically shut the entire country down. Churches are closed, schools are closed, sports have been shut down,  many businesses will be put in a very precarious situation. It is a warning of what could be all the time if you continue to listen to the radical socialist agenda and vote people into office who want to radically change us to be more like other countries!

America’s uniqueness among the nations of the world could be lost in one election. We have been blessed with vast natural resources, amazing ingenuity and freedom like others only dream about! Why would you want to be like any other nation that is less than what we already are?

Think about it!

Blessings,

Scott

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Paul, Timothy & Barnabas

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Scott Ranck

I’ve heard most my Christian Life, everyone needs a Paul, Timothy and Barnabas in your life. Paul, represents a mentor, Timothy represents a student and Barnabas represents someone who encourages.

I’ve been pondering this idea that I believe originated with Howard Hendricks years ago. When considering a discipleship relationship, I believe thinking in these designations is not that helpful. Imagine I come into a relationship with you and I am assuming, I am Paul. I’m going to help you grow in your faith. That thought will ultimately tarnish the relationship and make it top heavy.

I think what we need more than one of each of these in our lives, is to be all three to whoever we are in relationship with. Here is what I mean. During my time as leader of a men’s ministry, even though I may have more Bible knowledge than most the other men, in my relationship with them we were equals, peers from my vantage point. There were times I was coaching or teaching like Paul, but other times I was the student, learning from these men like a Timothy. We all took turns being Barnabas, or encouragers to each other.

Rather than looking for one of each, humble yourself and become all of them in your relationships with others!

Blessings,

Scott

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Why Abortion Is Critical To Feminism

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Scott Ranck

I believe all people are created equal and given certain inalienable rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This phrase gives us a glimpse into where satisfaction and fulfillment find their source. If we as people are created equal, that hints at the idea of a Creator. The dignity of all human beings find its source in the truth, we are created in the image of the Creator. Ask any person in life who has found a deep level of satisfaction and has been able to stop striving toward some allusive attempt at completion, and you will hear the same story. Their satisfaction and fulfillment came from within, often in connection with their God.

Years ago on a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, we saw a beautiful oceanfront beach home that was named, “Never Enough.” Has any achievement ever been enough? Has anything you’ve ever accomplished, earned, developed, pursued or even married ever been enough and brought a deep down, lasting satisfaction?

It seems to me, at least originally, feminism is the pursuit of “equality.” I interpret that to mean equality with men, who seem through history to be “ahead.” To gain the same rights and privileges of men required women to become more like men. Though there are at least 6,500 genetic differences between men and women documented by research, only a few physical differences are noticeable. There is only one really obvious difference, that pesky issue that can really impede a women’s progress! That is conception, gestation, pregnancy, and childbearing.

It appears men can enjoy the sexual relationship, and continue up the corporate ladder, a woman always has the risk she may become pregnant and that really complicates her future plans for herself and career. In order to level the playing field, abortion has been the tool to help women finally achieve complete equality with men. No pregnancy needs to slow her down as she pursues her dream of self-fulfillment and finding her place in the world. She may choose to end that pregnancy and only lose one day in the process of climbing the ladder.

The sad thing of all this to me is we miss the underlying issue of our discontentment. That is, we, men and women look for satisfaction in all the wrong places. We pursue things and people in an effort to complete ourselves. We chase things that can never give us what we really long for and our pursuits almost always leave us high and dry.

There is only one reservoir to drink from that will never run out of supply. There is a God who designed us as men and women, and He will fully embrace our masculine and feminine traits as beautiful and worth celebrating rather than trading in for the other model. May we all find what we are looking for in Him.

Blessings,

Scott

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Truth Exchange

Posted on February 23, 2019 by Scott Ranck

Romans 1:19-25 teaches God has revealed himself to us through his creation. By examining our world around us we can learn the truth about God, his nature, his power and how the world is designed to work. Interesting, it says as humans we suppressed that obvious reality and exchanged the truth for a lie and ultimately end up thinking we are so wise but actually become quite foolish!

I recently got a new computer for work. We have a high degree of security which can make everything more complicated. I was connecting a wireless printer but it wouldn’t work. It has to be wired with a cable because it is more secure! I started thinking about how our technology has to be designed to communicate with other devices. Whenever there is a purpose, thinking and design are essential. Transmitting information is an absolute necessity between devices.

I read a book a friend wrote that started me thinking about the human eye and human hearing in the light of modern technology. It is overwhelming complex to even imagine how both these processes work in detail. How light and sound are received, transmitted, converted to nerve impulses and then processed by our brain to allow us to interpret sights and sounds. It caused me to ponder the Scriptures referenced above. There is absolutely no possibility, no matter how long the time period, these senses could have happened without no design, just by random selection. A person would have to become a fool to believe that.

I began to think about other exchanges the human family has made once we ignore the Divine Architect of life and think we know better. We look at the wonder of the universe and say it just happened by random selection. We come up with things like there is some better way to build a society than the traditional family. We say, our offspring are not human. We say there are more than two genders rather than the two obvious genders and a few rare deviations. We twist and turn everything and ultimately to our own destruction.

I would encourage you to think about things that are readily embraced by our society that fit into this category. We are making tradeoffs that are not very wise.

Ponder these things,

Scott

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Seeing The World Through God’s Eyes

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Scott Ranck

I’ve been pondering this world we live in, and all the divisions and hostilities to each other. My thinking has led me down a path of realization that all of us view the world and how it operates through a variety of lenses.

I have chosen to do my best to view life through the eyes of the Creator. I have come to believe by learning, experience, and observation, there must be a Divine Being. By definition, observation and research, that Divine Being, many call God, must be greater than me.

Through years of study, I’ve come to believe the Bible both the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament and the Christian, New Testament is His communication to us so we can know who he is and what he is like. Through this belief in the Scriptures, I also have learned God reveals himself through the creation and ultimately through his son, Jesus Christ.

Being the supreme being of the universe automatically carries with it the idea He is much more in the know than any of us, even the brightest minds, and greatest scientists are but dim bulbs compared to his all-knowing glory.

Coming to see myself as totally incomplete without him, I’ve seen when left to my own best thinking, my mind is warped, my choices are flawed and my emotions are fickle. I’m left with one solution, humble myself, surrender to him and then study his creation, his word, and his son to learn all I can so I can know him and what pleases him.

I cannot attempt to shape him into my image, I must be shaped into his image. My natural thoughts are not his thoughts, His ways are much higher than mine and I have no way to know them other than humbly learning from him.

This requires when I study his words and ways, I seek to know his truth and then submit myself to it. I cannot attempt to twist and pervert what he says to align with my best thinking apart from him.

This view of life will always put me in the minority. Culture will shout and vehemently disagree, just as a similar culture took the perfect son of God and crucified him 2,000 years ago.

When I operate by my best thinking, I create a god that suits me, a god of my own understanding,  but in reality that god only exists in my mind. It is only when I seek to know THE God, the true, living and all-knowing God and submit to his ways, I become enlightened to the truth, reality and the Divine Wisdom of God.

blessings and ponderings,

Scott

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Epic Shift Coming!

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Scott Ranck

Jesus asked a question, when I return, will I even be able to find the faith on earth (Luke 18:8). When we look back to what has happened to Christianity in other parts of the world, we get a good indication of what will happen in our country in the future. In my last writing, The Church of the Future, I described what I see the church could look like.

So, I ask, how does the present day church prepare for the inevitable? Imagine walking away from your church facilities because it was no longer safe to go there. How long would it take for the facility to fall into total ruin? Is the present day, facility focused church sustainable for the long haul? Is having a church budget that requires $50,000 to a $1,000,000 dollars weekly for facilities and staffing sustainable? I don’t think so!

Every significant ministry in America should start developing an infrastructure of leaders and home groups for the day when that may be all we have. At least we will be prepared and be good stewards of THE CHURCH. When I think about the church, all it is, is the people. We are the church. Not the staffing structures, not the facilities, not the big productions that wear everyone out but the spectators, not the massive budgets, it is only the people.

I think the church will be much healthier and much stronger when all we know of church is the people, the relationships and the mission to share what we have with those that don’t have it yet. When as a living organism, we go about doing good, not to check a box that I serve a function at the church machine, but that Christ lives in me and I love him and I love you. Then we live with eyes wide open to opportunities that abound every day for me to be the heart, hands and feet of Jesus to a broken world.

The more I’ve pondered this over the weeks the more I’m seeing the machine siphons off the resources that could be going to impact the world in much more significant ways. The time, energy and money that is spent to sustain the machine actually keeps us from being the church Christ envisioned when he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The strongest representations of the church in the world is in those countries where it is not legal to exist. They have no facilities, just a network of people who love Jesus enough to risk their lives to meet together. Until it costs us something more than busy work to belong, I’m not sure we will ever value what it means to be the church.

What is your church doing that is more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? What is your church pursuing that a match and thirty minutes can’t destroy?

Ponder this,

Scott

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The Church Of Tomorrow?

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Scott Ranck

I just spent two days at the Global Leadership Summit. I was taught leaders see more and see further than others. I was challenged to learn the way our businesses or churches operate today won’t work in as soon as five to ten years. I’ve been pondering this for a decade, what do I see as the church of tomorrow? After seeing another mega-star pastor bite the dust, I thought there needs to be a better model of ministry than what we have now.

Here is what I see the church of tomorrow will look like and some pioneers may want to start moving that direction now. The church of tomorrow will value people and ministry more than anything else. Therefore the following must happen.

It must become streamlined and ready for persecution. No money will be tied up in facilities or salaries. Sorry pastors, no more opportunity to become a super star, celebrity pastor, writing books and speaking at conferences and pulling down the big bucks. You will work a regular job like everyone else and so not lose touch with life outside the church bubble. Plus, you won’t be leading alone. No more solo hot-shot pastors with a staff, there will be a team of leaders, all with equal status.

There will be no paid staff! That will contribute to a healthier group of leaders. It will contribute to a much more engaged body, and smaller more mobile teams of Christ followers.  There will be no bought facilities. People who have will share, a business, a storefront, a backyard. Where you meet will not be about how great the show or how comfortable the constituents. It will be about drinking deeply at the well of Scripture, worship, recharging and reaching and serving your neighbors.

There will be a team of people who share leadership and teaching based on gifts and availability but not on personality or charismatic leader to draw a crowd. The leaders will be loved, but so will everyone else. No part of the body will be more important than another.

All contributions will go to ministry efforts and needs. No salaries, no facilities, no insurance, utility costs, or multi-million dollar sound and light systems. The show is over it is time to get serious. If you want to follow Christ or learn more about Him, come with us. If you are more into what is in it for you, go to one of the dinosaurs in the neighborhood.

Hundreds of churches are going out of business annually. I can count at least a half-dozen senior, rock star pastors who screwed up and are gone just in the last couple years. When that happens your offerings can’t pay for your cushy facility and all energy now goes to survival so you can meet payroll and pay for a building. That is the future of today’s church if nothing changes.

The model of ministry I’m presenting, will be light and lean and ready to move at a moments notice. I would love to be part of that church!

blessings,

Scott

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What Couples Do To Destroy Their Marriage

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Scott Ranck

I asked Gayle to marry me in ninth grade, we were engaged at seventeen and married at nineteen. We agree with the statement, anyone married more than six months can find grounds for divorce. I’m going to share some of the most critical things we do as humans to sabotage our own marriages.

  1. We Believe Our Spouse Can Complete Us. Both partners need to do the hard work of developing joy and happiness within themselves. If you were unhappy as a single person, lonely and unfulfilled or chasing thrills so much you didn’t realize how miserable your were, you will be unhappy when married. Your personal contentment is your issue, not your partners. Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott have a quote that is powerful. Until you do the hard work to make yourself whole, every relationship becomes an attempt to complete yourself and is destined to fall dismally flat! Your satisfaction level in life will be yours and God’s to grow. Anything your spouse contributes will be icing on the cake. Do the work!
  2. One Or Both Partners Take Parenting Roles Rather Than Partner Roles. This often happens when faith comes into play. Most women are more relational and quicker to connect at a church and in their efforts to practice their faith. When hubby doesn’t share the same passion, the wife can turn into the mother mode. In any arena of life that happens by either partner it is terribly destructive. No adult wants to feel like they are being parented by a spouse. Accept your spouse as they are and trust God can do any changing that needs done! It’s not your job to fix your partner!! Work on being the best you can be!
  3. Take A Short Cut To Misery! It can be difficult if you are in some of the above traps, your partner isn’t measuring up nor are they willing to listen to you. They won’t go to counseling, they aren’t trying and no matter how hard you press, nothing helps. You become vulnerable at this point to taking the short cut that ultimately leads to more not less misery. Confiding your hurt to someone of the opposite sex at work, church the club, wherever has to potential to end your marriage. Someone who has never become whole through the hard work of maturity, who desperately needs someone else’s approval or affirmation, after being starved in a struggling marriage is like dry kindling wood and the attention from another attractive person is enough to actually make you lose your mind, yep, you go crazy. You are willing to sell yourself cheap because you’ve never felt like this before. Let me tell you, a train wreck is coming and a badly damaged life to follow! A better approach is to seek counseling by yourself. Work on you, let your partner alone! You are responsible for you. Your misery is your problem. Do what it takes to fix it, don’t blame it on your partner. They will never be enough to meet your needs, nor will the new person you’ve run to. Tap the unlimited reservoir!

Blessings,

Scott

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