The Pied Pipers of Purpose

The Pied Pipers of Purpose

 

Part 1:  Human
Capital Systems and Church Performance

 

Lynn D. Leslie, Sarah H. Leslie and
Susan J. Conway

 “…and the merchants of the earth are
waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another
voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation 18:3b-4

 “Humanity must perforce prey on
itself.”  – Shakespeare 

---

Contents 

Heavenly Directive #1

 

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

From: Ouranos
(Heaven)

To: Ge
(Earth)

 

EFFECTIVE
IMMEDIATELY

 

We regret to
inform the peoples of the Earth that there has been a disturbance in
the Force. Events unforeseen have occurred which have caused
immediate and irrevocable damage to the Almighty. The Ad Hoc Throne
Committee has completed an initial survey of the disaster and
reports that God’s attributes have sustained significant injury to
His Being.

 

On the positive
side, we report the following attributes of God appear to be
intact:  Eternal, Righteousness, Faithfulness, Goodness, Mercy,
Justice, Love, Holiness and Incomprehensibility. On the
negative side, we have located a power failure in the following
Almighty attribute grids: Omnipotence, Immutability, Omniscience,
and Omnipresence. Truth and Grace are in
the workshop in an attempt to salvage some aspects of these
attributes.

 

In short, the
Almighty God the Father has sustained irreversible damage during a
critical phase on Earth known as the Latter Days. The Alpha and
the Omega has been abridged to lower-level functioning as Alpha and the Omicron. Due to this emergency, a Strategic
Planning Committee has been set up to conduct trouble-shooting,
engage in long-range planning, and launch a transformational
initiative upon planet Earth to ensure the Almighty’s Plan for the
Last Days is fulfilled according to His timetable. We acknowledge
that this timetable has been kept a secret, and that given the
damage done to Omniscience we are collaborating with the
heavenly angels, the 4 beasts, and the 24 elders who are before the
throne in an attempt to piece together this chronology. We ask your
forbearance as we engage in this phase of sustained reconstruction.

 

Due to the
severe nature of this unprecedented attack, we have moved the Son
and the Holy Spirit to an undisclosed location. Although Omnipotence was quite damaged, we have managed to pull together
some pivotal experiences for key Christian leaders which should
accomplish the fulfillment of the Great Commission. (Pay no
attention to that man behind the screen.)

 

To meet the
needs of the body of Christ on Earth, particularly regarding the
missing attribute Omnipresence, we have instituted production
quotas via a computer simulation which will assist the
organizational development of transformative innovation. Change can
be difficult. Special forces and enhanced capabilities will ensure
that coalition strength is maintained throughout this difficult
transition. Collaboration is key to the success of this effort.

 

Should you need
further assistance with the fulfillment of your prayer requests and
petitions, we refer you to the World Prayer Collection Archive where
each and every prayer request is databanked pending the Almighty’s
future recovery.**

 

 

1.1     The
Tactical Role of Pragmatism in Church Transformation

 

Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church
and Purpose-Driven Life seem fairly innocuous upon cursory examination.
His books have been at the top of the nation’s best seller lists for
months. Churches across America are jumping onto the 40-day bandwagon,
incorporating the Purpose-Driven model into their church structure. On
the surface “purpose” doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. God has a
“purpose” for every life, great or small. A local church should come to
understand God’s “purpose” for its existence. The common definition of
“purpose” once meant intention, aim, resolution or determination. This
isn’t what it means anymore.

“Purpose-Driven” is the tip of a
massive iceberg. The context in which to properly place the
Purpose-Driven format is within a much larger initiative to transform
local churches worldwide. “Seeker-sensitive” churches, Bill Hybels’
Willowcreek model, The Connecting Church (Randy Frazee), Robert Lewis (The
Church of Irresistible Influence), Perimeter Church of Atlanta (The
Prevailing Church), and others too numerous to mention all build
upon the basic underlying principles for church restructuring. This
monograph will focus exclusively on the foundations of Rick Warren’s
(Saddleback Church) Purpose-Driven model, but keep in mind that the
other church models as proposed by Lyle Schaller, C. Peter Wagner, Carl
George, Leonard Sweet, Eddie Gibbs, Wayne Cordeiro, Wolfgang Simson,
Elmer Towns, Bob Buford, Jack Dennison, Stanley Grenz and many others
basically come out of the same mold. This pattern is also known as the
“postmodern” church.  The various terminologies are often the subject of
debates, so for the objectives of this document the transformative
prototype will generically be referred to as “Purpose-Driven.”
(“Purpose-Driven” has been trademarked by Rick Warren.)

The Purpose-Driven model originated
from some radical philosophies about the nature of man and society.
These philosophies are bent upon transforming the workplace, schools,
government, and churches in our society.  The portion of Purpose-Driven
visible on the surface, riding the crest of a frenzied marketing wave,
has been reduced to the lowest common denominators so that it will carry
the most widespread appeal. In fact, the message is uniform and
pre-fabricated – to the point where a local pastor can pull off canned
Purpose-Driven sermons from

www.pastors.com, Rick
Warren’s website to train and equip pastors.

But what precisely is the
Purpose-Driven philosophy? This plan to transform the “postmodern”
church? Its foundation is recognizable as General Systems Theory or
“systems” theory generically. Systems theory has been rapidly
disseminated in Christian seminaries during the past decade. It is a
surrogate theological paradigm, replacing the old traditional doctrines
about the nature of man and God with a new evolutionary worldview in
which man is transforming himself, his community and society. Systems
theory is derived from esoteric philosophies prevalent in 1800s Germany,
most notably Theosophy (Luciferianism).[1]

Purpose-Driven is the same plan as
the Cell Church (“apostolic” or “postdenominational”) and the
“missional” model, all of which come out of systems theory. The
cell/apostolic model appeals to the charismatic wing of evangelicalism,
with corresponding new doctrines to justify this reorganization.[2]
The “missional-systems” model originates from and has been promulgated
by Fuller Theological Seminary and the U.S. Center for World Mission,
and inculcates new doctrines (e.g., “contextualization” and
“evangelization”) into the evangelical mainstream.[3]
Both the mission groups and charismatics have been subjected to an
on-going barrage of “prophetic” messages (Elijah List, Joel News, Global
Harvest, et al.) which give “spiritual” authenticity to the entire
process. The Purpose-Driven paradigm markets church transformation in a
quite different package, however. It appears to come straight out of the
business world, appealing to a wider audience with its pragmatic tone
and less audacious experiential accoutrements. By far, the
Purpose-Driven model has been the most successful mechanism to integrate
systems theory into postmodern church theology and practice.

It is not surprising that the
philosophical foundation of General Systems Theory would become part of
the new church model. The evolutionary aspect of systems theory easily
corresponds with the notion that the Bride of Christ must perfect
herself on Earth, structurally as well as spiritually, before Jesus
returns. The philosophy of systems works hand-in-hand with computer
systems models and is applied to human systems development (i.e.,
evolution). As a result, the state-of-the-art methods of the computer
age have come to be seen as an indispensable part of postmodern
Christianity, and particularly useful tools for completing the Great
Commission. A parallel doctrine teaches that the historical Church was
grossly inefficient, and now that we have these high tech tools we can
expedite building the Kingdom of God. There is a resultant new
pragmatism in evangelical circles. As long as an activity purports to
produce “spiritual” fruit, it can be adopted as an acceptable tool for
furthering the Kingdom of God on Earth. Dr. Robert Klenck, critic of the
modern church growth movement, has observed: “People try to justify this
movement with pragmatic arguments – that the end justifies the means.
They believe that it is all right to use the world’s marketing and
organizational strategies to market and organize the church, as long as
people are coming to Christ. The Bible commands against such thinking:
James 4:4 …know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy
of God. (KJV)”[4]

This gospel of pragmatism seeks to
justify the use of worldly tools, philosophies, techniques, and models.
There is historical precedent for this. In the previous generation,
psychology and sociology were integrated with theology.[5]
Modern management theories and techniques, originating from humanistic
psychology and sociology, are thus more easily assimilated today. 
Concurrently, in the seeker-sensitive churches, classic doctrines such
as separation and nonconformity have been tossed aside as too
impractical and ineffective. In an era where Christians are virtually
indistinguishable from the rest of society in all manner of what the
Bible calls “conversation” (behavior, appearance, morality), this new
pragmatism finds an easy niche. Recently a friend wrote an e-mail
discussing a Purpose-Driven church her grandson was attending: “Two
weeks ago, he came for breakfast, and I was devastated to hear him say
the church he is attending in Portland, Oregon, has groups that are to
bring people to the Lord. Two of those he mentioned sickened me. One was
for cigar smokers, the other for beer drinkers.”[6]

This monograph will exclusively
focus upon the underpinnings of the Purpose-Driven model. A bibliography
of general Christian apologetic material about the Purpose-Driven Church
and/or Life is provided at the end. Footnotes are provided for the
reader who wishes to conduct further investigation into the material
presented in this paper. A simple Google search of the terminologies,
organizations and names mentioned in this paper will yield an abundance
of additional information. Readers are urged to enter a period of
prayer, Bible study and quiet reflection. Take serious note as to where
these Purpose-Driven premises utterly conflict with the Word of God. The
old way of the Cross, the narrow way, is still there for those with a
heart to diligently seek Him.

 

Heavenly Directive #2

 

For Immediate
Release

From: The Throne
Committee

To: Coalition
Members

 

Our most recent
records indicate that there has been a corresponding disturbance in
the Force which has profoundly damaged the Church on planet Earth.
We request immediate corrective steps be taken to compensate.
Beware: traditional methods of operation have been highly
counterproductive to the achievement of future goals. Changes must
be implemented immediately. Souls are being lost!

 

Our surveys have
found a disturbing depletion of the following “fruits of the
Spirit”: peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness and
temperance. The Committee has been working
overtime and has now discovered a method of manufacturing fruits.
Orders will be filled shortly.

 

Love,
joy, goodness and faith appear to be slightly
altered, but primarily intact. In the meantime, we have issued
ration tickets for these fruits pending a comprehensive assessment
of their effectiveness.

 

Finally, it is
requested by our Strategic Planning Committee that all references to
the “works of the flesh” be immediately omitted from future sermons,
as these are apparently creating some cosmic disturbances.
Additional instructions will be forthcoming.

 

 

1.2     The Guru
of Purpose-Driven Communities

 

Rick Warren cannot be examined apart
from the influence of his mentor, business guru Peter Drucker. It is
impossible to research the background of the Purpose-Driven model
without learning of Peter Drucker’s inspiration. And it is impossible to
study the philosophical roots of Peter Drucker’s ideologies without
ending up in the bowels of 19^th century German mysticism –
the same German philosophies that gave rise to the horrors against
humanity of the 20^th century. This monograph is not a
comprehensive look at the influences that shaped Drucker’s life, nor
will it scrutinize his complex, nuanced and even contradictory business
management views. For the sake of brevity, this document will examine
his specific socio-economic ideas which birthed the present church
transformation. Drucker’s prolific writings and recent undertakings
present sufficient material to illuminate the present discussion
pertinent to the church.

Peter Drucker is now 94 years old.
Should this paper end up in his hands, we sincerely urge him to repent
and renounce the deeds he has committed during the long lifetime that
the Lord has given him on this earth. It is not too late for you to
repent, sir, and we urgently plead with you for the sake of your soul.
May God have mercy on you for the influence your ideas have had upon the
past three generations of mankind, and will have on the future
generations yet to come. Although you say you are a believer, your
testimony is incomplete and conflicting. Your writings and works reflect
the esoteric philosophies that you grew up with and have embraced during
your lifetime, not the humble, simple, pure Word of God.

A brief history reveals Peter
Drucker’s roots go back prior to WWI to the Vienna Circle, where his
parents were part of an elite group of intellectuals who embraced
radical new philosophies about man, society, and economics that arose
out of Europe during the previous century. According to Drucker’s
official on-line biographical website (http://www.peterdrucker.at),
“In 1933 he emigrated to England, where he worked in banking and took
part in the legendary Keynes seminars; shortly before the outbreak of
the Second World War he settled in the USA. There, at the beginning of
the forties, he began his actual career: as a consultant to General
Motors and other large corporations he created the foundations of modern
management.” From that point on, Drucker established himself as a
management icon of the 20^th century, writing dozens of books,
and becoming widely popular as a consultant. Some of the leading men who
changed the course of world history in the past 100 years influenced,
and were influenced by, Peter Drucker.

Two philosophical essays written by
Drucker are assigned significance at his official website: “The Age of
Social Transformation,” (The Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1994)[7]
and a 1949 essay entitled “The Unfashionable Kierkegaard.”[8]
These two essays have little to do with management theory per se. Rather
they are philosophical treatises outlining Drucker’s key views about the
nature of man and society. Drucker asserts that management is a “social
discipline” which “deals with the behavior of people and human
institutions.” He has been variously called a “social philosopher” and a
“social ecologist.” A friend of Drucker has noted “…Drucker participates
in two different worlds. He is a social philosopher as well as a
management authority…. These two worlds of Drucker interweave with one
another, or rather unite into one. His concern is always the same. He is
concerned about the happiness of Man as a social being. That’s why he is
interested in society and its development.”[9]

Peter Drucker believes that the
“social universe has no ‘natural laws’ as the physical sciences do. It
is thus subject to continuous change.”[10]
“Continuous change” in systems theory means that man and society are in
a process of evolving, and teaches that man can harness change in order
to facilitate and expedite his own evolution. In his book The Future
of Industrial Man, he “announced the most important insight that
many people are not aware of yet: The inevitable failure of not only
absolutism but also rationalism.”[11]
Hence, Drucker’s view of the basic nature of man is derived not from the
Absolute Truth (Bible), but rather from the ever-variable psychologies
and social “sciences” – science falsely so-called (1 Tim. 6:20).
Drucker’s chief accomplishment has been to blend social sciences with
economic theory, creating a new view of the nature of man – a postmodern
economic man: “Macroeconomics, now a main branch of economics, treats
the crucial factors such as knowledge, technology and psychology as
external variables.”[12]

Drucker invented the concept of
“knowledge worker” to describe his new economic man. He says, “The very
term was unknown forty years ago. (I coined it in a 1959 book, Landmarks of Tomorrow.)” A “knowledge worker” in a “knowledge
society” is one who possesses a “formal education and the ability to
acquire and to apply theoretical and analytical knowledge,” including a
required “habit of continuous learning.” Therefore, education “will
become the center of the knowledge society, and the school its key
institution.”  The “individual is a cost center…. [T]he true investment
in the knowledge society is not in machines and tools but in the
knowledge of the knowledge worker….” Drucker continues,

 

Knowledge has become the key
resource, for a nation’s military strength as well as for its economic
strength. And this knowledge can be acquired only through schooling. It
is not tied to any country. It is portable…. Knowledge [is] the key
resource….[13]

 

In other words, each human possesses
“knowledge capital” – an economic term indicating human worth or value
that can be periodically assessed. This “knowledge capital” is portable,
meaning that a worker carries his assessed value from place to place.
Humans are considered “value-added” (continually educated or “lifelong
learning”) when the assessed value of their “knowledge capital”
increases. Drucker explains the significance of human knowledge
as “wealth,”

 

We now know that the source of
wealth is something, specifically human knowledge. If we apply knowledge
to tasks that we obviously know how to do, we call it productivity. If
we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different, we call it
innovation. Only knowledge allows us to achieve those two goals.[14]

 

Drucker states
that this has been valid corporate theory since 1970:

 

The means of
production is knowledge, which is owned by knowledge workers and is
highly portable. This applies equally to high-knowledge workers such as
research scientists and to knowledge technologists such as
physiotherapists, computer technicians and paralegals. Knowledge workers
provide “capital” just as much as does the provider of money.[15]

 

Regarding economic man, “Knowledge
Assets” has been defined as “values assessed with respect to their
intrinsic potential to both add and multiply value and include skills,
experience, policies and procedures, infrastructure, leadership,
expertise, creativity, capacity, practices, resilience, ethics,
professionalism, formal and informal networks.”[16]
“Knowledge Capital” is a corporate asset that is said to be part of a
company’s “overall human capital, harnessed via organizational
structures and processes, that ultimately determines success. Knowledge
is one critical component of human capital, the others being social and
emotional capital.”[17]

To Drucker, economic man is
incomplete without community. He originally conceived of the corporation
as an “organism” to meet man’s need for community. In General Systems
Theory, man is thought to be evolving to the collective state of
“organism.” Fifty years ago Drucker thought that the large business
enterprise would have to serve as the community for the individual. He
envisioned the corporation as “the social institution, far superior to
government in providing a retirement income, health care, education,
childcare, and other fringe benefits… corporate welfarism should replace
government welfarism.”[18]
But now he believes the answer is “a separate and new social
sector.” Drucker considers

 

that a healthy society requires
three vital sectors: a public sector of effective governments; a private
sector of effective businesses; and a social sector of effective
community organizations. The mission of the social sector is changing
lives. It accomplishes this mission by addressing the needs of the
spirit, the mind, and the body – of individuals, the community, and
society. The social sector also provides a significant sphere for
individuals and corporations to practice effective and responsible
citizenship.[19]

 

Note the use of the term “effective”
in the paragraph above. Notice the phrases “changed lives” and
“responsible citizenship.” These terms have particular definitions that
have nothing in common with traditional Christianity. It consequently
becomes necessary to re-mold Christianity to fit these definitions. This
perspective institutionalizes individual private lives into a gigantic
“social sector” that meddles with the spirit, mind and body.

Drucker has worked to transform all
three sectors of society, but of relevance here is that the latter part
of Drucker’s life has been devoted to targeting churches, parachurches
and charities.  Drucker says that these “social sector institutions have
a particular kind of purpose [emphasis ours]…. The ‘product’ of
a church is a churchgoer whose life is being changed. The task of
social-sector organizations is to create human health and well being.”[20]
A recent Fortune magazine article lauds Drucker’s work in
re-molding the private sector to fit the corporate model.

 

Drucker and [Jim] Collins, likewise,
think school systems, police departments, churches, charities, arts
organizations, hospitals, medical research efforts, and other
governmental agencies and non-profits would benefit if they learned to
behave more like corporations. It’s the focus of most of Drucker’s
consulting now, and Collins hopes to follow in his footsteps. Collins
says, “Now that we are really beginning to understand what makes
organizations great in the business world, we might actually provide
some DNA to the whole social system.”[21]

 

These activities and beliefs are
finding their way into the private sector, to profoundly alter doctrines
and practices in the Church.

 

Heavenly Directive #3

 

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

From: The
Strategic Planning Committee

To: Earth
Leadership

 

We have
completed our damage assessment.

 

Effective
immediately new standards have been issued for personal living.
These standards have been significantly revised for the sake of
clarity and uniformity. Old standards can be discarded, as they are
considered obsolete. Due to concerns about potential local
disruptions, the Revised Standards for Personal Living comes
in the same packaging as the old, which should ensure that the
replacement process will go more smoothly. Your personal copy of
this document will be issued shortly.

 

As an additional
precaution, we have located several facets of the missing attributes
of Vengeance and Judgment and will immediately make
them available to maintain the civic order while these standards are
being instituted. Each allotment of these attributes will be doled
out to Earth Leadership who fit the following criteria: 1)
successful completion of the accredited leadership training course
through the Global Shepherds Network, or 2) special anointing as
Apostle or Prophet. There appear to be some slight irregularities
with Mercy, but we believe that compensatory steps can be
taken to overcome this lack.

 

Also, on a
related note, we have received numerous complaints about the
unreliability of the old system of communications, so a new and
better replacement has been invented. Each morning a personally
edifying ourascope (heavenly report) will be issued
through instant text-messaging to Earth Leadership. No more
uncertainties and vagaries about heavenly intentions! No more
difficulties divining the heavenly Will.

                       

Prophets, please
make sure that your group receptors are set on “high.” Thank you for
your cooperation.

 

 

 

1.3     The
Beginning and End of Economic Man

 

Peter Drucker’s economic man must be
properly viewed in the context of Society. Peter Drucker is a well-known
communitarian,[22]
which is a political economic view that holds that “individual rights
need to be balanced with social responsibilities, and that autonomous
selves do not exist in isolation, but are shaped by the values and
culture of communities.”[23]
The Society gives man his rights and correspondently defines man’s
responsibilities. The Society sets the standards, defines the outcomes
(“results”), and then prescribes either rewards or penalties based on
performance. If this sounds like outcome-based education, it is. This
system is embedded in the language of the No Child Left Behind
legislation. Purpose-Driven and Outcome-Based are cast from the same
mold.

Communitarianism is not communism,
as it eschews the Marxist collective. But it is not free market
capitalism in an economic sense, either. Communitarians believe they
have found what social scientist and communitarian, Amitai Etzioni,
called a “third way,”[24]
This “third way” most closely resembles a corporate State although many
would deny this. The “third way” would be best described as a universal
application of General Systems Theory to Society, particularly
economically, politically and socially. The communitarian movement
emphasizes community as part of a greater societal whole. Every human
activity must be done for the “common good.”

What happens to churches and other
private pursuits, including the right to “free association”? In this
institutional and hierarchical worldview, man is complete only when part
of a viable “organism” (i.e., organization). Man must perfect himself in
an evolutionary sense, working towards the unity and common good of
society.  His individualism is subsumed by the whole. If this also
sounds like the esoteric mysticism of the New Age movement, in which man
is uniting into one cosmic body known as homo universalis, it is.[25]
Both movements have roots deep in the dark abysses of pre-Nazi Germany.
The fact that certain Christian leaders have infused this evolutionary
systems theory into Christianity by concocting new doctrines about
ecclesiology and eschatology is of relevance here.[26]

Regardless of how Drucker uses the
term “society” philosophically, in practice it always ends up meaning
State with a capital “S.” Society’s will manifests itself in actions
taken by the State. This means the State defines Rights and prescribes
corresponding Responsibilities for its citizens, communities and
organizations. Drucker lays out a vision whereby individuals (“knowledge
workers”) create a meaningful society by acting as responsible citizens
and creating community.

Drucker is an advocate of
“privatization,” in which the private sector (church, charities) or
corporate sector (business) partners with the public sector (government)
in arrangements such as vouchers, charter schools or faith-based
institutions. It is important to note that the State sets the standards
for these partnerships. Privatization is therefore an unbalanced
partnership. Each organization in this new social order must demonstrate
responsibility according to prescribed criteria such as quality,
productivity, performance, standards, effectiveness, accountability, and
results. Endeavors must be channeled and directed to work together for a
common good. In other words, everyone is focused on the same “purpose.”

This means institutionalizing the
private sector. Drucker proposes “The Only Answer”:

 

Only the social sector, that is, the
nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, can create what we now need,
communities for citizens – and especially for the highly educated
knowledge workers who increasingly dominate developed societies. One
reason for this is that only non-profit organizations can provide the
enormous diversity of communities we need – from churches to
professional associations, from organizations taking care of the
homeless to health clubs – if there are to be freely chosen communities
for everyone. The nonprofit organizations also are the only ones that
can satisfy the second need of the city, the need for effective
citizenship for its people. Only social-sector institutions can provide
opportunities to be a volunteer, and thus enable individuals to have
both a sphere in which they are in control and a sphere in which they
make a difference.[27]

 

Drucker confessed to an interviewer
in 2002 that the restructuring would be a challenge. Not everybody is on
the same page yet.

 

I’ve been spending most of my time
consulting with nonprofits…. We had 300,000 charitable organizations
30-40 years ago. It’s 1.3 million now. Most of them are not so much
mismanaged as nonmanaged. The waste of money is unbelievable. These
personal foundations are very strong on good intentions, and they
believe that spending money produces results. Their weakness is that
they do not define results.[28]

 

The word “assessment” is an economic
term which has taken on the new meaning of “testing instrument.” The
economic vitality of man is to be assessed, particularly in the context
of his community. The social sector will become more valuable as the
value of its people (human capital) increases. This is known as “social
capital.” Taking the idea of human capital yet one step further to a
societal (State) level is Lewis J. Perelman, author of Schools Out: A
Radical New Formula for the Revitalization of America’s Educational
System. Perelman proposes a “human capital tax” like a personal
income tax. And the World Bank, to which Peter Drucker has been
associated most of his life, recently issued a new system of measuring a
country’s wealth based upon “Human Resources: value represented by
people’s productive capacity.”[29]

The plain history of mankind reveals
that economic man is not a new thought or idea, but rather a return to a
very old one. Man is, of course, of economic value to other men when he
is owned by them. Free man’s worth is inestimable and immeasurable.
Slave (servant) man has worth unto others, but his value is limited to
what he can measurably accomplish. This is why there is such a focus on
“results.” To social planners such as Peter Drucker, man’s status and
significance is based upon what economic value he has to Society. The
hard-won creeds of the Reformation, in which individual man’s value was
deemed incalculable, inestimable and immeasurable, are set to become
reversed in one generation. In today’s postmodern church ethics, a
believer’s worth is calculated by the capricious whims of men in
“leadership” who devise assessments to measure his “servanthood.” Human
life is devalued and cheapened. “People without status are just
molecules.”[30]

Upon the slippery slope of economic
man is this entire Purpose-Driven structure built. Know ye not, that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to
whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

 

 

Heavenly Directive #4

 

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

From: Throne
Room Damage Assessment Committee

To: Ad Hoc Earth
Management Committee

 

A glitch in our
mainframe hard drive indicates that at some point in the history of
mankind a worm virus entered the operating system. Both the Old and
New Covenants appear to have been compromised. The source for this
infection is still being investigated.

 

Given the
on-going, unresolved difficulties in the Omniscience power
grid, we have rushed to establish a temporary covenant collection
site. A special archive for signatures has been set up at hhh.signupnow.com. Various menu options are available to
accommodate denominational preferences.

 

 

1.4     Elite
Partnerships and Strategic Collaborations

 

Peter Drucker has exerted a
considerable influence on Rick Warren. A December 24^th 2002
CNBC documentary about Peter Drucker (“Peter Drucker: An Intellectual
Journey”) claimed that he is one of Rick Warren’s mentors and influenced
the start and growth of Saddleback Church. Internet notes on a sermon
delivered by Rick Warren mention that

 

Rick Warren shared about a time he
was at Peter Drucker’s home…. They were talking about purpose, a clear
purpose. He said, “It’s like what I tell business people. There are only
two questions in business: One, What is my business? Two, How’s
business? Those are the two questions every owner, every manager, every
CEO has to constantly ask. What is our business? And, How’s business?”[31]

 

It is no accident that Peter Drucker
has been intimately involved in the life of Rick Warren, the formation
of Saddleback Church and the Purpose-Driven model. In Peter Drucker’s
1939 book, The End of Economic Man, in a chapter titled “The
Failure of the Christian Churches,” early concerns about the state of
the modern church are expressed. Note that Drucker was already writing
about a “new society” and “new community” 65 years ago.

 

The conspicuous and remarkable
failure of the churches to provide the basis for a new society is
obviously not due to the “godless spirit” of our age which is so often
deplored from the pulpits. On the contrary, an age in which an elite can
turn to the churches must have a very strong urge toward religion. In
spite of this need and search, Christianity and the churches have been
unable to provide a religious social solution. All they can do today is
to give the individual a private haven and refuge in an individual
religion. They cannot give a new society and a new community. Personal
religious experience may be invaluable to the individual; it may restore
his peace, may give him a personal God and a rational understanding of
his own function and nature. But it cannot re-create society and cannot
make social community life sensible.[32]

 

Another one of Rick Warren’s
websites,

www.PurposeDrivenLife.com, on
the page “About Rick,” boasts that “Peter Drucker calls Rick “the
inventor of perpetual revival.” This term is very interesting because of
its obvious correlation to the concept known in Total Quality Management
(TQM) theory as “continuous improvement,” or “Kaizen.” (TQM is
intricately interconnected with Peter Drucker’s Management By Objectives
[MBO] and both originate in systems theory.[33])
“Continuous improvement” is a system of operation that requires
instituting standards that are measurable – attitudes, values,
opinions, beliefs and behaviors. Obviously, a “perpetual revival,” if
synonymous with “continuous improvement,” would require spiritual
standards that are measurable, including not only human behavior, but
also attitudes, values, opinions and beliefs. This continuous
improvement system, based upon measuring humans, is precisely what Rick
Warren is setting up at Saddleback Church and exporting to the worldwide
church.

How do you measure “perpetual
revival”? It involves inserting the business definitions and practices
of TQM into spiritual things. When applied to human worth, the “quality”
of TQM is equivalent to the term “capital”. Presumably, a church that
successfully launches this program will be said to possess “spiritual
capital.” The BPNews website (Southern Baptist Press) ran a Sept. 22,
2003 article by Rick Warren entitled “FIRST-PERSON: Stifled by
structure,” in which he claims that he “once asked Peter Drucker, father
of modern management, how often a growing organization must restructure.
He said, approximately, every time it reaches 45 percent growth.”[34]
This would be an example of a “continuous improvement” statement.
Another example of “continuous improvement” can be found in a
Philanthropy Roundtable interview with Drucker, where he was asked,
“What are the nonprofit sector’s main shortcomings?”

 

The main shortcoming is that far too
many nonprofits believe that good intentions are sufficient. They lack
the (sic) imposed discipline of the bottom line. The second and very
common shortcoming is that they don’t abandon. I got a letter
from (sic) fast-growing pastoral church, in which that pastor told me
how he owed to me because he accepted my injunction to build abandonment
into his work. This is a church that 20 years ago was a storefront. He
now has 60 outreach churches and some 20,000 worshippers. And every
year, he spends three or four days in a working on abandoning programs
that do not produce results. That kind of discipline is still very rare.
It’s also very rare in business.[35]

 

Abandonment may
be a sound business practice, but what of Scriptures such as Matthew
18:11-14: doth he not leave the ninety and nine… and seeketh that
which is gone astray?

Drucker expects nonprofits
(churches, charities) to meet or exceed the same standards that he
places on business. Nonprofits, he believes, must define their mission
and the results they expect to achieve. They need to become more
“effective.” They need to demonstrate performance and produce measurable
results. Those who receive assistance from these nonprofits are known as
“customers.” To Drucker, good intentions are never an excuse for poor
results, and the results must be “changed lives.”[36]
The definition for what constitutes results (“changed lives”), and how
these results are assessed (measured, evaluated) is ultimately
determined by Society. There is no acknowledgement that spiritual
results can be intangible. In this new paradigm, only what can be
measured, handled, viewed and assessed by modern psycho-social business
methods counts as a “result.”

Private donor organizations and
foundations are being trained to stipulate that charities they fund
produce quantifiable and qualitative results. This is known as
“accountability.” It has nothing to do with the traditional
understanding of biblical accountability, where local church members are
mutually answerable one to another. Instead, this is an institutional
form of “accountability,” under a new system of standards, in which
there are demands for performance, rewards for success and penalties for
failure. This is institutional charity, not the private act of a widow’s
mite. The Scriptural admonitions to give to him that asketh thee
(Matt. 5:42) and freely ye have received, freely give (Matt.
10:8b) no longer apply. If a charity doesn’t perform up to par, monies
are withdrawn. This is because organized charitable donations are now
being used as an instrument to effect change, to produce transformation
in the private sector.

In the Philanthropy Roundtable
interview Drucker veers into a discussion of charter schools and
vouchers. While this may seem odd on its surface, it is important to
recognize these ideas are interconnected in a communitarian worldview.
Charter schools and vouchers blur the lines between Drucker’s three
sectors of society – nonprofit, corporate and state – because of how the
money passes hands and who is ultimately in control. Charter schools and
vouchers, which are run by business corporations and/or sub-entities of
the government, operate in compliance with education reform standards
set by the State. The State defines the results and prescribes the
assessments to measure the learners, who are technically public
students. State monies are then, in turn, paid to the corporations who
operate the charters.[37]

In contrast, true private education,
such as small Christian schools and homeschooling, does not have to
submit to excessive State demands for accountability. In order to retain
this autonomy and keep local control, private education does not take
money from the government. Traditional Christian parents do not share
the mindset that their children are “human capital” or potential
“knowledge workers.” Money is currently being used as an incentive
(bribe) to lure parents into the “system.”[38]

Likewise, private church-based
charities which refuse government funds retain their autonomy. Private
charities do not share the mindset that they are ministering to
“customers.” Nor do they define “results” in terms of the business
model. Faith-based institutions, on the other hand, must comply with the
standards set up by the State. They become quasi-governmental
operations. The payoff for conformity to worldly State standards is
money.

Many advocates of government-funded
faith-based charities believe that the end justifies the means, and will
point to the “results” as evidence of a good work being done. These
good-intentioned people probably don’t realize that their activities
further the political goals of communitarian societal transformation.
These folks may not understand the long-term negative repercussions of
cooperating with this new system of governance. In a communitarian
worldview any truly private entity (family, charity, church and small
Christian school) poses a direct challenge to the “common good.” In the
future, the luxury of granting special “rights” to a group of people who
profess and practice biblical separation will no longer be tolerated by
communitarians. Separatist practices and beliefs do not align with the
“common good.”

Rick Warren wasn’t the only
beneficiary of Peter Drucker’s mentoring. Drucker also mentored Bob
Buford. Buford is one of the leading “change agents” in the movement to
restructure the Church. For over two decades he has been the main
outreach for integrating Drucker’s ideas into the church. A Drucker
biographer explains the impetus for their relationship,

 

Peter Drucker calls the emergence of
the large pastoral church – the “megachurch” in medaiese – “the most
significant social event in America today.” He is its intellectual
grandfather; he’s been tutoring it for years through the agency of Bob
Buford, a highly successful Dallas-based television executive who in
1985 founded the Leadership Network. “His Leadership Network,” Drucker
writes in his preface to Buford’s 1994 book Half-Time: Changing Your
Game Plan from Success to Significance, “worked as a catalyst to
make the large, pastoral churches work effectively, to identify their
main problems, to make them capable of perpetuating themselves (as no
earlier pastoral church has ever been able to do), and to focus them on
their mission as apostles, witnesses, and central community services.”
Modest, Buford says, “I’m the legs for his brain.”[39]

 

Their interconnections are many. In
1988 Bob Buford founded and was founding chairman of the Peter F.
Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, now known as the Leader to
Leader Institute, whose goal is to “share wisdom on leadership and
management with the leaders of nonprofit social sector organizations.”[40]
The Foreward to Buford’s Half-Time book was written by Peter
Drucker. Rick Warren gave Half-Time a ringing endorsement:

 

Bob Buford is one of those rare
individuals who has made the transition from focusing on success to
focusing on significance. This book will show you how to make the rest
of your life the best of your life. I want every man in my congregation
to read this inspiring story![41]

In 1984 Buford founded Leadership
Network “as a resource broker that supplies information to and connects
leaders of innovative churches.” This organization is essentially the
Christian outreach for Drucker’s private sector philosophies and
activities. It is at the cutting edge of retraining pastors and leaders
with “new tools and resources” for the 21^st century church.
To further these aims, and to target a generation of “emerging young
leaders,” Buford created the Leadership Training Network in 1995 to
identify, train, and provide “ongoing peer-coaching network.” And “Mr.
Buford launched Halftime (initially named FaithWorks) to mobilize and
equip high-capacity business/professional leaders to convert their faith
into action and effective results” in 1998, reportedly at Peter
Drucker’s encouragement.[42]
A more thorough analysis of Bob Buford and his relationship to both
Peter Drucker and Rick Warren can be found in Dr. Robert Klenck’s report
on the Purpose-Driven Church archived at
http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/
Klenck3.html. In this report Dr. Klenck observes that
Buford’s Young Leader Network includes “theologians who construct new
theologies that emerge out of practice” – an open admission that in
order to transform the Church it becomes obligatory to concoct new
doctrines.[43]

In addition to Rick Warren and Peter
Drucker, Bob Buford associates himself with a motley crew of well-known
New Age leaders. A quick internet surf at Peter Drucker’s Leader to
Leader website (http://www.leadertoleader.
org) reveals extensive connections with Margaret Wheatley,
Stephen Covey, Peter Senge, Kenneth Blanchard, Joel Barker and many
others. Each one of these names is associated with a strong futurist
bent, based upon an esoteric evolutionary view of man. Margaret Wheatley
submitted a chapter to Marianne Williamson’s New Age book Imagine.[44]
Peter Senge, as a global expert on General Systems Theory, translated
Drucker’s ideas into an evolutionary “learning organization.”[45]
Stephen Covey, well-known author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People is a Mormon with New Age beliefs. Joel Barker is a well-known
New Age leader. Kenneth Blanchard is a professional promoter with close
associations with Buford, Drucker, and Bill Hybels of the Willowcreek
megachurch.

 

Heavenly Directive #5

 

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

From: Heavenly
Leadership Forum

To: Mission
World Coalition

 

Effective
immediately there is an “open heaven” of response to fervent, united
prayers of the people, a keen sense of divine favor. Due to these
providential circumstances, we now have a working definition of
“transformation,” and a conviction about the new ecclesiology of the
“city church.”

 

Transformation
– the measurable supernatural impact of the presence and power of
God on human society, sacred and secular. In the church, this is
characterized by increased holiness of life, accelerated conversion
growth, reconciliation in relationships, mobilization of gifts and
callings, and an increased relevance to and participation in greater
society. In the culture, this may be characterized by pervasive
awareness of the reality of God, a radical correction of social
ills, a commensurate decrease in crime rates (evidence of authentic
biblical justice, as described in Isaiah 58), supernatural blessing
on local commerce, healing of the brokenhearted (the alienated and
disenfranchised), and an exporting of kingdom righteousness. To this
end, a catalytic core of saints typically embrace a lifestyle of
persistent repentance, humility, prayer and sacrificial servanthood
that attracts the favor and presence of God, and breaks the
predominating influences of the ruling power structures of human
flesh and the devil.

 

Emergence of the
“City Church”
– Clearly, the Holy Spirit is initiating an historic restoration of
the geographic integrity and responsibility of the one Body of
Christ in a city or region, calling leaders to walk together in the
spirit of the Great Commandment, and work together to more
effectively fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission. God is calling leaders
to embrace a shared and sustainable vision to faithfully shepherd
and disciple the collective souls of a city.

 

This restoration
requires a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo, a hunger to see
Jesus’ prayer of John 17:21-23 fulfilled, and leaders who are bold
enough to begin to “paint outside the box” of existing
ecclesiologies.[46]

 

 

1.5     The
Alignment of Performance-Based Results

 

In 1996 the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund (the Rockefeller family has a long and extensive history of
association with Peter Drucker) and Mutual of American Life Insurance
Company sponsored a symposium organized by the Peter F. Drucker
Foundation for Nonprofit Management (now the Leader to Leader Institute)
called “Emerging Partnerships: New Ways in a New World.” This was a
revolutionary symposium that addressed the changes in the nonprofit
sector. A notable speaker at the symposium was Lester Salamon.

In 1991 Lester Salamon had
co-authored a book along with David Hornbeck, education reform guru
entitled Human Capital and America’s Future: An Economic Strategy.
This book reiterated the views of Peter Drucker. In it “human capital”
was defined as

 

…the acquired skill, knowledge, and
abilities of human beings. Underlying the concept is the notion that
such skills and knowledge increase human productivity, and that they do
so enough to justify the costs incurred in acquiring them. It is in this
sense that expenditures on improving human capabilities can be thought
of as “investments.” They generate future income or output that
justifies the amounts spent on them…. [H]uman capital refers to the
productive capabilities of human beings as income producing agents in
the economy.[47]

 

David Hornbeck was possibly one of
the most controversial figures in grassroots America during the late
1980s and early 1990s. As an education reform consultant he traveled to
approximately 30 states marketing a plan to “transform” education. In
these nearly identical state plans Hornbeck referred to children as
“human capital.” His recommendations called for sweeping changes in the
education of children, including databanking, standards, results
(“outcomes”), and assessments. He proposed rewards (incentives) for
those who complied with the new standards and penalties (sanctions) for
those who failed to meet the goals. This systemic implementation of
rewards and penalties later became one of the most controversial aspects
of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which is the massive
federal education reform law based on Hornbeck plans.

Hornbeck re-defined education away
from traditional academic subjects (that require rational thinking)
towards affective education – attitudes, opinions, beliefs and values.
These affective attributes were deemed more important to the future
needs of society’s workforce than factual knowledge, and would become
the primary focus of the assessments to ascertain the child’s “human
capital.” Education reform plans reveal that “human capital” (i.e.,
“knowledge capital”) is more heavily oriented towards exhibiting the
proper attitudinal attributes and work skills than esteeming a person’s
actual cognitive knowledge. Hornbeck also envisioned the local school as
the “hub” of a community, offering day care, social services, medical
care, food stamps, welfare, mental health, recreation, job training,
parent training – a “one-stop-shop” to meet all human needs from cradle
to grave.[48]
The State would be in charge of every facet of a person’s life,
including one’s “private sector” life.

About the same time that Hornbeck
began his consulting work going from state to state across the country,
Peter Drucker authored an important article in Psychology Today
entitled “How Schools Must Change.” In this article, Drucker spelled out
the details of comprehensive education reform: lifelong learning,
accountability, effectiveness, performance, vouchers, computers, and
knowledge workers. He stated that “knowledge is rapidly becoming our
true capital base” and “education will fuel our economy and shape our
society.” Underscoring his communitarian beliefs, Drucker said that a

 

society dominated by knowledge
workers makes yet more stringent demands for social performance and
responsibility. These people, after all, will run our society, and they
must have the political and philosophical training to carry out this
role. To this end, they must be given a solid moral, as well as
technical education.

 

What morals? Highly affective,
State-prescribed, social skills and psychological attitudes, values,
opinions and beliefs.[49]
The same psycho-social components that were part of outcome-based
education and infused into standardized tests.

It is obvious that Hornbeck’s plan
for the transformation of education in society is precisely the same as
Drucker’s plan for the transformation of the private sector in society.
This plan institutionalizes and bureaucratizes the private sector
(private lives) in ways that are unprecedented in American history. At
Drucker’s symposium, Lester Salamon spoke on the need for the government
to become involved in the nonprofit sector, which includes the church.
He called for the preservation of government oversight.

 

Nonprofit organizations must
recognize the legitimate needs of the public sector for greater
accountability, as well as the need of government agencies to monitor
performance, account for finances, and assure equitable,
nondiscriminatory practices.[50]

 

Peter Drucker, speaking at the same
seminar, explained that the social sector (nonprofit) is “one of the
three pillars on which modern society is based.”[51]
He emphasized measurable results.

 

Partnerships [business/nonprofit]
cannot work unless they are seen as investments focusing on results –
primarily social rather than financial results…. achieving clear, and
preferably measurable results.[52]

 

Drucker also discussed “core
competence” and “uniformity.” In other words, nonprofits must lose their
distinctive identities in order to meet the criteria set by the State.

 

Nonprofit organizations need to
demonstrate a core competence in public/private partnerships….
Nonprofits have to understand that government must satisfy the demands
of a diverse constituency and must insist on a level of uniformity.[53]

Further, and predictably a premier
issue in the faith-based congressional debates, Drucker insists that
churches who receive government monies must abandon discrimination,
opening the doors to all sorts of sinful practices. The price for
institutionalization is accommodation.

 

We need to explore new opportunities
for church and parachurch groups to partner with government, as long as
they deliver services in a nondiscriminatory fashion. Churches are but
one type of values-based organization, like youth or social service
agencies, that can jointly be more effective.[54]

 

All three of these men – Drucker,
Salamon and Hornbeck – have emphasized “human capital” as foundational
to the transformation of the private sector. Why would “human capital”
be of relevance to the Purpose-Driven church?

• This radical view of economic
  man is the chief cornerstone of all of Drucker’s management
  theories.
• Drucker’s theories undergird the
  Purpose-Driven model.
• This philosophy has nothing in
  common with the traditional Christian doctrines about the nature of
  man.[55]
  The humanity of Man is markedly devalued.
• These men believe that a man’s
  human worth and a church’s effectiveness can be “assessed” –
  measured by psycho-social instruments.
• Intangible matters of the spirit
  are codified into “results,” and “ineffective” ministries are
  cancelled (“abandoned”). This new criteria ensures that lost souls
  will begin to fall through the cracks.
• Profit-driven models are applied
  to matters of ministry of the Gospel, effectually degrading private
  acts of charity and compassion.
• The Word of God becomes
  secondary to systems theory implementation.
• Disturbing questions are raised
  about those precious people in our lives who do not or can not
  possess “human capital” or “knowledge capital.”

 

Education reform has been on the
fast track. We can look at education reform and see a picture of the
future church emerging. The transformation of the church only lags a few
years behind. The No Child Left Behind act, which codifies the
radical Hornbeck/Drucker ideas about economic man, gives an indication
of what lies ahead. The language in the bill states “ALL children,” a
phrase that was also found in Hornbeck’s many state reform documents.
Special education students under NLCB are expected to perform on
assessments in ways that are not only excessive and impossible, but
irrational and bizarre. Entire school districts are prescribed State
penalties based on the assessment scores of special needs children,
scores which will predictably always bring down the district scores. It
creates a situation where special education students become a drain to
the school system, dragging it down to the point where the State
intervenes in stipulated ways that are intrusive and punitive. This most
controversial aspect of the bill is being tweaked by the federal
Department of Education due to the national hoopla that is ensuing, but
federal officials aren’t backing down from their basic premise.

In the Psychology Today
article, Peter Drucker stated that “These people… [“knowledge workers”]
will run our society.”[56]
An image of a class structure begins to surface, an ominous
picture of what “human capital” is really all about. Some will possess
it. Some won’t. Will our loved ones, with little or no “knowledge
capital,” become a burden to the Church? To Society? And then what? What
“Right” to life will they possess for the “common good” of Society? What
of the Down’s Syndrome child, the Alzheimer patient, the elderly and
cancer-ridden? What assessed value will be placed upon their human worth
to the Society?

In his landmark 1976 book How
Should We Then Live? the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer addressed
the devaluation of human life.

 

And (taking abortion as an
example) if this arbitrary absolute by law is accepted by most modern
people, bred with the concept of no absolutes but rather relativity, why
wouldn’t arbitrary absolutes in regard to such matters as authoritarian
limitations on freedom be equally accepted as long as they were thought
to be sociologically helpful?
We are left with sociological law without any certainty of
limitation.

 

…[W]ill we resist authoritarian
government in all its forms regardless of the label it carries and
regardless of its origin? The danger in regard to the rise of
authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as
their own religious activities, evangelism, and life-styles are not
disturbed.

 

…Here is a sentence to memorize: To make no decision in regard to the growth of authoritarian government
is already a decision for it.[57]
[emphasis in original] 

 

Heavenly Directive #6

 

For Immediate
Release

From: The Throne
Committee

To: Coalition
Members

 

Post-crisis
teams have been working on an innovative model to re-create the
presence of the Lamb before the Throne. The results have been
quite spectacular.

 

We hereby
formally announce the presence of a new Lamb in Heaven which
matches the description of the Lamb in Revelations chapter 5.
After full consideration of the meaning of these verses, our crisis
team determined that it was important to illuminate the qualities of
the Lion as described in verse 5. Every effort was taken to
achieve the full effect of the Lion in Lamb’s garb,
including the snowy white wool coat. Because we are rapidly
approaching the Latter Days, the crisis team has chosen to emphasize
the distinctive leonine attribute of roaring.

 

A corresponding
emphasis on the positive attributes of Sheep will be upheld
in the Body to ensure future compatibility for the Lamb’s upcoming
marriage. Because the Holy Spirit is currently inaccessible,
we have engaged special task forces on Earth who will begin to
perfect the Bride. Special criteria to designate what is clean,
white and wooly have been developed and will be globally enforced.

 

 

 

1.6     
Integrated Measurement Systems Drive Performance

 

Purpose-Driven depends heavily upon
self-assessments and group assessments to measure and monitor its
activities. This is because General Systems Theory operates from a
“feedback mechanism.” This feedback allows a system to continually
improve itself.[58]
Bob Buford has developed a Christian Life Profile to assess the
spiritual maturity of a church’s members. The Drucker Foundation offers
a Self-Assessment Tool workshop for an organization or community, which
guides them through the process of transformation. And Rick Warren has a
“Purpose-Driven Life Health Assessment,” which is a subjective
self-assessment of a believer’s spiritual condition.

These self-assessment instruments
purport to measure the things of the mind and/or spirit, and as such are
hardly reliable, highly variable, and seldom possess validity. Human
behavior is simply not measurable, quantifiable, predictable or
consistent.[59]
Many of these self-assessment instruments rely upon vanity, flattery,
improper self-disclosure of an intimate nature, and dishonesty –
behaviors which the Scriptures expressly forbid: For I say, through
the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(Romans 12:3)

An example of an individual
assessment instrument can be found at

http://www.pastors.com, Rick
Warren’s website devoted to offering technical assistance to pastors who
are becoming Purpose-Driven. Citing Peter Drucker’s book The Age of
Transformation, the author of this instrument explains that we are
in a new age of societal transformation, and that this “is a time, which
calls for a critical mass of transformational leaders who will commit to
creating a synergy of energy within their circle of influence so new
level of (sic) social, economic, organizational and spiritual success
can be reached.”[60]
Notwithstanding this atypical language, which obviously isn’t biblically
based, the rest of the document is a poorly wrought assessment tool to
determine “transformational leadership” abilities.

Group assessments measure what is
called “organization capital.” This “asset includes a company’s work
practices and routines, its storehouse of corporate knowledge in
computer databases and in people’s heads, and even culture and values as
they guide how a company operates.”[61]
In the nonprofit sector, this is also known as “social capital.” It can
be the total computation of an organization’s “human capital” or
“knowledge capital,” but it is also an indication of how the “organism”
is functioning.

Bob Buford’s Leadership Network
provides a sample group assessment. Definition of terms is key to
understanding assessments. Who defines the terms? And what precisely is
to be measured? When you read this assessment think how this system
would profoundly alter your local church, your family, your private
deeds of charity and acts of love.

Common language and
common measurement
Before you can measure progress, you must decide on a common language
and what you will consistently measure.

Common language.
To avoid misunderstanding, it’s important to agree on certain key
definitions especially between the ministries in your church. For
example, one of the church’s most ambiguous words is “reached.” This is
the term found in the annual report: “Our programs reached ten thousand
people last year.” What exactly does that mean? The same holds true for
words like “ministry,” “assimilated,” “exposure to the gospel,” etc.
Communication and data are meaningless unless we agree on common
definitions. Because the culture and language of for-profit and
nonprofit organizations are different, we must also acquire the ability
to “translate” without ambiguity what we do and what we are trying to
achieve.

Common measurement.
We must also decide exactly what, how, and when we will measure and then
stick to it….

What should
externally focused churches measure?

First,
measure inputs–how much of what resources you put toward your
objectives and ultimately your mission. For example, how many volunteers
did you deploy? What programs did you do? How much money was spent on
programs and services?

Second, measure outputs: How many man-hours did volunteers serve? How frequently did
they serve? …Measuring inputs and outputs defines what
resources are put toward achieving outcomes and is only
meaningful if it tells you the progress you are making toward seeing
your vision reach fruition. For example, if part of your vision entails
“every person of middle school age and above serving or ministering at
least once a year for at least three hours,” then you have the benchmark
you are measuring against–number of people (every person), how
frequently (at least once a year), and how much (at least
three hours)….

Third, measure
outcomes, or results, of
your efforts and use of resources. Whereas outputs measure what
we did, it is the outcomes that tell us how well we did it. We
who work in the nonprofit sector always find it difficult to measure
results. A business always has a tangible bottom line on its profit and
loss statement, but what is our bottom line? Peter Drucker sheds light
on this topic. He points out that the bottom line for all nonprofit
organizations is always one thing: “changed human beings.” Hospitals
exist to make sick people well; schools exist to educate the ignorant;
churches exist to win the lost and build up the saints. So how does the
church measure changed lives? What are the measurable “expected
outcomes” of the church’s endeavors?…

Leadership Network
associate John Schoenecker makes the point that our inputs and outputs measure
efficiency. What effort and resources are we
putting against the goals? Outcomes measure effectiveness.
Are we accomplishing what we set out to do? Efficiency is doing the
right things. Effectiveness is getting the right results. Comparing
efficiencies to effectiveness becomes our “return on investment” (ROI).
Having this information tells us what efficiencies need to be adjusted
to become more effective….

Not surprisingly,
United Way has linked to many valuable best practices through their “Outcome
Measurement Resource Network”.[62]

 

Rick Warren has recently launched a
Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan initiative, whereby Purpose-Driven churches
(those that have already gone through the 40-Days of Purpose phenomenon)
are activated to become partners with the rest of the nonprofit sector.[63]
It would seem like a noble deed to encourage more Christians to move out
of their pews and into street ministry, community service and global
mission. And when the first recruitment of volunteers come back from the
harvest field with glowing reports of “results” and successes, it will
be difficult to oppose what seems to be so good. The ends will seem to
justify the means. But hard questions need to be asked. How were the
results defined? By whom and by what criteria? By what means were these
results attained? Is it possible to independently verify and document
the results (given that extraordinary claims could be made for
miraculous results)? And, most important, how does this activity
“measure” against the plain Word of God?

Using the institutional model
proposed by Drucker in his Self-Assessment Tool, and Buford in the
paragraphs above, it becomes obvious that the only certain “results”
will be acceptable. “Effectiveness” will be defined.  How many hours is
the parishioner expected to serve? Does it only count when they are
volunteering from a list of church-approved activities? What about
taking care of elderly parents, comforting nursing babies, homeschooling
children, driving the handicapped, baking cookies for a suffering
friend, sending money to a widow in need? Does Christian charity only
count if the activity has been officially sanctioned by the church? Must
charity become institutionalized, monitored, assessed, rewarded or
penalized, and databanked? Whereas Jesus said, But when thou doest
thing alms, let not thy left hand know what the right hand doeth
(Matt. 6:3), this new accountability requires full disclosure.

Purpose-Driven churches have a
built-in mechanism upon which to eventually pressure or compel their
members to volunteer: the membership covenant that is to be signed. This
covenant-signing is connected to the idea of “human capital.” One
management expert has proposed that “organizational capital” (“a kind of
human capital”) is increased when there is a formal “joining-up
process,” a type of psychological contract in which one aligns their
life’s purpose with the organization’s purpose.[64]
Which raises the obvious question – did the Purpose-Driven “covenant”
idea actually originate in “organizational capital” theories? Has a
psycho-social concept been dressed up in biblical language to make it
palatable?

Interestingly, these church
covenants are so vaguely worded and undefined that new meanings could be
assigned to the terminology as time goes on. As one critic noted, “The
bottom line is this: Once you’ve signed a church membership covenant and
boarded the CGM [church growth movement, ed.] train – you’re committed
to its destination, even if it changes direction somewhere along the
way. This is why Jesus commands us in Matthew 5:33-34 to not make oaths
with men because when it’s all said and done we might find ourselves
following the wrong god.”[65]

The implementation of Purpose-Driven
is already heavily oriented towards the government-funded faith-based
sector. Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church recently received an award for
its work in the faith-based arena.[66]
Bob Buford is following the private sector design of his mentor, Peter
Drucker, and leading the church straight into the faith-based movement.
He sits on the board of directors of the Foundation for Community
Empowerment, an organization on the cutting edge of expanding the
faith-based movement. This organization says that it is serves “as a
facilitator and catalyst to encourage empowerment, innovation,
collaboration and coordination in community revitalization efforts” by
“providing technical assistance, coalition building/collaboration
support, and grant making to support capacity development efforts.” An
assessment instrument known as N-Cap software allows them to conduct
assessments.[67]

The future dangers to the autonomy
of the local church are great.[68]
Faith-based organizations, since the Welfare Reform Act of 1997
and subsequent legislation, are nonprofit organizations that have gone
to the feeding trough of the State. This includes nonprofits that
perform medical care, emergency relief, housing, care of the elderly,
training, shelters, homeless, hospices, food pantries, welfare-to-work,
job training, refuge services, child care, preschools, etc. Keep in mind
that some nonprofits which perform medical care, also perform abortions
or refer for abortions.[69]
In order to get the faith-based agenda jump-started, philanthropy
leaders working in collaboration, offer training to equip private
charities with the new result-oriented mode of conducting business.
These activities successfully prepare the nonprofits to receive
faith-based monies from the State. Faith-based organizations are more
complex than simple storefront charities. They “have program competence,
but they need core competencies…. Capacity, planning capacity,
supervisory capacity, multi-site management, logistics, human
resources,” says Dr. Christine Letts of Harvard University.[70]
If a faith-based organization restructures to meet the new demands of
its donors, it is said to be “value-added.”

 

 

Heavenly Directive #7

 

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

From: The Latter
Days Preparation Committee

To: First Earth
Battalion

 

Our angels are
presently sharpening their sickles for the final Harvest.

 

Due to
unforeseen mechanical difficulties with the transporters, our angels
are unable to wield their sickles upon Earth at this time. In order
to fulfill the quotas for the final Harvest, Prophets and Apostles
are to begin whetting their swords and sharpening their sickles.

 

Ongoing data
transmission errors have obliterated the criteria for determining
the difference between wheat and tares. Immediate preparations must
be taken to devise valid sorting instruments on Earth. Prophets and
Apostles are requested to begin assessing grain at once.

 

 

 

1.7     Quality
Indicators of Human Widgets

 

Recently an older gentleman
explained how Peter Drucker’s theories changed his workplace in the
1960s. His company was influenced to set a goal to make widgets to the
millionth of an inch as part of a company-wide effort to install uniform
quality control standards. Company management analyzed the complete
process of making widgets from start to finish. Each step of the
manufacturing process came under intense scrutiny. Essential changes
were made in the production line of widgets so that the company would
meet their goal of zero errors. No allowances could be made for human
error. All machinery had to be precisely calibrated so that this
objective was successfully attained.

But this is not a discussion paper
about the quality of widgets. This is about human lives. The architects
of social sector transformation believe it is possible to create human
widgets. In order to force everyone into the mold, they have devised an
elaborate set of measurements and assessments. Not only people, but
churches and charities are to be assessed. Dozens of church measurement
packets, surveys, books, inventories, profiles, and questionnaires are
on the market. Highly trained consultants, trained in “effective”
management practices of the world, make themselves available to assist
in the restructuring process. Small group training videos, programs,
kits and curricula are available for purchase over the internet from
business consulting firms, church growth outfits, other nonprofits, and
mega-churches. And there are plenty of pastors who have jumped on the
bandwagon of Purpose-Driven “success,” piggy-backing their programs on
the 40-day model. Purpose-Driven has been built upon a sandy foundation
of psychology, sociology, humanism, esotericism, communitarianism, and
dialectics.[71]

The architects of church reform
believe that it is possible to measure the intangible things of the
spirit, to set behavioral standards upon which to judge effectiveness in
spiritual matters, and to set criteria upon which “results” can be
attained. Obviously, some people won’t measure up. They will not exhibit
the proper amount of “spiritual” maturity (spiritual capital) to succeed
in their local church. And what will happen to these poor servants, when
they compare themselves with this elite corps of “leadership”? What will
happen to those fragile sheep, newborns in the Word, who have never
heard the Gospel of Grace but have only been taught Purpose-Driven,
results-based Christianity?

 

For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again.
(Matthew 7:2)

 

But we will not boast of things
without our measure, but according to the measure of the
rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even
unto you.

For we stretch not ourselves
beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are
come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

Not boasting of things without
our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope,
when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according
to our rule abundantly,

To preach the gospel in the
regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things
made ready to our hand.

But he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.

For not he that commendeth
himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. 
(II Cor 10:13-18)

---

 

About the
Authors

 

Lynn D. Leslie holds a B.S. in
Business Administration, a Master of Public Administration, and is a
certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).  Sarah H.
Leslie holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Counseling.
Susan J. Conway holds a B.A. in History and a Master of Education.

 

 

Special Remarks

 

*Our dear ones who possess little
“knowledge capital” but enrich all our lives with their unconditional
love.

 

**Literalists, please forbear with
these satirical deviations from the text of this monograph. You can skip
it altogether if you wish. Satire is the use of ridicule, sarcasm,
irony, etc. to expose, attack, or deride vices, follies, stupidities,
abuses, etc. Our Lord Himself used satire when he called the Pharisees
“whitewashed tombs.” Even though the Pharisees weren’t literally
whitewashed tombs, their spiritual condition was such. Likewise these
fictitious satirical press releases are intended to illustrate the
fallacies of popular doctrinal errors that teach God is insufficient and
that the Body must make up for His lack.

 

Selected
bibliography of Christian articles critical of Purpose-Driven:

 

Stuter, Lynn M.
“The Spirituality of Systems Thinking,”

http://www.newswithviews.com/Stuter/stuter12.htm.

 

Fundamental Baptist Information Service,
Cloud, David, “A Visit to Saddleback Church, “ and “The Church Growth
Movement: An Analysis of Rick Warren’s ‘Purpose Driven’ Church Growth
Strategy, Parts 1 and 2, by Dennis Costella, copyright FOUNDATION
magazine, March-April 1998, and many other articles on the postmodern church
at

http://www.wayoflife.org.

 

“Cross Over To The Otherside,” by Orrel
Steinkamp, The Plumbline, Vol. 9, No. 2, March April, and related
articles in The Plumbline, available from Dr. Orrel Steinkamp, 74425
Co. Rd. 21, Renville, MN 56284,

http://op.50megs.com/ditc.orrel17.html

 

Leslie, Lynn D. and Sarah H., “The
Shepherding Movement Comes of Age,” published in the Discernment Ministries
newsletter, posted at

http://www.discernment-ministries.com
and other websites. See also “When Is Assessment Really Assessment,” and
“Peering Into the PEERS,” posted at this website.

 

Klenck, Dr. Robert,
“What’s Wrong with the 21^st Century Church?” Part 1: Synopsis,
Part 2 and Part 3, posted at

http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/Klenck1.html,

http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/Klenck2.html and

http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/Klenck3.html.

 

Kjos, Berit, “Spirit-Led or
Purpose-Driven?” An entire series of articles on the purpose-driven church
model posted on

http://www.crossroad.to. Many
other articles of interest on the emerging global church.

 

O’Hara, Debbie,
“Has Your Church Lost Its Divine Purpose?” and “Church Growth Movement –
Revival or Apostasy?” posted at

http://www.newswithviews.com.

 

---

Endnotes

[1]
Cumbey,
Constance, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, Huntington
House, 1981. This landmark book explains the New Age roots of
Theosophy.

 

[2]
During the
late 1990s Discernment Ministries sponsored several conferences
which discussed the massive changes planned for the structure and
function of the church in the new millennium. Audios, videos and
DVDs of the speeches were made and are available for purchase from
Discernment Ministries. In two separate presentations (in Pittsburgh
and in Toronto) Sarah Leslie outlined the structure of the church to
come, based upon an investigation of the cell group concept which is
linked hierarchically with regional and global apostolic networks.
Available for a donation of $15 (videos or DVDs) or $8 (audio tapes)
from Discernment Ministries, PO Box 254, High Bridge, NJ 08829-0254.

http://www.discernment-ministries.com.

 

[3]
The
background on the “missional” church in this paragraph is documented
in Al Dager’s book, The World Christian Movement, available
from Discernment Ministries for a gift of $14 (see address in
footnote 2). An earlier book by Al Dager, Vengeance Is Ours: The
Church in Dominion, sheds considerable light on the emergent
doctrines. Available from Discernment Ministries for $14.

 

[4]
Klenck, Dr.
Robert, “What’s Wrong with the 21^st Century Church? Part
1: Synopsis,”
http://www.crossroad.
to/News/Church/Klenck1.html.

 

[5]
See Martin
and Diedre Bobgan, PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries,

http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org
or phone 1-800-216-4696 to subscribe to their free monthly
newsletter and order their many books. Their works are essential to
understanding the psychological foundations upon which most of
postmodern Christianity is built.

 

[6]
Private
correspondence. Used with permission.

 

[7]


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ecbig/soctrans.htm).

 

[8]


www.peterdrucker.at/en/texts/p_drucker_kierkeg_en.pdf.

 

[9]
“Why a
Drucker boom again? An Introduction to Peter F. Drucker – Eight
Faces” An Interview with Weekly Toyokeizai,

http://www.iot.ac.jp/manu/ueda/interview/e01.html. These
interviews were performed by a close Japanese associate of Peter
Drucker’s. At the conclusion of the eighth interview, Drucker gives
his stamp of approval: “You manage to bring out what to me is the
essence of my contribution and the motivation behind all my concern
with management, that it deal with the individual, with community
and society and with status, function and order altogether, rather
than only the tasks of business and of other organizations.”
http://www.iot.ac.jp/
manu/ueda/interview/e08.html.

 

[10]
Drucker,
Peter F. “Management’s New Paradigms,” Forbes, Oct. 5, 1998,
published on-line at
http://www.forbes.
com/forbes/1998/1005/6207152a.html.

 

[11]
“The man
who invented management: An Introduction to Peter F. Drucker – Eight
Faces,” An Interview with Weekly Toyokeizai,

http://www.iot.ac.jp/manu/ueda/interview/e02.html.

 

[12]
Ibid. Also
see Adventures of a Bystander, Drucker’s life story,
originally published in 1979, re-issued by John Wiley & Sons in
1998.

 

[13]
Drucker,
Peter, “The Age of Social Transformation,” (The Atlantic Monthly,
Nov. 1994,

http://www.theatlantic.
com/politics/ecbig/soctrans.htm). This paper is crucial
to understand Drucker’s concept of “knowledge capital.”

 

[14]
Koenig,
Michael E.D., “From Intellectual Capital to Knowledge Management:
What Are They Talking About?” INSPEL 32(1998)4, pp. 222-23,

http://wwwfh-potsdam.de/~IFLA/INSPEL/98-4koemm.pdf.  The
Drucker quote is from Eduardo Talero and Philip Guadette, Harnessing Information for Development: World Bank Group Vision and
Strategy, Draft Document, (Washington, DC.: The World Bank, July
1995).

 

[15]
Drucker,
Peter, “Will the corporation survive?” November 1, 2001,

http://www.economist.com.

 

[16]
Footnote 3
at

http://www.leader.com/innovations.htm.

 

[17]
Kochikar,
Vivekanand P. “Knowledge – The Currency of the New Millennium,”
Infosys. 
http://www.infosys.
com/knowledge_capital/knowledge/knowledge4.asp.

 

[18]
Skousen,
Mark, “The Other Austrian,”

http://www.mskousen.com/Books/Articles/austrian.html.

 

[19]
“The Peter
F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management is now the Leader to
Leader Institute: 2000 in Review”

http://www.pfdf.org/forms/annual2002.pdf.

 

[20]
Drucker,
Peter, “The Age of Social Transformation.”

 

[21]
“Introduction” to the April 5, 2004 issue of
Fortune
magazine, which is a special issue devoted to 50 years of the
Fortune 500, p. 110. Jim Collins is said to be “the management guru
and author of the bestsellers Built to Last and Good to
Great” (p. 104). Each chapter heading in his book Built To
Last has a little ying/yang symbol. And in the May 1997 issue of
NEXT, Bob Buford’s Leadership Institute newsletter, in an
article lauding James Collins’ and his ideas, ying/yang symbols
prominently appear at each paragraph heading and in a shaded graphic
of a clock. It is a sad indication of the pervasive leaven of
eastern mysticism into this organization’s ideology.

 

[22]
“Peter
Drucker’s Search for Community,” BusinessWeek online,
December 24, 2002,
http://www.businessweek.com
/bwdaily/dnflash/dec2002/nf20021224_6814.htm. In this
article, “Documentarian Ken Witty talks about the management guru’s
philosophy, his life’s work, and his often unappreciated influence.”
Witty says, “He [Drucker] brings a communitarian philosophy to his
consulting. That was something I really never heard about until
Peter emphasized it in our interviews. He said that what he’s all
about is this search for community, the search for where people and
organizations find community for noneconomic satisfaction. …He comes
to the U.S. and thinks he sees real community in the corporate
world. …He still is a European social communitarian….”

 

[23]
CPN paper,

http://www.cpn.org/tools/dictionary/communitarianism.html.

 

[24]
“The Third
Way to a Good Society,” by Amatai Etzioni.

http://www.demos.co.uk/catalogue/
thethirdwaytoagoodsociety_page53.aspx.
Note that Etzioni, like Drucker, combines societal ethics with human
economics in his communitarian treatise, The Moral Dimension:
Toward A New Economics, The Free Press, 1988.

 

[25]
For a
thorough discussion of this point, see

http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com. A paperback
version of this book by Warren Smith, Reinventing Jesus Christ:
The New Gospel (Conscience Press, 2002) is available from
Discernment Ministries for a gift of $8.50 (see address in footnote
2).

 

[26]
Jay Gary
has three websites where one can access information regarding these
new doctrines:

http://www.jaygary.com/

http://www.presence.tv/cms/index.shtml and

http://www.wnrf.org/cms/christian.shtml. It would be easy
to dismiss this as nuttiness if it weren’t for the fact that Gary
has widespread influence within Christian leadership.

 

[27]
Drucker,
Peter F. “Civilizing the City,” Leader to Leader, 7 (Winter
1998): 8-10.

http://leadertoleader.org/leaderbooks/L2L/winter98/drucker.html.
In this article Peter Drucker admits that he “actually once thought
…[m]ore than 50 years ago, in my 1943 book, The Future of
Industrial Man, that the private sector business “self-governing
plant community” could and would fill man’s need for an “organic
community.”

 

[28]
“The Next
Society: A conversation with Peter F. Drucker about the future,” The Flame, Spring 2002, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 16. Available on-line
at Claremont Graduate University website,

http://www.aeo-uami.org/pdf/NextSociety.pdf.

 

[29]
This entire
paragraph is fully documented in “When Is Assessment Really
Assessment?” by Cynthia Weatherly, Appendix XI in the deliberate
dumbing down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail, Charlotte
T. Iserbyt (Conscience Press, 1999). Available on-line at

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
in the context of the whole book, or at

http://www.crossroad.to
or

http://www.discernment-ministries.com. This article was
originally published in The Christian Conscience magazine,
October 1995.

 

[30]
“What makes
people happy? An Introduction to Peter F. Drucker – Eight Faces” An
Interview with Weekly Toyokeizai,

http://www.iot.ac.jp/manu/ueda/interview/e06.html.

 

[31]
“Stations
of Life #1: Discovering Your Purpose In Life,” Tim Olson, (Adapted
from the sermon “What On Earth Am I Here For?” by Rick Warren,

http://kbftokyo.org/sermons2/2000/serm00_312.htm.

 

[32]
Peter
Drucker, The End of Economic Man, (re-published Basis Books,
1940), pp. 96-97.

 

[33]
See, for
example, Boje, David M. and Rovert D. Winsor (1993), “The
Resurrection of Taylorism: Total quality management’s hidden
agenda,” Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 6
(4): pp. 57-70. 

http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/papers_Winsor_Anti_TQM_1993.htm.

 

[34]
See

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=16728.

 

[35]
“A Passion
for Performance: Peter Drucker’s gospel of accountability,”

http://www.philanthropyroundtable.
org/magazines/1999/march/interview.html. This particular
article gives great insight into how the nonprofit sector is
expected to conform to the new standards.  The Philanthropy
Roundtable controls much of the Christian and conservative Right
through a mechanism of pooling their charitable giving, whereby a
consortium of foundations agree in advance to finance a particular
ministry based upon that ministry’s conformance to pre-set criteria.
Anecdotal evidence hints that fundamentalists need not apply. This
methodological giving should not be confused with humble collections
of the saints for ministering to a specific need. Visit

http://www.mediatransparency.org
from the political Left for an intriguing and disturbing look into
the funding mechanisms of the political and Religious Right.

 

[36]
See
extensive information pertaining to the Drucker Foundation
Self-Assessment Tool at

http://www.
pfdf.org/leaderbooks/sat or

http://www.drucker.org.
Elsewhere Drucker has said, “So the nonprofit organization has to
stick to its mission, to avoid taking on problems in the name of
compassion, that it cannot handle.” Muson, Howard, “The Nonprofits’
Prophet,” Across the Board, March 1989, 26, 3, p. 30.

 

[37]


http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/1999/march/interview.html.

 

[38]
For
detailed information about the points made in this paragraph, see

http://www.homeschoolfreedom.org
or

http://www.westandforhomeschooling.org.

 

[39]
Beatty,
Jack, The World According to Peter Drucker, (New York: The
Free Press, 1998), pp. 185-86.

 

[40]
Hesselbein,
Frances, “A World of Ideas,” Leader to Leader, 9 (Summer
1998): pp. 4-6,
http://drucker.org/
leaderbooks/L2L/summer98/fh.html.

 

[41]
This
information is culled from the website “Foundation for Community
Empowerment,”

http://www.fce-dallas.org.

 

[42]
Foundation
for Community Empowerment, “About Us: board of directors,” featuring
Bob Buford,

http://www.fce-dallas.org/au_buford.cfm. For more history
on Buford’s connection to Peter Drucker, read Elliott, Barbara,
“From Success to Significance,”

http://www.capitalresearch.org/publications/cc/2000/0008.htm.

 

[43]
See also:
Kjos, Berit, “Social Change and Communitarian Systems,”

http://www.crossroad.to/Articles2/04/purpose-links/htm.

 

[44]
To grasp
the full significance of this New Age association, see chapter 6 in
Warren Smith’s book, Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel
from Discernment Ministries (see address in footnote 2), or
http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.
com.

 

[45]
For an
interesting review of Peter Senge’s writings, beliefs and
activities, see

http://www.icehouse.net/lmstuter.
This website provides a valuable archive of research articles on
General Systems Theory and how it is being applied to societal
reform.

 

[46]
Satirical
use, only slightly modified for publication, of “A Synopsis of the
Advanced Practitioner’s Sub-Track of Building Effective City
Coalitions,” National Leadership Forum of the Mission America
Coalition, Oct. 5-8, 2003,

http://boards.faithhighway.com:8080/~cityreaching/guests,
click on “City Wide Coalition,” then click on “Track 19 Level 2
Advanced City Reaching.” Wacky though this may be, it is
representative of the pervasiveness of the new doctrines and
experiences propelling church transformation forward.

 

[47]
Hornbeck,
David M. and Salamon, Lester M. Human Capital and America’s
Future (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1991), p. 3.

 

[48]
See the
deliberate dumbing down of america: A Chronological Paper Trail,
by Charlotte T. Iserbyt (Conscience Press, 1999) for a more thorough
explanation of the activities and philosophies of David Hornbeck.
Available on-line at

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com.

 

[49]
Drucker,
Peter F. “How Schools Must Change,” Psychology Today, May
1989, pp. 18-20. The esoteric roots of Drucker’s system of ethics
and values is revealed in an analysis of his business ethics:
“Drucker describes Confucian ethics as a guide for organizational
ethics; indeed it is ‘the most successful and most durable ethics of
them all: the Confucian ethics of interdependence.’… Convinced of
the overall importance of Confucian ethics, he claims that ‘if ever
there is a viable “ethics of organization”, it will almost certainly
have to adopt the key concepts of Confucian theory: clear
definitions of relationships, universal rules, focus on behavior
rather than motives, and behavior that optimizes each parties’
benefits…’” Bowman, James. S. and Dennis L. Wittmer, Journal of
Management History, Bradford: 2000, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, p. 13. The
Drucker quotations come from his 1993 book, The Ecological Vision
(New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers).

 

[50]
“Emerging
Partnerships: New Ways In A New World,” a symposium of the Peter F.
Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, p. 4, 1996.

 

[51]
Ibid, p. 5.

 

[52]
Ibid, p. 6.

 

[53]
Ibid, p. 7.

 

[54]
Ibid, p.
10.

 

[55]
For a
theological treatise on the decline of value of human life, see any
one of the five-volume series The Complete Works of Dr. Francis
Schaeffer (Crossway Books).

 

[56]
Drucker,
Peter F., Psychology Today, op cit.

 

[57]
Schaeffer,
Francis, How Should We Then Live? (New Jersey: Fleming H.
Revell Company, 1976), pp. 256-7. Readers would do well to re-read
this book, prophetic in its time, and grasp the scope of the warning
the Dr. Schaeffer was sounding. Tragically, some of the very leaders
who are promoting new assessments in the Church invoke the name of
Dr. Schaeffer to make it appear that he would agree with their new
venture! Beware of revisionist history about this man and his
beliefs.

 

[58]
See

http://www.learn-usa.com/roa004.htm.

 

[59]
For a
thorough discussion about how psychological testing instruments have
become mainstream in the postmodern church, read Missions &
Psychoheresy by Martin and Diedre Bobgan, available from
EastGate Publishers, 4137 Primavera Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93110 for
a gift of $10. Phone 800-216-4696 or visit

http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org.
Also see “Peering into the PEERS: Does your child have a proper
“biblical worldview”? by Lynn and Sarah Leslie, posted at 

http://www.discernment-ministries.com.

 

[60]
Rees, Erik,
“Seven Principles of Transformational Leadership – Creating a
Synergy of Energy,”
http://www.pastors.
com/articles/SevenTransformation.asp.

 

[61]
Lohr,
Steve, “Technology and Worker Efficiency,” The New York Times,
Feb. 2, 2004,

http://www.
bobpearlman.org/Strategies/Offshoring/New%20Economy%20Technology%20and%20Worker%20Efficiency.htm.
See also John F. Tomer, professor of economics at Manhattan College,
who proposes that organizational capital “is human capital in which
the attribute is embodied in either the organizational
relationships, particular organization members, the organization’s
repositories of information, or some combination of the above…”

http://www.manahattan.edu/business/ecofin/jtomer/org_book.html.
Tomer authored Organizational Capital: The Path to Higher
Productivity and Well-being. (Praeger Publishing Co., 1987).

 

[62]
Swanson,
Eric, “What do you measure? This Month’s Best Practice,” Leadership Network, No. 41, March 26, 2004. See also “Drucker
Foundation Self-Assessment Tool: Content – The Self-Assessment
Process,”

http://www.
pfdf.org/leaderbooks/sat for more information.

 

[63]
See

http://www.saddleback.com/home/todaystory.asp?id=6213 and
http://www.saddleback.com/peace/
liveservices.asp for launching of this plan, which is
unabashedly called the “beginning of a Spiritual Awakening, A Global
Movement, A New Reformation.” The acronym stands for “Planting
new churches… Equipping leaders… Assisting the poor…
Caring for the sick… and Educating the next
generation.” Also see “A Purpose Driven Phenomena: An Interview With
Rick Warren,” available at Modern Reformation.org,

http://www.christianity.com/
partner/Article_Display_Page0,,PTID307086%7CCHID581342%7CCIID1694210,00.html,
in which Rick Warren responds to a question about the global
P.E.A.C.E. plan: “In the same way, the strength of a church is
measured by its sending capacity, not its seating capacity.
How many members are we actually mobilizing for ministry and
missions? Maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for
ministry and mission.” [emphasis in original] Also see “Saddleback
to Launch New Missions Initiative,”
http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/pastors/1248548.html?view=print,
which states, “The plan is to mobilize members of the Saddleback
Church, along with other congregations – more than 10,000 believers
in the next three years – to tackle the challenge of reaching those
last unreached people groups.”

 

[64]
Tomer, John
F., “Organizational Capital and Joining-up: Linking the Individual
to the Organization and to Society,” Human Relations, June
1998, 51, 6, pp. 825-846. Tomer credits a 1973 article by John Paul
Kotter with the concept of joining-up. (Kotter, J.P., “The
psychological contract: managing the joining-up process.” California Management Review, 1973, 15 (Spring), pp. 91-99.)
Tomer is also quoted in footnote 61.

 

[65]
Proctor,
Paul, “Church Membership Covenants,” August 23, 2002,

http://www.NewsWithViews.com.

 

[66]
Perry,
Tobin, “President lauds church program at White House-sponsored
event,” BP News, March 11, 2004,

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=17831.

 

[67]
See
Foundation for Community Empowerment,

http://www.fce-dallas.org/
for more information on this faith-based initiative. Another example
of Buford’s activities includes “The Finishers Peer Learning Action
Network (PLAN), which touts Rick Warren as an “expert,” to
accelerated church transformation and “to provide information,
challenge and pathways for people to move into missions.”

http://www.finishers.org/ministries/
reports/PLAN_Proposal.pdf.

 

[68]
See Paul
Shirk’s book, Come Out of Her My People, an interesting and
relevant theological discourse on Church and State, available from
Discernment Ministries for a gift of $12 (see address in footnote
2).

 

[69]
See

http://www.ksg.harvard/edu/hauser/PDF_XLS/newsletters/Newsletter_summer03.pdf
which talks about building international non-governmental
organizations (INGOs) and mentions working with a Japanese Family
Planning organization. Bob Buford sits on the External Advisory
Board of The Hauser Center, as does Frances Hesselbein of The
Drucker Foundation. Lester Salamon was mentioned in the September
2003 E-Newsletter as an upcoming speaker. These interlocking
connections are cozy.

 

[70]
Elliott,
Barbara, “Equipping the Street Saints: How to build capacity with
struggling social entrepreneurs who are changing lives for the
better,” Center for Renewal,

http://www.centerforrenewal.com
and also at

http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2002/september/print/.

 

[71]
Abraham
Maslow, father of humanistic psychology, had a profound influence
upon Peter Drucker and modern management theory. For example, see

http://www.cfil.com/maslow/shtml.
For additional information on dialectics pertinent to this
monograph, see Gotcher, Dean, “The Dialectic & Praxis: Diaprax and
the End of the Ages,” at

http://www.professionalserve.com/doublespeak/diaprax1.htm.