In the Zone

Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against former Washington State high school assistant coach Joe Kennedy. Kennedy began a tradition in 2008. At the end of the game, he would walk to the 50-yard line, drop to a knee, and silently offer a prayer. Over the years, players and other coaches joined in the ritual. That was until 2015, when another district employee noticed the prayer and reported it to the school board. Kennedy was asked to stop. He was given an alternative time to pray when no students or fans would be around. Kennedy refused, so he was suspended. Eventually, the board chose not to renew his contract. Kennedy took legal action. However, in last week's decision, the court ruled that as a public school employee, he speaks for the school, and thus he has no first amendment rights to free speech or religion. By praying, they wrote, he made the school officially endorse a religion. As I read that story I was struck by the opposite reaction to professi

A few years ago, a church had a growing youth group. They started small, but over the years more and more students began to attend. The church started a bus ministry, and the youth group nearly doubled in size. However, much of the work was done by the youth pastor and a few committed youth volunteers. They made contacts with the parents and formed relationships. They earned trust by showing that they cared for the teens and the teens' family. Much of the growth came as a result of those relationships. Then something happened. The youth pastor left. He moved on to another church out of the area. The youth who had relationships with him soon stopped coming. This committed group of students, just a few weeks after the youth pastor's departure, stopped coming to youth and stopped going to church. The problem was they had no relationship with the church. They had a relationship with the youth pastor. They had a relationship with the youth volunteers. But they had no relatio