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Suffering across the globe remains

As I feel more optimistic about many getting the vaccine and the covid relief bill helping the poor in the US, I am reminded that there is injustice, suffering, and danger elsewhere: Myanmar, Belarus, Yemen, Ukraine, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and North Korea. God help us.

1. I'm reminded to pray because it is overwhelming.
2. I appreciate experts keeping us up to date about their sense of horror about these matters.
3. May the US leadership be wise.
4. Long-term, let's encourage people to live in other countries with generosity and curiosity.

And Brazil with poor leadership and a terrible tragic crisis.

https://twitter.com/AmyEricaSmith/status/1379541650716950528

Taiwan and Ukraine
https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1378851904109821960,
https://twitter.com/ulrichspeck/status/1377515337676099585,

Belarus
https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1377640832396787713,
https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1379230510837166080,

Yemen
https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1375470298946998278,

Ethiopia
https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1374588927143645197,
https://twitter.com/sarasidnerCNN/status/1378175939021049857,

Myanmar
https://twitter.com/Simondlewis/status/1379068349653598215,
https://twitter.com/AlexMorrisNY/status/1379064851444740105,
https://twitter.com/NickKristof/status/1378061915851616257,
https://twitter.com/mcbelz/status/1378037760053940226,
https://twitter.com/JonahFisherBBC/status/1377884267603226624,

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on April 6, 2021.

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The use of humor by leaders, professors, and pastors

In my class sessions this week, there was a lot of laughter. Surely that helps students wanting to attend. But online and offline, I have tried not to use sarcasm. With humor, we can easily confuse and hurt. Self-deprecating humor (about mistakes I've made) is usually safe.

But as a professor or as a pastor or as a leader of a meeting, you are NOT a comedian. The point is not to get laughs. If you start trying for that, you waste people's time and skew the focus.
But sincerely saying how you learned a lesson in the past is useful (and sometimes🤣).

See:

For example, I told stories about how I was a pastor and seminary student but was told I needed to develop relationships with non-Christians so I tried with the barber but it did not really work (and now I'm bald!) and talking to women at the gym who thought I was creepy.

I also told about how when I was a pastor and we had lots of homeless people visit our church for handouts and we worked hard on comprehensive solutions. But also I found the people especially loved cookies and lemonade.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 15, 2021.

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Tennessee pastor Steve Berger’s lashing out at reporters for reporting on his presence in DC on January 6th and his subsequent exit from his position

👀 Whoa. This is who a lot of us voiced concerns about a week ago when from the pulpit he angrily denounced Tennessee reporters by name for reporting on his presence in DC on January 6 (which he himself had talked about on Facebook live video that evening).

Background:

Steve Berger's January 6 Facebook Live video from DC is posted halfway down on this page:
https://www.wsmv.com/news/governor-lees-pastor-apologizes-for-his-account-of-dc-riots/article_24a3a080-5156-11eb-9f75-371cdbbda8bd.html

Here is his defensive letter from January 9:
https://www.facebook.com/PastorSteveBerger/photos/a.1987085484849395/3532042017020393

And here is his angry video from last Sun, January 10:

The church, Grace Chapel, in Leipers Fork, TN (south of Nashville) is saying that the transition was long-planned.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 17, 2021.