Ernie Beal: Walking backwards through time

King Arthur's mentor, the Wizard Merlin, lived his life backwards--striding from life's terminal point toward birth. Though this may be an admirable trait in a wizard, remaining fixated on yesterday's slights and old news offers mere mortals only an unhealthy mind and an enduring sour disposition.

Across several decades I spent much time trying to break this bad habit with clients, staff, and others. In my management consulting, sick organizations often contain high clusters of these unhealthy ones. A mentor once reminded me that "you cannot undo history." While history may teach one much, it need not control the present or future. In fact, living backwards, looking over one's shoulder inevitably produces an intellectual cancer ruining the life abundant each of us can live every new day. Both individuals and organizations prosper only to the extent they leave yesterday behind and with "eyes on the prize" stride confidently into tomorrow.

Some years ago the USA Today focused a sport article on the expression "it is what it is", a saying growing in popularity among long time sports enthusiast. The paper drew upon Don Powell, psychologist and author of Best Sports Cliches Ever!. He says the phrase means, "It's happened. 'I'm going to forget about it. I'm going to move on. ... There is nothing that can be done about it.' " In others, forget the past and move on.

For we who labor counseling others our central offerings draw inspiration from Powell's advice. What's good for our clients ought to be equally critical to how we and the organizations of which we are part handle our histories. If we do not our hypocrisy and preoccupation with who did what when leads to poor living, poor loving, and poor futures.

ERNIE BEAL: Resume

PROFILE

Visionary leader with extensive experience across a full spectrum of human service and social justice programs.  Proven success advancing social justice causes, creating innovative services, managing quality programs, and facilitating leadership teams.  Demonstrated ability to fuse mission, operational, financial, and technology interests into cohesive, driven, and focused activities.   Exceptional project management, human resource, staff development, and team leadership skills.  Seeking senior leadership role with innovative and dynamic enterprise.

WORK EXPERIENCE

VISION | WORKS, Inc.                                                                                                                                Fort Wayne, IN

President                                                                                                                                                  June 2010 to present

¨       Generating social entrepreneurship within human service organizations and through the executives leading them by strategic vision, business development, fund-raising, project management, and leadership development.

¨       Project coordinator for closing existing and opening new 850 bed state correctional hospital and clinic.

¨       Strategic, fund-raising, and startup planning for rural development initiative based in Lusaka, Zambia.

PEJUS, Inc.                                                                                                                                                       Fort Wayne, IN 

 Chief Operating Officer                                                                                                                   September 1987 to May 2010

¨       Led transition from small, family-oriented residential, vocational, and clinical services agency (35 employees; $1M annual sales) to large multistate enterprise (600+ employees; $25M annual sales). 

¨       Created Indiana’s first residential programs for persons with dual diagnosis, profound disabilities, and significant behavioral challenges, as well as innovative comprehensive mental health centers (in Indiana, Georgia, and Florida) supporting persons with dual disabilities (mental retardation and mental health).  Served as Executive Director of Florida nonprofit affiliate.

¨       Comprehensive therapeutic work with individuals with significant challenges, e.g. persons with severe or pervasive mental retardation, individuals who are dually diagnosed, and adults and children with behavioral health needs.

¨       Led new development teams for both new markets (Atlanta, GA; Indianapolis, IN; and Lakeland/Fort Myers, FL) as well as expanded services (computer learning centers, vocational services, and clinical professional teams).

¨       Planned and implemented web-based clinical records system, video conference-based managerial and clinical rounds processes, and innovative behavioral analysis diagnostic systems.

¨       Developed and implemented staff development, regulatory compliance, and continuous quality improvement programs leading simultaneous national accreditation in all theaters of operation (an accreditation agency “first”).

Legal Practice                                                                                                                                                 Fort Wayne, IN

Attorney                                                                                                                                             July 1980 to December 1992

¨       Successful civil litigator. Handled more than 400 federal court cases involving civil rights claims, employment disputes, and related public policy matters.

¨       Secured both individual and class-wide relief, including ratio hiring and promotion remedies in municipal police employment class action.

¨       Successfully revised municipal civil rights ordinance (in 1978) to include protections against discrimination based on sexual identity and disabilities, making local community distinctive as leader in civil rights prohibition.

¨       Peer-identified as one of Woodward and White’s Best Lawyers in America for civil rights practice.

¨       Served on United States District Court’s Rules Committee.

EDUCATION

Capella University, Ph.D. (in process)                                                                                                                    St. Paul, MN

¨       Coursework complete.  Academic focus:  individual, organizational, and social transformation.

¨       Doctoral dissertation (under preparation) involves the life and writings of Dr. Graham Taylor (1856-1938), a pioneer in American Social Christianity and Chicago civic reform.

Emory University, Candler School of Theology, M. Div.                                                                                            Atlanta, GA

¨       Focus of study: pastoral leadership, psychology of religion, social ethics.

¨       Awarded merit-based scholarship for specialized skill in parish ministry.

¨       Completed three-year degree one semester early while continuing to work full time as PEJUS, Inc. Chief Operating Officer.

Northeastern University, School of Law, J.D.                                                                                                           Boston, MA

¨       Editor, Northeastern University Newsletter.

¨       Cooperative education placements at Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (3 months), Susquehanna Legal Services (6 months), and National Center for Law and the Handicapped (9 months).

Indiana University, B.A. Sociology                                                                                                                     Fort Wayne, IN

¨       Deans honors list.  Completed undergraduate degree in three years, working full time for two of them.

¨       Post graduation, completed nine hours of graduate accounting coursework, Graduate School of Business.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

FAITH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST                                                                                                             Fort Wayne, IN

Senior Pastor (PT)                                                                                                                                                                                          2006-2011

n Suburban renewing congregation with active food bank ministry. 

PEOPLES CHURCH OF CHICAGO                                                                                                                        Chicago, IL

Senior Pastor (PT)                                                                                                                                                                                          2005-2006

n Mission church in Uptown Chicago with extensive program ministry involving food and shelter for persons who were homeless.  Religiously, racially, and ethnically diverse congregation.

n Successfully pursued denominational grants and private donations for extensive capital renovation, mission programs, and innovative church growth. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH                                                                                                                   Elkhart, IN

Interim Pastor (PT)                                                                                                                                                                                       2003-2004

nUrban church hosting head start programs and food pantry ministry.

Visionary, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Consulting, Human Services, Healthcare, Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director, Human Resource Director, Development Director, Resume, Homeless, Food Bank, Poverty, Reentry, Behavioral Health, Intellectual Disabilities, Community Development, Microen

ERNIE BEAL: Terror, Sex, and the Bible

These video excerpts provide, in three parts, the text of a sermon preached in Elkhart, Indiana on the topic "homosexuality and the Bible."   The message emerged in response to adult religious education conversations and responded to inquiries arising in the church's "search and call process.

PART ONE:

PART TWO:

PART THREE

ERNIE BEAL: brandyourself.com

For the most part we know only "sound bites" about one another.  Events we have heard about, rumors passing our way, and highly selective (sometimes unflattering) comments in both the online and real world conspire unconscously to create an image wholly incomplete about a person, organization, cause, or event.   Getting out the full story for our lives and strivings takes much effort in a "sound bite" world.  Fortunately, social network media is maturing to the point where you can put forth "the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey used to intone on radio as I was growing up.

I have been experimenting with a site called brandyourself.com.  It offers a chance to pull the online fragments of your life into a single place where the best of who you are and what have done become more fully available.   For a sample, check out my new site at: http://erniebeal.brandyourself.com.

If you elect to use this tool drop me a note via the links provided in that profile with your new site name.  I would love to get to know you better.
~  Ernie Beal

ERNIE BEAL: Sermon Examples

Folks curious about my preaching style sometimes ask for examples.  Video recordings do not exist.  However, sound recordings were made for messages offered across several years at Faith UCC Fort Wayne.   Two representative examples are:

The Road Less Traveled

This, Too, Shall Pass

Feel free to download and listen.  

                                                                                                                    ~ Rev. Ernie Beal

ERNIE BEAL: Recovering our past

Between 1980 and 1992 my professional focus involved representing people who claimed their civil and human rights had been violated in some particular.  Within this period I handled several hundred lawsuits filed in federal courts and many more administrative claims.  My practice ranged broadly, in both geography and scope of claim.  Though most cases concluded via settlement several went to trial with verdicts favorable to the folks I served.   Among the most notable were:

Keehr v. Consolidated Freightways

http://openjurist.org/825/f2d/133/keehr-v-consolidated-freightways-of-delaware-inc

Reeder-Baker v. Lincoln National Corporation

http://openjurist.org/834/f2d/1373/reeder-baker-v-lincoln-national-corporation

Moffett v. Gene B. Glick Company

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1985865621FSupp244_1829.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985

Smith v. Stoner

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17329818169633542294&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr

Schafer v. Parkview Hospital

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1984654593FSupp61_1642.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985

Reflecting on this period of my life I am reminded strongly that every life story contains many events, successes, and mistakes no individual one of which tells the whole story.  My legal career reflects my desire to work with folks who have been abused, to apply my skills to great achievement, and to work successfully in contexts not ordinarily receptive to the cause I pursued.  Those qualities continued to be evident in later professional work, even when making mistakes or falling short of a desired goal.   

I recently had an opportunity to talk with an agency providing housing supports to individuals who had experienced multiple life challenges and for whom the present "story" of their lives had very little positive detail.   Thinking about my past, present, and future compelled to realize the importance of working with those folks to uncover, recover, and retell the full story of their life.   I suspect we can all benefit by remembering the great moments, the good work, and the pleasant memories associated with every person we know.   Such action on our part makes a great antidote to the modern tendency to reduce people to "sound bites" and one-dimensional characterization.

~ Ernie Beal

Tough Times

In 1943 Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the Twentieth century's most prominent religious leaders , put together a short prayer offered at the time in a local church service:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next. Amen.

Niebuhr's prayer, long ago entitled "The Serenity Prayer", became one of the most widely recited  prayers, with first few lines being adopted by the folks in Alcoholics Anonymous.  It seeks "peace" (individual and social) in times of turmoil, despair, and uncertainty.  Said daily, it becomes a petition seeking the promise of Philipians 4:7 ("His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.")

These days I find myself speaking Niebuhr's words more and more frequently, both in response to world events as well as things active in my own life.   The Serenity Prayer reminds me of two important facts:  (1) our experiences and graces are a gift from God for which we are, at best, merely stewards and (2) tending that gift properly necessitates recognizing that we have little control over what other people do or say.   As long as I remember this twinfold reality I remain centered, focused, and able to withstand the hostility and indifference of others toward me and my special charge. 

Finding the future in our past...(Day Four)

Paradores framed today’s travels, from arising at the Parador Santillana de Gil Blas to dining on regional cuisine at the Parador Congas de Onis. Totaling ninety-two at present, the Paradores offer delightful board and room accommodations within significant historic structures. These hotels result from national government efforts that date to the 1920s and continue with vigor presently. Castles, monasteries, and grand estates have been modernized and used to offer dining and lodging that offers a stylish blend of past and present.

Located near the heart of Picos de Europa, Parador Conga de Onis was once the Monastery of San Pedro de Villanueva. Stone carvings on the main archway of the monastery’s church suggest that the religious order which served there came into existence around 739 C.E. (A.D, if you are not used to this reference). Parts of the present structure date to the 12th century and the entire property demonstrates a gradual program of improvement from the mid-1600s to present.

Both Santillana del Mar (opposite) and Congas de Onis provide an architectural glimpse into Spain’s past. Separated by only 75 kilometers, travel between these two historic towns did not require much time. Travel brevity aside, the journey along the sea between these two spots offered glimpses of other historical structures as well as the gradual accretion upon them by modern tourism. Everywhere one looks there’s a great looking castle, church, or manor. Though some twelfth century churches lie abandoned, signs remain that hard working people once worked, played, and worshipped in this area.

An old church represents more than an architectural monument. I believe that some residue from the folks who predate us remains every present at each church. I sometimes challenge the folks I pastor to remember the souls that once occupied the pews where they now sit.
Remembering the faithfulness that abounded twenty, fifty, or one hundred years ago provides a strong anchor for whatever size community happens to occupy the sanctuary that day. But imagine, however, consciously reconnecting with one’s religious forebears across more than eight centuries. How many prayers and how much dedicated work took place in a church whose origins date that far back?

Somewhere inside all of us long for a connection to something bigger and more significant than ourselves. Ancient churches and monasteries stand as witness both to the enduring truth of this fact and to the reality that long lasting significance comes through communities rooted in otherness (as opposed to selfishness).

For more pics, see:
www.flickr.com/photos/42254846@N00/sets/72157601024534104/