JarrodWBrown

I wholeheartedly support deporting people who are in the United States illegally. I support ending Temporary Protected Status when it was handed out in blanket form with no clear end date. TPS was never meant to last ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty five years. It was meant to be temporary.

And yet, here we are.

For many families, “temporary” became a lifetime. Children were born. Homes were purchased. Lives were built. Communities were formed. So when enforcement finally comes, it tears families apart. People who are not hardened criminals, but who were still here illegally, are deported. That reality is painful. I hate it. I hate watching families ripped apart.

But I also understand something difficult: when a system is fundamentally broken, fixing it is going to hurt. There will be collateral damage. There will be people caught in the middle. That is the tragic cost of years of dysfunction and political cowardice.

And let me be clear about something.

This is not a Democrat problem. This is not a Republican problem. This is a United States problem.

No matter which side of the aisle you support, it is our elected representatives who allowed this mess to grow. Both parties have let it persist. Both parties have watched it become more unsustainable and more untenable with each passing year. Both parties.

Yes, the party currently in office may be approaching enforcement with tactics I do not always agree with. But this crisis did not appear overnight. It was not created in a single administration. It was not caused by one election cycle. It was built slowly, through decades of avoidance, half measures, political posturing, and fear of losing votes.

Our senators and representatives have been unwilling to address an issue they knew was unstable and unsustainable. Instead of fixing it when it was manageable, they kicked the can down the road until the consequences became painful and unavoidable.

Now families suffer. Communities fracture. And the American people are left arguing with each other while the real failure was leadership.

What I do not understand is this.

Why is it so hard for honest, educated, hardworking leaders to come to the United States legally for a short visit?

In our case, we have staff members in Honduras who are directors, managers, and highly responsible leaders within Mission Lazarus. They have strong track records. They have stable jobs. They have families. They have property. They have no interest in abandoning their lives and heading north. They simply want to visit the United States for a specific, time limited purpose.

In November, we are hosting a major celebration. We want some of our Honduran leadership team to be present. These are the very people who make the work happen on the ground.

Yesterday, Cynthia Bucardo, our talented and hardworking manager of San Lazaro Coffee, had her visa denied.

I wrote what I believed was a strong and detailed letter of support to the embassy explaining the nature of her role, her responsibilities, and the purpose of her trip. According to Cynthia, they did not read it. They asked her why she wanted to go to the United States. The answer was in the letter. They did not review the documentation outlining her leadership role. They did not examine the evidence showing the temporary and specific nature of the trip. They simply denied the visa.

It is infuriating.

In our specific situation, Cynthia is not going to quit her job and attempt to enter the United States illegally. She is not joining a caravan. She is not looking for a back door. She is a professional with a stable career and a meaningful life in Honduras.

But others in similar situations might respond differently.

How do we expect people to respect the rule of law when the legal pathway is so deeply flawed? How do we tell people to do it the right way when the right way feels arbitrary, dismissive, and broken?

I support enforcing the law. I support border security. I support ending programs that were never meant to be permanent. But if we are going to demand compliance with the law, then the legal process must be credible, functional, and fair.

Right now, it often does not feel that way.

On top of the frustration, we spent several hundred dollars for the application and interview process. Cynthia left San Marcos de Colon before dawn and traveled four hours to the embassy for a 7:00 AM appointment. All of that time, effort, and money ended in a brief denial.

She is the first of about half a dozen of our staff members who will have visa interviews this spring. I will keep you posted on how the others go. I am praying their experiences are different.

I do not like feeling powerless. Maybe that is a gift. Maybe it is a character flaw. Either way, not being able to advocate effectively for a faithful, hardworking member of our team is deeply frustrating.

If we are serious about fixing immigration, then we must fix all of it. Enforce the law, yes. Secure the border, yes. But also create a legal process that actually works for honest people trying to follow the rules.

He smashed his opponents, political and otherwise. He used intimidation and violence as a governance style.  His tax policy, in part, helped fund his military activities as well as his ornate construction projects.  He implemented new laws that greatly limited the freedoms of certain minorities, and his treatment of foreigners was harsh. 

He engaged numerous military operations against specific people groups that he did not agree with or simply did not like.  He was known for deporting entire groups that he viewed as his enemies.   At home he put down opposition and protests whenever they arose. 

He was skilled at negotiating diplomatic treaties.  Certain foreign rulers were given special privileges by him.  He focused heavily on negotiating new trade agreements across borders. 

He was responsible for numerous laws that not only supported Christian beliefs they also allowed Christianity to flourish.  Perhaps few other heads of state before him have had the impact on Christianity as him.  He saw himself at the defender of Christians, the world over.  Not only did he pass laws that protected Christians, but he also favored them over other religious and ethnic groups. 

This is the legacy of Constantine.  He was responsible for the Edict of Milan and the subsequent Nicene Creed, both significant events in the history of Christianity.  These events likely created an atmosphere for Christianity to not only exist throughout the Roman Empire in the 300’s but to also flourish for the next 1700 years.  This was not the case prior to the reign of Constantine.  It can be argued that no one else has had the same impact on the expansion of Christianity as Constantine did.  However, as an emperor who ruled for more than 30 years, Constantine was not a good man, he was ruthless.  And while he did amazing things for Christianity, he did not conduct himself as a Christian and he did not confess Christ as his savior until he was on his deathbed.    

God’s use of flawed or even “bad” men to accomplish things for His church is nothing new.  Still it concerns me that many chose to ignore certain behaviors simply because certain Christian beliefs are being defended.  Can we not celebrate policies that support Christianity but not celebrate the man?  Whether the behavior be funding the indiscriminate bombing of men, women, and children in the middle east, the exorbitant costs to blow narcoboats out of the water in the Caribbean, the use of military power against our own people, the inhumane and illegal tactics being used to remove perceived illegal aliens from our country, or simply the casual use of extreme profanity, it’s wrong.  Why do many Christian men and women in power stay silent?  As powerful as Constantine was, Constantinople did fall, and so did the entire empire. 

It would be quite difficult to make a complete list of the “bad” or what we, as believers, should view as bad, represented by our country’s current leadership.  Do many Christians turn a blind eye because laws are being passed that support our Christian belief systems?  Or is it because certain policies support our own financial growth goals, feed our natural and sometimes sinful ethnocentric ideals, and bolster a new found feeling of world dominance that has been eroding for decades?  Or is it all the above?

I have watched quietly while struggling to reconcile the actions of the current administration, actions that I believe Christians should consider as immoral.  I’ve watch video after video of people being chased down like feral pigs and abruptly placed on planes to points unknown largely due to the color of their skin, the language being spoken, or their jobs.  I DO support enforcing our borders and immigration policy.  That being said, when one administration puts a system in place to allow for the easy entrance of migrants into our country it is immoral for another administration to abruptly reverse those policies and chase down those individuals who have followed the law to be here. 

I don’t agree with the policies that allowed literally millions of migrants to enter our country and flood our immigration courts with cases that would not be heard for decades.  But they were following the flawed policies that were put in place.  That’s not the fault of the migrants.  They simply took advantage of the system that we, through our elected representatives, established to come here and start a new life.  Honduras and Haiti have some of the largest populations of migrants in the US, per capita, of any country in the world.  I have personally invested a significant amount of time, money, and energy in both of these countries to provide opportunities for hard working individuals to not only dream but to chase those dreams, at home. 

This open-door immigration policy prompted a significant “brain drain” where some of the best and brightest fled their homelands, their families, and their culture in search of opportunities and a better life.  Our organization was impacted directly by the loss of skilled individuals who came to the US.  Whether it’s Honduras, Haiti, Somalia or any other “#%&t-hole” the best way we can help these countries flourish is by investing in these people at home in their countries. 

The United States of America would not be the country that it is today if in 1776 there had been a better option for our forefathers to immigrate to.  This vast land known as the New World was the “better” option until the oppression became more than the people were willing to tolerate.  The best and only option was to demand change, demand representation, demand equality, and to demand freedom.

This was the case for my great great great great great grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel James Francis Steen Sr, who was killed in battle in 1780 not too awfully long after arriving in the colonies from County Antrim, Ireland, with his family.  They left Ireland, where, as impoverished farmers and Presbyterians, they were political and religious minorities, they had no rights.  In our war for independence, Steen, along with some 25,000 other brave colonists, died fighting for change so that we could know freedom and launch this social experiment that we know as Democracy.  As long as the United States has an open door policy for migrants there will never be a bold group of people in those foreign lands who can come together and risk their lives to see change, representation, equality, and freedom, if not for themselves, then for their great great great great great grandchildren 250 years from now.  Immigration reform, passed by Congress, is the only solution to this problem. 

Why speak up now?  As is the case, we typically tend to stay quiet when there is injustice until it affects those we love.  About 18 months ago Olman Santeliz came to the US under the Biden administration’s Humanitarian Parole program.  Olman is a former employee of mine, I’ve known Olman a long time, I love Olman. 

Olman was not your typical migrant coming to the US.  Olman holds dual citizenship from Honduras and Nicaragua.  Some 15 years ago we helped Olman go to college in Honduras where he earned an engineering degree in agronomy. He even traveled on a visa at the time to visit LSU with a group of students from his university and afterwards he spent time with my family in Tennessee. After graduating he became our Director of Agriculture Development in Honduras.  Later he earned a scholarship and traveled to Taiwan where he earned his master’s degree.  After graduating in Taiwan he moved to Nicaragua where he worked with a large agricultural development organization.  When the opportunity arose for Nicaraguans to apply for Humanitarian Parole from the US government he applied.  He was surprised and very thankful when his application was approved.  Not only was it approved, the US government flew Olman from Nicaragua to the US and gave him a work permit.  Olman, not one to sit around, immediately enrolled in truck driving school and in a matter of months received his CDL.  It didn’t take long for Olman to land a position as a truck driver with a large highway construction company in Texas.  Olman was dependable and a hard worker.  When others would spend their weekends in bars Olman picked up extra work any time that he could.  12 days ago Olman wasn’t concerned when he was stopped for an inspection by Texas highway patrol.  This was a normal occurrence and Olman always made sure that he and his loads were legal.  However, on this day, nothing about this stop would be normal.  Upon learning that Olman was not a US citizen the officer called ICE and before Olman could even realize what was happening, he was being detained.  His semi-truck left on the side of the road.  Olman was quickly sent to a migrant detention center in the desert of West, Texas.  Olman was in the US legally.  Olman had a valid work permit.  Olman had a valid driver’s license.  Olman has never had a single run in with the law, not in Central America and not since he arrived in the US. 

Olman was handcuffed.  He wasn’t given answers to his questions.  He didn’t have due process.  It would appear that Olman was indeed guilty of a crime.    His crime, having trusted the system that brought him to the US in the first place.  The system that invited him to apply to come here. The system that paid for his plane ticket.  The system that gave him a work permit.  The system that encouraged him to seek out an employment opportunity.  Or was it that the ruling power was responsible for his demise?  A ruling power, like others before him, that implemented new laws that greatly limited the freedoms of certain minorities.  A ruling power whose treatment of foreigners was harsh.  A ruling power who is known for deporting entire groups that he views as his enemies.    

Something must change.  I am indeed proud to be an American.  I’m proud of a country that offers so much opportunity.  That respects the rule of law.  That allows me to speak my mind without fear of persecution.  But the way that we are conducting ourselves on the world stage does not make me proud.  What happened to Emma Lazarus’ famous words that are engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty welcoming all to our land?

Two weeks ago, I was shocked to learn that Charlie Kirk had been shot. Only a few hours later, I was even more stunned to hear that he had passed away. Since then, I have remained silent—not because I was unmoved, but because I recognize how polarizing his name is. Charlie Kirk stirred strong emotions on both sides, and I did not want my words to unintentionally bring division among people I love and respect.

As followers of Christ, we are called to unity: to unite the body of believers and, more importantly, to unite the body to Himself. That conviction has weighed heavily on me as I’ve processed Charlie’s life, his impact, and his death.

My First Impressions

The first few times I heard Charlie Kirk in a debate, I was taken aback. His style was blunt, at times even abrasive, and I wasn’t sure what to make of him. But as his clips kept appearing in my feed, I started listening more carefully. Over time, I came to marvel at his ability to defend Christian values directly from Scripture, quoting chapter and verse with ease, often without notes.

I cannot say I agreed with every position he took. Charlie Kirk was not a perfect man. But his grasp of Scripture and his boldness in presenting it left me humbled. He was undoubtedly a far better student of the Bible than I am.

Wrestling with His Method

Even as I admired his knowledge, I wrestled with his approach. His mission was clear: to influence young people on college campuses and challenge them to rethink their assumptions. Yet, too often, the debates felt more like picking a fight than building a bridge.

Personally, I believe that true transformation comes through relationship. When faith is shared inside of a genuine relationship, hearts can be softened and perspectives shifted. Debates may sharpen conviction, but relationships cultivate transformation.

That said, I also know there are many people like me whose faith foundations grew stronger after hearing Charlie defend his own beliefs with Scripture. I am less certain that those who disagreed with him were ever persuaded; in fact, some may have become even more entrenched in their views.

Accusations and Grace

I have heard all the accusations leveled against him, that he was hateful, that he attacked people, that he was a bigot. It is true that some debates grew heated. Yet I also witnessed moments where Charlie graciously and lovingly pointed people back to who they were in the eyes of God.

I often found myself wishing I had his depth of biblical knowledge. To be able to pull from Scripture across such a wide range of topics, with context and background, is a rare gift. Too often I rely on fragments pulled out of context, while he seemed to anchor his arguments in the whole counsel of God’s Word.

The Tragedy of His Death

What makes Charlie Kirk’s death feel especially tragic is not just the loss of a voice, but the way it unfolded. We all witnessed it. I would have felt the same shock and horror witnessing the assassination of anyone, regardless of their views or of how good or bad of a person they may, or may not, have been.

He was a man with convictions, a microphone, a card table and a desire to share his faith and beliefs with others. And in that, there is something both ordinary and profound.

What I Take Away

I do not feel called to imitate Charlie Kirk’s exact style, nor do I hold him up as flawless. But I cannot ignore the courage he showed in defending his convictions, the discipline he had in studying Scripture, and the urgency with which he lived out his calling.

His life and death remind me of ours: that we are here for only a time, and we must live faithfully in that time. May we be students of God’s Word, ready to give an answer for the hope within us. And may we speak the truth with grace, building bridges where we can, standing firm where we must, and always pointing others to Christ.

A Final Word from Scripture

Seeing Jelly Roll's success has been impressive to watch. Last Sunday night hearing him sing Half Way to Hell with some firey preaching at the CMT music awards in front of a packed Moody Center in Austin, Texas was humbling. Being able to be a part of his latest album in a very small way, but one with an eternal impact, is something that I'm thankful for. Hearing, "You are saved by Jesus Christ" blasted across the sound system and into homes across the US was something I never imagined being a part of.

His free spirit is what took him to Alaska. An entrepreneur of entrepreneurs, this drive is what led him to buy a boat and start commercial fishing, to build amazing homes in the off season, to guide hunters into the back country, to become a pilot and buy a plane.

His free spirit took him to far flung places like Patagonia in southern Argentina, rural New Zealand, even to Cuba where he would be the only foreigner surrounded by cheering fans at baseball games.

It's also what brought him to visit Honduras for the first time back in 2002, when our ministry was in it's infancy. He dined with me on ramen noodles and hotdogs in the garage turned apartment that I rented as a young missionary. Over the years he would make numerous trips to Honduras to serve with Mission Lazarus. He once drove to Honduras from the US just for the sake of doing it. After a few weeks working with us he continued his road trip south to Panama where he sold his 4Runner and flew home.

He made multiple trips to Mission Lazarus Haiti as well. His first trip was to help with our earthquake relief efforts in 2010 and then returning multiple times to tackle pieces of construction projects at different sites.

He was Kurt St. Jean.

Kurt was the embodiment of good. He was a really good person. He was the neatest person that I've ever known. Kurt was also the brother of my brother in law, Chad St. Jean. When my sister Andrea shared the news with me late Friday night I was shocked.

Kurt died Friday doing what he loved, flying his Piper Cub Cadet across Alaska. Unfortunately mechanical issues brought his plane down in a forested area and he didn't survive the crash. And in a blink of an eye, Kurt was gone. His life was short but it wasn't short lived. He packed more into it than most will who live to be over 100.

Kurt's girlfriend Kristen was with him and she survived the crash but is in very serious condition with many broken bones, a head injury, ruptured spleen and ruptured bladder. Kristen needs as many prayers as she can get if she's going to survive and make a recovery.

So today, would you pray for Kristen? And pray for Chad St. Jean & Andi Brown St. Jean, as well as the rest of Chad's family as they struggle to process their loss.

I exist in a space

And I feel I don't belong

This country isnt mine

The Kingdom is my home

I exist in a space

And I feel I don't belong

I should be in relationship with another

Building a life and a home

I exist in a space

And I feel I don't belong

Trying to relate to others

The conversation feels so wrong

I exist in a space

And I feel I don't belong

A pariah in ministry

Amazing grace is my song

I exist in a space

Because of you my Lord

Hold me close my father

Did you ever know someone who wore their hard work, their hard life or their busyness around on their chest like a badge of honor, as if noone else has a lot going on. You know what I'm talking about, every time you talk to them, if you're even able to get them on the phone, they're so busy.

I think that it all comes down to priorities. Most of us have a lot going on at any given time. Most of us have more on our plates than we're going to be able to clear off any time soon. Often times I get a call and the other person starts with saying, I know you're really busy. That's nice for them to say that but I hope that nothing I've said has given them the impression that I'm too busy to talk to them or that they are any less important than any other task that might be competing for my attention.

I do work hard, I like to think so at least. I also play hard, I really enjoy work and I really enjoy playing hard. I'm not as good at being still. I even struggle to be still, I feel an uneasiness welling up in me, even a bit of guilt. Christ knew the importance of taking time to be still. He was intentional to take time alone, in prayer, after a hard day of work ministering to others. So why do so many of us, as faithful believers, struggle so much with being still?

On a recent trip to Haiti I was reminded how critical to survival hard work is for most in the rural communities that we serve. Most don't have the luxury of taking a week off, going on vacation, or even just a long weekend. Yet, in Haiti, much like in Honduras, you'll typically find families relaxing together in the late afternoon and into the evening. You'll find churches full on Sundays. Perhaps it's a biproduct of the poverty that grips their nations but what if it's a product of Spiritual wealth. What if the poverty in and of itself is what provides the agency to be still and not feel guilty. What if it was the material poverty that is the catalyst for a spiritual wealth that I believe I can only aspire to have.

I recognize that I did nothing to deserve to be born here.  When my ancestors came to the US over 200 years ago the Americas were a blank canvas.  They were an open land of unknown hopes, dreams, possibilities, and dangers.  The fact that the boats that my ancestors embarked on came north while the boats of hundreds of thousands of others went south of what would become the borders of the United States of America has nothing to do with any merit that I may feel that I have today. I'm proud of the opportunity that I had a few years ago to share my thoughts on Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness through a Ted Talk. On this 4th of July I revisit my feelings around Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness as it relates to me, and perhaps you, as believers.

In the face of oppression the Continental Congress met for a month in Philadelphia in the early summer of 1776.  The decision that they arrived at was nothing short of a suicide mission.  13 colonies, loosely united, would embark on the greatest civic experience in the history of mankind.  And in doing so they voted to declare that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  These powerful words, the opening preamble of the Declaration of Independence, were spoken and declared before congress on July 4, 1776.  The signatures of 56 men marked the beginning of a model of democratic rule that while it has been imitated by many nations it has yet to be replicated.  

Can we put aside our views on government today?  That’s what all of the arguments truly are about.  They’re not about whatever the 24 hours news channel talking heads are discussing ad nauseum, and that’s not to say that some of those topics are not very important topics with real, lasting, even eternal implications.  It is to say that our strife boils down to our governance and in turn how we will be governed, how we will be managed.  Whether or not you want God to be considered in the creation of and enforcing of the laws of our land you cannot ignore that it was a faith in God that led these men to create and sign this famous document.  They were not perfect men by any means, they were flawed sinners, some with undoubtedly selfish ambition, but they did have a healthy reverence for their Creator and God.  Perhaps it was naive to assume that those same underlying principles would continue to guide our young nation for centuries to come but nonetheless it was those underlying principles that guided these brave men to take this bold first step.  The fact that the events on July 4, 1776 did not turn into a suicide mission is quite remarkable or truly it was God’s protection over a people and an idea to do something different.  Or perhaps it was a bit of both.  Regardless I thank God that I was born in the United States of America.  

I recognize that I did nothing to deserve to be born here.  When my ancestors came to the US over 200 years ago the Americas were a blank canvas.  They were an open land of unknown hopes, dreams, possibilities, and dangers.  The fact that the boats that my ancestors embarked on came north while the boats of hundreds of thousands of others went south of what would become the borders of the United States of America has nothing to do with any merit that I may feel that I have today.  In short, I don’t deserve to carry a passport that bears the seal of the United States of America any more than anyone else who carries a different passport from another country in the Americas.   Nor do I feel guilt for being a citizen of the United States of America.  

Trust is an elusive paradox in any relationship.  Building trust in the workplace, inside of a team, or simply amongst your direct reports requires effort, and sacrifice.   Trust between two individuals inevitably requires one of the two to take a risk and be vulnerable and through that single event set the groundwork upon which mutual trust can be built.  Interestingly enough, that initial action of vulnerability is not motivated by trust rather it’s motivated by a desire to build a trusting relationship, that’s the paradox.  The individual that takes the risk to be vulnerable is not doing it out of trust rather he or she is doing it out of a desire to build trust, mutual trust.  Because true trust between individuals or even groups of individuals requires both to trust.  True trust cannot exist mutually exclusive of the other party or individual in the relationship.  

For over twenty years I’ve worked to create a culture of trust inside the organization and businesses that I lead.  This culture, I believe, is one that is influenced on all levels by Christ and the acknowledgement of the fact that our home isn’t here but rather in the Kingdom of God.  In order to cultivate a culture of trust it has required me to allow myself to be very vulnerable and quite honestly to get burned many times.  But in doing so I have been blessed to intimately know so amazing men and women, around the globe, where absent an initial vulnerable action, a trusting relationship would have never been developed.  For a healthy organization, regardless of the industry, trusting relationships are key.  If you are unable to trust members of your team then a high level of priority needs to be placed on two things, 1.  Resolving the issues that are preventing or destroying the trust and 2.  If trust cannot be established or restored then replacing the team member in question.  Without trust an organization cannot thrive, a work team cannot thrive, and a workplace culture cannot thrive.  

The Harvard Business Review published an article in 2019 simply titled, The Three Elements of Trust.  The authors walk through the results that they compiled from 87,000 leaders to come up with this list.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

The Three Elements of Trust

By understanding the behaviors that underlie trust, leaders are better able to elevate the level of trust that others feel toward them. Here are the three elements.

Positive Relationships. Trust is in part based on the extent to which a leader is able to create positive relationships with other people and groups. To instill trust a leader must:

Stay in touch on the issues and concerns of others.

Balance results with concern for others.

Generate cooperation between others.

Resolve conflict with others.

Give honest feedback in a helpful way.

Good Judgement/Expertise. Another factor in whether people trust a leader is the extent to which a leader is well-informed and knowledgeable. They must understand the technical aspects of the work as well as have a depth of experience. This means:

They use good judgement when making decisions.

Others trust their ideas and opinions.

Others seek after their opinions.

Their knowledge and expertise make an important contribution to achieving results.

Can anticipate and respond quickly to problems.

Consistency. The final element of trust is the extent to which leaders walk their talk and do what they say they will do. People rate a leader high in trust if they:

Are a role model and set a good example.

Walk the talk.

Honor commitments and keep promises.

Follow through on commitments.

Are willing to go above and beyond what needs to be done.

Here are my key takeaways from each of these three areas.  

Positive Relationships.  Not balancing results and your concern from others on your team will have a detrimental effect on positive relationships and building and maintaining trust.  While poor results will possibly affect many aspects of your business, destroying the trust of a key team member by not gauging your response to performance results for a period of time can quite possibly destroy the trust of someone who had previously consistently produced excellent results.  The long term cost on your business’s performance can quite possibly be more adversely affected by how you address one period of poor results than what was actually the cost associated with the poor results that you wanted to address in the first place.  

Feedback is invaluable inside of an organization.  Without it growth is throttled and the full potential of the individual and in turn the organization are rarely realized.  When feedback is not given in a helpful way it is detrimental to a trusting relationship.  Feedback, which should be intended to be constructive criticism, when not clearly explained and supported with clear examples will quickly be received as simply criticism and rather than being constructive it will inevitably be destructive.  Feedback must be specific, in real time, and shared in order to correct while at the same time motivate and encourage.

Good Judgement/ Expertise. In any industry there is a constant struggle to find quality employees who can use good judgment, or more simply stated, who have good critical thinking skills.  That coupled with expertise in a particular area makes a team member with good critical thinking skills and expertise as well an invaluable employee.  This employee is one who you must intentionally invest time and energy in cultivating trust.  Not because without trust they won’t perform well but rather because without trust this employee will not feel a sense of belonging nor loyalty.  Employees with good critical thinking skills and expertise are in high demand and they are far more costly to acquire than to maintain them as employees.  

Being able to anticipate and respond quickly to problems is a unique gift, I say gift because it is much more than a skill than can be acquired.  Any individual with this gift will quickly instill trust in those who they lead and those who lead an employee with this gift will quickly be able to trust them.  Why?  Because whether they are leading or being led, those around them know that they and the organization are in good hands when the unavoidable and oftentimes unforeseen problems present themselves.  Great employees with outstanding track records of performance oftentimes are unable to quickly respond to problems, in particular the more unexpected and critical problems, this problem paralysis can destroy the morale of the entire team.  Once this gift is discovered the organization as a whole will be well served by ensuring that there is a deep level of trust cultivated with this employee.  

Consistency We have all been around leaders that while they have some great skills, they aren’t consistent.  They lose it under too much pressure, they find others to scapegoat with problems, and in the end you never know if you can or cannot count on this person.  This type of leadership is not healthy and isn’t indicative of a leader, regardless of whether or not they’re in a leadership position.  Why, because you cannot build trust with someone who you can’t count on.  Being consistent is easy to witness when an employee is willing to walk the walk.  Most companies have their core values listed somewhere in big letters but what’s more important than having taken the time to come up with some core values that you claim in writing to be the guiding principles of the organization is actually living them out, day in and day out.  That means living them out when everything is going really well as well as living them out when there are struggles.  This is especially true with leaders wanting to cultivate trust amongst the teams that they lead.  Those who surround the leader daily know much more intimately how the leader responds and reacts in any type of situation.  They know if there are deadlines to meet that their leader will be right there with them putting in long hours, nights, and weekends in order to see the team succeed.  They truly walk the talk and go above and beyond for their team.  The same is true for any employee who may not be in a leadership position but is truly a leader at heart, these are the individuals that will not only help you take your organization to the next level, they will also free you up to invest in new opportunities.  

It looked a bit like a scene from the classic comedy sitcom Sanford and Son.  I finished loading my truck late Friday night.  The tarp covering the boxes of personal belongings and precious memories was tightly secured.  Saturday morning I’d be pulling out early to make the 12 hour drive to Houston.  This would be the beginning of the rest of my life, okay maybe not the rest of my life but it would mark the beginning of a new chapter.  

(not actually my truck)

Saturday morning was beautiful, it was cool and low humidity, the perfect summer morning in middle Tennessee.  I drove across the bridge on the edge of my farm and pulled onto the highway and in just a few minutes I was on Interstate 40 headed west.  Moving is always stressful, so much to do, so much to get taken care of, but there’s also a feeling of excitement as you look to the new adventure that you’re embarking on, perhaps a new job opportunity, a promotion at your current job, maybe its a bigger house for your growing family, or perhaps you’re moving to go to college, whatever the case it’s usually exciting.  My move is less than exciting and a bit more humbling.  I’m moving to Houston, Texas where at 47 years old my son, Levi and I, will be moving in with my parents, at least for the short term.  I set the cruise control at 80, checked my side mirror, and looked back at a long highway that seemed to be growing longer behind me as I moved further away from a life that once was.  

Looking back is something that we often do.  History in and of itself captivates me, what happened at a particular moment in time, what events led to that moment, and then what came from it.  A quick scroll through the camera roll on my phone can bring up some incredibly nostalgic emotions, in particular seeing my children grow up, I can flash through 20 years of life in a matter of minutes.  And in doing so I can feel a wave of emotions come over me, like a sudden ocean wave that can catch you off guard on what was an otherwise pleasant time at the beach, these emotions can knock you off of your feet as easily as that unsafe ocean wave can.  I can begin to think of the “should have’s”.  The “should have’s” is a dangerous place to visit and once visited it is so tantalizing to hang out there, and even worse to dwell in this place.  The “should have’s” represent a certain level of fault, blame or guilt that we feel for how it was or how we were or how we did or perhaps how we didn’t.  While a quick visit to this place might be beneficial in order to recognize how much you’ve done to get to where you are today, in whatever aspect it may be, that quick visit is rarely just a quick visit.  The struggle that presents is that the nostalgic emotions that roll in like a wave when there for a quick visit can quickly turn into a time of hanging out and if we let down our guard we will find ourselves dwelling there.  Once this has occurred we all too often forget that it was not in spite of the “should have’s” that God has made us who we are today or that God has allowed us to achieve what we have achieved today, rather it’s very much because of what we learned from those past experiences that shaped who we are today.  Without those experiences it is very likely that we would not be who we are today.  When I put that into perspective then I’m able to better understand Chrsit’s words in Luke 17:32 when he says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”  When God spared Lot, his wife, and his two daughters from the looming destruction that was planned for Sodom and Gamorra he specifically told them to not look back.  I don’t believe that these instructions were because the destruction of Sodom and Gamorra was to be like looking at a welding arc, whose bright glow can severely damage the unprotected eye.  I believe that God said don’t look back because that place, that life, those memories were not beneficial, they were not Holy, they would not serve any purpose in the new life that God was planning for Lot and his family.  But not looking is hard.  Just about every kid who has ever spent time in a shop with someone welding learned the hard way why they were told not to look.  No matter how badly they tried to not watch the welder at some point they couldn’t resist any more.  Hopefully for most, like myself, we ended up with only a slight burning in our eyes that was gone by the next morning.  Obviously Lot’s wife learned the hard way as well.  God knows what he’s talking about.  

Lot’s wife looked back.  It’s understandable.  Why?  Because we want to see, we enjoy looking back, remembering what was, feeling nostalgic.  As evil and perverse as Sodom and Gamorra were, it was their home.  Undoubtedly Lot’s wife had many friends there, undoubtedly they had many family memories there, and as bad or even toxic as the environment was, it was familiar, it felt safe, it was known.  The unknown, also referred to as the future, is scary for many of us.  The unknown requires a level of faith that most of us want to have but find ourselves falling short day after day and year after year.  Perhaps that’s why we struggle so hard to not look back.   Looking back is familiar, and even as toxic and unsafe as it might have been in Sodom and Gamorra, the familiarity of it created a false sense of security for Lot’s wife.  

Whatever you’re facing right now I encourage you to be present in this moment.  Don’t allow yourself to hang out and even worse, dwell on what events took place to get you here, just be present.  Don’t look back.  And as tempting as it may be, be careful at looking too far into the future, it can oftentimes create as much, if not more, anxiety than dwelling in the past.  Christ knows that, that’s why he also commands us to not worry about tomorrow!  Be the best version of you today, whatever that looks like, rest tonight, and do it all over again tomorrow.  

The 2020 forest fire that nearly destroyed the San Lazaro Coffee farm in Honduras was not an accident. While it wasn’t clear what or who had started the fire it was very clear that it had been intentionally set. The same was true with the fire that we put out in 2021, 2022, and the fire that we put out just a few weeks ago in the spring of 2023. All of these fires were set during the last few weeks of the annual dry season when the countryside is like a tender box, and the mountain slopes of our coffee farm are covered in dry pine needles, where just the slightest spark can start a blaze that is nearly impossible to control. The reason for these fires? Coffee prices.

When we bought our farm in 2006 I didn’t know anything about coffee, really nothing. Nothing about a good cup of coffee and especially nothing about farming coffee. The past 13 years have been an incredible adventure into an interesting commodity, culture, and industry oftentimes controlled by cartel-esque companies that make it nearly impossible for the actual farmer to prosper, even in years with record coffee prices around the world like what was seen in 2022.

January 2007 Drying Patio

2007 Coffee Harvest

In the southern region of Honduras there is only one viable option for a farmer to sell their harvest, that’s to the local coffee cooperative. And not knowing any better, that's where we sold our coffee after our first harvest back in 2007. Our 100% organic coffee was bought from us for $0.90 per pound. Far less than what it cost us to grow, harvest, and mill it. I was shocked and decided then that we would never sell to the cooperative again, that we’d figure out how to sell our coffee in the US on our own. This journey has not been without heartache, failures, setbacks, and financial loss. But by the 2019/20 harvest we had finally started to gain momentum and to increase the volume of coffee that we had available we offered to buy coffee from the women who work for us on the farm. Almost all of them have small parcels of land growing coffee by their houses, maybe only a ¼ of an acre, just something to help subsidize their family’s income. Starting with the 2019/20 harvest we offered them a 25% premium over what the cooperative would have paid them and they were more than willing to sell their coffee to us. In fact they were so excited that they told their neighbors and soon the word had gotten out across the villages on the mountain where our farm is located. For the neighboring coffee farms, owned by wealthy families in the region, this only added insult to injury. They were already feeling the pressure on their wallets as word of our commitment to pay thriveable wages to our employees had spread across the region. Now, what had historically been a source of cheap coffee to add to their annual harvests numbers was disappearing as well. Our goal had never been to disrupt the predatory coffee industry’s buying practices in our region. Our only goal was to bless as many families as possible with a truly thriveable wage for their labor and a fair price for their coffee.

When it was time to see who wanted to sell us their 2020/21 harvest we were blessed to have enough demand in the US that we could buy from other producers on the mountain who did not work for us but who were our neighbors, our friends, and who had learned about our commitment to pay a premium for coffee over what the cooperative paid. Once again our farm was set on fire but we were fortunate and the wind cooperated with us and the fire was quickly controlled. It was painful to do but we couldn’t afford not to, so in 2021 we invested around $20,000 in cutting a network of new roads across the land our farm sits on to serve as firebreaks, a process that took a large bulldozer nearly a month to complete. These breaks, averaging 12 - 14 feet wide, would hopefully slow the advance of future fires as well as allow us to get closer to any future fires with our trucks, tools, and equipment.

When our farm manager Nohelia went to sign contracts to buy the 2021/22 harvest she returned concerned. The farmers who had previously sold us their coffee reported that the coffee cooperative was now matching our rate. I let her know that this was not a problem, that this was a good thing, that our little farm was now affecting the price being paid across our mountain. In response we raised our price per pound by $0.25. Once again in the later part of the 2022 dry season the farm was set on fire and once again we were fortunate to be able to get it controlled before it reached our rows of coffee.

With the 2022/23 harvest season approaching Nohelia once again went to visit farmers to sign contracts to buy their harvest and to our surprise once again the coffee cooperative had increased the price that they were offering to pay farmers for their coffee and once again in response we increased the price that we would pay. The gratitude that was expressed to us by every farmer was touching. They felt that they had a future, that they had dignity, and that they were no longer invisible. At the same time the cooperative had not only offered higher rates for coffee on our mountain but also throughout the coffee growing region of southern Honduras. And to our surprise we received an amicable phone call from the cooperative manager who stated, “you all truly are paying a fair rate for coffee”. He then went on to inquire if we’d be interested in sourcing coffee from the cooperative, to which we politely declined. I felt a great deal of satisfaction knowing that it would take many years of growth for our farm to bless the entire coffee growing region of southern Honduras with a fair rate for their coffee but that due to our commitment to those we were working with our farm had been the catalyst for a cascading effect effect on the coffee growing economy throughout our region. That every farmer, no matter how small, who sold their coffee to the cooperative was now getting a much more sustainable rate for their coffee.

It wasn’t a surprise when this year once again a fire was set on our farm. What was a surprise was the proximity where the fire was set to our rows of coffee. The arsonist had been brazen in risking being seen when the fire was set. What they didn’t take into consideration was the effectiveness of the firebreaks that we had put in a few years ago. And while we had hoped that they would be effective at slowing a fire they had not yet been put to the test. When I arrived at the farm last week, only a few days after it was controlled, I was overwhelmed by sight of the scorched mountainside and fallen scorched tree trunks but at the same time thankful to see that the fire had followed the edge of the new fire breaks without ever crossing them. This year’s fire got to within about 300 yards of our rows of coffee but once again our farm was spared, we thank God for that.

We also thank God for everyone who purchases our coffee. We recognize that it’s not the cheapest option around but neither is it the most expensive. And we hope that you recognize that your purchase of San Lazaro Coffee is truly having a lasting impact on the families that are represented in our faithful crew of 21 women who work our farm day in and day out. And amazingly enough, your purchase has, is, and will continue to impact every coffee farmer in our region of southern Honduras as they have now been given a voice to demand more for their coffee. Thank you for believing in our company and our commitment to Bring Eternal Worth to Light through a coffee farm in southern Honduras.

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Haiti has some serious issues.  Every country has some serious issues, social, political, and spiritual, among others.  Those issues in some countries are more obvious than in others.  Some country's issues are not what we're used to in the US and therefore seem to be so much more severe.   The issues that have plagued Haiti for 200+ years might be different than the issues in the US but if you take some serious time to get to know Haitians, in their own language, and take a serious look at our issues in the US, you'll find that we're not as different as you might think at first glance.   In the end, regardless of the social and political issues, the only issue of dire concern should be the spiritual issues, everything else is just noise.   

I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and I’ve worshiped in many places, many languages, and many cultures.  Never have I ever felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in a worship service the way I have in Haiti.  That’s not something that you can fake.  I’m amazed that our team in Haiti continues to go out to hard to get to places every week to share some Good News where they only seem to hear bad news on most days.  Our leadership could easily justify not doing it for a number of reasons.  “It’s too dangerous.”  “You never know when the roads might be blocked by protesters and you can’t get back home.”  “Diesel for our trucks is too hard to find and when you do find it it's too expensive.”  But they don't do that.  Honestly there are days when I’m shocked to know that they didn’t stay close to the office. 

 I want to live my life with that boldness. 

Now that I think about it all I hear in the US on most days is bad news as well.  Maybe we could use some of the passion that our brothers and sisters in Haiti have to get out and be more vocal about telling others some Good News in the US rather than whatever the telecommunication companies determine to be the news of the day.

Transparency is a big word in any industry today. Regardless of the industry it’s a big word.

Transparency is also a beast and no matter what controls are in place it seems that there are always ways to work around it. In 2017 our coffee farm in Honduras was audited by Fair Trade USA, part of their regular review process that they carry out every so often. It was our first audit ever. The auditor, sent from Portland, Oregon, went through an exhaustive list of regulatory items to make sure that we were in compliance. The last thing on his list was to meet with our accountant and review compensation levels of our employees on the farm. After reviewing everything he sat down with our accountant and said, “Why are you paying your workers this way?” Luis, our accountant, got defensive right away, explaining that we pay more than the government established minimum wage and more than double what most farms in the region pay their workers. The auditor interrupted to clarify and said, “I’m not saying you’re not paying enough, I’ve never audited a farm that pays their workers this much.” We were shocked, the farms he was referring to are all Fair Trade Certified. What could have been a congratulatory moment after hearing from Fair Trade USA how good of a job we were doing taking care of our employees quickly turned to disappointment. The one entity that is supposed to be concerned about protecting unseen and unheard workers around the world was actually challenging us to pay less. I told Luis that we would NEVER spend another penny to maintain our Fair Trade Certification. The nearly $10,000 per year would be distributed among our workers in other benefits like health care and education. 2017 was the end of Fair Trade Certification for San Lazaro Coffee.