If "words are the bugles of social change" it is time for the church to trumpet a different tune than "planning" and "programming." Today's church is called to rediscover the spirited discipline (i.e., "walking stick") of preparedness.

In 1989 President Bush challenged the community of public educators to join with him in rescuing our failing system of teaching our children. By 1991 neither the national governing bodies, nor the local educators had yet agreed on what kinds of measurements (tests, programs, numbers) they should use to begin investigating what was wrong with the system. That's not getting stuck in the starting blocks, that's getting stuck in the driveway before even leaving for the competition.

"Long-range planning" is in vogue today as it has never been before. More compa…