Trash Bins and Dog Walkers

Ten years ago, after I purchased my house, the Sanitation Department taught me a lesson that I have never forgotten. Ten years ago if you left your city provided trash receptacle out on the street for a period of 24 to 48 hours after trash pick up, your trash receptacle got a little red sticker denoting your laziness and warning that if you did it more than three times you were out of luck for a place to put your trash. Three red stickers and it was gone to trash receptacle storage to wait for a more deserving home. Today, it seems, the rules have changed. Today, meaning this period in time, one can leave the jolly green trash eater out for as long as one wishes with no fear of a reprimand. Red stickers only appear on receptacles of those who are new to the neighborhood thereby giving a free pass to those who continually decorate the street with their large green trash bins. Some are so lazy that they would rather walk to the street and dump the trash in the bins rather than take the extra effort to pull it up into their yards. Granted, they are not the most attractive things in the world and it is hard to find a suitable spot for them in the yard but better in the yard than on the street from trash day to trash day.
And speaking of trash the early morning coolness brings out the fitness buffs/dog walkers. Most dog owners are responsible people, keeping their charges off other people’s lawns, but some seem to think it is just fine to let Muffy or Rover relieve themselves anywhere they please. They have no regard for the property of their neighbors or maybe they think leaving little surprises on the lawns is a nice thing to do. One less pile to pick up out of their yards I suppose; if they even clean their yards. One thing you can not fault them on is abiding by the leash law. Every pet, save one, is always on a leash as they stroll down the sidewalks and streets of our area. Unlike my neighborhood where Pit Bulls roam free and semi-Pekinese explore the area. Do not bother calling Animal Control. They say they can’t do anything about it unless they see it happening. I certainly do not want the animals picked up and destroyed; I would, however, like to have the law enforced to keep them from being run over for one thing and for another keep them out of our yards.
The following is an excerpt from an article in the Tulsa newspaper about Dr. Watke and his group and their innovative approach to religion. I emailed the author asking for permission to use it, however, he never answered so I’m using it anyway.
“And many of our churches that are growing are swapping members instead of penetrating the unchurched in society.” Watke agreed. “Evangelical churches are declining across the country,” he said. “Members are aging. It’s a reasonable expectation that 60 to 70 percent of our churches will close in the next 20 years.”
About 20 percent of Americans are in church on a given Sunday, he said. “People want to be spiritual, but not religious. “They are asking the right questions, and the church has the answers, about their relationship with self, with society and with God. “But they don’t see the church as having the answers, because the church is focused on the organizational, the trappings,” Watke said.
The pattern Watke is teaching is similar to the pattern used by the apostle Paul to reach diverse people groups, he said. It also is similar to the marketing strategies of businesses.
“We’re not marketing the church. You can’t sell Jesus. But you can develop relationships, to reach people for Christ,” Watke said. “God made us social beings. He knew that people create groupings.
His commission to us is to penetrate, to invade those people groups. “The reality is, people tend to live
among people who are like them,” he said. Realtors have found that people looking for a house will gravitate to neighborhoods that are like the neighborhoods they came from. Without even thinking about it, they feel comfortable there, he said. Pastors in the program will identify the people groups in the area around their churches, using block-by-block grids of data. Pastors also will identify the people
groups in their own churches, those who most easily can reach the people groups in the community. And then they will develop strategies to develop relationships with people in those groups. Cruce said the program is open to any evangelical church. “This thing is really catching on,” he said. “A number of churches have called that want to be part of it. We want to work with anyone who wants to do kingdom work.
TRACKING THE NEOTRIBES
Churches will begin locating new members via a well-researched “neotribal culture.” The local Top 10 tribes are:
Lower Income Essentials
“leisure spending allotted to premium cable”
Hardy Rural Families
“watch auto racing via satellite dishes”
Stable Careers
“tune into Spanish, black and sports radio”
Steadfast Conservatives
“eighty percent are homeowners”
Industrious Country Living
“not avid computer or internet fans”
New Suburbia Families
“rely on catalogues for apparel”
Small Town Success
“drive late-model SUVs”
Urban Commuter Families
“dine out regularly at steak restaurants”
Small Town Endeavors
“nearly half earn less than $25,000”
Young Cosmopolitans
“read epicurean and travel magazines”
This is sociology at its best.