Meeting Recap - July 19, 2016

Posted by Jeff Benson on Jul 19, 2016
 
President John Risdall opened the meeting with the Pledge and Bob Barmore gave the invocation.
 
We were blessed with several guests today:
  • Assistant District Governor, Judy Rolow;
  • Ella White, recipient of our $1,500  scholarship at Saint Anthony Village High School;
  • Bruce Cameron from Mounds View Community Theater, promoting their production of "The Drowsy Chaperone", now through July 31st at the Irondale Theater. This play won five Tony's in 2006. More information is available at http://mvct.org/.
  • New Brighton City Manager, Dean Lotter. When pressed to say a few words, Dean offered that New Brighton has completed the transition to the Minneapolis water system while changes are made to eliminate a newly discovered contaminant in New Brighton's water. The changes will be complete in two years, at which time we will change back to our own water supply.
 
Gerry Tietz announced that Paul's cardiac valve replacement will take place tomorrow (Wednesday). Please keep Paul and Chrissy in your thoughts and prayers.
 
MaryAnn Bawden has put together an updated printed directory, available at the check-in table. MaryAnn also provided delicious desserts for the meeting today. MaryAnn, you are the best!
 
Dana would like the August Program Committee to get her the list of August programs so she can get the list published in the Sun-Focus.
 
Mark Beisswenger forgot to bring the Stockyard Days Rotary Bingo sign-up sheet, but he still needs workers for the following shifts:
  • Friday, August 12, 7:30-10PM   (2 workers needed)
  • Saturday, August 13, 10-12:30PM   (1 worker needed)
  • Saturday, August 13, 12:30-3:00PM   (1 worker needed)
  • Sunday, August 14, Noon-2:00PM  (2 workers needed)
Please call Mark now to help with this important fundraiser. 651-398-4622
 
George Winiecki will need help with the Stockyard Days Parade Hot Dog Feed on Thursday, August 11th. Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details.
 
Dave Hoel said that he will be having dinner tonight with Eric Rudfeldt and his family, our exchange student 28 years ago. There will be a lot of catching up to do!
 
Bob Barmore introduced our speaker, Pastor Sam Crabtree. Sam's presentation was titled "Practicing Affirmation".  Sam defined "affirmation" as "God centered praise of those who are not God". To clarify, he said that God is constantly at work doing great things through the actions of human beings, so affirmation of others is simply recognition of God at work in the world through us. Sam contends that affirmation is non-optional, meaning that whether we choose to affirm, or not to affirm, there is an effect on our relationships.  He suggested that affirmation is the key that provides access to a relationship just as your key provides access to your home. Affirmation is not the main thing but it is a crucial thing for relationships. In his many years of marriage counseling, Sam has seen failure of affirmation in virtually every divorce situation. Sam presented the idea of the Affirmation Ratio, explaining that, in relationships, affirmation drives relationships toward healthy communication and that correction, in the absence of affirmation to balance it, will drive relationships toward unhealthy communication or, in many cases total absence of communication. He also suggested that, in the absence of regular inputs of affirmation, the tendency is for relationships to drift toward unhealthy communication. He has observed that correction accelerates that drift. Correction without balancing affirmation results in the following progression:
Your loved one stops hearing the correction;
Your loved one stops hearing you;
Your loved one becomes oppositional.
Many marital relationships follow this path and parent/teenager relationships can easily follow it too. The good news is that genuine affirmation has the potential to heal even the most damaged relationships. The most effective and God-centered affirmations are those that affirm the "character of Christ" in the person.  Sam and Bob are shown below.