Father's Day

I said on Sunday that I would elaborate on lessons from my father, Homer Noel Jackson. He was born in 1910 when there was a classical revival. Ancient names sounded classic, but now Homer and Horace are considered rural names from the past - and funny.

Dad grew up on a farm, just like Mom. Both farms failed from FDR's schemes, so both reached adulthood during the Great Depression. It must have been great, because they never stopped talking about.

Dad was obsessive about saving everything that might be useful, and he carried a wad of money in his pocket, like all Depression survivors.

Those people expected to work, felt good about working, and were tough and resilient at the same time. Not working was a sin, and earning money was a day well spent.

Lessons from Hours of Repetition

A lot of work was repetitive, such as the time we sugared and bagged 900 dozen donuts for a money-raising sale at a Roman Catholic Church. Fortunately, I was able to hide evidence of donut breakage by eating the broken pieces.

Research can be tedious at times, and getting things done is often no more than copying and pasting - the Bethany Hymnal Blog - and placing links for Search Engine Optimization.

Quality Parts Management

Melo-Cream donuts were always getting better because Dad insisted on the best ingredients, long before W. Edwards Deming. The shortening, flour, cocoa, vanilla, sugar (cane, not beet), and nuts were the highest quality. My friends from 50 years ago want me to revive Melo-Cream for the cinnamon fries.

Dad got some kind of award, but the newspaper photo showed him looking through the hole of a donut. He loved that shot.

This also applies to theology. If someone constructs a book or article from junk - like carob for chocolate, cheap chemical flavors - the results will always be poor. Why start with the felon CFW Walther when Martin Luther is the greatest Biblical scholar of all time? Do you want a genius baker to make the wedding cake or some friend who makes cement style cakes for a deep discount? Yet people use their friends, relatives, and professors as the greatest authorities on the Word even when against the Word.

 This was my first calendar, age 4, and I remember disliking the flour on my face to make me look cute.

 This was my last photo-shoot for a calendar, at the nearby apple orchard, holding a Classics Illustrated comic book and my favorite vanilla iced bread donut.

Promotion

Dad was always promoting his products because he said, "I lose 25% of my customer base each year." We had family calendars, paper hats, ads on WQUA, and sponsorship of baseball teams. The WQUA disk jockeys got free donuts and coffee, and the station provided free ads. Dad was considered the other manager of WQUA because Flambo always listened to his advice and took it. Don Nelson told me about that.

 Cousin Dean Jacquin wore his Melo-Cream hat for a postcard promotion.

When the Internet became available, I looked for ways to publish, first with websites, then with blogging, later with print on demand books from Lulu and Amazon. The social media allowed me to leverage everything by repeating the same material via links on different platforms, including Facebook. I have also helped promote non-profit activities for free, using the same methods. I showed a small college how to use blogging for world-wide publicity, gaining about 20,000 views for free.

 The matches were popular because they were not cheap, crumply ones.

 Rev. Charles Willey, Disciples of Christ, the denomination of Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth.

Dad Was Active in Church

I remember lots of congregational events at First Christian in Moline, now empty and sold to someone. Dad was an usher and we helped with that. He also made the donuts for their coffee hour.

Someone took this hard, but it is the truth. First Christian - and especially Rev. Willey - were the reasons I became a Lutheran. I asked Lawrence Eyre where he went - Salem Lutheran across the street from FC? -  and crossed the street when the family arrived at First Christian.

"Where are you going?" GJ - "Salem Lutheran. I'll walk home."

Right from the start, as a pastor, Church Growth and other pestilences reminded me of Rev. Willey at First Christian. He was always tan, always smiling, and always trying a new gimmick, like arriving in a fire truck with his chaplain's white hat on.

Dad and Mom died as conservative Lutherans.

I gave a talk at the Ohio Conference, WELS, where I asked about using the Deming theory instead of Church Growth. "Why not start with Luther and the Book of Concord?" That was the equivalent of asking for the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Independent Little Business - Long-Lasting

Dad started Melo-Cream in the Depression with his brother, then bought him out and continued. After decades, he sold his recipes to Hasty Tasty, but continued making candy on his own! He never changed his method of preparing food, so it remains a legend among the Moliners who enjoyed it.

That is all we need to do, keep emphasizing the best when everyone wants to cheapen the product to make a few more dollars. That matters the most when it comes to eternal values and the treasure of the Gospel.