Factions

Huy Fong Foods’ founder and owner, David Tran, created the sauce we know as sriracha in his L.A. kitchen as a refugee from Vietnam. Starting with nothing but a recipe and condensed milk cans full of 100 ounces gold that he smuggled out of Vietnam, Tran built Huy Fong Foods over the next four decades into a behemoth that was the No. 3 hot sauce brand in America, behind only Tabasco and Frank’s Red Hot.

Sriracha hot sauce has been copied, counterfeited, and even taken into outer space. Tran didn’t spend a dime on marketing, but his product found fans across the country and was celebrated by chefs and celebrities like Miley Cyrus. The bottle could even be found on the International Space Station.

Then a catastrophic disagreement between Tran and Craig Underwood, the California pepper farmer who had grown the red jalapeños for Huy Fong’s sauce for 28 years, created a crisis for the business. The breakup of Huy Fong Foods and Underwood Ranches, stemming from a disagreement over payment that erupted in November 2016, led to shortages of Huy Fong’s “rooster sauce.” This left millions of fans often unable to get their hands on their favorite condiment. The rift decimated both men’s companies—leaving the farmer with thousands of acres of pepper fields but no customer; and the sauce-maker with a 650,000-square-foot factory but not enough chili peppers to keep it running consistently.

Since then, dozens of other srirachas have flooded the market amid the original’s scarcity, including versions from the likes of Texas Pete and Roland’s and generics from various supermarket chains. And the No. 1 hot sauce brand in America seized the opportunity created by the shortage of Huy Fong’s sauce to dominate the category that Tran created: Tabasco had the bestselling sriracha in the country for the second half of 2023, pulling ahead even of the original rooster sauce.

The sad saga of the two men who created one of America's favorite condiments feels like a kind of fable, or cautionary tale, showing how fragile one product’s dominance of a category can be, no matter how beloved it is.

Possible Preaching Angles:

Just as discord can splinter a business and erode its effectiveness, so disagreements within a church can be equally devastating. Unresolved conflicts have the potential to shatter unity, undoing the hard work, and cause harm to its reputation.

William Muir, a researcher at Purdue University, studies the productivity of chickens. He wants to know how to breed chickens that lay lots of eggs and create environments that foster greater productivity. To research how to make super chickens, he did an experiment.

Muir put chickens into two groups. One group contained normal, healthy chickens. He left them alone for six generations of a chicken’s life. Another, separate group included all the super chickens, those who are proven high producing egg layers. Muir also left them alone for six generations. He provided food, water, and a clean environment, but did nothing to influence the chickens egg laying.

At the end of the experiment, Muir discovered that the group of normal chickens were flourishing: they were laying more eggs per chicken than when the experiment started. In the group of super chickens, only three were left. They had pecked the others to death. The super chickens had laid more eggs through a strategy of suppressing other chickens’ productivity, by killing, or intimidating them, so they were unable to lay eggs.

Possible Preaching Angle

Competition; Leadership; Success - Leadership can fall into the same trap. We believe that if we find the right super chickens we will have success. We look for superstars. In our culture, and in our churches, we often create super chickens, because we desperately want success. We think it can come through one superstar leader.

Set adrift into the vast expanse of amorality, where do people turn? Where within modern society can one find a moral compass that imbues life with meaning? For some, the overwhelming choice made is politics, which, like any idol, consumes everything it touches.

If you put people in a moral vacuum, they will seek to fill it with the closest thing at hand. Over the past several years, people have sought to fill the moral vacuum with politics and tribalism. American society has become hyper-politicized.

According to research by Ryan Streeter, at the American Enterprise Institute, lonely young people are seven times more likely to say they are active in politics than young people who aren’t lonely. For people who feel disrespected, unseen, and alone, politics is a seductive form of social therapy. It offers them a comprehensible moral landscape: The line between good and evil runs not down the middle of every human heart, but between groups. Life is a struggle between us, the forces of good, and them, the forces of evil.

If you are asking politics to be the reigning source of meaning in your life, you are asking more of politics than it can bear. Seeking to escape sadness, loneliness, and lawless disorder through politics serves only to drop you into a world marked by fear and rage, by a sadistic striving for domination. Sure, you’ve left the moral vacuum—but you’ve landed in the pulverizing destructiveness of moral war.

Possible Preaching Angle

1) Church, conflict in; Disagreements; Could we retitle this illustration “How the Church Got Mean?” Have church members allowed taking political sides to divide their unity in Christ? Have we changed our cornerstone from Christ to a political leader we hope can set America right? 2) Arguments; Politics - When the moral anchor of biblical Christianity is abandoned then the tyranny of politics can take its place. People begin to fight political battles with outrage, exaggeration, and censorship. But life is far more than politics and perhaps the revolutionary message of Christianity can still be found by the walking wounded of the world.

Shayden Walker didn’t know what was waiting for him on the other side of his neighbor’s doorbell. All he knew was he needed some help. "I was wanting to see if you knew any kids around 11 or 12 maybe,” said Shayden, in footage caught on the neighbor’s doorbell camera. “Cause I need some friends real bad," explaining that he’d been bullied at school.

As it turns out, his neighbors in the Ray family didn’t have any kids his age. But one of them had a TikTok account, where they posted the video of their encounter with Shayden. It went viral, being viewed over six million times.

Shayden’s mother, Krishna Patterson said, "He's been hospitalized because the bullying was so bad and he felt so isolated.” Shayden said, “What my life was like before ... kids were manipulating me and (said) they would be my friend. But when they ask me to do something horrible, I don't feel like they're actually my friend.”

The Rays also set up a GoFundMe account for the boy, where they raised over $40,000, exceeding any expectations they might have had for finding help. Because of such generosity, Shayden will get to purchase some new clothes, a video game system, and tickets to an amusement park.

And Shayden’s mom has advice for anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation to the Ray’s. “If you see it [bullying], just advocate for that person. Just be there for that person. Do not let that person suffer," said Patterson.

Shayden himself has a message for anyone else who might be considering bullying behavior. “How would you like it if someone were to bully you? How would that make you feel?"

Possible Preaching Angle:

The Lord loves to answer the call of the afflicted, and does not leave the righteous forsaken.

When Romello Early saw that one of his classmates at Buffalo Creek Academy was being bullied because of his shoes, he was overcome with emotion. Bryant Brown, dean of culture at Buffalo Creek, said, "When you come to school, people look at your shoes before they even look at your face.”

But Early didn’t like that. And when his mother came home from work, he told her so. He said, “Mom, you can take away anything you're getting me for Christmas, or you could take my allowance, I just want to get him some shoes. Nobody deserves to get put down based on a pair of shoes that he's going to eventually grow out of.”

Early’s mom was so moved by her son’s compassion that she granted his request. And the next day, Early presented seventh-grader Melvin Anderson with a bright orange box with two brand new Nike shoes in his size. Early had purchased the shoes with $135 he’d already saved up. He said, “It made me feel happy to see that big smile on his face.”

When Brown saw Anderson smiling with his new box of shoes, and Early smiling right next to him, he felt moved to take a photo. The photo eventually went viral and inspired a ton of local goodwill. The two boys, their parents, and the school dean eventually did a segment on a local TV news affiliate. Both boys were surprised with a series of gifts, including local Buffalo Bills NFL swag, a Playstation 5, and of course, two more pairs of sneakers.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When we operate in generosity we demonstrate the love of God, not only to those whom we bless directly but for a wider watching community.

When Randy Smalls found out his daughter was participating in the bullying of another girl at her middle school, he took swift action. But rather than simply disciplining his daughter with a typical punitive action, he took a different approach.

Ryan Reese, the target of the bullying, had been struggling with the loss of several family members. When Smalls’ wife, who was friends with Ryan’s mother, found out about Ryan’s struggles at school, they devised a plan.

Using the money that he initially intended to spend on his daughter, Smalls took Ryan out on a shopping spree, and had his daughter come along to help pick out her clothes. Then after dropping his daughter off at church, Smalls took Ryan to a beauty salon for a makeover. He even convinced several other salons to donate their services so that Ryan could be styled twice-a-month for several months.

Ryan’s mother, Richaun, was grateful to see a smile on her daughter’s face. “This is the first time I’ve seen a parent take such a stance on bullying.” Smalls took such drastic action because he remembers being bullied himself as a youth. “I say, ‘When you laugh along, you’re co-signing the bullying.’”

Potential Preaching Angles: God has a heart for the outcast and rejected, and has judgment in store for those who marginalize others instead of loving the marginalized.

Physician Horace Smith warns that in the church "we must guard against 'spiritual autoimmune disease,' in which spiritual white cells see normal cells within the body as enemies and try to destroy them" Dr. Smith adds:

Is it possible for a human body to "bite and devour" healthy cells, destroying life? Absolutely. Sometimes white blood cells mistakenly attack healthy cells in the blood, causing disastrous results. The immune system fails to recognize components of the body as normal. It then creates autoantibodies that attack its own cells, tissues, or organs. This causes inflammation and damage, and it leads to autoimmune disorders. For example, autoimmune hemolytic anemia is a group of disorders that attack red blood cells as if they were substances foreign to the body. Like other cases of anemia, the person may experience shortness of breath, tiredness, and jaundice. When the destruction of healthy red cells persists for a long period of time, the spleen may enlarge, resulting in a sense of abdominal fullness and pain

God intends for his body to be healthy, nourish each other, protect each other, and carry harmful waste away.

Mike Krzyewski, the men's basketball coach for Duke University since 1980, is basketball's all-time winningest coach. Most people know him as just "Coach K." But he's not just a coach; he's also a genius at creating teamwork. Here's one of his keys to success:

In our program, the truth is the basis of all that we do. There is nothing more important than the truth because there's nothing more powerful than the truth. Consequently, on our team, we always tell one another the truth. We must be honest with one another. There is no other way.

The last soldier to die in the Great War was an American, twenty-three-year-old Henry Gunther, a private with the American Expeditionary Force in France. He was killed at 10:59 A.M., November 11, 1918, one minute before the Armistice went into effect.

Gunther's squad, part of the 79th Infantry Division, encountered a roadblock of German machine guns near the village of Chaumont-devant-Damvillers. Against the orders of his sergeant, he charged the guns with his bayonet. German soldiers, aware of the Armistice, tried to wave him off. But Gunther kept coming and was gunned down; he died instantly. His divisional record states: "Almost as he fell, the gunfire died away and an appalling silence prevailed."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Salvation—We have peace with God through Christ but we still live like we're at war with God. Lay down your arms and enjoy Christ's victory and offer of reconciliation; (2) Conflict—Are we picking needless battles or picking battles in a way that leads to more conflict rather than living as peacemakers?

"Is disbelief enough to keep a Sunday gathering together?" That's the question facing "worshippers" at The Sunday Assembly, London's atheist "church" (described as "part quixotic hipster start-up, part Southern megachurch") that's been spreading to other major cities around the world, with an in-depth franchising process almost denominational in scope.

But it hasn't been all a smooth humanist dream. Recently, their New York faction, concerned that the group's tone and content wasn't atheist enough, decided to split from the rest of the assembly. Issues of contention included practical and "theological" differences.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Christians get a bad rap—deservedly so—for our factions and disunity. But every so often, we need a reminder that faith isn't the culprit here. In fact, lack of faith might be just as big a problem.

One of the fastest-growing online businesses is the business of spying on Internet users. Communications Professor Joseph Turow writes: "We're at the start of a revolution in the ways marketers and media intrude—and shape—our lives. Every day, most if not all Americans who use the internet … are being quietly peeked at, poked, and tagged as they move through the online world."

In other words, every time you click a link, fill out a form, or visit a website, advertisers are collecting personal information about you. Then companies target ads for you based on that information. Turow says that a recent online Valentine's Day card he sent to his wife, contained trackers from 15 different companies. Even a simple online greeting card purchase reveals a lot about you.

The goal is to sell us stuff more efficiently, but Turow worries that this new technology is creating a society where our value is defined by profiles we don't even know are being built. For example, marketers already have developed a new jargon that divides people into two distinct categories: "targets" and "waste." In the future, Turow says, advertisers might you place you in "reputation silos" that discriminate those pegged as "down-market." Turow says,

I'm concerned about … social discrimination. In an everyday world where companies are deciding [how] I'm targeted, making up pictures about me, I'm getting different ads and different discounts and different maps of even where I might sit in an airplane based on what they think about me … It has a lot of ramifications of how we see ourselves and how we see other people.

Possible Preaching Angles: Favoritism; Prejudice; Dignity—This new technology is a highly-sophisticated form of an old-fashioned sin—favoritism. The new form of prejudice will be based on our "reputation silos." "Targets" is bad enough, but can you imagine calling human beings "waste"?

Imagine this scenario: A man invites a friend into his home for dinner. They enjoy a delicious meal that the man's wife has graciously offered to make. The man and his friend casually catch up on life, but then halfway through the meal, the invited guest starts do to something unbelievable. He starts listing things that his friend's wife could have done better.

"The chicken was way too tough," he says. "You should have marinated it longer. And the broccoli is overcooked, mushy and bland. My 12-year-old daughter could cook a better meal. And you should really do something else with your hair." Then he starts to criticize her character, even ridicule her.

I'm guessing his visit would be cut short. And the guest would probably get sent away with a few choice words. Even if he was right about certain things, the typical husband simply wouldn't tolerate someone openly and caustically criticizing his wife. He loves her, and for a husband that leads to accepting and honoring his wife despite her quirks and shortcomings.

Unfortunately we tolerate this mean-spirited criticism all the time when it's directed at the church. If we're not careful, it's easy for us to look at the church and her leaders, and say, "The church should have done ____." Or, "I wish they hadn't ____." You fill in the blanks.

The controversial American author Gore Vidal had a clear and simple solution for dealing with conflicts. He said, "There is not one human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise."

A young rabbi found a serious problem in his new congregation. During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the rabbi said or did helped solve the impasse. Finally, in desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue's 99-year-old founder.

He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles. "So tell me," he pleaded, "was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?"

"No," answered the old rabbi.

"Ah," responded the younger man, "then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers."

"No," answered the old rabbi.

"Well," the young rabbi responded, "what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout and the other half sit and scream."

"Ah," said the old rabbi, "that was the tradition."

Pastor Andy Stanley writes:

I used to do a lot of marriage counseling, and often one spouse would come in the office and start ranting and raving, "My husband does this …;" "My wife never will do that …;" and it would go on and on. I would sit there thinking, This counseling isn't going to be very effective, because the person who apparently needs to change isn't even in the room. So I would get a pad of paper, draw a circle on it, and say, "This is a pie that represents all the chaos in your marriage. Now, 100 percent of the blame is in that pie, because that's where all the chaos is." I would give them the pen and say, "I want you to draw a slice of pie that you think represents your responsibility for the chaos." The piece of pie that that client would draw was never very big, but I would say, "Okay. So why don't you and I talk about just this. Let's talk about this piece that is your responsibility. Let's talk about your slice." You know what? My approach never worked. I could never get anybody to stay on his or her slice of the pie.

So here is what I want you to do this week: As you experience relational conflict at work, at home, with your friends—any conflict of any sort, big or small—stop and think about your own slice of the pie. Ask yourself, What is in my slice of the pie? Have I taken responsibility for my life, really, or am I enjoying the blame game so much that it has allowed me to ignore what I am ultimately responsible for?

In any relationship, if you can ever get the two parties to own their piece of the pie, you can make progress. But if everybody is focused on the other person's slice of the pie, you will just have chaos.

When you experience conflict or pain in a church setting, don't run away to another church. It's often better to stay put and work through it. That's the advice from two early Christian sources.

An anonymous 4th century Christian leader wrote:

If a trial [with other people] comes upon you in the place where you live, do not leave that place when the trial comes. Wherever you go, you will find that what you are running from is ahead of you. So stay until the trial is over, so that if you end up leaving, no offense will be caused, and you will not bring distress to others who live in the same neighborhood.

In the 12th century, Anselm of Canterbury compared a restless believer to a tree that can't thrive because it's "frequently transplanted or often disturbed." Anselm warns: "If he often moves from place to place at his own whim, or remaining in one place is frequently agitated by hatred of it, [he] never achieves stability with roots of love."

Lance Morrow, an award-winning journalist with Time magazine, once set out to write an article asking if there was one universal joke, told everywhere around the world. Here's what happened:

I sent out a query to all of Time's bureaus around the world—Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, New Delhi, Jerusalem, Rome, Bonn, London, Paris, Rio, Buenos Aires, and so on. I asked the correspondents to tell me one or two jokes then current in their part of the world.

It turns out there is a universal joke. It was what Americans refer to as the "Polish joke." Except of course that everywhere, the role of [Polish people] in the "Polish joke" is enacted by some appropriate other group. The Flemings have Walloon jokes, for example. The English tell Irish jokes, and vice versa …. The people in Tokyo have jokes about the people in Osaka. I was once on the tiny island of Grenada (133 square miles) and was told that people on one side of the island had a large stock of vicious jokes about people on the other side of the island; and vice versa.

In the universal humor, as in universal evil, you need the Other. The Other is the butt of your joke, or the butt of your evil.