In My Head

Imbedded Theology

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

In the past year, I have had two conversations that have been very similar- yet making me scratch my head. They went like this:

Conversation #1: College student from a Reformed Tradition telling me that they go to the Bible for their theology and not an author, writer, commentary, etc. Yet, as we talk, it was very evident about the impact of the books they were reading and the podcast they were listening to had on their spiritual life.

Conversation #2: With another Christian leader, in his thirties, from a non-denominatinal church. As we talked about some theological traditions, he stated that he didn't know what theological tradition he was because he just would go to the Bible.

First, let me applaud them (and maybe you) who make it a point to dive into the Word of God. There is no better way for us to get to know God than to read God's Word. Knowing both people well, I know their passion for God and for the scriptures. This is not what makes me scratch my head.

It's the idea that we go to the Scriptures without any personal baggage, biases, or theology whether its come from books, commentaries, podcast, etc. This post isn't to affirm any theological tradition as correct, but it doesn't matter whether you're Reformed, Wesleyan-Arminian, or Presbibaptistcostal- we each have our own theological system in place. Some of it is just more formalized than others.

For instance:

When you read a passage of scripture and make an interpretation based on the context of the text and your knowledge of the Bible- you are developing your own theology.
What we may not realize is that all our Sunday School lessons, sermons from our pastors, messages from our youth pastors, the way our parents raised us, and the books that we read, help us to interpret the Bible in a particular way.
If our major influences in our Christian Faith (pastor, youth pastor, etc) are Wesleyan-Arminian, it's quite likely that we ascribe to that theological system without even realizing it.
Even for those of us who are non-denominational, the influences our pastors and past leaders create a theological framework for the church to work in. Who influenced them?

Why is this important?

I believe we should engage the theological systems we are raised up in (or find ourselves in). What do they say about God? About humanity? Is this what I truly believe? Is this really what the Bible teaches? What's the background of my pastor or favorite podcast? Do I track with their theology?

Ultimately, we are each theologians are we try our best to understand and grow closer to God. We create theological frameworks for our families by our prayers before meals and in our family worship time.

How does theology affect your life? Your family? Do you engaged with your pastor's theology and what your study of scripture has taught you?

The Future of The United Methodist Church: Real Discipleship

2012-02-06T11:17:00.002-05:00

This spring, delegates from The United Methodist Church will gather in Tampa, Florida for General Conference, which is held every four years. It is a time of conferencing and legislation which will affect the people of the denomination for years to come. As we prepare for General Conference, this is a great time to have some dialogue about what some positive changes might look like for the future of The United Methodist Church.

Today, I want to talk about Real Discipleship.

The Mission Statement of The United Methodist Church is: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I've come to wonder if we really are series about making disciples.

In this history of The United Methodist Church, Methodism began with John Wesley (In England) and Francis Asbury (here in America), who encouraged people to be growing in their faith. They attended Class Meetings (like small groups) where they were asked questions like, "How is your soul today." They were held accountable for their lifestyle and faith development.

In a time where we the Call to Action report is giving us 16 drivers of vital congregations- one area that seems to be left out (at least without specifically mentioning it) is intentional discipleship. In my own experience in the Methodist Church- I have seen very few settings where Pastors and Leaders are intentionally replicating themselves. Yet, if we are to fulfill our mission (to make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world)- we need to first make disciples.

While I am not aware of any specific legislation in this regard at General Conference, this is our DNA as Methodist and if we are not engaged in the making of disciples, of replicating followers of Jesus, then what are we doing as Pastors and Leaders in The United Methodist Church?

Some thoughts-

Discipleship is not a program. Simply having a Disciple Bible Study is not creating disciples. It may be part of it. We need Pastors and Leaders who will empower people to surrender their lives to Jesus and follow wherever Jesus leads.
Pastors- who are you mentoring? Who do you meet at 6:30 a.m. in the Diner, or at the coffeeshop for a weekly cup of coffee? Are you intentionally inviting them to go deeper in their walk with God? Are you teaching them to replicate themselves?
Pastors- mentor someone half your age. We all know how our average clergy age is skewed to the older generation- think of the possibilities if our 50, 55, 60, and 65 year old clergy were intentionally mentoring young people who were 25, 27, 30, and 32! For our clergy in their 20's and 30's - what a difference it makes to pour our lives into teenagers. The die would be cast for these young adults to begin mentoring someone half their age because it was done for them. (I believe I heard Andy Stanley give this suggestion- just want to give credit where credit is due!)

While the style of our music, or the kinds of programs we offer can help us to grow "vital churches" the Biblical model of growth is holistic discipleship that calls people to surrender their lives to Jesus, walks with them as they grow like Jesus- and releasing them into ministry to proclaim the Good News. If we want the future of The United Methodist Church to be healthy and viable- it begins and ends with discipleship.

What are some ways that you are discipling someone? Any tools you'd recommend? Any great stories of being discipled by someone older than you? Does your church have an intentional discipleship ministry or track?

Living Like Lazarus

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking lately about Lazarus in John 11. You likely remember the story- Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, gets sick and ultimately dies. Jesus was called to come to Lazarus before his death but decided to stay put- leaving Mary and Martha filled with grief and maybe frustration at Jesus for not coming sooner because they believed that Jesus could intervene in Lazarus' sickness. In verse 43, Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and to everyone's amazement- Lazarus came back to life and emerged from the grave.While we get a few glimpses of Lazarus in John 12- after that we don't hear from him again. What happened to Lazarus?

He died.

This friend that Jesus loved and brought back from the dead ultimately died a second time- this time for good (physically). The question I've been pondering is this: Does the fact that Lazarus died lessen the impact of Jesus raising him from the dead? My answer is no. God still worked in miraculous ways to bring healing into Lazarus' life through Jesus- but the bottom line is that Lazarus was not going to have a physically immortal life.

This brings us to the present day. What does it mean to pray for healing in someones life? How do we respond when we believe that healing has taken place- yet our loved one gets sick again?I have a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and began treatments for the cancer. While he pursued medical treatment, his church family surrounded him with prayer. At one of his check-ups- the scan showed that the cancer was completely gone. The doctors even expressing surprise about the results. The churches and Christians who had been praying for him gave thanks to God for the healing that took place. A year later he was dead as the cancer returned- more aggressive than before. We mourned the loss of a friend and some questioned God about whether healing really took place.Did healing take place- my faith says that it did. My faith says that God is in the healing business still today. Like Lazarus, my friend, at some point, would again die.

I've always wondered about what Lazarus' life was like after his resurrection. I can imagine that Lazarus was ready to tell the story of his resurrection to everyone he met. I imagine that he had a new perspective on living life and on following Jesus.The challenge for us is to live as those who are prepared to die...and to die as those who are prepared to live. You can throw out any cliche you want: Live life to the fullest, live like you were dying, life's short-play hard...the reality is that we likely won't get a second chance like Lazarus did- so we need to make the most of each day- to be satisfied in the presence of our God- and to share the story of how we were once dead (spiritually) but through Christ have new life now and a new life to come.

For those of us who know someone battling cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, or some other disease where we've prayed for healing- let's take each day as a gift from God. Each moment as an opportunity to experience the joy of the relationships we've come to love. Let us realize that even a complete healing on earth will ultimately result in death- that through Christ we might experience true healing where sickness and death will be no more, where we will experience healing from our sinful nature, and where we will be made new. (Revelation 21:4-5)

The Future of The United Methodist Church

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

In just a few weeks, United Methodist Clergy and Lay delegates from all over the world will take over Tampa, Florida for General Conference 2012 (#gc2012 for those of you following along on Twitter). For those of you not familiar with The United Methodist leadership structure- General Conference happens every four years and is the place where legislation and policy are made for the churches and people who make up the denomination. Each conference (I'm in the Peninsula-Delaware Conference), holds an Annual Conference every year (think Annual Business Meeting)- and of course there are Jurisdictional Conferences where we elect Bishops and so forth.

General Conference is the place where changes to our United Methodist Book of Discipline can be made- and every four years brings the opportunity for debate, both big and small, about the direction of The United Methodist Church.

After a brief discussion on Twitter with Matt Lipan (@mattlipan on Twitter, or you can read his blog here), we both are hoping that the UMC moves in a direction of change for the better. The question I posed is "What does change for the better look like for the UMC?" The answer to this question can be as diverse as the people who make up The United Methodist Church. In the coming days and weeks, I'll be doing a series of post (and interacting with a few other people) about what changes we'd like to see in the UMC. While I don't profess to be an expert in any of these areas, my post will include, but not limited to...

The Global Nature of The United Methodist Church- restructuring is on the table in 2012 and it has wide reaching implications for our denomination and who exactly are "United Methodist."
Are we really "making disciples for the transformation of the world?"
Generation Lost? Where are the young adults in The UMC?
Can we regain our missional DNA?

Those are just a few thoughts that I have had in thinking about this series. Of course, others will come up. There are the usual hot button issues that can be/should be discussed.

What would "meaningful change" look like for you in The United Methodist Church? What issues do you care most about? Leave some thoughts in the comments below and check back often!

Sunday Review: 1/22/12

2012-01-23T10:03:00.001-05:00

It was a great morning of worship at Hope Church yesterday. We are in the second week of our sermon series, Weird. You can go to our website to listen to the first two weeks of the series in case you missed it. You can also read the book, Weird, by Craig Groeschel, which has encouraged the series.

This Sunday, we looked at 1 Peter 1:13-16 as our jumping off point for our message. Peter writes,

"Therefore prepare your minds for action discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formally had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Here are a few thoughts about this passage and the sermon on Sunday:

Holiness is not a word that we hear too often- but it is something that we are to pursue. John Wesley called it "Christian Perfection" and it was the idea that we would be "sanctified" (made holy) by pursuing God in our life. If we are calling ourselves disciples of Jesus- then we need to be pursuing holiness- that we would be more like Jesus each day.
Like last week when we talked about Romans 12:1-2- Peter reminds us that we are not to conform to the desires we had when we lived as the world did. Following Jesus means that our thinking, acting, and speaking is transformed and always transforming.
We get to do this in community! We are not Lone Rangers in our life as Christians. We get to share this journey on the narrow path with each other. Just the other day I heard a couple people from our church talking about how they are reading the same books and discussing them as part of their spiritual growth. That's exciting!

Adopted By God

2012-01-18T09:45:00.000-05:00

I had a great conversation with my dad recently. We had just had breakfast together, which is no small feat since we live about seven hours a part. Breakfast consisted of myself, Dad, Uncle Jerry, and two of dad's cousins who I know but haven't seen too much of during my life. In our phone conversation, Dad was telling me some of the LaMotte family history.

My dad's grandmother had her son (My dad's dad- and my grandfather) out of wedlock. To my understanding, no one is real sure of who my grandfather's biological father is other than a last name and a location. Eventually, Dad's grandmother married her husband (a LaMotte) and they began their life together. My grandfather (Dad's dad) began using the LaMotte name early on even though his biological father's last name was on his birth certificate. Granddad was in his late 20's/early 30's when he applied for disability for his failing eyesight and found out that legally he still had his biological father's last name even though he had been using the LaMotte last name for 30 years. So as a young adult, Granddad was adopted by my Great-Granddad LaMotte- making the name change official. (My dad was already born and using the LaMotte name even though it wasn't "official")

This means that I have no real "LaMotte" genetics. Neither does my father, or my sister, or my two daughters. But because of the love of my great-grandfather for my great-grandmother- I have the last name of LaMotte- and no one can take that away from our family. (*Ironically, my great grandmother on my grandmother's side (Hovis') was also adopted, but she didn't find out until she was in her 80's!!!)

I am reminded of Romans 8:14-17 where we are reminded of our new identity through Jesus.

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

When we receive the Spirit of God through through Jesus- we become adopted children of God. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer unwanted. We have gone from having no rights (slaves) to having the full rights and benefits of a child of God. Just as a biological child- we are heirs of God- brothers and sisters with Jesus to receive the fullness of God's love and blessings.

This is truly Good News! When we are adopted by God, one of God's children, our past is wiped clean. We are given a new name. So that whenever we feel worthless or unloved- we know that we have serve a God who calls us His children. And we are given the right to call God our Abba, Father, and Daddy.

The Hand-Off

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, I was reading in Acts 6 when complaints began to arise among the believers in the early church in Jerusalem. The problem was that the Greek speaking widows were being overlooked in the daily food service. The Twelve called a meeting and said, "It isn't right for us to set aside proclamation of God's word in order to serve tables." So seven well-respected men were chosen from the early believers who were well respectd and who would foucs on the daily food distribution so that that no one was being left out. This left the Twelve the freedom to focus on prayer and the proclammation of the word.

This is the struggle of a small or maintenence church. Most of the ministries revolve around the pastor. This is usually a result of the pastor not being able to let go- or of a consumeristic mindset of the congregation rather than a service/ministry mindset. Often it is the combination of the two. Reading the passage, I'm struck by the Twelve being able to focus on what they were best equipped to do- pray and proclaim the word. The food service was a ministry that others could do.

I went to a Catalyst Oneday event in Baltimore a few years back. I remember Craig Groeschel's words about delegation. He encouraged the crowd of pastors/leaders/worship leaders/youth pastors/and hipsters who love Jesus that we should delegate everything that only we can do. Groeschel said that there are only four things that only I can do. They are...

1. Be the best husbad I can be to my wife: If not, someone else will fill that void
2. Be the best father I can be to my children: If not, someone or something will take my place
3. Takes care of my body. It's the only one I will get and only I can decide to treat it right.
4. Take care of my spiritual life. No one can get up and pray for me- or study my Bible.

If we are equipping and releasing people in ministry- then we afford ourselves the space to work on that which only we can control. By delegating, we grow the faith of the people around us while growing our own faith. As 2012 begins to move forward, I want to equip others to share in ministry with me, to call men and women to minister in their passion so that I might be able to do the same. I want to hand-off important parts of ministry so that I can serve out of my passions and strengths for a great impact for the kingdom.

What are some things that you can delegate in 2012? Re-read the list above, which of the four areas have you been neglecting? How will you grow those areas in 2012?

The Beauty of Grace

2012-01-12T09:48:00.000-05:00

I have two amazing daughters. Abbie will be five in June. She is funny, caring, and very aware of other people's happiness. Chloe just turned one in December and is headstrong, adventurous, and loves music. (Abbie loves music too- which is good because we often have a variety of music playing. Both girls favorite toys have been, at some point, those musical birthday cards. The current one getting play features Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight.") Both girls bring Andrea and I a tremendous amount of joy and love.

But they are not perfect.

Abbie is in pre-school this year, and because of Andrea's work schedule I have been the one to take the girls to daycare and preschool. This is generally not a big deal. But today, Abbie didn't want to listen when it was time to put her coat on. In fact, she had four or five opportunities to get out of her chair to put her coat on. So she was punished. The consequences for not listening was losing her TV privileges. (Don't read into this, we rarely have the TV on in our house- so when we do it is a treat and a real punishment to lost that right.)

As you can imagine, Abbie cried. She groaned. She whined. She even screamed. All the way to the car- and continued to cry for the first five minutes or so of our ride north to Dover.

I was nearly in tears. I hate punishing our kids. I hate it when they choose not to listen. It tears me apart to see Abbie (in this case) crying and screaming.

And then I think: Isn't God like that with His children? God has laid out the expectations for us. Told us how to live and behave. Yet time and time again, we choose not to listen. We fall short of the standard of God's holiness. We sin. And there are consequences for our actions. Sometimes those consequences are immediate. Sometimes the consequences don't seem too severe. Other times they feel overwhelming.

I believe that when I sin, when we sin, that God is moved to sadness- just as I felt sadness in punishing my daughter. Why would God be moved to sadness? Because God loves us so much. Because God wants to give us a life abundant. Because God has shown us the most excellent way to live through Jesus Christ. But time and time again, we turn our backs on God.

Part way up to pre-school, I reached to the backseat of my car and held Abbie's hand. She began to show me how see could now reach the ceiling of my car while sitting down (which is better than standing up while the car is moving). When I dropped Abbie off at school she held my hand, gave me a kiss good bye and we both said, "I love you."

Again, tears nearly filling my eyes. But this time because grace is such a beautiful thing. Even as we turn our backs on God- God reached down to earth and gave us Jesus- the fullest displays of God's love. It is through Jesus that God is continually saying to us, "I love you."

Grace is a beautiful thing.

2012 Reading Plan

2012-01-11T15:39:00.000-05:00

One of the great joys that I have in being in ministry in a larger town (at least larger than my previous location) is connecting with our pastors, leaders, and Christians who are pursuing a life with God. I've been wanting to get back on the blogging horse for awhile, but haven't done it. Thanks to a blog post and conversation with Paul Bowman- I have the inspiration for a post and hopefully the catalyst for more regular blogging.

So here are some of the books that I plan on reading in 2012 and a brief explanation of why.

American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodist: It's a biography of one of the most important leaders of American Methodism. It is said that he rode over 30,000 miles on horseback- and that more people recognized Francis Asbury than Thomas Jefferson in his day. Why do I want to read this? Well, I did attend Asbury College (his namesake) and I am a Methodist Pastor. But above all, Methodism was a dynamic movement during and after Asbury's time- which may come as a surprise for those accustomed to the institution called The United Methodist Church. Here's praying that we can, through the Holy Spirit, regain the movement!

The Pastor: A Memoir, by Eugene Peterson: I can remember when The Message came out in sections back in the 1990's as a teenager. The advertisements made me want to read The Message- and I wasn't disappointed as it has brought fresh insight on my spiritual journey- as well as Peterson's many other books.

For Calvinism and Against Calvinism This is certainly an era where New Calvinism is active in our culture. From the Passion Movement, artist like Lecrae, and the influence of pastors such as John Piper, Calvinism has been making a resurgence. The problem is- I'm not a Calvinist! Growing up in the Methodist Church- I have a Wesleyan-Arminian background and find parts of Calvinism troubling. But I want to read both books to have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Calvinism.

Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities: This piggy-backs off the previous books as I want to better understand my theological heritage. I commented to a friend earlier about how muddied theologically we become as we begin to listen to podcast of various pastor's of a variety of theological strains. Part of the challenge for us as pastors, leaders, and Christians will be to coherently know what we believe.

Last Supper and Lord's Supper, by I. Howard Marshall: I am currently a Provisional Elder in The United Methodist Church. Before now and next November, I have to write and teach a four week Bible study on communion/eucharist/Lord's supper. Having already done some research, this is on my list and I have begun to read as I prepare a study for our congregation.

There are several other books on discipleship and church leadership that I want to read in the coming months, but I don't have the titles here. Of course, there is the temptation that some book will come out in the meantime and work its way onto my list.

What are you planning on reading in 2012?

Catalyst Review: Andy Stanley

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Andy Stanley opens and closes Catalyst. And since we had to leave early to catch the plane on Friday, I only heard Andy's opening remarks (until I get the audio download of the main sessions).

Andy began by saying: "The more successful you are, the less accessible you'll become." Now, when I first heard that, I wanted to recoil and fight with Andy because ministry is about people. I would like to think that as my ministry grows, that I would continue to be accessible to people and be interested in what they are doing.

What Andy was talking about was quality over quantity. In his words- "you can't shut it all out, but you can't take it all in." There are limits to the boundaries we set for ourselves- and as pastors and leaders, we need to be aware of those boundaries which enable us to focus on the most important tasks-- and allow us to go deeper in our relationships by not spreading ourselves out too thin.

Stanley said these things which I think are worth repeating.

1. First, "fairness ended in the Garden of Eden. Don't be fair, be engaged." We sometimes think that if we do something for one person, we have to do that for everyone else. Stanley says we don't. We can choose to do one persons wedding while turning down another opportunity. We choose (through God's leading) who we are going to go deep in relationship with.

2. Go deep rather than wide: I kinda mentioned this already. But choose a few deep relationships/ministry opportunities to develop rather than spreading yourself too thin.

3. Go long term rather than short term: Make it a point to invest in a few point in a sustained/long term relationship. Mentor them, minister to them so that they might be able to do so for others.

4. Go time, not just money. Be personally invested in projects and missions. Pick one spot around the world and develop a long term relationships with the people and your church. Personally go and help others catch a vision for sustained ministry.

Finally- Stanley said "When you do for one, you end up doing far more than just one." When we mentor and disciple- we multiply as the people we disciples disciple others.

My Take: It was not an earth shattering message- but it was a message that fit the theme of being present. Stanley encourages us to be engaged in ministry. To be fully present.

First Thoughts From Catalyst

2011-10-10T05:30:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to attend the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA last week. Catalyst is a leadership conference that draws in 13,000 leaders from the church and the marketplace from around the world. This was my first Catalyst experience and it's easy to say that it won't be my last.

The theme of the two days was Be Present. This is such an important theme because many times I find myself thinking ahead or worrying about something that happened in the past rather than being completely present in the moment. This was an important reminder for me. More important than my ministry is how I am "being present" with my family. I am a thinker and a dreamer- so that means that my brain is running long after (or before) I leave the church office. Being present means that I need to engage my wife and my two daughters relationally. I need to stop, pause, and breathe slow when it comes to my family. I need to not rush my daughter through their childhood- but savor every moment.

So here is to lingering, to taking things slow, using crock pots instead of microwaves, listening twice as much as I speak, engaging and asking questions, more date nights to just sit and talk- or to just look each other in the eye. Here is to nurturing these important relationships and pass on the presence of Jesus the Messiah to my girls and be the Godly father and husband that they need and that I am called and committed to be.

Check Yes or No

2011-09-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

Do you remember when you were in love and you’d get a love note from your boyfriend orgirlfriend. I can remember when thiswould be the highlight of the day- and especially as a middle school boy, thelove note was far preferable to actually talking to someone- especially on thephone. My family still had a corded phone when I was in middle school- one with a 25 foot cord. When a girl would call I would take the phone from our downstairs living room and stretch it up to my upstairs bedroom so my parents or sister wouldn't hear any details of puppy love.

The only problem with the notewas how it was folded. My experience in middle school and high school with notes was that it was like solving a Rubik’s Cube tryingto open the letter up. The most creativeI could get was a paper airplane while they are sending me an origami goose or a ninja star (if I was lucky!). While I looked forward to the words inside the note, I also anticipated how the note was folded. (A bunch of crafty people!)

When you'd first get a note from someone you like- or send one...they would always end with these words: Do you like me? Check yes or no.

A love note requires a response.

This Sunday, we're beginning a sermon series called "Crazy Love" based of the book by the same name, and written by Francis Chan. This Sunday, we'll be talking about one of God's love notes to you and to me: Creation. In Creation God reveals a crazy, relentless, unconditional, and everlasting love. Over the next several weeks, we'll be talking about that all important response as we seek to grasp God's love for us and how we can live in that love everyday.

What's the best love note you've received? What's the best "folding" you can do for a note? What is your favorite love letter from God?

If you're in the Dover, Delaware area, check us out at www.hopedover.com. We worship at 9:30 a.m. in the Wesley College Chapel at the corner of Division and Bradford St. Can't attend- listen to the sermon online!

On The Verge: The Silver Imagination

2011-08-02T10:25:00.001-05:00

(I recently began reading a copy of Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson's new book, On The Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church. I have been looking forward to reading the book as I have enjoyed the other books that I have read by Hirsch (especially ReJesus). Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some thoughts from the chapters that I am reading.)

Let me put this out there from the beginning- I loved this chapter. I'm further along in the book and there is good stuff to come- but as I read The Silver Imagination, it got my juices flowing. I consider myself a big picture/vision oriented kind of leader...and this chapter in On The Verge challenged my imagination and the imagination of my leaders about what God is doing- and can do in and through our churches.

Alan tells the account of Ivan Illich who was asked what he thought was the most radical way to change a society. Rather than answering through a violent revolution or gradual reform, Illich said that if one wanted to change society, one must tell an alternate story (pg. 57). In the church, we have this great story from creation to the final redemption of creation through Jesus Christ- yet we need to find, imagine alternate ways of telling this story as our communities and cultures change. In the States, as we grow increasing pre-Christian, we must tell the story (and live the story) differently than we did 20 or 30 years ago. It's a paradigm shift.

The key, according to Hirsch, is imagination. Hirsch writes that imagination is not just for child's play or fantasy, but is a God-given gift of our mind that allows us to live and minister in creative and new ways. Imagination allows us to explore possibilities that we have never before considered. Hirsch writes, "...the fundamental job of apostolic imagination is to produce out of the church we now experience a vision of the church Jesus wants us to experience" (68).

In my previous minister appointment, I was an associate pastor at a church that had been around for over 200 years. It was an institutional church. Ministry at this church was most exciting and life giving when our paradigms began to change and we began to imagine a new way of making disciples of Jesus Christ. I have recently completed my first full year as the solo pastor of a church that is less than ten years old. While we don't have the institutional baggage of a 200 year old church- we daily wrestle with what it means to be the church because many of our leaders (myself included) operate on an old paradigm of institutional church. I pray for myself and our leaders that we would pray and create space to use our imagination to become the movement type church that turns the world upside down for Jesus. I pray this prayer for all our churches that we would produce the church Jesus wants us to experience!

Why I Love VBS...

2011-06-30T11:43:00.000-05:00

Hope United Methodist Church, where I pastor, just finished a four day Vacation Bible School last night. We had a great time! There is a lot of planning and work that goes into VBS. Ask any director/co-director and they will tell you how much time and prayer that goes into the week. Inevitably, there comes a point in the planning (usually the week, or day before the start date) where the stress builds and you are led to wonder "Is all this work and preparation really necessary for VBS?" Of course, in my experience, those feelings quickly go away once VBS starts and the music begins to play and you can see the joy on the children's faces as they worship God.

Here is why I love VBS:

1. The Memories: I grew up in the church, and as a kid, my parents took us to several VBS programs at area churches. I remember playing kickball for recreation at North Salem United Methodist Church and VBS in the basement of Hadley Presbyterian Church. (By the way, I went back to Hadley Presbyterian Church this past year for my grandfather's funeral, the children's classroom looked exactly the same as it did 28 years ago! Even the same crayon bins!) I don't remember very many themes or songs- but I remember caring people who showed me that God loved me and that Jesus can change my life!

2. The Kids: I'm a former youth pastor- and I love being with kids of all ages. I love seeing them have fun. And most of all, I love seeing them worship God! Our children are such a valuable resource, and we need to treat them as the treasures and masterpieces they are (Trust me, we've had a few pieces of work at VBS!). Our mission or task as a church is to make disciples. What better time to do that than childhood? Children can begin developing practices and habits of disciples at an early age- and it is our responsibility to train them!

3. The Adults: We had incredible adult leadership this year. As I walked around each station, there were several times when I thought about how talented and gifted our adults are. It is exciting to see adult serving where their passion is! It truly makes a difference. I'm sure that our leaders are tired after the week, but as we look back, there were seeds planted at VBS that will need to be cultivated and cared for- and that over time will grow and bloom into something truly beautiful. Our adults, whether they were taking pictures, handling registration, serving snack, or leading a station was planting the seeds of God's love every time we loved on a kid.

A lot of time and resources go into a week of Bible School. As a pastor, I think VBS is worth every penny and hour spend because of the seeds of faith that we plant. When a child is baptized in our churches, the congregation makes a vow or covenant with the family of the baptized child that as a church, we will provide everything possible to ensure that the child is raised to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is a high and Holy calling for every church and every Christian who has made that covenant to fulfill.

What is your favorite Bible School memory or story? Did your VBS use puppets- did you love them or were you terrified of them?

A Brief Encounter With Path1

2011-06-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to briefly attend a feedback session that Path1, the board/organization in The United Methodist Church working to plant churches, had with our conference (The Peninsula-Delaware Conference). When I say briefly, I had to leave midway through the meeting for the launch of our Men's Ministry that same night. But I came away with a few thoughts- especially as I currently pastor a 7 year old church plant in the heart of our conference.

The presenter provided some compelling statistics (and being a baseball fan- I like statistics!) Just two to share with you.

The United Methodist Church is losing 1200 members a week.
67% of new attenders in our churches were invited by laity rather than clergy

First, about membership...I'm not sold on tracking membership. There's nothing in the Bible about membership...but we are to be making disciples...bringing people to a place in their life where they confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and growing in their faith so to be mature. A "New Members Class" looks alot different if we are concerned about membership instead of professions of faith and people starting their discipleship journey. Being a members speaks to knowing the organizational code, benefits, and belonging to the "club." Being a disciple means we've encountered the transforming love of God and are being called out of our "holy huddle" in order to invite others to participate in this God-life.

The second statistic about new attenders responding to the invitation of laity rather than clergy says a couple of things. First, laity need to catch the vision of bringing people to faith in Christ and growing as disciples. They must understand the priesthood of all believers. Laity must grasp the joyous opportunity to invite people to participate in God's Kingdom and God's Kingdom community- the Church.

What discouraged me about the brief part of the meeting that I attended was that the present talking about getting people into our pews. When I heard that statement, I felt that we were trying to revitalize old paradigms where we expect the unchurched to come to us, and come into our churches (hopefully, they will come and tithe as well!). If the UMC is going to plant new faith communities- we need to embrace new paradigms of what "church" is. Maybe it's a home church, a cell church. Maybe it's the pastor and/or laity discipling in the coffee shops, gyms, and community centers. Maybe it will take losing the emphasis on our buildings, our rituals, our liturgy, and our institutionalism in order to go to the people and compel/inspire/give witness that JESUS CHRIST has made a difference in our lives and wants to transform their lives as well!

Path1 is meeting with our Congregational Development group today. I pray that God's wisdom and a passion for reaching the lost moves us to be open to embracing new paradigms of ministry that we have not even imagined yet!

On The Verge: Chapter 1

2011-06-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

I recently began reading a copy of Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson's new book, On The Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church. I have been looking forward to reading the book as I have enjoyed the other books that I have read by Hirsch (especially ReJesus). Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some thoughts from the chapters that I am reading.

Introduction and Chapter 1:

In the introduction, the authors liken the current state of the Church to a "phoenix arising from the dying embers of Christendom" as they view the Church of the future. They believe that the the Christian Church is standing at a pivotal point in history- hence the idea of VERGE...that we (the Church) are on the verge of something new and yet ancient.

What does it mean to be "on the Verge" or a "Verge" Church? Hirsch and Ferguson write that what was once in conflict with one another (incarnational or attractional) are now beginning to interact with one another. This interaction has all sorts of missional implications, according to the authors, including a new paradigm for the Church that "fundamentally altars the nature of the game." The authors believe that the Church can attractional and missional at the same time if the organizational DNA incorporates a both/and approach that is able to contextualize the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Western World.

For most of the first chapter, Hirsch and Ferguson talk about shifts in the Church. On page 32 the authors write:

"Adopting a Verge church paradigm requires learning what it means to become a more fluid, adaptive, reproducible, viral people-movement. In other words, it means taking seriously the idea that the church Jesus built- and therefore what he intended- is meant to be more of a movement than an institution."

In short, chapter one is setting up the movement....moving from an institutional church to a movement (or Verge Church). This is a challenging and exciting step for the Church to consider.

I am currently a pastor in The United Methodist Church. What was once a great missionary movement in the 1700-1800's has now become an institution. As I read the opening pages of "On The Verge," my heart rate increased as I considered what the Church could look like if it could once again become a movement rather than an institution.

Lebron James and Wisdom

2011-06-15T07:25:00.000-05:00

Shortly after losing the NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks, LeBron James had some interesting words to say;

"All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today, they have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point."

Naturally, all sorts of people got on LeBron about the comments and what they appear to communicate. This post is about judging, but about considering the people in our lives who mentor and guide us. I'm not sure who mentor's LeBron James- or if he has a mentor. Likely, if he did, his mentor wouldn't be too thrilled with these comments. Too many times, in sports and Hollywood- celebrities are more in-tune with their entourage than an older and wiser mentor.

In 1 Kings 12, Rehoboam has ascended to the throne and is beginning his rule as King. Some people come and speak to Rehoboam about lightening the work and tax load on the people. Rehoboam took time to go to the old men who had been advisors and mentors to his father, Solomon. They replied that Rehoboam should be a servant to the people, and that if he becomes a servant that the people will be loyal to him. Verse 8 reads,

"But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him."

Rehoboam went to his entourage for guidance. They, in turn, told the newly crowned King to say "My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." They counseled the King to be even harsher on the people. Rehoboam disregarded the wisdom of the older generations.

I don't know who mentors Lebron, but you know who your mentors are. It is very wise for each of us to seek out an individual(s) who are older, wiser, and more mature in their faith to regularly meet with for guidance in our life and faith. We must embrace the older generations for the wisdom that they can pass down to each of us.

Likewise, we must ask- "Who are we mentoring?" What teenager/college student/young adult are we pouring our life, our prayer, our time, and our wisdom into? This is how we make disciples- one at a time.

What is the best piece of wisdom that a mentor has ever given you? What's the best book your mentor ever recommend reading?

Blue Like Jazz: The Movie

2011-06-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty intrigue to see the Blue Like Jazz movie. I loved the book. The trailer hasn't done anything to change that. What do you think? Are you excited to see Blue Like Jazz: The Movie or not? Do you think Steve Taylor can direct the movie in such a way that appeals to people outside of the TBN/Christian Movie crowd?

The Mission of Jesus: Monday Follow Up

2011-06-06T08:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we began our summer sermon series called, "The Mission of Jesus" where we will be walking through the Gospel of Mark and examining the life and mission of Jesus as we consider how we are to live as disciples and as a church. This Sunday, we began with Mark 1:1-15 and focused on verse 15 where Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is near.

One area that we did not get to spend a particular amount of time with was Jesus' baptism in v. 9-11. When Jesus comes out of the water, he sees the heavens torn open and hears a voice declaring, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Mark tells us that the Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan.

What is important in this passage is that before Jesus could fulfill his mission, confront Satan, and bring about redemption- Jesus had to know to whom he belonged. The declaration that Jesus is God's Son is the assurance and certainty that whatever happens Jesus has confidence that he is God's Son and loved.

We need that assurance as well. We need to know that when we encounter the wilderness, when we encounter trials and temptations, when we encounter the storms of life that we are children of God. We need to have confidence in the fact that God loves us. When we grasp that we are children of God, that God loves us as God's own- this can carry us through all that live throws at us.

As you go about your week, remember whose you are so that when you face trials of any kind that you can have assurance that you are a child of God.

What's Your Story?

2011-05-11T06:00:00.004-05:00

Yahoo News ran a story yesterday about a Pennsylvania Pastor, Jim Moats, who claimed service as a Navy SEAL to a local paper as part of a story in the days following the killing of Osama bin Laden. The pastor, who confessed to the fabricating story, evidently purchased a Trident medal at a military surplus store and wore it around town- as well as telling what Navy SEAL training was like to the paper. But to some real SEALs who read the article, they recognized that his story closely paralleled depicted in the Steven Seagal classic "Under Siege."

Really? You ripped off details from a Steven Seagal movie?

Now, this pastor is not the first person to make up a story (read: LIE!) about their military service. Several politicians have been caught spinning tales about their military careers. But one quote in the story is really telling. It comes from retired SEAL Don Shipley. He says, "We deal with these guys all the time. Especially the clergy. It's amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up." (Note: It was Shipley who said the pastor's tale sounded more like "Under Siege" than real SEAL experience.)

Clergy are "those guys" who fabricate stories about military service? Where is our integrity as pastors?

Do we really need to "puff up" our testimonies and personal stories in order to lead people to Christ? Can't a boring conversion story of been in the church all my life and God has been faithful just as powerful of a testimony as the skid-row to front row of the church testimony?

Pastors, leaders, and fellow Christians- when we have to lie to share our faith, it destroys our character and damages our witness and the witness of those Christians who have integrity in their lives and ministry. The story of our faith is not tied up in who we are and what we have done (whether mundane or great), but our story of faith rest firmly upon the foundation of what God has done through Jesus Christ in our life. That we have been redeemed and reconciled through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus- God's Son. Our preaching, teaching, and our testimonies should rest on what God has done, not what we have done.

What's your faith story? Mundane? Fantastical? Have you ever been tempted to embellish your story? What did you ultimately do?

A Hypocritical Christian?

2011-05-10T09:17:00.000-05:00

What does your life (actions/words/choices) say about your beliefs?

I've been wrestling with this question for a few weeks now. Sure, many of us would say that we base our actions, words, and choices on our belief in God and what we read/study in the Bible. As Christians we seek to follow what the Bible lays out. Fair enough.

But when do we become hypocritical in our beliefs and our walk as Christians?

This isn't as negative statement as it sounds...simply, how far do we go to actually live out the life that Jesus lived- and at what point do we say- "That's a really awesome way of life, but I'm not there yet?" We all do this to one degree or another. I certainly do this (so if you think I'm finger pointing- I'm pointing at me here!). Here is some examples...

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5): In this passage we find some kingdom ethics or praxis. Here are some examples:

(5:21)While the Torah says "do not murder," Jesus says that anyone who gets angry at a brother or sister will face judgement. How do we do with our anger towards other? Do we seek forgiveness and reconcilliation?
(5:27) You've heard it said, "Do not commit adultery", but Jesus says that when we look at another person lustfully, that we commit adultery in our hearts. How do we do with what we put before our eyes?
(5:38) "You've heard it said, "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." Jesus says that when someone strikes us, that we should turn the other cheek. This is passivity- it's nonviolent resistance. Are we (Am I) are quick to embrace violence rather than finding nonviolent alternatives to our problems? (I could (and may) go into a longer post on what I think are some of Jesus' ethics regarding nonviolence and peace as a way for Christians to seek to live. It's fascinating stuff- starting with this verse!) Some of this is most recently seen in Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the ways in which they brought about change without using violence.
(5:43) "You have heard it said 'love your neighbors and hate your enemies," but Jesus says- "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Wow. I once heard that we pray for our enemies not because it necessarily changes the enemy (although it can), but because we are changed when we pray for those who come against us. We begin to see them not as subhuman, but as people who are lost and hurting.

I could go on with the Rich Young Ruler (Sell all you have and give to the poor) and other teachings of Jesus.

I've been wrestling with this because I believe that Jesus came not just to show us the way to eternal life with God- but that Jesus came to show us how to live right now. When we live according to Jesus' example, the Kingdom of God is revealed here on earth as it is in heaven. It may only be a short glimpse, but that glimpse can begin to change lives. This glimpse of the kingdom can bring reconciliation between sworn enemies. It can bring together families who have been broken. It can restore marriages. It can heal racial and ethnic tensions and bigotry. Does this sound idealistic? Only because it is so foreign in our day and time.

Check out this passage from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We have a ministry, as Christians, to bring people to a place of reconciling with God and with our neighbors. We do this by living as Jesus lived. By taking seriously his teachings and example. When we do this, change can begin to take place in our families, communities, and the world.

So where does your hypocrisy kick in? It's ok to admit it- in fact, we probably need to do some confession in our churches and 'fess up to our hypocrisy. Let's face it- churches are full of hypocrites, and I am one of them. Churches are for hypocrites. The hope is that in the context of community that we will become less and less hypocritical and more like Jesus.

Feedback: What is a saying or teaching of Jesus that you have a hard time embracing? Use the comments for some discussion!

Easter Weekend In Review

2011-04-26T06:28:00.000-05:00

What an amazing weekend we had at Hope Church! I hope that if you were with us that you are excited, renewed, and going out into the world as Easter people who are living out the resurrection! Just a few thoughts from the weekend.

Good Friday Service- what a powerful experience coming together as community to nail our sins, fears, prayers to the Cross. The Psalmist writes, "Cast you cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken."
The Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday was exciting- the rain held off and the people from our community came! As a church, it is a priority for us to get out into the community. We will continue to capitalize on special events (Dover Days is coming up!) to get out into the community and be the church.
Easter Sunday- what can I say? Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! As Christians, and as the church, we need to learn to live out resurrection each day. We need to have and live out the truth that this life matters. We have purpose in what we do today. Because of the resurrection, we are called to invite others to experience that hope through the resurrected Jesus . We also are called to live out resurrection in our hope that God is redeeming all things. It's a future hope- but just as Jesus was resurrected with a new body- all of creation longs and groans for the redemption of our bodies. Are will living as hopeful people?
Speaking of Hope, I was blessed by one guest who shared with our church about just moving to Dover as she is getting out of an abusive relationship- and how many from our congregation responded by speaking with her and encouraging her. This is a resurrection story as this woman sees that there is hope for a different tomorrow because of Jesus and because the community of faith called Hope Church is living out resurrection. Please keep her in your prayers.

Let's be encouraged, Church, as we come to live out the resurrection daily. God is doing something new in our lives and in the world around us!

Take Off Your Grave Clothes

2011-04-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday in worship, we looked at John 11:1-45- the account of the death and resurrection of Lazarus. What I found particularly interesting in the passage is that when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb- back to life- that Jesus told some people nearby to "Unbind him, and let him go." Lazarus was given new life and yet, he still needed the help of the community to embrace the new life and take off his grave clothes.

We might be surprise at the people around us who stink like death because they are not surrounded by a community who will help the remove their grave clothes.
We may have been given new life in Christ, yet we still allow sin to be part of our life. We have a habitual sin that we just cannot shake...We keep the grave clothes on! This is why confessing our sins is so important- we break the bound of secrecy and invite others to help us take off our grave clothes by holding us accountable and praying for us.
Heard the phrase "so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good?" By raising Lazarus, Jesus accentuates that this life matters. Our everlasting life with God begins when Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives...to live out resurrection and invite others to experience resurrection for themselves.

This passage is a hopeful reminder about what God is doing through Jesus...and is a foreshadow of what is to come. If Jesus can bring Lazarus back from the dead, surely he can do the same for himself----and for you and me!

Lazarus needed help taking off his grave clothes...just for fun, where were Jesus' grave clothes?

Sunday Follow-Up: Jesus and the Blind Man (John 9)

2011-04-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

Sunday's message focused on Jesus' encounter with the blind man in John 9. This man was blind from birth. Blindness is the inability to perceive light. While this man was unable to perceive physical light, he clearly "saw" Jesus, who is the Light of the World.
The man is a model for us of a growing disciple. His view of Jesus became more clearer and complete as the story unfolds. He saw Jesus as a...

Man (9:11)
Prophet (9:17)
Man sent from God (9:33)
Lord (9:35-37)

When the man confessed that Jesus was Lord, he fell at Jesus' feet and worshiped. A disciple of Jesus Christ re-orients their life to submit to Jesus' Lordship. If we are truly a follower or disciple of Jesus, then our life should reflect that Jesus is at the heart or center of everything that we do. Our speech, thoughts, and actions begin to be transformed through our obedience to Jesus' teachings and example. This is what the life long process of discipleship looks like.

Throughout our Lenten Journey, we've seen Jesus encounter very real people. We've looked at Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus the religious leader, with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, and now with this man born blind. Each encounter with Jesus requires a response. The man born blind falls on his knees and worships Jesus as Lord. How will you respond to Jesus?

Where Has Steve Been?

2011-03-30T18:50:00.000-05:00

If you've check the blog recently, you'll notice that there hasn't been any post. Hopefully, that will be changing in the coming weeks. I've been busy finishing seminary (graduate on May 21, 2011) and getting adjusted to a new child (Chloe Grace, born December 15, 2010).

This Sunday, I'll be preaching on John 9:1-41 where Jesus heals the blind man. I will be posting a follow up blog on Monday after the sermon. Hopefully, things will begin picking up on the blog. Thanks for your patience!

Keep Moving

2011-01-05T10:29:00.000-05:00

(I'm using Youversion to read through the Bible in 2011. I'll be posting thoughts here on the blog and on my Youversion profile (www.youversion.com/users/lamo5973) I hope you'll join in on some discussion!)

Genesis 12 (The Message)

Abram's father, Terah, had originally set out from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan (Gen. 11:31). But when he got as far as Haran, he settled his family down there. In chapter 12, God calls Abram to leave his family and country for a new land- the land of Canaan- the place where Terah had originally set out for.
Terah settled down before reaching his destination. Abram "kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev." (Gen. 12:9).
The ability to "keep moving" is so important to our spiritual life. Abram knew that God had called him and "kept moving" in order to fulfill that call. Abram did not allow himself to settle down. He probably had his opportunities. In Egypt, Abram became a very rich man- but because of his deceit of Pharoah, Abram was kicked out and put back on the move.

We need to keep "keep moving" in our lives. If God has called us to something, we need to keep moving until we get to where God is leading. Settling down before reaching the goal is not what God has called us to. We should recognize that things in our life happen in order to help us to "keep moving." As we grow as disciples, we should "keep moving" in our study of the scripture, prayer life, fasting, and service so that we do not become stagnant but become vibrant disciples of Jesus Christ.

Hope Now

2010-10-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven- and the future starts now. God is keeping careful watch over us and teh future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all--life healed and whole."
1 Peter 1:3-5 (The Message)

My devotional reading today came from AW Tozer. He writes,

"Brethren, we have been born of God and our Christian hope is a valid hop! No emptiness, no vanity, no dreams that cannot come true. Your expectation should rise and you should challenge God and begin to dream high dreams of faith and spiritual attainment and expect God to meet them. You cannot out-hope God and you cannot out-expect God. Remember that all of your hopes are finite, but all God's ability is infinite!"

As a husband, father, Christian, and Pastor I am claiming that promise that the future starts now! That hope starts now! That God will give me dreams of faith and spiritual attainment- and they will be greater than what I could have dreamed of myself.

Yesterday at Hope we participated in laity Sunday. Our lay leaders, Ben and Shelly shared from Luke 18 and the persistant widow and how the wicked judge granted her request because of her persistance. Yet God is not like a wicked judge! God desires to reveal his love for each of us! God desires for us to rest in his grace and mercy! God desires for us to dream big because we serve a big God! Sometimes my prayer life reflects my little faith. I want to pray- expecting that God will answer my prayers!

What are your prayers for your faith walk? What are your prayers for your family? For your church? Are you praying based off of your finite hopes or praying to our infinite God?

Laying It All Out

2010-09-30T07:34:00.001-05:00

Seth Godin writes,

"The problem with putting it all on the line is that it might not work out. The problem with not putting it all on the line is that it will never (ever) change for the better. Not much of a choice, I think. No risk, no art. No art, no reward."

Does your church put it all on the line? If not, why not? Why do we allow fear to cripple us when we serve the Christ who has overcome the world?

What would your church look like if you laid it all on the line? What would your marriage look like if you laid it all on the line? How would you parent your children if you laid it out on the line?

No risk, no art. No art, no reward.

High risk- high reward.

Church- let's go all out. Let's lay it all out on the line for Jesus. Let's allow God to use us for something great!

Cannot Help But Speak

2010-09-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

I'm preaching on Acts 1:1-8 this week as we continue looking at pictures of the Church in the Bible. This week, we're talking about being a church focused on sharing what we've seen and heard regarding Jesus. Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This is the another example of the Great Commission to go into all the world to proclaim the good news. The disciples are called to share this testimony to the ends of the earth- and they do this through the power of the Holy Spirit. As I read Acts, I am struck by Peter and John in chapter four who, when told to quit witnessing about Jesus said;

"Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

This is such a change from the Gospel accounts where the disciples fleed Jesus when he was arrested. Peter even denied knowing him. Yet here, filled with the Holy Spirit, he (and John) declare that they cannot help or stop speaking about what they have seen or heard. Their lives have been changed and they want everyone to experience the same thing that they have!

This passage is challenging. We live in a culture where it is often much easier to remain quiet about our faith. We use the "Preach the gospel at all times, when necessary use words" as a defense to our silence. Yet, if our lives have been changed by God- if we've experienced unmerited grace and mercy- if we've been healed, restored and redeemed- how can we stay silent?

My prayer for myself, Hope Church, and the Church around the world is that the Holy Spirit would so flood our lives that we will not remain silent about God's love and salvation available through Jesus Christ.

Have Camera Phone- Will Take Pictures

2010-09-07T06:30:00.001-05:00

During my travels to Virginia a few weeks ago, I came across some interesting vehicles that I wanted to share with you.

1. LFE SUKS- I saw this plate at a Chic-Fil-A in Virginia.
How bad does life have to be to have this vanity plate? Is this really the type of person you want driving a 2,000 pound missle down the highway?

2. Going Through Hell- When I saw this custom paint work, I thought, what possesses a person to paint something like this on their vehicle? Maybe they have gone through hell? I've seen other ones like "Heaven doesn't want me and Hell can't hold me." I'm trying to think about what I might put on my car when I save up some extra money!

3. Creeper Van?? I saw this van in Delaware. First, you may notice the sheet of plywood in the window. But there was also a chain link fence kind of rigging in the opposite window. Oh yeah, a couch in the back. The cherry on top was that the roof was cut so the van was like a convertable. Epic.

Church Plant Boot Camp Pt. 2

2010-08-27T06:30:00.003-05:00

What is the purpose of planting churches?

Generally speaking, churches are to make disciples. Churches are to be the Body of Christ in the world. Churches are to reflect God's love.

Curiously, in the curriculum for the Boot Camp was this statement,

"Church planting is about one thing- Putting People in Seats."

I posted this on my twitter feed and some comments came in regarding the above statement. I wanted to spend a little time talking about this.

I don't feel like the presenters have made the case that we plant churches to get people in seats.
In fact, one of the presenters Top Ten Mistakes New Church Pastors Make states, "Pursuing the Great Commission to the Peril of Ignoring the Great Commandment." We were told to be a lover of God trying to plant a church rather than a church planter trying to love God.
In a sense, it is more difficult to make disciples or share the Gospel if we do not get people in the seats. Our worship services are not to be Holy Huddles, but we are to reach out and invite others in. However- weekly worship services are not the only place where disciples can be made. We must be willing to go outside the church walls and build relationship with those who do not know Christ.

While I don't think the presenters really mean putting butts in seats is the most important task of church planting, I wish the above statement did not appear in the material. Much of what is wrong in the church growth movement is the importance that is placed on getting butts in the seats (and dollars in the offering plate). The emphasis for the church planter is to develop and missionary heart and love for the lost and to live incarnationally among them- inviting them to encounter the transformational love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Church Plant Boot Camp Pt. 1

2010-08-26T06:30:00.001-05:00

I drove into Richmond, Virginia on Monday night to attend the Virginia Conference Church Plant Boot Camp with Jim Griffith of Griffithcoaching.com. There are people here from all over Virginia, Eastern Pa, Wisconsin, New England, Ohio, North Carolina, and Minnesota. While I came by myself (short notice), there are many teams here from church plants in the UMC.

The first day of workshops consisted of The 10 Most Common Mistakes a New Start Makes, Self-Care, Creating Mission Alignment, and some nuts and bolts stuff about creating a good first impression. The first few session were pretty good-- with some good thoughts on them. The 1st impressions sessions was decent, nothing groundbreaking, but it came out of order. The coaches have talk repreatedly that a major reason a new start fails is because of a premature launch...which made it intersting when we discussed the nuts and bolts of how to do a full fledge worship gathering before discussion the when and how of developing a launch team and plan.

The second day focused a lot of how to determine your public launch timeline. There were a couple of bombs today. First, the presenters said that critical mass to reach before a public launch is 149. They believed that this was an important number because it is big enough where the pastor will need other leaders to hand off responsibility to....and that it creates more momentum. My guess for "critical mass" was 75-100. When we began the H2O Gathering at Avenue UMC, our first Sunday was 91 and we rarely dipped below that in the first few weeks.

I have one more day left of the boot camp and I will post some more thoughts in the following days.

How We Do Ministry

2010-08-20T06:30:00.000-05:00

We had our first Church Council meeting last week at Hope UMC and I started the meeting off with a document of how I hope and desire to do ministry at Hope. You could say that these are my ministry values. There are likely a few ideas that I will add later, but I wanted to share them with you.

1. Prayerfully- We can do nothing without covering it in prayer. As a leader, I am challenging you and myself to be committed to praying for our church, our leaders, our community, and our world on a daily basis. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." John Wesley

"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." E.M. Bounds

2. Excellence- In everything that we do as a community, we must give our very best. We should not settle for a half baked plan, idea, event, or worship service. We need to strive for excellence in every facet of ministry. Excellence is an attractive quality!

3. Passionately- Our faith is caught as much as it is taught. In all we do, we will seek to do it with passion because we are passionately in love with God because of the salvation we’ve received through Jesus Christ. Why would anyone want to be part of something that we are not passionate about?

4. Innovation- The world around us is constantly changing through innovation. As a church, we will strive to be innovative in everything that we do. We have the life changing love of Jesus Christ to share and we should be looking for new ways to share it. We will not give into the temptation to say, “We’ve never done it that way before.” Money is not an issue when it comes to innovation as creativity is heightened when resources are few.

5. Evaluation- We will be constantly evaluating all our ministries, events, and outreaches to see if they are fulfilling their purpose. In order to achieve excellence, we must be willing to examine the effectiveness of what we are doing. This will require an open heart to receive evaluation and a gentle spirit in giving it.

6. Vision- We will be working on refining, defining, and discerning God’s vision for Hope Church. This vision will guide who we are as a Church and where we spent our energy and resources. Once a vision is established, we will remain focused on the vision.

7. Accountability- We are a community connected by our relationship with God. We are a community who is striving to walk in the light- to live as Jesus lived. We will create an atmosphere of encouragement and accountability in our personal walk with God- and in the ways our church communicates our faith. At all times, we will seek to choose words that build up rather than tear down. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

8. Freedom to Fail- certainly we don’t want to fail, and will not plan to fail, but we will be free to try new adventures without the fear of failure because we know that even if we fail, we will learn more about ourselves, our church, our faith, and our God. We will not allow a fear of failure to paralyze us from action.

Your comments and thoughts? What would you add to the list for your ministry values?

Leadership Lessons From Shark Week- Pt. 2

2010-08-04T06:30:00.002-05:00

In yesterday's post, I spoke a little about how a shark cannot swim backwards- they can only go forward- or where their eyes are looking. This brings up the great question for your church, business, and personal life of, "Where are you looking?" Where is your focus, because you may be moving forward- but if your not looking at the right object you could still be heading in the wrong direction.

It comes down to vision.

What is the vision of your church? Vision helps the church (and the people of make up the church) know where we are looking. If we are called to be a church that serves the poor, we may not be looking at starting a Christian school because it may conflict with our vision (But if you believe it works- go for it!). Or you may be called as a church to reach out to the unchurched, unmarried young adults in your community. Knowing your calling, or having vision, makes it easier to move forward as a church. It makes it more unlikely that you'll be pull in multiple directions.

The question, "Where are you looking" should hopefully be answered with "Jesus." That sounds rather simplistic, but there are plenty of times when churches and individuals do have their eyes focused on Jesus. With Jesus in our sights, the body can become a movement as we seek to share the love and grace of God in our communities.

Keep moving forward with your eyes on Jesus!

What is your church's vision? Who are you called to? How does that vision keep your leadership focused?

Leadership Lessons From Shark Week- Pt. 1

2010-08-03T06:40:00.000-05:00

Since it is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and since there is nothing else compelling on TV right now, Andrea and I have been watching some of the shark programming at night. We are both filled with a bit of awe because of the shark (amazing creatures) and the craziness of people who study them (like getting into a cage with a shark.

During one of last night's shows, the scientist/shark observers were attempting to lure a shark into clear cylinder to see how the shark would respond...and most importantly whether or not the shark could swim backwards. After the shark tried moving through the cylinder a few times with no success, the shark essentially folded itself in half to get out of the cylinder. It was amazing to see.

So I've learned two things about sharks this week.

Sharks must always keep moving. When they stop moving they begin to die.
Sharks can only go forwards, not backwards.

That sounds like a great lesson for us as Christians and as the Church.

As the Church, we are a living breathing organism. The Church is to be on the move- filled with purpose. We must know who we are and what God calls us to do in our congregations and in our communities. The Church is not designed to take a break, stop growing, or stop making an impact on the community. The Church is designed to be a dynamic presence in the world because of Jesus Christ.

The Shark teaches us about forward motion rather than moving backwards. How many times in our church meetings have you heard "That's not the way we've done it before?" or "Why can't our music program be like we had back in the day?" This is backwards motion talk. The speaker wants to recreate the past without taking into consideration the changes that have taken place to get to the present. There are better, more forward motion questions that we should be asking as a church, like...

Who are we called to minister to?
How are we going to best share the gospel in our community?
How is God calling us to grow as a Church?
What unique gifts and talents do we possess as a Church and how can they be used to share the Good News of Jesus Christ?
Does our giving reflect the ways in which God is calling us today (and tomorrow)?

As the shark can only move forward, the Church of Jesus Christ has a mission to fulfill- that the kingdom of God would be revealed here on earth. May you be blessed this shark week as you move forward for the kingdom.

Coming tomorrow...pt. 2

Movie Review: Inception

2010-07-30T06:30:00.001-05:00

I'm am staying at my in-laws this week while I take my final intensive class of the summer. Last night presented the opportunity to go see the movie Inception starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Many of my friends had seen the movie and raved about it. I went in with high expectations even though I hadn't seen much about the movie ahead of time.

***Spoiler Alert....ok, so I am not sure I'm truly giving away spoilers, I'm just want to warn you in case you want to go into the movie with an untarnished mind. I'd hate to plant an idea in your head about the movie unconcisously!***

I was blown away...and quite honestly don't know where to begin a post about the movie. The writing was creative and original. The movie was visually stunning. The movie connected emotionally as you consider the relationship between Leo's character and his wife. There was action and suspense. It was a little strange, at first, to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page in such a serious/sci-fi movie. I still think of them in 3rd Rock and Juno. But- they were great in the movie. The entire cast was superb.

I thought the movie had a very postmodern feel as the story operated on three (vertical) levels rather than one linear storyline. I think this mode of storytellling will be employed more in future movies and TV series (see Lost). The movie, in my opinion, paid some homage to The Matrix with some of the slow motion shots and even the idea of "plugging in" and entering an alternate reality. (Likely there are other movies/books that follow this, I am just unaware of them)

The movie questions what consitutes reality. Is reality found in our physical world or can it be found in our dreams? I think the movie showed that there is nothing wrong with dreams, or our dream worlds, that if we are not grounded in reality (the need for a totem in the movie) then we can lose our mind and be unable to function in either world.

The idea of planting an idea in the head of someone while they are dreaming is fascinating . When do ideas form? How do we determine which ideas take hold and which ones we discard?

Here are some quick thoughts...

Guilt played a huge role for Dicaprio's character. His guilt created a world where he nearly inprisoned himself because he could not forgive himself.
Which reality will we choose? Our physical world or our dream world? Likewise in our faith- is our reality grounded in our faith in God or in our own worldly ways? We have to choose which reality we want to live in.
The whole idea of "Inception"...planting a seed without realizing it. In Wesleyan thought- this prevenient grace. In prevenient grace, God's grace is moving in us before we realize it. That grace grows in our lives, it is watered and nurtured by the people of faith that God places in our lives. God willing, it blossoms into a relationship with God.

What did you think of the movie? Love it? Hate it? Did you see any nuggets of Truth in the movie? Something else?

Responding to the Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

2010-07-19T06:30:00.003-05:00

BP finally was able to stop the gushing flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week. It is hard to believe that it took this long. I have been disgusted about what has taken place in the Gulf and some of the reports you hear about how and why the disaster happened- and why it has taken so long to cap the well.

While I don't usually stop at BP anyway for gas, I was of the mindset to intentionally boycott BP as a result of the disaster. In speaking with someone close to me, they urged me to reconsider because of how the boycott would affect the people in our communities who work at the gas stations who have no involvement in the disaster. That got me thinking about how to respond to the oil spill in the gulf. Here as some thoughts...

First, I don't have a problem with a boycott, but I am now more sensitive to the gas attendant working at BP trying to make a living who will be affected by such a boycott. It will likely hurt him/her more than the corporate giant.
I think the real problem lies with our general reliance on oil. If you want to hurt BP and other corporations of the ilk- stop driving SUV's, making unnecessary trips...get a more fuel economic car. Try to use more energy effecient technologies- even if they are more expensive right now. I do believe that the consumer can urge corporations to expedite new technologies that do not depend on fossil fuels. But we must let our voice be heard.
The problem also lies with our government. Ok, so you could say that about just about anything. Why does our government continue to allow drilling in the ocean, nature preserves, etc? Should we be exploring other options? The problem is that oil companies will pay big dollars to politicians in order to protect their interest. Likewise, politicians will take the money to help their interest (re-election). We need campaign finance reform and limit or eliminate donations from corporations because many of those donations are tied to favors down the road.

With a three year old, and one on the way, I am concerned about the planet that they will inherit. How healthy will it be? How long will the oil residue be found in fish, shellfish, etc.? How will it affect our health? We have been placed on this earth as God's stewards of creation- and in many ways we are not doing a very good job.

Your Turn- Are you boycotting BP? Why or Why not? What are some other ways to impact BP and other corporations about earth care?

Power, Authority and Ministry

2010-07-14T06:30:00.001-05:00

I'm taking the class Mission of Jesus in Mark in a couple of weeks at seminary, and I have been reading The Mission of God by Christopher J. H. Wright for the class. The book is very interesting- while a little heavy. Something the author said about God and authority made me think about leadership within the church.

When people start talking about power and authority- it can sometimes lead to a negative conversation. In fact, Andy Stanley spoke about power- and called it a four letter word (yes, it's five letters)...Stanley asks the question- "what happens when you look around the room and realize that you have the more power?" (Check out the video below to see a funny take on this from funnymen Tripp and Tyler) There must be a balance for a pastor or leader when exercising power and authority- but we cannot deny that we likely have power and authority because of our position. Sometimes- power and authority is granted to us because of our title. Other times it is earnred. Power and authority can also be lost.

When I was a 10th grader in high school, I was on the varsity basketball team. We had a coach who believed in the cuss and yell at your team method of spurring us on to victory. This coach believed that he had the power and authority to belittle and yell at his players. When leaders are granted power and authority- it is not a free pass to become little Napoleon's or to become a tyrant.

Wright, in his book writes, "Authority is not just a list of positive commands; authority includes legitimating permission. Authority authorizes; it grants freedom to act within boundaries." As Christians, as we pursue the missio dei, God authorizes us (even empowers us) to bring about the kingdom of God. We have been given boundaries and are free to act within those boundaries.

As Christian leaders- we too must use authority in liberating ways. Being granted power should not mean that we become micro-managers (or worse- tyrants), but means that we establish boundaries and empower other leaders to work vibrantly, creatively, and freely within those boundaries. This is a real use of authority.

In what ways are you using authority to liberate and empower other leaders to use their gifts, talents and abilities to the fullest? How do you go about establishing the boundaries in which ministry takes place? What are some authority fails that you've experienced?

Fellowship of the King

2010-07-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, I began a series called Living Life Together where we'll be looking at the book of 1 John and how John encourages his congregations to live together in love. I'll be posting outlines on here the week after the sermon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sermon: Fellowship of the King
Scripture: 1 John 1:1-4

Background information on 1 John

written to John's congregations in Turkey and around Ephesus
John's congregation are facing a schism- unorthodox teaching has infiltrated the church
Mainly- teaching that denies the deity of Jesus Christ
John writes to remind the congregation that Jesus is God and about how to live and love one another.

John's Authority:

John reminds his congregation that he spent significant time with Jesus- experiencing all that Jesus did in his ministry. John had first hand knowledge.
The Word of Life that John speaks of is Jesus Christ- God in flesh who has "moved into the neighborhood."

Jesus is the Reason:

John reminds his readers that Jesus is the reason for all he does.
John proclaims salvation with authority.

Called to Community:

The reason John proclaims salvation through Jesus is so that all people might enter into fellowship with God and God's church.
Fellowship means to "have something in common" such as a shared experience or labor.
As Christians, our common salvation through Jesus Christ is what binds us together.
That fellowship is never closed- like John, we are called to proclaim salvation so that others might enter into community with God through Jesus Christ.

World Cup Vision

2010-06-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

While I am not a soccer (futbol) fan, I have enjoyed watching some of the World Cup this year (a 42' HD TV certainly helps). I tried to watch the USA games and now that they are out of the tournament, I have lost a little interest in the whole affair. If I had to pick another team, I would choose between Brazil and Paraguay as those are two countries that I have spend some time in. (I was in Paraguay during the previous World Cup.) I have flags for both nations- which makes me feel as if I could cheer for them better than I could cheer for Ghana or Spain. I lean to cheering for Brazil because, in my limited soccer knowledge, I know that they are good. Very good. But I also know that cheering for Brazil is similar to cheering for the Yankees or the Red Sox.

That aside, watch Brazil play soccer makes one realize why soccer get called the "beautiful game." I was captivated watching them play one of their earlier rounds as the team played with unity, artistry, and excellence. One thing that was evident in the game (and any team game involving passing a ball) was the importance of vision. In soccer (hockey, basketball, football, etc.), a player must be able to see the whole field in front of them. In order to do that, their head must be up- not looking at the ball. (I can remember my Dad and other basketball coaches telling me to "keep your head up!") Vision alone is not enough to be successful, but the player must have anticipation. So often in soccer, a player passes to an empty spot because they anticipate that their teammate is running to that spot to receive the pass. Vision and anticipation is a lot hard to defend than just reactionary movement.

Vision and anticipation are two important components to Church leadership as well. As leaders, we must have vision of the entire landscape of our church. We can't just rely on what we can see right in front of us, but must use our peripheral vision in order to see what others are unable to see. A soccer player is always scanning the field looking for the next opportunity to strike. Likewise, the church leader must be scanning trends, social dynamics, and other opportunities in order to lead effectively.

Likewise, a leader needs anticipation. Vision will help the leader see what is coming before anyone else realizes it. Anticipation helps the leader jump start change or a new direction in stride rather than reacting to the new circumstances. Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Church uses the example of a surfer. A surfer is scanning the horizon (vision) for the just the right wave to ride (anticipation). A surfer will pass up inferior waves until just the right one comes along. As leaders, if we are using our vision and anticipating changes, we may, in essence, be passing to an empty spot on the field- but if we have done the hard work of leadership we know that the empty spot won't be empty for long as someone fills that spot and advances for an opportunity to score. Now vision and anticipation do not always lead to a goal- and they won't always lead to successful leadership- but the more we practice it, the better we get at advancing the ball towards to goal.

How are you practicing vision and anticipation as a leader? What are some places where you are looking for trends in anticipation for the next wave? What kind of pushback do you get when you're passing to an "empty space" as a leader?

The Importance of Story

2010-06-29T13:15:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about the importance of story. I was watching the newest Star Trek that came out a while back. It is the remake of the original series of Star Trek movies. As I watched, I was captivated by the back story of James T. Kirk and of Spock. Amidst all the special effects and nostalgia of the movie, it is the story of the people that drew me in. One could not help to be pulled in to the opening sequence of George Kirk piloting his ship into the enemy craft to save his wife and newly born son, James. While Spock showed no visable emotion when his mother died, I certainly wanted to. It was exciting to see Leonard Nimoy reprise his role of Spock (from the future) during the movie. In contrast, what made Transformers 2 such a bust was the lack of emotional connection with the story. While the movie had great special effects and I loved seeing the Transformers come to life, the story was lacking.

In the Church, we cannot ignore the importance of story. While this is certainly nothing new, as Church
leaders we must continue to tap into the rich stories that reside in our communities. As Christians, we are each invited to participate in God's grand narrative. From Genesis we can see how God has been at work redeeming creation- leading to the Incarnation of Christ, to the Cross and the resurrection. We now live in the days where we wait God's full redemption of Creation- and have a role to play in this great story.

In great and small ways, people in our communities are living out this grand narrative of God. Just as a great movie draws in the viewers- the stories of God's redemptive work has the ability to speak to those who have heard of God's saving love for humanity. We need to tell the story- the story of Christ and the Cross, and our own stories of how our lives have been transformed by the cross.

What are some effective ways that the story of God's love and the transformation of lives has been shared?

6 Improvements for the 2011 Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference

2010-06-16T13:20:00.000-05:00

Before beginning, I need to give credit to Josh Hale as he made a similar post regarding the Texas Annual Conference (Read post here). His thoughts have helped to formalize some of my own thoughts in thinking about the Pen-Del 2010 Conference.

This is my third year attending annual conference- and I had the most fun this year out of any. This is likely due to being a little better connected to other pastors and laity who were there. There is a bit of a learning curve for navigating through the ins and outs of annual conference (like how to beat everyone to the cafeteria!)

1. Think Through our Worship Experiences: This was one of the biggest complainst I heard from other clergy. During our Celebration of Ministry, it was an hour or so of standing and sitting. There was no continuity. Rather than interspersing songs throughout the service- an extended opening and closing set would have flowed better.

Our Ordination Service is another matter. There is no better place to sing the hymns of the faith than with a gathering of clergy. They sing like they mean it (hopefully we do!)! Ordination was upstaged by songs that the clergy did not know. There was much murmering where I was sitting during the songs as we mumbled our way through the lines. Once the candidates were ordained, we were to sing a verse or two from a song- but because it was one that very few knew- we just started clapping again.

2. Laptop Bar: I have to give credit to Josh Hale for this one! I was thankful there was wifi in the Fitzgerald Center as it made it easier to check email and tweet during the conference. I had hoped to do some more posting about conference, but my laptop battery is not great. There was no where to charge or plug in your laptop in the Fitzgerald Center. Having a place to use the laptops and charge them would have been great for those of us who want to get information out- and who take notes and process that informaton electronically.

3. Has Anyone Heard of Twitter? I counted only 3 people regularly using the pdcon hashtag during conference. 2 clergy and one lay member(there were 2 others who used it once or twice, bringing the total up to 5). Really? 5 people who use Twitter during conference? Are we that far behind as a conference and in our churches in using social media to connect with our congregations and with each other? At Conference, Bishop Peggy Johnson said that churches need to utilze all the technological tools of the 21st century to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. It looks like we have a ways to go for that! Maybe for 2011, we can double or triple the number of clergy/laity using Twitter and other means to connect. (Thanks to Rick Vance for distributing the Pen-Del hastag...you can follow Rick at @pendelconferenc)

4. Young Clergy Gathering/Networking: My wife, Andrea, had to stay home for conference this year. So when it ended each night, I stood there wondering what I was going to do for the next three hours until I would fall asleep. There are not too many of us "young clergy" under 40 in the conference...but we should be connecting more than we are. I will personally take it upon myself to be more proactive in this area next year. It would have been great to go get something to eat some place after evening worship.

5. Modeling New Ministry Tools: Ok, so this is just a different name for Josh Hale's "Social Media Training Session." In light of the Bishop's pronouncment of how churches and leaders should use social media to spread the gospel, it would probably help many people to know what Twitter is and how to use it (especially in light of how few people use it in our conference). But we also have to have leaders who use it. I looked around twitter some and not one of our District Superintendents or Bishop uses Twitter from what I could research. Our conference facebook page hasn't had a post in almost a year! As for blogs...well, you probably get the picture.

6. Streaming Video: We already have cameras putting video up on the screens...couldn't we screen Conference for those back home who are interested in what goes on..whether business or worship. If we are concerned that no one will be interested...what does that say about what we do at Annual Conference?

I could probably bring up some other improvements for next year, but this is a good starting place. It will be 2011 next year and our Annual Conference still looks too much like 1985 (at best). As I hope to have a long ministry in the conference, I look forward to the changes that will take place in the future as we gather to worship, to support one another, and to do the business of the church.

Catching Up and Some Thoughts on BP

2010-06-08T14:24:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to post for awhile, but I really haven't found the motivation to lately. First, our life has been crazy busy...and it won't really let up until about mid-august. I will only be home one week in July! Second, the transition out of Avenue and into Hope is starting to be emotionally draining. I'm pretty pumped about the opportunity to meet and serve the wonderful people at Hope, but Avenue has been home for nine years and I think that is just hitting me today. I was working on the details for my final sermon at Avenue on June 20th. It's always a privilege to preach...even more so to share one last time to my friends at Avenue.

I honestly haven't had a whole lot of time to keep up with the news, but the more I see and read about BP and this oil spill in the gulf, the more angry I get. How irresponsible can a company be? How slow can the appropriate people take to respond? How much wildlife will have to die because of this disaster? I got to be honeset, I haven't felt like there has been much of a response by our government either.

It's taken me awhile to come around on this, but I think that off-shore drilling should be stopped. What good comes out of it? By stopping, we can reduce our environmental impact in the oceans. Stopping would also force us to find other ways to become less dependant on oil. There has got to be some ingenuity out there that can develop a car or system that can lessen our dependency on oil.

Just rambling today. Hopefully I'll be back to some regular post in the near future. This weekend is the Peninsula-Delaware Conference's Annual Conference...so maybe that will give me something to write about!

Transitions

2010-05-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

May is a month of transitions. Most places in the country are going from spring into summer. Schools are quickly headed for summer break. College students are coming home and looking for jobs. Transitions are all around us- and happening all the time. Here are a few transitions I've been working on or thinking through the last few weeks.

Our confirmation students were confirmed on Pentecost Sunday. While I do not teach confirmation (our youth pastor does that), I have taught the class and believe it can be a very important opportunity for a teenager to experience some transition in their faith. If you think about teens and church, confirmation is the first of many transitions that will happen over the next 10 years or so- meaning that confirmation can set the tone and foundation for a solid spiritual life. This is an important time for a seventh grader (even if they are unaware of it!)
Our high school students graduated a week ago and are now preparing to head to college. This is such an important time as most of the major decisions about who we will be as individuals will be made during our college years. It's when we put into practice the "theories" our parents, pastors, and mentors have taught us- or when we feel there is a better way than we've been taught. This is a time when we solidify our identity, our career, how we will spend our money, develop or deny our faith identity and maybe even get married.
Our church does a senior adventure trip right after graduation. It's a time to celebrate our graduates and all they've accomplished as well as transitioning them into our college age ministry. I really believe that college is a dynamic time to grow in our faith and I want to see more churches intentionally reaching out to college students.
By the way, this year's Senior Adventure Trip went caving, explored Baltimore, went to the National Aquarium, saw the Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, enjoyed a day at the beach, watched the Blue Angels, camped, and saw the LOST series finale! It was an action packed four days!

I'm also in the process of transitioning in ministry as I prepare to leave Avenue Church and step into leadership at Hope UMC. It's scary, exciting, and bittersweet all at the same time. There are so many people to thank at Avenue who have invested in me, prayed for me, and encouraged me- yet so little time to say thanks. (How about we golf everyday up to June 30th...if I have 3 other people with me each day, I might get through my list! And play some amazing golf!) There are so many amazing people at Avenue- and it's these same people who God is going to use at the church goes through a transition as well.

Book Review: Church In The Making

2010-05-19T05:30:00.002-05:00

I just finished reading Ben Arment's book, Church In The Making: What Makes or Breaks a New Church Before It Starts? If you're a church leader, you should probably know who Ben Arment is. He has been a church planter and most recently has been gathering innovative leaders to share their thoughts and insights at events like The Whiteboard Sessions, STORY, and Dream Year. You can see Ben's heart for equipping leaders in these ministries and in his book.

The first section of Church In The Making is called "Good Ground" and Ben uses the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3-9 as an illustration of how some church plants are planted in fertile soil and some in rocky (and oppressive) soil. Ben writes that the spiritual receptivity of the area where the church will be planted has everything to do with the success of the church. Churches can be planted in "rocky soil" but will face more resistance and difficulties.

The second section of the book, called "Rolling Rocks" was especially insightful as Arment wrote on creating momentum in a new church. What was interesting was that he said that people and communities rarely care about a new church, but they care about relationships. It is strategic then for church leaders to consider the human network that they find themselves part of and see where momentum can be gained.

The final section is called "Deep Roots" and focuses on creating a leadership team that can carry the vision further than the pastor alone. One way that deep roots are established is by doing something that no one else is doing. Churches should find a niche, a focus and strive to do that with excellence in communicating the gospel. A church should create an identity and purpose that they are unapologetic about- and will not compromise on. That might mean that some people leave the church, but everyone has to get on board with the vision. Likewise, if an activity or ministry does not help promote the vision, it should be pruned so that time, energy and finances can be put elsewhere.

While this book is geared towards church planters- it has some application for churches that have an established history. We must consider that spiritual receptivity of our communities. When Avenue Church launched our 9:30 worship gathering 7 years ago, we had been cultivating the soil of our church and our community for almost 8 months leading up to the launch. On our first Sunday, when we expected 40-50 people, we had 90 and the service is regularly attended by 200-250 people. This service is also doing something that no one else was doing in Milford at the time- which contributed to it's success.

I think that Pastors in the United Methodist Church could take more time to think about our social networks and how to leverage them. Yes, it is difficult to do so in the UMC when you itinerate, but our churches are filled with people who have connections and networks throughout our communities. Leaders and Pastors must learn how to tap into these networks in order to share the gospel. It also means that as UM Pastors move into a community, that building relationships should be a very high priority.

Ben Arment's Church In The Making really energized me about church leadership and the possibilities of what God wants to do through the Church. This book will be very high on my reading list for our church leadership- as it asks a lot of really good questions that most (all?) churches need to wrestle with.

Have you read the bok? What do you think? Does your church do a good job of using social networks to spread the gospel? What is creating momentum in your church? Leave your thoughts below in the comments!

Robot Wedding

2010-05-18T05:30:00.002-05:00

Did you happen to see this article over the weekend? It's the story of two robotics experts in Japan getting married by a...robot! Here's a part of the story...

"The nuptials at this ceremony were led by "I-Fairy," a 4-foot (1.5-meter) tall seated robot with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails. Sunday's wedding was the first time a marriage had been led by a robot, according to manufacturer Kokoro Co."

"'Please lift the bride's veil,' the robot said in a tinny voice, waving its arms in the air as the newlyweds kissed in front of about 50 guests."

"The wedding took place at a restaurant in Hibiya Park in central Tokyo, where the I-Fairy wore a wreath of flowers and directed a rooftop ceremony. Wires led out from beneath it to a black curtain a few feet (meters) away, where a man crouched and clicked commands into a computer."

I am assuming that this was a civil ceremony and not a religious one- but what does it say about our society that the door has been opened to be married by a robot? What has happened to real interaction?

This reminded me of a story I read earlier this year about a robot named Roxxxy who is touted as the first sex robot (Read the article here). A statement on the website for the developers of Roxxxy says...

"Our caring staff deliver to you the specific sex robot which best meets your specific requirements. Your TrueCompanion.com robot will deliver the ultimate in robot sex. She will also be able to talk, listen, carry on a conversation, feel your touch and be your true friend. She can also have an orgasm when you touch her!"

While you may not get married by an I-Fairy or need the services of Roxxxy the Sexbot- how often are our interactions with others more robotic than human? Are we more prone to offer a programmed response rather than take a risk and allow ourselves to be vulnerable in a relationship? It is certainly safer to offer the pre-programmed responses, but are we sacrificing what truly makes us human- our ability to be in community with each other?

We do this on Facebook, Twitter and other social media as well when we use social media alone for our interaction. It's much easier and quicker to tell someone happy birthday on their Wall or send them a quick text message than to call them up on the phone and have a conversation. We can often trade in real community and relationships for the imitation.

The image of the Trinity is the image of community. Father, Son and Holy Spirit in movement and interaction; giving and receiving. Likewise, we are designed for community with God and with our neighbors. As we go through our week- I challenge you (and myself) to make a phone call, meet for coffee and get personal rather than our programed, robotic responses that we can sometimes resort to.

To My Friends At Avenue Church

2010-05-17T06:21:00.000-05:00

It was nine years ago yesterday that Andrea and I first came to Milford. While we feel pretty young now, we came to Milford at the ripe age of 22. We felt a real sense of call in coming to Milford- which if you've never been near Milford, you would have to have a sense of call to come! Never did we consider that we would still be at Avenue nine years later and able to look back at everything that God has done at Avenue Church.

Avenue has really been a home for Andrea and myself. We have been at Avenue for all but 6 months of our married life together (10 years in December!). Abbie feels as comfortable at Avenue Church as she does in our own home.

A week or so ago, I was presented with an opportunity to pastor a congregation in Dover, Delaware. Hope UMC is a six year old church start located in the heart of Dover, on the campus of Wesley College. As I felt called to come to Avenue nine years ago, I believe that God has been preparing us to be in ministry up in Dover. After meeting with the team at Hope and spending time in prayer, I believe that God is going to do great things at Hope. I have accepted the reappointment offer and will become the pastor at Hope UMC effective July 1, 2010.

I know that over the next few weeks that I will go through many emotions as I consider my time at Avenue. You may too. But the one thing that I know for sure is that God holds all things in His hands. While it is bittersweet to leave what has become our church home, I am excited about what the future holds. I am also excited for Avenue Church because this is really an opportunity for Avenue to refine it's vision and receive a new pastor with new gifts who can help the church the grow in new ways.

Thanks, Avenue family, for the memories, the opportunities, your friendship and your prayers! I'm looking forward to our next few weeks together.

Should Churches Celebrate Mother's Day?

2010-05-10T06:42:00.000-05:00

There was an interesting sidebar in the current issue of Christianity Today asking some Christian leaders as to whether or not Christians/Churches should celebrate Mother's Day (link goes to article on CT's website). Our church does some sort of Mother's Day recognition. It changes every year, but the conversation around the issue is interesting to consider. The comments in the magazine ranged from those who believe we should, such as Sally Morganthaler-

"Absolutely, we should celebrate motherhood. The fifth commandment establishes parenthood as a holy calling. But, it also makes good sense to acknowledge "cultural rhythms"- like certain secular holidays- liturgically, to recognize there is no place God isn't."

There is the moderate view of author and pastor Trevin Wax (Click on his link to read his post about Mother's Day),

"We shold want to honor mothers. But because this has become a consumerist holiday (like Valentine's Day), we should consider deeper issues about how we order our time and make sure we aren't simply catering to the whims of our consumerist culture."

Author Caryn Rivadeneira says,

"It's great to acknowledge it. But there is the 'cult of the family,' where motherhood tends to get so elevated in churches that it's above all else. Sometimes that's the knee-jerk treatment, to make it the highest and holiest of callings for women. That's a problem."

Finally, the view of William Willimon, Bishop in the United Methodist Church,

"One of the biggest threats to theology today is not fundamentalism; it's sentimentalism. Mother's Day apppears just another occasion to say, "Christianity is feeling something mushy in your heart." We all get sentimental about our mothers."

From the standpoint of the Church, I wonder if maybe we make too big of a deal out of Mother's Day. Certainly, I am thankful for my mother and all that she did for me. I am amazed by my wife, Andrea, in how she is a great mother. Looking around the church and our communities, Mother's Day can be a day of sorrow and loneliness too.

I spoke with a seminary classmate- who is studying for an M.Div. and a leader in the church. She told me last week that she experienced four late term miscarriages and was never able to have children. As a Christian leader- she said it was extremely difficult to attend worship on Mother's Day.
As I looked around Church on Sunday- there are other women who are unable to have children- or maybe never married- or lost their children through some tragedy. I wonder as we elevate the role of mother in our churches if that feels like a slap in the face to those without children.
I'm curious how Mother's Day feels for a child of any age whose Mother was a lousy example of a mother. Maybe she was abusive or detatched emotionally. Mother's Day then causes the child to think about what he/she never had in a mother.
When it comes to worship, many Mother's Day sermon become speeches about the virtues of motherhood rather than a proclamation of the Good News of Jesus. Many Mother's Day sermon could be given at a civic organization without offending anyone because the emphasis is on mother's rather than God's redemptive work through Jesus Christ.

I have to admit that I am more in the camp of Caryn Rivadeneira and Will Willamon that churches should be careful how we elevate Mother's Day or any other special day. The focus of the church is to be about the worship of God. Our times of worship as a community are about praising God for what God has done in our lives through Jesus Christ- not about sentimentalism about our mothers. We need to make sure our worship is decidely Christian and not some cultural.

How does your church celebrate/recognize Mother's Day? Do we make too big of a deal about it? Not big enough? Talk it out in the comments below!

Lifeway Survey Paints a Grim Picture

2010-04-29T06:34:00.000-05:00

USA Today ran an article in their religion section on Tuesday which was based on a survey recently done by Lifeway Christian Resources. (You can read the article here) The survey focused on the Millenial Generation and their feelings and beliefs when it comes to faith and religion. They paint a pretty grim pictures. Here are some highlights that were pointed out in the article.

Out of the 1,200 surveyed, 72% called themselves spiritual rather than religious
65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either
65% rarely or never attend worship services.
67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.

Even among those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and believe that they will go to heaven...

68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was "really important in life."
50% do not attend church at least weekly.
36% rarely or never read the Bible

The Church is doing a poor job when nearly 70% of young adults do not pray, attend worship or read the Bible. Thom Rainer, the President of Lifeway says that if this trend keeps up that,

"the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships."

This is not hard to believe. Look around your congregation- look for the 20 year olds. In many places they are absent. Our staff recently took stock of what many of us thought we 20somethings in our congregation and they turned about to be 30somethings. Aside from a few 20somethings- we are missing a huge segment of our population. They are not hearing the gospel. They are not experiencing transformation through Jesus Christ.

The Church needs to rethink how we go about our ministries- reaching out to those who have never heard and discipling those who express faith in Jesus Christ. It's hard to imagine that 50% of people who define themselves as Christians do not attend worship weekly or that 36% rarely read their bible. Rainer goes on to say,

"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church."

So what must the church do? Here are some of my quick thoughts.

We must get rid of the attitude that is ok with college students "falling away" from their faith because we believe that they will come back to church when they have kids. I have heard this a lot in the local church and people are ok with it. We need to change our attitudes towards young people
Churches need to realize that it is not the Youth Pastors job to instill faith in young people. First, it is the parents responsibility- then it is the responsibility of the entire congregation- per baptism vows (in the UMC, the entire church vows to help raise our children to know Christ as Savior. We are falling short of that vow.)
We need to rethink how our churches do evangelism and discipleship. Discipleship is not a program, but a way of life! Evangelism should naturally flow out of our lives because God's love and grace overflow in our daily walk.
Worship services, music and sermons need to express the mission of God and invite young adults (and people of all ages) to participate in God's kingdom. Look at your worship service...would a 20 year old feel comfortable there? Does your music relate and reach to young adults? There is no "right" form for worship...it needs to be whatever best communicates our thanks to God and points to God's love for the people we are trying to reach.

If you are older than your 20's, think back for a moment. Almost every major decision that has made you who you are was made in your 20's. Your studies. Your career. Your life goals. Your spouse (for many). Your dreams. Yes, these can change as you grow older...but many of these were solidified in your 20's. It is imperative that we continue to do all we can to reach young people- especially those in their 20's.

How is your church reaching 18-29 year olds? Are they trying? What are some things that need to change to help 20 year olds become disciples of Jesus Christ?

Casting Crowns, Nickelback and the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2010-04-28T06:30:00.002-05:00

Christianity Today's Entertainment Blog recently had a post about the Dover Awards. The Dove's are the Christian version of the Grammy's...which means only Christians care about them! What struck me about the post was that they mentioned that Casting Crowns had won the previous five Artist of the Year Awards before losing out this year to Needtobreathe. While this sounds critical, saying Casting Crowns is an "artist" is like saying Nickelback reinvents their sound on every song!

I have been a big fan of Christian throughout my life. Especially as a teenager, Christian music was a source of inspiration for me and my faith. Now, I don't follow Christian music as much as I used too, mostly because I find a lot of the music made in the Christian genre (or Christian ghetto, depending on your view) to be lacking creativity musically and lyrically. For me, much of the Christian genre has become cheerleaders for Jesus rather than creatively communicating God's love, peace, grace, power and presence lyrically and musically.

The Church, in general, has lost the ability to influence culture through the arts, when the arts have the ability to communicate on such a powerful level. I'm thankful for mainstream bands (Christian and otherwise) whose music and lyrics point to God through beauty and grace. I could go on and name some bands, but I realize it's completely subjective! (Some of my personal favorites are U2, Needtobreathe, The Robbie Seay Band, Thrice, Derek Webb, Owl City, Switchfoot and Mutemath) Those of us in the church need to encourage the our congregation to use the arts with excellence to communicate the truths of God's love and salvation. We need to find our voice to communicate using the gifts and talents that God has given us. Some of us have been given gifts of music- we need to use it to the glory of God! Some of us have been given the ability to paint and sculpt- we need to use it to the glory of God! Let's not settle to produce material for the Christian ghetto- let's produce art that speaks to the world's heart about the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Your turn- which bands/artist/songs speak to you about God's love, grace, beauty, peace, presence, justice or mercy? Talk it out in the comments!

Earth Day Theology

2010-04-22T10:41:00.001-05:00

I'm not a tree hugger.

Growing up, the conservation movement was probably was in it's infancy and it didn't carry much weight with me. When I was involved in Cub Scouts, we would pick up trash along the roads once or twice a year. I remember watching Captain Planet where a blue man encouraged us to save the planet. (Or was the Avatar? I can't remember) We lived in an area where you didn't take much to get recycled- you just burned it in your back yard. All of it.

In the last ten years, Andrea and I have made sutble changes in our lifestyle in order to be a little more eco-friendly. We've changed our light bulbs. We use energy efficient appliances. I drink my water from an aluminum bottle rather than buying plastic ones. We try to keep our thermostat set to where we are not consuming tons of electricity. When it is time to replace my car (10 years old- thank you!), we'll be looking for something that gets great gas mileage.

I'm still not a tree hugger, but my views on the environment have been changing in the last few years. Here is why- Protecting our environment is not only a conservation issue- it is a faith issue.

In Genesis 1, God created the the heavens and earth and everything in it and said it was good. God created male and female, blessed them and said,

"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fist of the seas and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the grounds."

That's not too far off from our environment. Humans were given the task of "subduing" the earth..."ruling" over everything in it. Many have taken that as a green light to exploit the earth. We have countless atrocities of Christians "subduing" the earth (genocide of Native Americans, Spanish Conquistadors ravishing South/Central America, out of control pollution, etc.). Yet, maybe what that passage is telling us is that we are in a delicate balance with our environment. When we protect our planet and create a healthy world- we receive health back in return.

Theologian Eleazar Fernandez writes:

"What happens to the world, happens to us, for the elements that are in the cosmos and the air that we breathe are connected with the elements of our bodies"

A few paragraphs later...

"More particularly, we are citizens of the planet Earth; we are "earthlings." We are not fit to live elsewhere. We are not simply sojourners or tourists on this earth, though we continue to behave as such; the earth is our home. We must stop treating this earth as a hotel that we can just leave after using its amenities. This is the only home we have, so let us stop entertaining the idea that we can put our eaggs in another basket (e.g., the planet Mars)."

As Christians, we must realize that the entire world is God's creation- and that we have been put here as caretakers. We should care because when we care for our world- we make it better for our children and grandchildren who will inherit our caretakers job from us. We must remember that humans are not the only ones who long for redemption, but that "the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" waiting for the redemption of our bodies.

What are you doing this Earth Day? What changes have you made in your lifestyle to be friendlier to the environment? What are ways the Church can speak out about sins against creation that pollute and harm our world- and harm humanity?

An Invitation to Community

2010-04-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

I began a series yesterday where we will preach through the book of 1 John. I led a bible study last fall on the book and really found it engaging. Aparently, John Wesley called 1 John the "deepest part of the Holy Scriptures" for John's ability to blend deep theological thinking with simple/plain words.

Yesterday, I focused on 1 John 1:3 where John says, "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us." As John writes to his churches- he is concerned about community- the unity of his flock around the person of Jesus Christ. John begins the letter by proclaiming what he has seen, heard, touched, and experienced during his time with Jesus. When we get to verse three John says that he proclaims the Word of life so that you may have fellowship with us.

Evangelism can be such a polarizing word, mostly because of the bad forms of evangelism that many of us have experienced over the years. Some are put of by it because we live in a pluralistic, tolerant society where we don't want to offend anyone by sharing our beliefs. John says, we share what we have experienced (evangelism) to invite people into fellowship- fellowship with the church community and with the community of God (Trinity). For John, evangelism is more than just the forgiveness of our sins or fire insurance from hell. Evangelism is about inviting people outside of community into community. As Christians, we are called to go out into the world to invite people into this lifegiving community.

The thing with sharing our faith is that there is really no way around it in the Bible. As much as we might try and rationalize sharing our faith- we are called to do so in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). It's also true that if we do not invite people into community with God- we are intentionally excluding them. We are also withholding the opportunity to experience God's life in this lifetime and the hope of life everlasting to come!

How are you doing with inviting people into community? What are some creative ways that you or your church is inviting people into community with God and God's church?

Character Matters

2010-04-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

The news has been filled recently with high profile athletes and their moral failings. It's been hard to ignore the stories about Tiger Woods and the number of infidelities that he has had. In the NFL, Ben Roethlisberger was not charged in an investigation about whether or not he sexually assualted/raped a college student in a Georgia bar. The details that are coming out now that the investigation is over is very favorable for Ben- even though he wasn't charged. Ben is waiting to hear from the Steelers and/or the NFL as to as suspension to start the season for his personal conduct in these matters.

In some ways, it seems as if these (and other) athletes/politicians/actors/etc can be somewhat bulletproof. This past weekend- Tiger Woods played at the Master's and placed in the Top 10. All along with crowds following him and cheering him on. Woods lost some endorsements from the scandal, but give it time and he will likely regain them or get other endorsements from his play. Roethlisberger will suit up for Pittsburgh in the fall and many in the stadium will cheer him as he leads the Steeler offense.

These stories, and others like them, bring up the idea of character. Character speaks to the moral and ethical quality of a person...their reputation. It takes years to build a positive character and few minutes to bring it down. Our character, our reputation becomes our name- it becomes how we are known. This is what the Bible says about our name or our character.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Proverbs 22:1
A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1
You annointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore the virgins love you. Song of Solomon 1:3

Each of the three verses speaks of the value of a good name/reputation/character. It is more desirable than riches, better than fine perfume, like fragrant oils giving off a pleasing aroma.

Character matters. We each have a responsibility to care for and tend our reputation- to build our character in such a way that gives glory to God. The decisions we make can go a long way to building our character or tear it apart in a moment. Just think about it- While Tiger Woods could break the record for major titles in golf, he will be remembered for his infidilities. Ben Roethlisberger could win more Super Bowls, but his decisions will follow him around. Those who took steroids in baseball will always have an asterick by their name.

Because our character reflects the God that we serve- Character Matters!

Wanted: A New Heart

2010-04-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling to write this post for a while. Even on a blog it is sometimes hard to share really personal stuff.

Back in March, I began to experience some heart palpitations...not just a few- a lot of them. The kind that I could feel through my whole upper body. The worst was when I would lay down to sleep. I could feel my heart jumping around.

I went to my doctor to get checked out. They did an EKG immediately in the room and caught the palpitation on the EKG relatively easily. The EKG showed my normal heart beats are not evenly spaced out and that I am getting an extra beat. This began a process of blood work that would take the next several weeks-as well as wearing a 24 hour heart monitor. The results from all of this was that I have a benign heart arrythmia, which is treatable with a beta-blocker...or I can go without medication if it does not bother me that much. My decision was to forego the medications for now...and I am working towards seeing a heart specialist rather than my family doctor ordering test from the local hospital.

What has been hard about writing this post is the fear that I have felt regarding this. When I first went to the doctor, I worried that my heart my explode- or quit working, or something terrible like that. I feared about Abbie going through life without her daddy...or Andrea without her husband. While most of those fears have subsided, for now, it's made me realize what a powerful thing fear is. I don't think I have ever been afraid like that...lying awake until 2 or 3 in the morning counting each time my heart would jump.

It's also hit me how many times that the Bible speaks about the heart. Not a physical heart- but the heart as the center of our life, our belief. Anytime I read a passage that spoke about the heart, it jumped off the page. There are a few favorites that I have prayed walking through this...

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV)
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ezekiel 36:30 (NIV)

Today, I feel better than I have in the last month. Our days in Jamaica were relaxing and much needed. I will be looking for a specialist just to follow through on this and see what options I have. I know that plenty of people have/live with arrythmias...I am just looking to do my due dilligence. I would appreciate your prayers!

Catching Up From 2 Weeks Away

2010-04-12T06:48:00.000-05:00

As I logged into the blog this morning- it has been about 14 days since I last posted. That had to do with two things. First- Holy Week. It's pretty tough to get much else done the week before Easter when you're a Pastor. Secondly, Andrea and I went on vacation to Jamaica last week. (I know, don't feel bad for us) We had a great time, although it was tough coming home! We stayed at the Grand Palladium Hotel and Resort in Montego Bay. We were only there three nights, so we tried to maximize our time- only going on one excursion off the resort. That trip was a catamaran ride/snorkeling trip/Dunn's River Falls all day adventure. It was a lot of fun! Snorkeling was great and Dunn's River Falls was awesome. Our only complaint on that was the trip up the Falls was too short! Until I can get some post up tomorrow- here are a few pictures from our vacation.

The Base of Dunn's River Falls

Sunset Closing in at the resort

The best picture from the trip!

CD Review: Robbie Seay Band- Miracle

2010-03-29T08:10:00.000-05:00

In the world of Christian music, there are two kinds of bands. The first kind plays the role of cheerleader. They write songs for the Church that get them fired up about Jesus- sometimes without much theological or artistic depth. The lyrics are often not challenging and offer more comfort for the listener about their place in the world and the church. The second kind of band has the unique ability to call the Church and the world to participate in the Kingdom of God. These bands are prophetic as they call the listener to love God and love their neighbors through the artistry of their lyrics and melody.

The Robbie Seay Band falls in the second category.

Miracle is RSB's third full length studio release- the most recent was their "Give Yourself Away," that continues to get considerable play time in the LaMotte family iPod and CD players.  Miracle offers the listener 11 songs of authentic song writing that is longing for the Kingdom of God here on Earth. The album begins with "Love Invades," as RSB sings of love breaking through- In the break of day\Night is slowly giving way\Tell the sun to rise

"Awaken My Soul" is an upbeat prayer that says Awaken my soul\Every fear and every dream\Awaken me\I'm letting go, awaken my soul\Awaken my soul.  In "Kingdom and a King" RSB that we are to never wait on the governments to move\As the broken and the poor cry out You. This song is a prophetic call for the Church to head the call of God to care for the fatherless, poor, and widows.

"Miracle" is the title track of the CD. RSB sings, Have you ever had a dream\so big no one else could see\But you believed\It was possible to be\. The rest of the song gives several scenarios where someone is waiting on a miracle from God.  This is a great reminder that God is at work regardless of our circumstances

"Your Love is Strong" incorporates the Lord's Prayer in its petition for God's stong love to be present. "We Are Not Alone" is a song that reminds us of the grace that is present in the midst of community- especially the community of believers.  "Lament" is exactly that.  Crying out to God to rescue us from the suffering that exist in the world. Honestly, we need more songs like "Lament" in our worship vocabulary.  There are many people who will identify with suffering- yet in our modern worship music- there are few songs that cry out to God for rescue.

Miracle is another excellent release from the Robbie Seay Band. The music is strong and Seay's vocals are souful and authentic. The lyrics are artfully written, full of hope and grace, and never sound tired or worn out. Go out and pick up Miracle today!

http://www.robbieseayband.com/

A Radical Minimum Standard

2010-03-25T05:30:00.002-05:00

I've been guilty from time to time of trying to figure out what is the least I can do and get by. In college, sometimes it was what is the least amount of reading I can do and still get the grade I desire. This mindset often follows us to our workplaces and our families as the minimum becomes the standard or status quo for what is acceptable.

This happens in our faith as well.

I am guilty of sometimes seeking the minimum standard for "getting by" with my faith. If I treated my marriage like I sometimes treat my relationships with God- I would most like be divorced by now! I can go for days with little conversation with God because I am self-centered. Or I put a minimal amount of time or intentionality in sharing my faith outside of Sunday morning. Or maybe I've become comfortable with my material possessions and they are starting to possess me.

I finished reading (again) Erwin McManus' An Unstoppable Force. In the final chapter of the book, he talks about a radical minimum standard for believers. The radical minimum standard is giving our hearts completely to God and going wherever God leads us. That is what it means to be a disciple...to be a Christian. And this minimum standard is not for the spiritually elite- pastors, missionaries, and uber-spiritual laity- it is the standard for the entire body.

It is a shame in many of our churches that we are more of an institution or club than we are a movement of God. We have come to a place where we pay our dues (offering), take part in the major club gatherings (Christmas and Easter), we may even attend weekly meetings if they end on time (worship service) and complain about any new changes the club might make (new worship service, too many new people, etc.). Instead, we are called to be a body that is living...an organism that is passionately working together to bring about God's kingdom here on earth. A body that works to bring about justice in their community and world. A body that exemplifies Jesus Christ- God in Flesh- in every facet of our lives. We are not called to be an institution, club or even a religion. We are called to be a movement of people- the body of Christ who die to themselves everyday in order that Christ might live through us. We are a movement with the purpose of bringing the expansion of the kingdom in everything that we do.

That is the Radical Minimum Standard of our Faith.

Autistic Teen Has Perfect Sweet 16 Bracket

2010-03-24T06:37:00.000-05:00

I will not spend a lot of time with this, but as a fan of college basketball and someone who fills out a bracket every year, this simply amazes me- especially with all the upsets there have been in this year's Men's Tournament. Alex Herrmann has correctly picked all the upsets in the CBS Bracket Challenge he filled out. He picked Norther Iowa over #1 Kansas. He picked Ohio over Georgetown! To put this in perspective, ESPN had 4 or 5 million people fill out a bracket on their bracket challenge. After day 1 of the tourney only 64 people had a perfect bracket. After day 2, no one had a perfect bracket.

Alex Herrmann's dowfall with his bracket is that he has Purdue winning the championship. While I'm rooting for UK- it would be incredible if he was able to keep his perfect bracket!

Read here for more of the story!

Swine Flew

2010-03-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

A look at this Scripture passage from Mark 5:1-17 in my Missional Preaching class has had me thinking since last Tuesday. In the passage, Jesus encounters a man who is possessed by many demons (Legion). The man is a raving lunatic because of this possession. He lived among the tombs and no one could bind him. Even when the townsfolk used a chain and shackles, the man would break free. He would cut himself with stones and was clearly a danger to himself and those around him.

When the man encountered Jesus- the demons realized who Jesus was and the power Jesus had. The demons asked to be cast into the herd of pigs that was nearby. Jesus gave the demons permission and they entered the pigs and the herd (numbering 2,000) rushed over a cliff and into the sea where they drown.

The formally demon possessed man was know in his right mind as the town folk came out to see what had happened. When the town folk realized that they had lost their pigs, their source of food and income, they told Jesus to leave.

Here are some thoughts on the passage...

1. The townfolk wanted their pigs more than they wanted transformation. Seeing the demoniac transformed and in his right mind had to be an amazing sight. Yet, there was fear in the midst of transformation. The people would rather have the status quo (pigs and a lunatic in the graveyard) than transformation (no pigs and a transformed man).

2. More people likely needed to be transformed in that town. There may not have been more demon possessed people, but surely there were sick and crippled people who were in need of healing. The fear that the town felt at the loss of their pigs and the transformation of the demoniac took away any opportunity for Jesus to transform other lives in the town.

3. How many times does fear keep us from being transformed? This could be a personal question and a question to ask our churches. How often do we tell God, "I don't know if I can give that up?" or "We've never done it that way before" ? Fear can keep us from experiencing the freedom that God has come to give us. Do we like our pigs more than a transformed life? Are we too comfortable with our 'little sins" and thus are unable to experience the fullness of a relationship with God?

The Church is to call people to Jesus Christ in order to experience holistic transformation in the lives of those who come through our doors. There should be constant change in the midst of our congregations! Change should happen in our lives...and because change is happening in our lives it will change the way we worship- and it's all because of Jesus! Rather than fearing change, our prayer for our lives and our churches should daily be asking God to change us, transform us into God's image. That is a change we can all hope for!

CD Review: Passion- Awakening

2010-03-11T09:58:00.001-05:00

This past January I had the opportunity to attend the Passion2010 Conference in Atlanta with several of our college students. (You can read part 1 and part 2 of my recap) The conference was really good. I came away refreshed and renewed. While the speakers were excellent, most people are aware of the music that comes out of Passion and the Passion artist. Passion has been putting out albums from their conferences since the mid-1990's. Since I attended the conference- I was excited to get the CD, but also hoping it washed away the lackluster memory of the God of This City album from a few years back. More after the jump...

There are many standout songs on the CD, as well as a few misses. But this is a solid CD overall. Here are some thoughts on individual songs.

1. Awakening (Chris Tomlin)- The title track and the theme for Passion2010, this was my favorite or second favorite song from the conference and CD. The song speaks of longing for God to awaken our hearts and the world's hearts. For You and You alone/awake my soul/awake my soul and sing/ for the world You love/Your will be done/let your will be done in me Great song.

2. Say, Say (Kristian Stanfill)- A song pointing to the hope we have in Jesus and encouraging believers to "Sing for the whole world to hear it." Not bad, but nothing memorable.

3. Our God (Chris Tomlin)- I sang this song with 22,000 other people at Passion and liked it. But, now that I'm two months out of the conference, I am not so sure. Here is a line- Our God is greater/Our God is stronger/God, You are higher than any other/Our God is healer/Awesome in power/Our God/Our God. As I listen to those lines it sounds like we're singing a "My daddy can beat your daddy" kind of song. If it were sung in the midst of people of other faiths, it could almost come off as taunting. Do I believe that God is God alone? All powerful? Yes, I do. I don't know, but this song just makes me uncomforable. It sounds as if we are singing this to someone to try and prove a point rather than lifting up and giving God adoration.

4. How He Loves (David Crowder Band)-Yes! Great imagery. /He is jealous for me/loves like a hurricane, I am a tree/Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy/ Great song.

5. Healing is in Your Hands (Christy Nockels)- This song is powerful. I don't really need to say more about this- other than Christy Nockels has an amazing voice!

6. King of Heaven-Isaiah 61 (Charlie Hall)- First, let me say that I believe that Charlie Hall is probably the most underrated of the Passion Artist. Tomlin, Crowder, and Redman seem to get more publicity. That said, I am not a huge fan of the song. Charlie begins the song /Oh, Oh, King of Heaven Come Down/ Is God somewhere remote? Somewhere up there that we must invoke God's name? I believe that God is present with us- with the poor and needy, with the brokenhearted, with the lost- we need to have our eyes opened to see God's presence among us rather than calling on God to come down from heaven to help us. God is already here!

7. You Alone Can Rescue (Matt Redman)- After Redman's last CD, We Shall Not Be Shaken, how is this the only song from Redman on this album? I was surprised that Redman was not featured more at Passion because that album was so solid. This song quickly became a favorite of our congregation shortly after his CD came out- /Who, O Lord couls save themselves/Their own soul could heal/Our shame was deeper than the sea/Your grace is deeper still/

8. Where the Spirit of the Lord Is (Chris Tomlin/Christy Nockels)- First, Christy makes this song from a vocal perspective. This is a song longing for the presence of God in our lives- and in the presence of God that we live in God's freedom.

9. Rise and Sing (Fee)- Fee brings a slightly different sound than what you get in Tomlin, Redman, Stanfill (yes, Crowder is in a league by themselves). A song calling on people who have been touched by God to Rise and Sing. This is a song for believers.

10. Like a Lion (David Crowder Band)- The more I listen to this song, I like it. Crowder sings Let love explode and bring the dead to life/a love so bold/To see a revolution somehow/ The song revolves around this idea that God is alive and roaring like a lion in our hearts. This song ties in thematically with Awakening.

11. Chosen Generation (Chris Tomlin)- Yet another Chris Tomlin song. I am tired of Tomlin songs by this point.

12. With Everything (Hillsong United)- This song clocks in at 8:39! The song calls us to shout praises to God with everything that we have. The last few minutes the band and 22,000 in attendance are singing /Woah-oah-oah/ and it is powerful how even singing in unison like that can communicate what our hearts cannot put into words. It was great to see Hillsong at Passion and great to have them on the CD! Too bad they couldn't have dropped a Tomlin song and included another Hillsong number!

This is a pretty solid release by our friends at Passion. Not perfect, but solid. One of my biggest critiques of Passion is that all the artist are white, and mostly male. Are there not other voices that could be pulled into the fold to influence a rising generation? Those questions may be for another post!

Do you have the CD? What do you think?

The Weakest Link

2010-03-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

Pic- Jerry Lampen / Reuters

I was thinking back over the Winter Olympics the other day. I'm not a huge Winter Olympics fan, but each night Andrea and I found ourselves watching the Olympics. One of the events that I found intriguing was the Men's Team Pursuit Speed Skating. I saw the final between Canada and America. The sport consist of a team of three skaters who skate at the same time. The skate in a single file line- trying to synchronize their motions. At the end of the race, the attempt to skate side by side as they cross the finish line because the last skate to cross the line is where the judges count the time. As the announcer said on the final lap, you are only as fast as your slowest skater.

It's like that in our Christian communities as well.

I hear and read much conversation about the freedom we have in Christ for various pursuits. For example- I'm around Christians who enjoy a beer from time to time, and they are right in saying that the Bible doesn't prohibit the comsumption of alchohol (although it's pretty clear on drunkeness). Other areas are media consumption, language, and even co-habitating (we're not having sex, just living in the same house/apartment). I think much of this is a backlash against legalism in the church as they strive to enforce a "Christian morality."

In Romans 14, Paul is writing about weak and strong Christians. The weak Christians are those who are unable/unwilling to give up certain observances such as dietary laws or the Sabbath. For Paul, and the strong or mature Christian- the taboos no longer apply- Yet if Paul or another Christian were to eat a food that was previous "unclean" in front of a person who is not at the same place as Paul- then Paul may cause the "weaker Christian" to stumble. This is what Paul says:

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall." (Romans 14:19-21 NIV)

For Paul, it was an issue of the food or wine that they drank. There are issues today that we ask Christians engage in without consideration of how it affects the community we are in. Is it worth having a couple beers if it causes a brother or sister to stumble/question their faith? Does our sarcasm cause another person to sin? I don't think we like to ask these sort of questions because we are very individualistic in America (and the West) and rarely consider how our actions affect our community- but they do! Paul says that we should make every effort to do things that edify (build up) our brothers and sisters in our community.

For me, that means denying myself of some extras in life that may be seemingly harmless, but may cause someone else to question their faith or mine. Our lives are not our own. They are a living witness and testimony to the God we serve and the faith community we participate in. Our communities of faith are only as strong as our "weakest" participant. The entire life of the community is to work to build up faith (edify) and to continually seek maturity in Christ.

In what ways does your Church and/or your life build up and edify those who are "weaker" or less mature in their faith? Do you actions/life put out a stumbling block or set the pace?

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Part 6

2010-03-06T07:51:00.002-05:00

In his final post on the UMC, Craig Groeschel says this...

"I think the United Methodist Church either needs to become united again or intentionally part ways."

It's certainly a controversial idea to encourage a split when sides cannot reconcile. When General Conference comes up every four years, it is the areas of contention that get all the publicity. Hot button issues such as homosexuality get pushed to the forefront when there are some many other important issues in the life of the UMC that need to be discussed. (Read more after the jump)

Part of the problem of Craig's blog post is that he did not define what he meant by "liberal" and "evangelical." I have my own ideas what he meant by that, but it's possible that if you read his blog (or this blog) that you have your own definition of liberal or evangelical. While things may seem to be black and white- many times we see gray rather than clear cut distinctions. (Yes, that is a shout out to Adam Hamilton) While I grew up in a pretty conservative church- and I still consider myself theologically conservative and evangelical- the church I grew up in might think I'm a little liberal in some areas. We have to be careful tossing around labels.

So what about his blog post?

It seems to me that as I talk with some of my UMC friends that there is a feeling that a split/fissure may happen somewhere in the near future. I am not sure that any side of a possible split should take preemptive measures. We should mourn our lack of unity in the church, and fight to find ways to preserve it as much as possible.
That said, there are some issues that would cause me to question my place in the UMC. I believe that I am call to the UMC- but above all things I am called to Christ. I think that each of us has to take stock of what we believe to see if we can minister with integrity within the boundaries of our denomination (that goes for any denomination).

I grew up in the UMC and have seen the Church's impact. It is my prayer that we will listen to God and find ways to reconcile and come together rather than turning away from one another.

What do you think of Groeschel's idea that the church should split if it can't agree? What does it mean to minister with theological integrity within the UMC? Should churches/pastors/congregations compromise theologically for the sake of "unity?"

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Part 5

2010-03-05T17:20:00.000-05:00

In the fifth blog from Craig Groeschel regarding the United Methodist Church, Groeschel addresses how many church (in the UMC and other denominations) have mainly/mostly empty buildings and how churches should attempt to share ministry/space/resources together. Looking at it from my church perspective- there are parts of our building that gets used frequently, while there are some other rooms/areas that seldom get used. It certainly maximizes the dollars a church spends on buildings if the entire building gets used throughout the week. First some thoughts on our buildings and then some thoughts on sharing resources.

Our church buildings (or buildings of the church) have become too sacred. The building is not the church- the people are. With that in mind, our buildings are mearly a tool for the spread of the gospel. Unfortunately, our buildings have become sacred cows and many churches are reluctant to truly do everything possible to make sure all the rooms in the building are multi-purpose (I'm looking at you, Sanctuary!)
I am a proponent of no pews in the sanctuary. (Yes, I heard a collective gasp-maybe from Avenue's congregation!) I think sanctuaries should have chairs that are removable, whether your sanctuary is a modern "multi-purpose" room or a gothic looking sanctuary (like Avenue). At Avenue, our sanctuary gets used on Sunday for four services and then sporadically in the week (mostly music rehearsals for Sunday.) If there were chairs in the sanctuary- the floor space could be set up in all sorts of configurations to hold meetings, classes, etc. The sanctuary moves from being a tool to use only once a week for worship- into a tool that can be used everyday of the week. To me, a sanctuary that is only used on Sunday is wasted space.
Part of building use is tied to vision. What kind of vision do we have to our church? How does our tool (the building) help us meet our calling/vision? If it doesn't- how can we remodel, change, rearrange so that our tool (building) helps us fulfill our vision/calling? Those are some of the questions we should ask when looking at our facilities.

Groeschel also talks about churches working together and even brings up the "m" word (merging). I was shocked when I was in youth ministry about how territorial churches can be. At times I worked hard to try and reach out to other groups in the area to share ministry and each time was turned away. After that, I'm sure I was guilty about focusing inwardly. Working together in communities is something that all churches can improve on!

I give Groeschel credit for Open Lifechurch.tv and other resources that they (as well as other churches) are now making available free of charge. A resource like this can be a great encouragement and be a catalyst for other churches to be creative in sharing the gospel.

How is your church sharing resources within your community? How are you using your tools (building) creatively/effectively to share the Gospel?

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Pt. 4

2010-03-04T05:30:00.001-05:00

In Craig Groeshel's fourth blog on the United Methodist Church, he tackled our apportionment system. Apportionments are part of the United Methodist Church's connectionalism. Each church gives from their own budget/income to pay for the conference/jurisdictional/global iniatives of the Methodist Church. This money supports ministry on a local, regional and global level. Part of this money also supports the pension fund of the UMC (I believe). I'll be quite honest, I have little grasp on how apportionments are decided. What I do know is that they can have a large impact on both large and small churches. (Read More Below)

This particular blog post by Craig is the one place throughout his series where I thought he show's his preference/bias for larger churches. Larger seems to indicate "more effective." The bottom line is that both small and large churches are affected by apportionments. Having more visable churches like Ginghamsburg or Granger would be exciting- but God moves in small and large churches- so larger churches should be the deciding factor when it comes to apportionments.

So what is? I think we have to consider what our apportionment support. Are our structures in the UMC too bulky and large, therefore costing us more money? Are there ways we can streamline the administrative ends of the church? How are the local annual conferences and jurisdictions "giving back" to the local church in the form of quality training and support?

Are there organizations or causes that local congregations could decide to support or not to support? Certainly, I think we need to provide for our district/conference staff, etc., but if there was an initiative of the denomination that the local church was not comfortable supporting- could that become an elective? I don't know how practical that would be, but it might help churches feel like they have more say in the way their money is being spent.

Again, as United Methodist- we are proud about our connectionalism. Part of our connection is supporting one another and denomination through apportionments. It is one way we care for each other and those who our ministries touch.

For you who have more apportionment experience than me- What are the pros and cons? Is there a better way to quantify how much a church pays without completely bankrupting the district/conference ministries?

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Part 3

2010-03-03T05:30:00.002-05:00

In his blogs on the UMC last week (pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6) Craig Groeschel focused his third posting on the ordination process of the United Methodist Church. Here is a piece of what he wrote...

"As I continue to think about the future of the United Methodist Church, I’m hopeful that the UMC (and other mainline denominational churches) will attract and retain more young leaders.
To do so effectively would take many fundamental changes. One might include re-evaluating the ordination process. When I was a UMC pastor, I was an un-ordained “local pastor” for three years, spent four years in seminary (while serving full time at a church) and had two more years before I’d become fully ordained as an elder."

Groeschel goes on to say that many young leaders want to "get in the game" without the denominational hurdles to clear. I have to admit, I agree with Groeschel 100% on this one. I started my process towards ordination in 2004 when I was 25 (I'll be 32 later this year). I have been in seminary for 4 years with one more year to go. Hopefully I can be commissioned in 2011 and get ordained by 2013. If that is how it works out, I will have been in this process for 9 years! Does it take 9 years to affirm that someone is gifted, called, and equipped for ministry?

It's been a struggle of mine to see other churches who have pastors in the early 20's leading the helm and impementing the vision that God has given them for the church and community. Even if I was reappointed this year- six years would have passed from when I started this journey and I would just begin to be able to try out some of the skills and vision that God has placed in my heart. (As an associate, some of those have to simmer on the back burner for a while!)

I can think of Jon Weece (Southland Christian Church outside Lexington, KY) or Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC as examples of pastors who are leading large churches and doing many creative things- yet began their leadership in the church in their late 20's. No, I'm not aspiring to becoming a mega-church pastor- but to bring out the point that they were placed in a position where they could lead and influence even though they were/are younger. Had they been in the United Methodist Church- they might have left after seeing all the hurdles that must be cleared.

Some thoughts-

While I affirm seminary (and have enjoyed it), God does not need well educated people to bring about His Kingdom. Do we need seminary to be a pastor? If the UMC decides we need it- does one really have to graduate before they can become "ordained"?
Wouldn't the UMC be better equipped for the future if it cleared the pathway for younger pastors to be put in positions of influence to win over the emerging generations for Christ?
Does the length of the current process lend itself to creating effective pastors? Or is it more likely to lead to discouragement?

What are you thoughts on the ordination process? Are you in it? What is your experience? If you could change something, what would it be?

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Part 2

2010-03-02T05:30:00.003-05:00

The second area that Craig Groeschel lent his thoughts on the United Methodist Church to was in the itinerancy. In the UMC- the Bishop and Cabinet can move a pastor when they feel the time is right. We pray that they are hearing from God in these moves! The itinerancy has worked in the UMC. Back in the 1800's Cicuit Riders criss-crossed the continent to preach and celebrate the sacraments. During this time, the Methodist Church grew by leaps and bounds.

I was recently in St. George's United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. This is one of the earliest Methodist Churches in America. In the front of the sanctuary is a list of the pastors who have served at the church. For the longest time- every year there is a new name of the pastor serving the church. I can remember growing up in the Methodist Church that we came to expect that our Pastor would get moved every 3-5 years.

While I have yet to itinerate (I've been a lay hire for 5 years and appointed to the same church as a student pastor for the past 4 years), I have my own feelings about the system as a whole. The first being- while I may have my doubts and concerns about itinerating, right now in the Methodist Church it is the system that I, and many others, have to live with. I have made a commitment to the Church and to itinerate. With that in mind- I do have some thoughts...

How do you build vision, goals, respect, and trust for ministry when you don't know when you could be moved? When I itinerate, do I have three years in a particular location to do what I am called to do? Or do I have 10? When I was in youth ministry, it took me 3 years or so to really get a grasp of the culture, the town, the leaders and be able to cast a vision that moved the ministry ahead.
If you're in a church whose pastor gets moved often- how do you build trust with your congregation. Once I was appointed to Avenue- I immediately began getting people saying things like, "I know the Bishop is going to move you," or "How much longer do you think you'll be in Milford?" (I'd like to think that was because they liked me!!!)
When it comes to my family (especially my daughter- who didn't agree, like my wife, to pursue ministry as a family- she was born into it), how will itinerating affect her growth and development as a person. When she has to change schools, how will she make friends, etc.?

I think the itinerant system in the United Methodist Church is the ultimate leap of faith. As a Pastor in the UMC, I have to trust that God will send me to a church where my gifts are a good fit.

Your turn- What are the strengths of the itinerant system? Other weaknesses? Has itinerating turned out to be a blessing in disguise? What other options could we have in the UMC?

My Thoughts on Craig Groeschel's Thoughts on the UMC- Pt. 1

2010-03-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Throughout last week, Craig Groeschel- Pastor at Lifechurch.tv wrote a blog engaging some issues and thoughts on the United Methodist Church. You can read through his post here. Groeschel began his ministry in the United Methodist Church before becoming a church planter. It was interesting to read through some of his thoughts- and read the comments from others both in and out of the UMC. This week, I want to put some of my thoughts down on the topics that Groeschel writes about. The first thing that Craig wrote about was Financial Resources.

Craig brought up the Rethink Church advertising campaign that the United Methodist Church recently spent $20 million dollars on. He suggested that rather than spending the $20 million on a advertising campaign that $20,000 could be given to 1000 new church plants. Groeschel wrote that starting a new church is easier than revitalizing an old one.

I really felt strong about the money the UMC spent on an advertising campaign. I thought it was a waste of money. (Kind of the like the Census Bureau creating a Super Bowl Ad- why is the government paying for a commercial??) $20 million dollars could have been spent more effectively- whether putting it into new church starts as Groeschel suggested or by injecting it into leadership training for annual conferences and clergy in the four areas of focus of the Rethink Church campaign (Growing congregations, becoming leaders in the world, addressing poverty and fighting disease). I personally have seen little to nothing happen in our local church or conference around this theme of Rethinking Church- or the four focus areas.

That said, there are areas where more inertia could be created within the United Methodist Church. First, is the Nothing But Nets campaign. I have seen the campaign referenced in numerous places in the media and otherwise. The campaign provides nets for people in high-risk areas of malaria. This is the kind of ministry that young adults who are unchurch or nominally churched can get involved in. The Nothing But Nets campaign could be a "door" for people to enter the UMC rather than a commercial. This campaign and others (debt relief, anti-sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS ministries) are the places where we can "be the church" rather than attending a church.

What do you think? Do you like spending $20 million on an advertising campaign? How could the denomination do a better job of 'being the Church?"

Ordinary to Extraordinary

2010-02-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to some recommendations from friends- I'm ready Miroslav Volf's book Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. While I'm only about 60 pages into it right now- it is a deep, insightful book!

**Let me go on record that if Andrea and I have baby boy anytime in the near future- I'm going to push to give him the name Miroslav Volf LaMotte. Everyone will assume he's a great thinker or a NHL Hockey Player from Europe.**

Volf sets out to explain that as humans, we are designed to receive from God and give to others. We can't give God anything for the gifts God gives us. What we can do is share God's gifts with those around us. We are a people who can be only concerned about ourselves, our ego, our bottomlines. Volf says, "It (the self) will seek only its own benefits, and the more it seeks its own benefits, the less satisfied it will become." Think about the truth in that statement. How many actors/actresses, professional athletes, businessmen/women are miserable even though they have millions of dollars, great houses, beautiful spouses, etc., etc.? How many of us "common folk" break our necks working long hours to buy stuff to satisfy our own hungers and desires- and yet are empty on the inside?

The solution, for Volf, is to receive God's gifts and allow God's gifts to flow through us to those around us. "It is as we serve our neighbors- our family, friends, and acquaintances- that the dam holding the flow of gifts is lifted and teh life of God continues its intended flow."

He concludes chapter one with these words:
"You sit on your couch, beer or soda in your hand and junk food by your side wathcing TV for hours- that's ordinary. You work around the clock not because you have to feed your family, but for no other reason than to park a better car in your garage than your neighbors have- that's ordinary. You get up from teh couch to play with your kids or you give your time and energy to help educate a prisoner or lend an ear to an elderly person- that's extraordinary. Why? Because you are giving. Every gift breaks the barrier between the sacred and the mundane and floods the mundane with the sacred. When a gift is given, life becomes extraordinary because God's own gift giving flows through the giver."

As we approach the second weekend of Lent- are we living ordinary lives set on serving ourselves? Or are we giving to those around us because God has given to us?

Identity Crisis

2010-02-24T15:18:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, I preached from Luke 4:1-13 where Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days and is tested by Satan. While we looked at the whole text, I focused on the first text and will finish it up this Sunday. In the text, Luke has gone to great lengths to establish Jesus' identity- that Jesus is the Son of God. God says as much in Luke 3:22 where Jesus is baptized and the Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Then Luke goes into the genealogy of Jesus which reiterates that Jesus is God's Son.

Interestingly enough, Satan immediately questions Jesus' identity in the wilderness. "If you are the Son of God"- is what Satan begins with. Satan's third temptation in Luke 4 also begins with that saying. Throughout the account that Luke gives us- Jesus is certain in his identity and his trust that God will provide (remember he has been fasting for 40 days- some bread would be pretty good!). Because Jesus is certain of his identity as God's Son- he is able to withstand Satan's test.

How often do we give into temptation because we wrestle with identity- who we are? Many of us are not comfortable in our own skin. We can spend countless hours each week trying to convince ourselves that we are someone we are not- all in the effort to impress.

In our efforts to be someone else- it is common for us to compromise our integrity and our beliefs. We can lower our standards because we may be afraid that others won't like who we really are. We can set aside our faith in God because we don't want to offend...we can forget that we are God's children, co-heirs with Christ, and settle for something other than truly living. If we are co-heirs, we get it all! We don't need to be someone we are not to experience the fullness of God. We live a life built on the foundation that God has made us co-heirs through Jesus Christ.

Lent is a time of self-examination. As Christians, are we living as children of God? Have we compromised our integrity, our faith, our status as co-heirs for something other than the fullness of Christ? This Lent, let us live fully in the knowledge of who we are in God.

A Way of Life

2010-02-15T09:05:00.000-05:00

Our love for God, our faith in God must be lived out through everyday words and deeds. Faith is not an intellectual pursuit. Certainly, we can think about God and ponder God's power and creation- but faith cannot stay in our head. Faith overflows from our hearts into our everyday lives. Our faith should be evident to the world by the way we love one another.

James says in chapter 2 that faith without works is dead. 1 John tells us that anyone who claims to love God but hates his brother or sister is a liar. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with our entire being, and followed it up with another commandment, that we are to love our neighbors. Our love of God, our faith in God must lead to a life of service. We may serve out of a pulpit or in the school districts. We can serve from the back of a garbage truck or in the CEO's chair in the boardroom. We serve our families, our friends, and are even called to serve (and love!) our enemies. Christianity is not so much a system of belief as it is a way of life.

When the day comes for my funeral- people are not going to say, "Look at his grasp of Trinitarian Theology" or "Look at how much (or little, I'm a pastor!) money he made." My hope is that they say "Remember how he loved God and how much Steve loved each one of us."

Haiti Fatigue

2010-02-10T11:55:00.000-05:00

News reports out this week say that the death toll from the earthquakes in Haiti have risen to 230,000. It's hard to imagine a quarter of a million people dying in just a few short seconds (and the days to follow). Coupled with the earthquake/tsunami of 2004 which killed another 230,000 people- that's 500,000 people dead from two natural disasters. It's remarkable to consider the pain, suffering, and death that can happen in a matter of moments.

That's why a conversation I had this week caught me a little off guard. I was visiting an older gentleman when he said that he was tired of all the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. He went on to explain that there were better ways that our churches and charitable organizations could spend their money. He didn't feel that the American Church had a responsibility to continue to send much needed supplies to Haiti for a long duration of time.

Are we, as Americans (or American Christians) already at the point of Haiti Fatigue? Have we become de-sensitized by the coverage and have lowered our concern for our brothers and sisters there? Are we in danger of becoming compacent in the ways in which we are called by God to care for our brothers and sisters in Haiti- and places around the world where future crisis affects?

One of the problems is that we live in a microwave or fast food society. We are used to instant results and generally do not have the patience for something long-term. Hurricane Katrina could be a case in point. Our Church (Avenue United Methodist Church) first went down to Mississippi shortly after Katrina to help with the rebuilding. We have sense been back seveal times. Our returning teams share stories from homeowners that Churches are the only people who are coming to help finish the rebuilding process. While much has been rebuilt- there is still much to do- and it will continue to take several more years.

I cannot imagine someone trying to put an estimate on how long it will take to recover from the earthquake in Haiti. What can be said is that it will take many, many years for the infrastructure to be rebuilt.

This man's comments made me think of something else. A comment I often hear in the Church is that we need to focus our efforts in our own communities rather than going abroad for service. There is truth in being engaged in our local communities. This is a both/and rather then either/or. We must be willing to consider just where our communities begin and where they end. As the internet has made the world a small place with E-mail/Facebook/Twitter- it has become increasingly easier to be connected with individuals and communities in places such as Haiti or Iran.

In Luke 10, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Likely, you know the account. A man is beaten, stripped and left for dead on the side of the road. A Priest and a Levite come near and pass by along the other side of the road- ignoring the needs of the man. Finally, a despised Samaritan comes along, picks the man left for dead up, and cares for him. Jesus tells this parable in response to a "expert of the law" who asked "Who is my neighbor?"

As we consider what has happened in Haiti, we must ask ourselves this same question- "Who is my neighbor?" Are our neighbors only the people who live around us? Or are our neighbors around the world? Do our neighbors look like us or do they come in every shape, size, color, and race? It is clear that the book of Genesis makes the case that we are one family- the human family. As family we are to care for one another at all times.

So how do we avoid Haiti Fatigue?

1. Commit to the Long Haul- Haiti is going to need food, water, workers and money for a long time. A one time $10 donation helps for sure, but the people of Haiti need the global church to mobelize until the project is complete. Our individual churches can commit to help the people of Haiti for the long haul. Keep things fresh by sending a team to Haiti- or by inviting someone who has been there to speak first hand about the aftermath.

2. Pray for Haiti- It's hard to forget about anyone if we are truly praying for them. Prayer will soften our hearts for the people of Haiti and whoever God calls us to pray for. Through prayer- we ask God to break our hearts for the people of Haiti and that the Holy Spirit will move us to do everything we can for the people there and in our own communities.

Are you suffering from Haiti Fatigue? What are you, or your church, doing to keep Haiti fresh in your hearts and minds?

Morning Link-Up

2010-02-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday morning, and normally I would be at Church- but nearly two feet of snow have shut everything down. So I wanted to drop a quick post that I have not forgotten the blog and will certainly start posting more frequently. January is always a strange month in the LaMotte household- and this one was no different.

For your reading and thinking pleasure- check out Eric Park's blog post on the theology of Avatar. He does a great job of encapsulating the theology of the movie while encouraging Christians not to dismiss some of the movies themes (care of nature, etc.). It is well worth your time, especially as we are in award season for movies/music/tv.

An Open Letter to Cameron Strang and Relevant Magazine

2010-01-29T05:30:00.004-05:00

Dear Cameron Strang and the good people of Relevant Magazine:

I am one of your subscribers who has journeyed with your magazine since the beginning (Alright, not the complete beginning, maybe issue 2 or 3). I enjoy most of the articles, the music/movie reviews, and of course, slices. In fact, the slices at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/ is what first caught my attention about the magazine. As a Christian in his twenties (and now in my very early 30's), I really appreciate a magazine (and website) that focuses on faith and culture.

I was pretty excited with your recent issue of Relevant Magazine. This issues is probably my favorite issue in the last year. I was pumped to read about Owl City and how Adam Young said, "I cling dearly to the hope and joy that is found in Jesus Christ. My faith is a big part of who I am and why I make music." It was great to read about Zac Levi and how he is a successful actor in Hollywood while living out his Christian faith. I was really intrigued to read about his close connection with his pastor and that he has a home church that meets at his house.

My problem with the issue came during the interview with Vampire Weekend. No, it had nothing to do with vampires and what vampires do on the weekend...but that I didn't find any real discussion or connection about faith. This got me thinking about whether a "Christian" magazine should try to incorporate faith into their articles/stories. Which leads me to my beef lately with Relevant. Your magazine and website focuses on God, Life and Progressive Culture- and sometimes there seems to be a compartmentalization of these three. You can print a story about a band (Vampire Weekend) without any discussion about faith. Because I have grown to look forward to Relevant- I want more!

I want more because many issues of Relevant begin to look the same. Some social justice, some bands, some witty slices. But I want more. I don't want to read that a band is involved with the ONE campaign. I want to hear how their faith led them to be invovled with the ONE campaign. I don't want a magazine that just scratches the surface- I want to see a Relevant that goes deeper and challenges this generation to go deeper in their faith.

My subscription for Relevant will soon expire. I will have to decide whether to remain- or to look elsewhere. Either way, I wish Relevant the best.

Grace and Peace,

Steve LaMotte

Delanco Camp Blog

2010-01-26T10:12:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've really been able to blog. I am doing my Clinical Pastoral Care for seminary- which is about 40 hours a week- plus my regular stuff at home and at church. So in February, I should be back up and blogging again. (I have some ideas in the works.)

In the meantime, I did a guest blog for the Delanco Camp Blog. This is the camp where Andrea grew up attending and that I've had the opportunity to be a speaker and worship leader at. This year, I am heading up one of the camps. You can check out my post here.

From Joy to Mourning to Hope

2010-01-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, Andrea and I received confirmation that we were expecting our second child. As you can imagine, we were pretty excited. On December 20th, we went to the doctors for our first ultrasound and were able to catch our first glimpse of our baby- we even saw it's heartbeat.

Something happened between that doctors visit and this past week. The baby stopped growing and we were looking at the reality of a miscarriage. Friday was a difficult day as we went through 2 ultra sounds to confirm that there was no heart beat. We were crushed by the news. Even though we had a notion someting wasn't right- we were hopeful that it was nothing and still anticipating our new child. As the doctor shared the news, we were obviously quite sad.

When everything was finalized and Andrea had the DNC procedure, it was interesting how our conversation began to turn. Our conversation turned to the joy we have because of our daughter, Abbie- and the hope that we have for what God has in store for us. Sure, we have had moments of sadness since then, but we serve an amazing God who has blessed us richly. Because of that, we look to the future with hope.

Isn't that how the Psalms work out in the Bible? Many begin speaking about the trials and tribulations that occur in life- and they end by giving God praise because ultimately God is in control. God will bring vindication. God will bring salvation. This is why the Psalms are so powerful because they speak authentically about our human condition. We suffer (Haiti earthquake), we face death, we face uncertainty- but through it all, God is faithful, and for that reason we can have hope.

For those of you who knew about the miscarriage, thank you for praying for us. It's appreciated. For all of us, let us go about our days with the hope of God's salvation and God's provisions.

Show Me Your Glory

2010-01-09T14:16:00.001-05:00

Having a 2 1/2 year old daughter is a lot of fun. I love the opportunity to get down on the floor and play with her. Just this morning, we played house in her Elmo Tent that she got for Christmas. We would pretend to fall asleep and then she'd wake up to answer the phone. What is really remarkable about Abbie is the way in which she studies Andrea and myself. She touches our eyes, our noses, our mouths. She copies the words that we say. Even today, when I was cleaning the bathroom, she pretended to clean the bathroom right beside me. Abbie is actively seeking to know her parents in the fullest and to learn from us all she can.

Abbie has learned about the many pictures of family throughout our house and we'll often go through each picture and name the people in them. When I leave on roadtrips to school or other places, Abbie has a picture of me that she carries around. When I'm gone, we'll talk on the phone and she'll tell me about her day in all her 2 1/2 year old details! But nothing compares to being face to face, nose to nose is conversation with Abbie. Phone calls cannot replicate what goes on when we are together. Abbie knows this, as any child does, and desires for mommy or daddy to come home when we've been away because it's better to have a relationship face to face.

In Exodus 33, we are told that Moses talked to God face to face as one speaks to a friend. This is an amazing picture of a relationship with God. Moses' visits we not filled with prayer request for sick aunts, lost dogs, or unsettled relationships. Moses questions God and even reminds God that "this nation is your people." Moses does not want to go anywhere without God's Presence because it is God's Presence with the Israelites that distinguishes them from the rest of the people throughout the earth.

Here is what is remarkable about this account- Moses asks for more. He says, "Now show me your glory." Moses already speaks to God as if speaking to a friend. He wants more. He hungers for more. In boldness, he asks for me. Now God knows better and says that Moses cannot see the glory of God (who could stand before God's glory??), but will allow Moses to see God's back. From seeing the back of God- Moses is changed and his face becomes so radiant the the people are afraid of him. Moses will have to wear a veil when he is around the Israel people.

I am moved that Moses wanted more. Moses want to know God in the most intimate of ways. Moses sought after God each day, relating with God as a friend speaks to a friend. If I'm honest, I cannot say this about my relationship with God. Certainly, I desire more of God in my life, but reading this I find that I may not have the boldness of Moses to ask God to see His glory. A.W. Tozer writes that "almost everyday of my life I am praying that 'a jubilent pining and longing for God' might come back on the evangelical churches." It's time to pray for myself that I might know God as Moses knew God. That God might place in me a longing and hunger for God's presence in my life. That the Church would long to know God in this way. I don't want to settle for a photograph from God, or a phone call- but a desire to know God face to face, as a friend speaks to a friend.

God,
I want to see Your glory. I want to speak face to face with You. Show me and the Church Your presence that we might not want to be anywhere else. Give us a hunger and thirst for more of You in our lives everyday.
Amen

"The man that has the most of God is the man who is seeking the most ardently for more of God..."
A.W. Tozer

A Passion2010 Review: Pt. 2- The Messages

2010-01-08T16:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's post was mostly about the music at Passion. If your someone who has been in a contemporary/modern/youngish church over the last decade, then you know the music of Passion. Just on music alone, the Passion Conferences could hold it's own. I was really excited to hear the speakers of Passion and the message given. Read more about the speakers after the jump

On Saturday night, Louie Giglio opened the conference up because, well, it's his conference. Thankfully, Louie is a passionate, engaging, and Christ-centered speaker. In fact, his passion practically oozes out of his eyeballs when he speaks. His message was framing some of the Passion vision and the Christian story that we are part of a story that is so much bigger than ourselves. We can trade something small to be part of something large. Giglio used the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11 where Lazarus had to die- but that the Glory of God through Jesus was revealed through Lazarus' death. Lazarus' death was part of a bigger story. Sometimes we suffer, we struggle, or we succeed- but we must remember that we go through those things to make the glory of God through Jesus Christ known.

The Sunday morning speaker was Beth Moore. I have always heard great things about Beth and her Bible studies- but I have to be honest, I didn't really connect to her message. This is petty- but her hairstyle really distracted me. I couldn't figure out what was on top of her head. Was it a birds nest? A squirrel? She also sounded like she was yelling the whole time----a yelling monotone.

That said, as I look back over a few things I wrote down- I found one little nuggets. It was this, "We are not called to be a pastor, teacher, missionary, etc....but we are called to Christ and to go where ever Christ leads us." This is pretty important to me and Andrea as our desire is to go where ever God leads us. We evaluate the year and where we our by that guiding principle.

Sunday evening was Francis Chan. I heard Francis Chan at the Passion Regional Conferences in 2007 and really liked him. He was doing his Crazy Love stuff then. I've tried listening to podcast from his sermons and have had a hard time getting into them. I had this same feeling at Passion. I felt he was a little all over the place as he spoke. I did get that he felt that our generation needs to put a greater emphasis on being people of the Book. That we should tremble at the Word of God. I certainly agree with this and this is something that I have been emphasizing in my own ministry. Francis said some other cool things (so I am told), but I honestly missed them!

Monday morning brought Andy Stanley to the stage at Passion. I really enjoy Stanley's style. I have seen him most recently at the Catalyst OneDay Conference in Baltimore in November. One of my students summed his talk up the best when he said, "Andy's talk was perfect for college students." Andy spoke about knowing who you want to be before pursuing what you want to do. He said that many times we get those things switched around. He encouraged everyone to think through about the things they would want family, friends, co-workers to say about us at our funeral and that those things can become guiding principles to who we are to become. Our doing, our lifework will flow from our being. This really made sense for our students and for me.

We had to leave Monday afternoon and did not get to hear John Piper speak, although he provided a link to his manuscript on his website where you can read the message.

If you made it through this long post, then you deserve something special. I have an unused Hillsong United Ticket just for you!

A Passion2010 Review: Part 1

2010-01-07T15:33:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta on January 1-5 for Passion2010 with three of our college students here at the church. This was my first time to Passion and I was pretty excited as I have been listening to the Passion CD's since they first started coming out. Much of the music that has come from that conference has been influential in my life and the life of the Church. I was looking forward to also hearing the message that goes along with the music.

Our little group drove down to Atlanta to spare some of the cost and spent and night in North Carolina at the halfway point to make the 12 hour drive a little more manageable. We stayed with our friends Jason and Krystal Goss. Their hospitality was amazing! We arrived in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon and it was freezing! We knew it would be cold, but not this cold! The high was never above 36. I'm glad I packed a lot of long sleeve shirts because I only brought a windbreaker with me!

The music at Passion was amazing- which was to be expected. My group began the conference in the Georgia World Congress Center where we were led by Charlie Hall and his band. It doesn't seem to me that Charlie Hall gets the same publicity that David Crowder, Matt Redman, or Chris Tomlin get- but he may be my favorite out of the three (with Matt Redman coming in a close second). I really like Charlie's approach to worship leading- and he has an amazing gotee!

The David Crowder Band was the late night concert in the Phillips Arena on Saturday night. From all apearances, it seemed like a great concert- but we were stuck high above the speakers and could not hear clearly. Every time Crowder spoke, it sounded like an adult speaking from a Peanuts movie. Needless to say, it was my least enjoyable part of the weekend-even though it had nothing to do with Crowder! We just had terrible seats.

On Monday, we were back in the Georgia World Congress Center and led by the Passion Supergroup featuring Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stainfill, Christy Nockels, and Matt Redman. It was pretty cool to see them on stage together. Tomlin and Stainfill are pretty demonstrative on-stage while Redman stands there strums his guitar, and sings. It was an interesting dichotemy of worship leading styles.

Sunday night, we went to the late night concert featuring Hillsong United. I thought about telling how we had floor seats, lost our floor seats because of a Passion communication glich, and then snuck into the concert because we couldn't attend the following night because we were heading home. I won't tell you about that. I'll just say that Hillsong United was great! It was high energy, passionate worship. I was pretty pumped that Brooke Fraser was there to sing "Hosanna." That really made my night.

The new Passion CD with music from the conference comes out in March. As someone who was not impressed with the last Passion CD, I think this one will be really good.

Tomorrow- I'll be recapping some of the messages from Passion2010

Everything I Know I Learned From the Movies

2009-12-31T05:30:00.002-05:00

This has the potential to be an epic fail. Evidently, there is an asteroid floating around in space that is large enough to warrent the attention of the Russian Space Agency. The asteroid is possibly on course to collide with Earth in 2032. The Russias are considering a mission to send a rocket up to knock the asteroid off course- averting another ice age or really cool meteor shower.

Evidently, movies from 1998 are just getting to Russia. Both Armageddon and Deep Impact came out in 1998 and feature storylines of an incoming meteor and humanities attempts to knock it off course. Since it worked so well in the movies- it's worth a try to knock an 885 ft. asteroid off course as practice for when a larger asteroid or the moon attacks (Oh, we already bombed the moon this fall.).

At any rate, here's hoping that the Russians send the rocket up to space with Areosmith playing in the background!

Up...Up...Up....And Away!

2009-12-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

Andrea and I finally saw the movie Up last night and it was fantastic! For someone like me who really enjoys movies, we've really fallen behind on seeing any movies. We might go to the theater about once a quarter. When Abbie gets a little older, we'll be able to catch some good kid flicks.

Up was an all-around enjoyable movie. While you probably already know that, it's a movie worth considering the messages/images that are in it.

Marriage- I loved that the movie showed marriage in a positive light. Extremely positive. Carl and Ellie were childhood friends who married and enjoyed a lifetime of love and adventure. Even after Ellie died, Carl continued to express his love for Ellie. Even though it's a cartoon, we need positive images of marriage and love. It's important in our churches and our personal lives that we find our own "Carl and Ellie's" to be inspirations, mentors, and illustrations of how fulfilling marriage can be.
Life's Adventures: Ellie and Carl had a dream to go to Paradise Falls because of their affinity for adventurer Charles Muntz. Ellie had made an adventure book around this idea. The final pages of the book called "What we did" was blank- wating to be filled. Isn't that really how our live's are? Our lives are blank pages waiting to be filled. They are not pre-determined- yet God has a plan for us that goes beyond what we could hope or imagine. Do we continue to have a sense of adventure about our faith, our God, and our life? What kind of story do we want written in our book?
The Mundane: The boy in the movie, Russell, when recounting memories of his father says "Come to think of it, it's the boring stuff that I remember the most." How many times do we look for adventure, greener pastures, etc. when what is most meaningful is the day to day living of life together? For me, some of my best times with my daughter are just laying on our living room floor and laughing together. Sure, we could go to the park, or a play place, or the beach, but it's the everyday intentional living together that she will remember the most. Can we find contentment in the mundane? The routine? Can we experience God while we do the dishes? Mow the lawn? Or are we waiting the the next big "experience"?

These are just a few thoughts from the movie. There are other themes that could be explored (Charles Muntz's obsession with this elusive bird (Kevin), What young and old can learn from each other). I'll definately be looking forward to watching this movie again!

A Few Random Links

2009-12-21T15:17:00.000-05:00

It's the Christmas week rush, which means that there is a lot going on as we prepare for four Christmas Eve services and three more services on Sunday. It's doubful that I'll get to write anything of substance this week, but I may try later on. I wanted to pass a long a few articles to you for your reading enjoyment.

1. Tiger Tales: I've not written anything about Tiger Woods and the situation that he has put himself in. We certainly don't need another person popping off about it. But I want to suggest that you read Eric Park's entry about the whole ordeal. It's certainly on point and written entirely better than I could have done! You can read the entry here. Also worth a read is Ben Witherington's blog on Tiger as well.

2. Christmas Is Here: That means there are plenty of blogs to read and check out! Start out with Ben Witherington's blog about the Christmas story (he's not paying me any money to link up!). He's helping us re-think Christmas from our scene to what like happened.

3. Just for Fun: Check out http://www.nickkeyphotos.com/ . Nick and I went to the same college and played baseball together. His photos are great and his blog is humorous and filled with great pictures.

That's about it for now. Sometime over the holidays will come a real update!

Mighty In Prayer

2009-12-17T14:37:00.000-05:00

I think it was Dr. Budd at Asbury College that first introduced me to E.M. Bounds. Each class, Dr. Budd would read a selection from one of Bounds books on prayer- which he wrote at least eight. Bounds was known for getting up everyday at 4:00 a.m. to study the Bible, pray, and write. I've had a collection of Bounds books for awhile and thought I would begin reading them again as part of my own personal study time.

Let me make a confession here...I am terrible at prayer.

I don't know what it is, but I have a hard time spending an extended period of time in prayer. My mind wanders. I want to get up and move around. But I have been working on it the last several months to become more disciplined at it.

In the book, Power Through Prayer, Bounds writes something that is incredibly important. Many church leaders flock to conferences on church growth, read books on church growth, or want to keep up with the latest trends for growth and communicating the gospel. To an extent, that describes me. I want to learn new ways to effectively communicate the gospel. But list to these words...

"What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men [leaders] whom the Holy Spirit can use- men [leaders] of prayer, men [leaders] mighty in prayer."

I am sure that in my ministry, I have sacrificed prayer in pursuit of a quicker method or a more efficient way. I am guilty of trying to learn something new rather than coming before the throne of God in prayer. Now, there is nothing wrong with new methods- but I think Bounds is correct, the church needs leaders who are mighty in prayer. Leaders to whom the Holy Spirit can mold and shape to have a powerful influence for the kingdom.

As we turn towars 2010, let us cultivate a deep, vibrant prayer life. Whether we are called to minister in the Church, our offices, our families, or our schools, let us seek to become mighty in prayer.

A Christmas Question to Ponder

2009-12-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

I read a Twitter update from someone I follow (I honestly wish I could remember who tweeted this so I could give proper credit.) and they posed this question:

How would your celebration of Christmas be different if it were not a national holiday?

This is an interesting question. The celebration of Christmas (or the holiday season) has become a month long extraveganza beginning the day after Thanksgiving and running through New Years. The federal government gives declares that Christmas is a national holiday and many have the day off. Retailers extend our sense of celebration by promoting sale after sale with images of the 'ideal' Christmas celebration/gift/lifestyle. Even though Christmas is a Christian Holy Day- it has become more of a cultural holiday to where non-Christians celebrate the Christmas (although in a consumeristic manner)

How would Christmas be different if it was not a national holiday?

First, I believe that Christmas would be entirely less about presents and gifts and more about the presences of God in flesh and the gift of worship that we offer through our lives.
Since it would be less of a cultural thing- I think Christmas would be a time when the Church would gather to worship. Sure, we get together on Christmas Eve- but I think there would be a deeper more profound experience if you didn't have to get through the cultural expectations of Candle Light Services, Christmas Cantatas, Children's Plays, or tip-toeing around Santa.
There might be a greater emphasis on Easter and the weeks leading up to Easter. You can't have Easter without Christmas- but we can't leave Jesus as a babe in the straw either. Christmas is only the beginning of the Easter story. Can we do a better job of framing Christmas in the Easter story?

As Christmas approaches, I'll be thinking about this question a little bit more- especially as I prepare my Christmas Eve message later in the week.

On a side note- seminary just ended for the semester last night. I hope to be a little more regular in my posting. (Maybe more thoughtful too!)

Godly Sorrows Turns Into Repentance

2009-12-08T05:30:00.001-05:00

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvaton and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."
2 Corinthians 7:10 TNIV

Paul is writing, again, to the Church at Corinth. He has received word from Titus that the Church in Corinth has turned away from false teachings and turned back to Paul's teaching- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is aware that his previous letter caused the Church some sorrow or grief because he was willing to confront what he believed were to be false teachings. He spoke truth, and in verse 8 he acknowledges that it "hurt" the Church in Corinth. Yet, through some godly sorrow, some godly grief- those in the Church turned away from the false teaching- Paul rejoices because this godly grief led to repentance (which seems to be a theme on this second week of Advent)

How often, as Christians, Pastors, leaders, friends are we unwilling to cause a little godly sorrow or grief because we don't want to hurt someone's feelings? Or maybe we're afraid that we'll come across as judgemental. Or we don't like to rock the boat and are content to live with the status quo. Does you ever find yourself in that place? I have to admit that I do.

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus says these words,

"If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector."

Jesus tells his disciples and us that we are to confront our brothers and sisters in sin. Why? Because sin leads to death. It leads to seperation from God. Do we love our brothers and sisters enough to confront in love and grace? Do we love our brothers and sisters enough to hope that they would confront us when we sin?

No one likes confrontation. I generally try to avoid it. But confrontation that Paul and Jesus speak about can work when it is done with love, grace, and prayer. We must care enough for our church members and our friends that we are willing to speak up rather than keep quite in silent approval.

A while back, I had to deal with a situation of someone on a leadership team of a ministry I was leading. It absolutely killed me to have to confront this person. I was in tears because I loved and cared about this person as a friend and as a Christian. After our meeting, I knew I had stepped on their toes. I knew that I had caused them grief. I wondered if I had gone too far.

A few weeks later, in the middle of a Bible Study- this person spoke of that meeting and how it helped them come to a place where they could turn away (repent) of their sin and turn back to God. I praised God that night that Godly sorrow could lead to repentance. I praised God that the Holy Spirit worked in their life to bring them to a place of repentance. I thanked God that God was showing me how to confront in love and grace because I care about the spiritual condition of the church.

So, let us as Christians, be encouraging to one another. Let us speak words of life and grace into each others lives. And when a brother or sister strays from God- let us love them enough that we would risk some godly sorrow that they might turn back to God. Let us love our brothers and sisters enough that when we stray from God- that we will allow them to speak into our lives as well.

Reflections from Sunday's Worship

2009-12-07T08:19:00.000-05:00

It's 8:00 a.m. Abbie is still in bed as she is sick this morning. While I wait for her to wake up, I thought I would evaluate the 9:30 worship service where I preached. If you read my previous post, you have a general idea of what I preached on. In Advent week number 2, the lectionary focused on John the Baptist and his preparations for the coming Messiah. So here are a couple of thoughts on the service.

Order of Worship- I changed the order of worship around some this week. It accomplished what I hoped it would (change of pace, more space for the sermon/communion).

Environment- I had my friend, Joe, bring in all sorts of construction signs and barrels to place throughout the sanctuary and hallway. One of our high school students, David, dressed as a construction flagger and directed traffic in the hallway with his Stop/Slow sign. All he needed was a lunchbag to look truly authentic. The signs really piqued people's interest in what was going on that morning.

When I came out for the sermon (I was hiding in the back room), I had on an orange safety vest and a hard had. With my dark jeans and a tie, I said that I was the project foreman. While it felt a little strange preaching in a hard hat- it couldn't have been stranger than John Wesley preaching on top of his father's grave stone!

Heat- We have an old water boiler heat system. And for some reason, it kicked out overnight and the sanctuary was really cold at 8:00 (even colder when I arrived at 6:45 a.m.). When the boiler was reset, heat started pouring in- and it did not stop! Our system tries to get the room to 68 degrees as fast as possible. Which means that it's kicking out 80-85 degree's of heat. It would take both hands to count the number of people I could see falling asleep at various times during the service- which may have been better than sweating as badly as I was because of the heat!

There are plans to replace this system in the relative near future. I will be quite happy to have a trustworthy system in place so we don't have Sunday's like that. No heat might have been better!

If you were able to attend the service, I'd love to hear your feedback! As a staff, we're always looking to improve what we do.

Site Preparations

2009-12-03T14:03:00.001-05:00

"He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the desert, "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountian and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'""
Luke 3:3-6

The passage from Luke is the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry- one calling people to repentance. Luke quotes Isaiah 40 as John is one calling out in the desert to prepare the way for the Lord. On Sunday, we're going to focus on how we prepare ourselves for God.

Just outisde of Milford, a new shopping center is going up. For the last several weeks/months, there have been heavy equipment on the property clearing brush, leveling the ground, and moving dirt. These preparations are necessary for the buildings that will be placed on the properties. This site preparation has a practical function. There is another function of the site preparations- people begin to ask questions; "What's going on here?" "I wonder what they are building?" "When will they be complete?" In a way, the preparation of the site is a marketing technique. It piques ones interest in what is going on. If it is a store or restaraunt that we enjoy, then we wait in anticipation for the construction to be completed.

The quotation of Isaiah and Luke speaks of a construction project. The valleys will be raised, the mountains will be made low. The crooked places will be straightened out. The rough patches will be made smooth. And everyone will see God's salvation. These verses tell of a great reversal of nature. The lowly will be raised up and the high and mighty brought down.

Out near the Jordan River, John called people to prepare their hearts for someone greater. He called people to prepare their heart by repenting for the forgiveness of their sins. Repentance is more than a state of mind, or something abstract- it repentance requires action. Repentance is turning away from sin and turning back to God. Repentance clears the way for us to experience God's salvation.

On this second sunday of Advent- God is drawing near. Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God, has come to earth and will come again. Creation will roll out like a red carpet to note God's arrival. Likewise, we too must have our hearts prepared and ready for Christ to dwell in us.

Friday's Quotation: Black Friday Edition

2009-11-27T05:30:00.002-05:00

Today is Black Friday, a day when people get up at ungodly hours to buy the things that they think they need. I have quoted Eleazar Fernandez before, and I believe there is another nugget from him that is worth a read on this Black Friday.

"The solution to beoredom in a consumeristic society, especially when the communal bond is weak, is to consume. This statement sounds simplistic, but it says a lot, and it is true to the experience of common people. If one is bored, one may engage in the act sonsumption by watching (consuming) a movie and munching (consuming) something while watching. Or, one of the majoy ways in which people address boredom is to "shop around" (consume)."

"The more one buys and consumes, the deeper one falls into bondage to the job in order to pay the bills, Eventually, a second job is needed. But the second job leaves less time for the family, with whom to enjoy life. Just as one has something to pay for the monthly mortgage for the cabin by the lake and a boat to enjoy on weekends, one has to work during weekends to pay for the bills. It is an irony that mnay people live everyday."

"John B. Cobb, Jr., offers a critique of the religious metaphysics of this global market. Economism is the name of this religion and its god is endless economic growth. The priests are the economists; evangelists are the advertisers; and the laity are the consumers. The shopping mall is the cathedral; virtue is competitive spirit; and sin is inefficiency. "Shop 'til you drop" is the only way to salvation."

-Eleazar S. Fernandez, Reimagining The Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Sytemic Evil, pgs. 86-87

In thinking about this small section from Fernandez's book, I was talking with someone in our community who was telling me about a large boat that they had purchased to take out on excusions on the ocean with. This person was all excited about the boat and told me all the amenities that the boat had, how fast it could go, and how many people it could hold. Then the truth came.

This person hadn't had a day of in weeks because they needed all the money possible to afford this luxary. The very thing that was to bring their family together through rest and relaxation was pushing them further apart as he had to work more and more hours to afford this lifestyle.

Are we not missing something here? The Beatles sang that "You Can't Buy Me Love," and that is true, but you also cannot buy happiness. Material possessions do not make us happy. Material possessions really do not make our life better if we sacrifice our family and relationships in order to have them.

As we head into Advent and the Christmas Season, check out the website for Advent Conspiracy for ways to combat consumerism/materialism this holiday season.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-26T05:30:00.004-05:00

It's Thanksgiving Day, and at some point today you'll likely gather with family and friends to munch on some turkey, cranberry sauce (I prefer the stuff in a can), mashed potatoes with lots of gravy (Andrea doesn't like gravy) and the ultimate- pumpkin pie with a large spoonful of Cool Whip on top. (Note: Food with Cool Whip has been scientifically proven to be 67% better than food without Cool Whip.)

Like many, I've been thinking of the many things that I am thankful for. I done it before on this blog, and I don't think this list will be drastically different, but here goes.

Things I Am Thankful For

God- Sure, it sounds trite. But if God is the author, creator, and sustainer of life; if God created each of us in God's image; if God sent Jesus, God's Son, as a sacrifice to atone for my sin- then the very least I can do is to give thanks. In fact, I should give God my life, my being, my all.
Andrea- My wife is such an amazing person. She has so many talents and abilities that put mine to shame. She is a great mother to Abbie, and has a heart for God and God's people. Our anniversary is in December and we'll have been married for 9 years, and I can't imagine life with her in it!
Abbie- She is a 2 1/2 year old ball of energy and joy. Some of the best nights we have as a family are when we stay at home and wrestle on the floor, or when Abbie hides and wants Daddy to find her. Or better yet, when Abbie says her evening prayers and says, "Dear God, thank you for cookies and milk." Abbie has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about God.
42'' LCD HD TV's- Are you surprised that it is on the list? If you attend Avenue, especially our Christmas Eve services- you know that I've wanted one for like 7 years. We made the ultimate non-impulsive buy by waiting until our other TV deteriorated before actually making the purchase. (Saving up money so we didn't have to finance or purchase with credit helps too!) Now Abbie gets to watch Dora in 1080p HD, just as TV was meant to be enjoyed. (although she only sees about an hour of TV a week!)
Good Friends- Being in ministry is hard...and often it can be very lonely. I am so thankful for good friends who love us for being Steve, Andrea, and Abbie and not the pastor and his family. Thanks for busting on me, loving on Abbie, and being a listening ear for me and Andrea!
The Bible- This might seem like an obvious answer on a list of Thanksgiving, but through my own study and the opportunity to teach a Bible Study (as opposed to a Book About the Bible Study) has really re-opened my love for God's Word.
America- Do we ever really stop to grasp the immense blessing that we have just by simply being born in America? Even our poor are richer than the majority of the world. Simply by having a refridgerator puts us among the richest people in the world. While much of the world lives on $2 or less a day, we routinely pay $4 or more on a daily basis for coffee and milk. We should count our blessings and use our blessings to bless those who are in need.
Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, MuteMath, Thrice, etc...- I'm thankful for music that makes me think, that makes me sing, that turns my heart towards God and God's people. Plus listing these bands seemed more culturally acceptable for a 31 year old than listing Miley Cyrus.
La Ortalana Pizza- You are not the best tasting pizza in town (Mama Maria's in my opinion), you are not the worst pizza in town (Dominos takes the cake on that one), but you are simply the best deal for 2 slices of pizza at lunchtime. Yes, I know that I could eat better than 2 slices of pizza for lunch- but if I would have to live on one meal for the rest of my life- I think it would be pizza. (Just not Dominos)
Seminary- I have heard plenty of stories of pastors who could not stand their seminary experience. I have heard stories of people practically losing their faith because of the seminary that they attend. I am thankful that I've had a seminar experience that has stretched me while building up my faith.

I hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving and that you take time to give God thanks and to thank those who matter the most to you!

Heading to Pennsylvania

2009-11-24T12:34:00.000-05:00

We'll be leaving in a few hours for Pennsylvania to see my family for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to get away for a few days as we head into the holiday season. I'm pretty excited for Abbie to see her cousins, Ava and Ayden. She will also get to see some extended family on Saturday.

As we're gone, there will be blog post on Thanksgiving Day and on Black Friday. Be sure to stop back and read them.

I hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much Turkey!

2009-11-22T05:30:00.026-05:00

I was reading Ephesians 3:14-21 as part of my morning devotion time this weekend. In the passage, Paul is lifting up a prayer for fellow believers- especially the church at Ephesus that they might comprehend how high, deep, and wide the love of God is. In love, God desires to do infinately more that we could ever imagine in our lives, through the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in us.

How easy it is for me to forget this. It is easy to go through my day on autopilot and not consider how immense God's love is for us. I am guilty of going through my day and taking for granted the opportunities and encounters that God puts in my path. I can miss opportunities to recognize how God wants to do even more in my life. God wants to work more in my life, my family and in the ministry that God has entrusted me with. I must not allow sin or anything else keep me from experiencing this love of God that desires to do more.

We're often taught to be content in our circumstances, not to be greedy, to be happy with what we have. But I think when it comes to God's love- we should want and desire more each day. When it comes to God's presence and power through the Holy Spirit- we should want more. My daughter, Abbie, before she could really verbalize it, learned the sign for the word "more." When she wants some more dinner, drink, kisses, and tickling- she signs and asks for more. Like Abbie, as Christians we need to ask God for more. We must put ourselves in a place to receive more from God.

Recently, I have had to look at my own spiritual life and realize that I am often a hindrance to the "more" that God desires to do in me. As I begin to make some changes, I pray to know God even more; to experience God's Spirit in my life even more; to see the power of God manifested in ministry even more.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV)

Top 15 Things Learned At Catalyst One Day

2009-11-21T05:30:00.001-05:00

I traveled with some friends to the Catalyst Oneday event in Baltimore (actually, Fulton) Maryland this past Monday. I had been hoping to get to a Catalyst event and had originally planned on going to the big one in Atlanta in October. That didn't work out- so the Oneday event filled my void.

Let me just say it was a great day. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel were funny, challenging, transparent, and encouraging throughout the day. Not just a training event, there was a real sense that God was at work in our lives throughout the day.

So, I have gone back through my notes and pulled out some things that I continue to think about or that challenge me. I tried to keep it to 10, but I'm just going to let it rip with 15. Read the list after the jump.

Anything new triggers momentum- the new must be radical and noticable.
Minor changes/improvements do not create momentum. This is a problem for an established church, especially. People do not get excited for minor changes/improvements.
Why do we continue to fund mediocre ministries? If the cost of a ministry is a concern you probably are doing too much. Pick 5 things your church is passionate about and pursue them with excellence. Are we being good stewards of God's resources by funding mediocre ministries? Do our ministries bear fruit? If not, why are we not actively pruning for better effectiveness?
We can grow when people leave. Don't be afraid to give permission for unhappy people who are unwilling to get behind the vision of the church to leave. Bless them and speak well of them as they walk out the door.
Limitations are the best breeding ground for innovation.
We most often recruit volunteers or hire new staff for current ministries levels rather than future levels.
The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be may be the suffering you have to endure. I heard this said a different way elsewhere- is the "why" big enough for the "how"? Is our vision so big that we'll endure anythign to accomplish what God has called us to accomplish?
The quickest way to forget what God thinks of us is to conern ourselves with what others think of us.
Delegate what someone else can do and do something only you can do.

Only I can be a husband to Andrea
Only I can be a father to Abbie
Only I am responsible for my own spiritual growth

We can become full-time pastors who are part-time followers of God. Ouch! I know I can get so caught up with church work that I neglect my own spiritual life.
We must be more committed to our mission/vision than to our programming or ministry model. Sunday school is a great example of this around the country. Numbers for Sunday School are falling. Could we invest that time/energy/money into better models/programs to reach the unchurched?
Are we willing to fall out of love with old, outdated programs and back in love with the call of God?
Churches are empty because pastors/leaders love their programs/ministry models/traditions more than they love non-Christians.
How long does Apple and Coke hold on to an outdated model? Maybe they are more committed to their shareholders than we are committed to our Savior. Just think of how often Apple has come out with a new iPhone/iPod/Mac/iTunes and how seldom the church changes format/platform, etc.
If we want to reach people no one is reaching, then we must be willing to do what no one else is doing.

Friday's Quotation: Matt Redman on Worship

2009-11-20T05:30:00.004-05:00

"God imparts to us His heart for restoration, and a burning desire to see His love and justice heal the nations. But if we're really to have integrity in our worship, somewhere along the line this desire has to turn into action: share our food with the hungry, clothe the nake and satisfy the needs of the oppressed. We cannot be worshippers who simply walk by, ignoring the realities of this broken world. God longs to bring us to the place where we ache so much with His heart that to do nothing is simply no longer an option."

Matt Redman
In The Unquenchable Worshipper

Book Review: The Justice Project

2009-11-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

I recently received the book, The Justice Project, in order to read and review it. The book boast an all-star cast of contributers from Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Peggy Camplolo, Rene Padilla, Lynne Hybels, Bart Campolo, and others. There are also many contributors who I had not heard of, but was thankful for because they represented various ethnic backgrounds and locations. This book is not just written my white, western men, but seeks to find more of a global approach to the idea of justice.

The book consist five sections (The God of Justice, The Book of Justice, Justice in the USA, A Just World, A Just Church) where each section consist of small chapters or articles on various topics that would fall under each category. I appreciated that there was an attempt to view justice from both a liberal and conservative lens as well as creating space to challenge many presupposed ideas of justice for someone, like me, who grew up in a conservative, evangelical home/church. There were several noteworthy chapters and thoughts throughout the book, but I will not go into detail here.

My critique of the book is that no one topic gets fully fleshed out. Yes, the entire book speaks of justice but so many of the chapters could have been turned into 2 or 3 chapters- or maybe even an entire book. Just as you get your appetite whet for what the author is saying, the chapter ends. In this way, there is little flow in the book from idea to idea other than the articles being grouped under one of the five sections.

I've been thinking about how I would use this book, other than personal reading/study. In a group setting, it might be more useful to pull an article around a topic rather than trying to read the entire book. It could also be used for study around the five sections and talk about the ways in which the articles work in the sections.

Overall, I thought this was a good effort by McLaren and company, even if it fell short of my expectations. Regardless, the Church must continue to wrestle everyday with what it means to "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."

A Psalm for Obama: A Response

2009-11-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a link from Josh Hale, I read this article from the Christian Science Monitor. The article talks about a new slogan showing up on bumper stickers and twitter post that reads: Pray for Obama: Ps. 109:8. While this sounds innocent enough, when one checks the scripture reference, the Psalm reads,

“Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”

When I first saw this, I had to double check to make sure that wasn't reading The Onion or some other satire site. But sure enough, it's a legit story. Those who are passing along this passage along are using it display their dissaproval to Obama's presidency and their hope that he only serves one term. Some people find the passage/reference as funny. Others find as possibly sinister as the passage could be interpreted (misinterpreted) to express hope that President Obama might serve less than one term.

I find this story troubling- especially if it is perpetuated by Christians. Here is why.

This passage is taken out of context- Taken out of context, one can make the Bible say just about anything you want. This is very dangerous. This Psalm of David a song about one of David's enemy- asking God to help him even this person is showing him evil. Is President Obama really an enemey? There may be some who disagree with his (or any President's) politics, but does that really make him the enemey, or someone at the opposite end of the table?
Another Example of Christians Being Negative- It seems, from the article, that there are Christians buying into this passage and bumper sticker. Why do we, as Christians, always have to be negative? If we put as much time into praying for President Obama and all our leaders as we do in complaining about them, I believe our nation and leaders would look different because there would be countless people on their knees intercessing on our leaders behalf rather than complaining (which accomplishes nothing).

We are called to pray for our leaders. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 is pretty clear,

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

What if we prayed that God would bless President Obama with wisdom rather than just wishing he was out of office? What if we prayed that our Senators and Representatives would truly hear the cries of their consituents rather than blasting them? This would change our entire witness as the Christian church if we lifted our leaders up in prayer rather than gripe and complain.

My hope for the Church is that we surround President Obama and our other local, national, and world leaders in prayer. In this country, that we engage the issues with intelligent dialogue, seeking understanding and what is best for all people. We rely on our government officials to act on our behalf- and we need to lift them up that God would grant them wisdom in all that they do.

Friday's Quotation

2009-11-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

"Brokenness in God's kingdom is always redemptive. Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it. Once we've been taken and blessed, we must be broken before we can truly be given."

Christopher L. Heuertz in Simple Spirituality

**Simple Spirituality is a very challenging book. Heuertz chapter on brokenness was my favorite. If your not familiar with Heuertz or Word Made Flesh, go and check out this book!

Thank God for Answered Prayers

2009-11-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was driving down towards the beach to stop at our local Comcast Cable office to pick up a HDTV cable box. I have to admit, I was pretty excited. The Steelers played last night and I was going to watch them in HD. As I sat at the light, a block or so from the office, my car stops running. Completely stops. And it won't start back up.

I got out my car and motioned to the cars behind me that I the car wasn't moving. Then I pushed my car off to the shoulder, more or less. I tried starting the car again, but with no luck. So I proceeded to call AAA to send out a tow truck because there was no where else I could push the car. Within minutes, I had a State Trooper behind me. Everyone was rubbernecking to see what kind of trouble I had gotten into. Speeding? Drug Bust? Texting while driving? DUI? Nope, just a boring breakdown.

The tow truck driver was very nice and helped me get my car back to my friends garage, and even drove me a mile back to my house. Now we wait to hear what the damage is. I guess there is a chance that the car is dead and that I might have to go find a new one. This would be very sad for 2 reasons. First, it would cost a lot of money that we were not planning on spending right now. Second, I have had that car since the summer before my Senior Year of college. We've been together for nine and a half years and nearly 160,000 miles. It is my last surviving item from college that I regularly use.

I have to admit, when I first broke down and the car wouldn't start, I was truly thankful. Sounds strange. Each Tuesday morning, I leave the house early for a 98 mile trip up to my seminary. I drive the ever busy I-95 as well as the Blue Route. On Wednesday, I take the Skukyll, Blue Route, and I-95 back home. Every once in a while I see a car that is disabled along the side of the road. More than once, I have offered a prayer to God requesting that I would not break down while on a trip to Philly for school. God answered my prayers! Rather than breaking down in Philly, I broke down a day early in a place where it was easy to get off the road and a tow truck came in under 30 minutes. That would not have happened in Philly. (As an added bonus, no one flipped me off or called me names that I can't repeat here like they would've in Philly).

Thank you God for you mercies which are new every morning! Thank you that even though I dread the thought of replacing the car, that the car broke down in a place that was safe and less stressful than where I am going tonight. Continue to provide safety on all my travels. Your grateful child, Steve. Amen.

Doing Church on Purpose

2009-11-09T09:14:00.000-05:00

At Avenue, we're in the midst of our Stewardship Campaign with a series titled: "Living Under the Blessing Tree." After two weeks, the feedback has been really positive as we stress generosity in all we do. The messages for the last two weeks have been spot on. I had the privilege of preaching during the first week which focused on Paul giving thanks for the church at Philippi at the beginning of the book of Philippians. This week, the message came from Mark 2:1-12. This is the passage of the four friends who dig through the roof of a home to lower their paralytic friend down to see Jesus. Of course, when he gets lower, Jesus first forgives the paralytic of his sins, which causes a stir among the scribes. So, Jesus continues to completely heal the man. Everyone was amazed.

As I listened to the message, I considered some of the implications of the text for the Church. Our pastor encouraged us that each committee, team, meeting, group within the church should regularly ask this questions:

"How will what we do tonight in this meeting/group/study/worship service/etc. help someone get close to Jesus?"

That's really the million dollar question for us. By asking this question, it helps us to refine our focus as we gather for council/leadership meetings. It refines what we do in youth ministry or our music ministries. This question holds us accountable to who and what God has called us to be. Just as the four friends worked to get the paralytic man to Jesus, how will what we do in our churches help others get to Jesus?

Now, some might say that everything we do in the Church is intended to bring people to Jesus. That might be the hope, but sometimes we do it without any intentionality or purpose. If our meeting has a printed agenda- the purpose of that meeting should be typed at the top, taking into consideration about how the outcome of the meeting will help bring someone closer to Jesus.

There is a warning to the church here in Mark 2:1-12 as well. It is heart warming to see these four friends overcome obstacles to get the paralytic man to Jesus....but who were the obstacles? They were the scribes, religious leaders, and others gathered to hear the message of Jesus. In essence, they were the Church! The gathering of people had become so focus on what was happening inside the house (Jesus teaching), that they were not aware of the needs right around them.

I read once from Erwin McManus that as a church, we have become content to look in the mirror when we should be looking out the window. We (the church) can run into the trap of being so inwardly focused that we miss out on the needs of our community just outside our doors. If the crowd that had gathered in Mark 2:1-12 had seen the four friends and the paralytic man, they could have made a path to Jesus and helped bring someone closer to Jesus.

Are we, as a Church, so inwardly focused that we are keeping others from getting to Jesus? Do we take time to stop and consider how our staff meeting, leadership team meeting, etc. are designed to bring people closer to Jesus? Are we intentional about it? My prayer is that as Christians, church leaders, and teachers that we would do all we can to help people experience the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Friday's Quotation: Eleazar S. Fernandez

2009-11-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

"Liberation from want is a fundamental necessity in the restoration of one's humanity. No one can be fully human in a situation in which one's basic needs are not being met....as Robert McAfee Brown argues, 'as long as children are growing up in a society where their parents cannot get jobs, so that children grow up undernourished, as long as people cannot get decent housing or education and health care for their children, human rights are being violated.'"

-Eleazar S. Fernandez
Reimagining The Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Systemic Evil

In light of Pelosi's health care bill, what do you think of this quote? Would you go as far as Fernandez to say that a person's human rights are violated when they cannot provide the necessities for their families? What does it mean to be fully human? Talk it out below.

Going Beyond Discipleship

2009-11-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

In our weekly staff meeting this past Monday, one of our staff people raised an interesting question. She asked why we are so caught up in Discipleship but not in making Apostles. A disciple, according to the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, is a learner, an apprentice, a pupil. An apostle is someone "who has been sent out," a person commissioned to transmit a message. I'm not writing to debate whether or not there should be an official office of the church called Apostle, but rather how do we get people from being learners to leaders?

When one examines the Gospels, we see the various accounts of the disciples. They followed Jesus around for three years. The disciples learned by watching, observing, sitting at Jesus' feet, and by doing. The disciples were prone to mistakes and misunderstanding what Jesus was talking about. But then something happened. When we leave the Gospels and come to the book of Acts, the disciples are filled with the Spirit and begin carrying on the ministry of Jesus. They have become Apostles. They have graduated their internship and commissioned to move out from Jerusalem to Judea and the ends of the earth. They face persecution where they previously fled (when Jesus was arrested). They are now even willing to die for their faith. These uneducated men have moved from disciples to apostles- from learners to leaders of a movement that is alive and well today.

I'm guessing that our church is like many churches around the country and world. We value discipleship. We value growing in our relationship with God. We value learning. We value learning so much that many who are in our pews have no desire to move out into leadership. Our church, like many other churches, offers a large selection of Bible Studies and small groups to help our members grow in their faith. Yet I think there is sometimes still a struggle to put our faith into action...to move from the classroom and into the world.

How can the church move members from being learners to leaders? It takes an intentional effort to disciple in a systematic way. Just as Jesus gathered 12 men around him, I believe that one of the roles of the pastor is that of a mentor who should gather people around them to encourage them in their faith and help them move from learners to leaders. When the time is right, those the pastor mentor will disciple a new group of learners with the hope of developing a group of Christians who will get caught up in the movement of Jesus Christ.

Does your church wrestle with moving from learners to leaders? How does your church approach discipleship? What are you doing to intentionally move from learner to leader? Talk it out below!

Fernandez on Economy

2009-11-02T05:30:00.000-05:00

"Econmics is not simply a matter of production, but one of care: care for the overall well-being of both human beings and the rest of creation. Care is a basic element in the oldest definition of the Greek word oikonomia or economy. Our conception of economics must recover this dimension."

-Eleazar S. Fernandez
Reimagining the Human: Theological Anthropology in Repsonse to Systemic Evil