In some ways I do not feel like I did much. Last night was Xplode, so I took part of the morning off to compensate for that. Then Amanda had a job interview with Macy’s at 11. I went to Starbucks and read while she was in the interview. So in some ways I accomplished something this morning. I tackled a few chapters in a few different books and planned out what I want to talk about at Extended Play for the next few weeks.
When Amanda got back from her interview we had to rush over to McDonalds to meet Kristy and Christina for our EP meeting. I think things are going well, and can only get better. Although I am somewhat frustrated. I feel like I am a better leader than they are letting me be. However, I realize that is a contradiction is some ways. After all, if I was a better leader I would be leading better. I cannot blame the people I am leading for my leadership ability.
I guess I really just want to have people automatically trust me and believe my credibility without necessarily earning that trust. I am sure that as long as I continue to build trust with both of them they will accept my leadership more and more. I have been reading a book by John Maxwell on leadership recently, which is extremely useful. However, at times it feels overwhelming because there are so many things that he makes sound like they are essential. In some ways I know they are, but to remember to constantly manage myself, actively listen to people, define reality, develop people based on their personalities and strengths, develop my own abilities, keep our focus on the main thing, and bring everyone along with me… it just seems daunting.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Communication Frustration
It’s late. Technically it’s Sunday morning. We just got back into Portland for South Dakota. I feel like so much has happened in the past few days. To start, I picked up mom from the airport late on Thursday night. Her flight got in at 10:30 and like usual Amanda and I were late getting there to pick her up. Fortunately, by the time we got there her bag had not come through the baggage claim yet, and we left the airport within 20 minutes, which means we did not need to pay for parking.
Later that same night, around 1:00 in the morning, my sister and her husband came into town. They also had a wedding to attend on Saturday. But since everyone was tired we said quick hello’s and went to bed. The only problem was that I could not sleep. So while everyone else in the house was asleep by 1:30, I was up until 4 in the morning. I woke up again at 8:30 on Friday, since Amanda and I had to get ready for the wedding. Although the wedding was not until 4, Amanda was Bobbie’s person attendant, which meant she needed to be up in Sturgis by 10am.
So I barely saw anyone Friday morning, and we had plans to leave on Friday night to head back home. I told everyone that we would be by the house in pick up our stuff before we left. However, when we got back from the wedding at 7 last night, no one was around. I waited until 9 before deciding to pack up and leave without being able to say goodbye. I am frustrated that my family never communicates their plans with me, but seems to get upset if I make plans without specifically communicating with them.
As a result, we got on the road 2 hours later than we wanted last night. We could have at least got as far as Minnesota, but instead settled for Chamberlain instead. As a result we had most to the drive ahead of us today. I guess I need to learn to accept all the things I cannot change.
Later that same night, around 1:00 in the morning, my sister and her husband came into town. They also had a wedding to attend on Saturday. But since everyone was tired we said quick hello’s and went to bed. The only problem was that I could not sleep. So while everyone else in the house was asleep by 1:30, I was up until 4 in the morning. I woke up again at 8:30 on Friday, since Amanda and I had to get ready for the wedding. Although the wedding was not until 4, Amanda was Bobbie’s person attendant, which meant she needed to be up in Sturgis by 10am.
So I barely saw anyone Friday morning, and we had plans to leave on Friday night to head back home. I told everyone that we would be by the house in pick up our stuff before we left. However, when we got back from the wedding at 7 last night, no one was around. I waited until 9 before deciding to pack up and leave without being able to say goodbye. I am frustrated that my family never communicates their plans with me, but seems to get upset if I make plans without specifically communicating with them.
As a result, we got on the road 2 hours later than we wanted last night. We could have at least got as far as Minnesota, but instead settled for Chamberlain instead. As a result we had most to the drive ahead of us today. I guess I need to learn to accept all the things I cannot change.
Sturgis Week
We have been staying at my mother’s house in Rapid City, but have had had to drive up to Sturgis every day, at least once a day because of the wedding. The entire reason we came out to South Dakota was because our friend Bobbie-Jo from college is getting married. Honestly, if we were not such good friends I do not think I would want to make another trip like this. It took us 17 hours for driving to get here and we have spent a lot of time in the car going back and forth between Rapid City and Sturgis.
Furthermore, there are people in Rapid City that think we should be spending time with them simply because we are “in town” again. Even though I feel like we have no time at all. Furthermore, back in Portland we have an outreach event coming up on Sunday and another one on the following Saturday, both of which I am a part of organizing. But since I am in South Dakota, all I can do is e-mail back and forth with Melanie.
I guess I feel somewhat frustrated. I should, in some ways, be considering this week a vacation time. But at the same time, my mind is still back in Portland, trying to figure out what to do for various things. I am thinking about the outreach events, what I might still need to do, and especially about Extended Play.
Last week went really well, but then Amanda and I missed last night, for obvious reasons. I am afraid that we might have killed the momentum of last week by not being there this week. At the same time, I should probably realize that EP runs well without me there. We have only been associated with it for a few weeks, and it ran smoothly before we got there. Furthermore, I do not actually want it to depend solely on me. My purpose in working with EP is to help the two ladies that will continue to run it after I leave be better at what they do.
Furthermore, there are people in Rapid City that think we should be spending time with them simply because we are “in town” again. Even though I feel like we have no time at all. Furthermore, back in Portland we have an outreach event coming up on Sunday and another one on the following Saturday, both of which I am a part of organizing. But since I am in South Dakota, all I can do is e-mail back and forth with Melanie.
I guess I feel somewhat frustrated. I should, in some ways, be considering this week a vacation time. But at the same time, my mind is still back in Portland, trying to figure out what to do for various things. I am thinking about the outreach events, what I might still need to do, and especially about Extended Play.
Last week went really well, but then Amanda and I missed last night, for obvious reasons. I am afraid that we might have killed the momentum of last week by not being there this week. At the same time, I should probably realize that EP runs well without me there. We have only been associated with it for a few weeks, and it ran smoothly before we got there. Furthermore, I do not actually want it to depend solely on me. My purpose in working with EP is to help the two ladies that will continue to run it after I leave be better at what they do.
The Road Less Traveled By...
We left Michigan yesterday, although we were late getting out. I was hoping for us to leave by 3pm or so, and we did not leave until 5:30. Furthermore there was a serious accident around Grand Rapids that brought us to a dead stop for about 15 minutes. Furthermore, I was hoping to get all the way to Minnesota before stopping for the night. Unfortunately we only got as far as Wisconsin Dells.
Still with all things considered we made good time and got into Rapid City tonight around 5:30 local time. However, mom went to Romania for two weeks to visit Vicki who was our foreign exchange student for a year almost ten years ago. Because mom has been gone grandpa also has been gone for the last week to North Dakota. All of this resulted in extremely long grass that needed to be cut.
I decided that I should get out and mow the grass tonight even thought I was extremely tired. It made me think of what life is going to be like when Amanda and I are out of college and have a house of our own that we need to keep up with constantly. I know there will be days when I am extremely tired and do not want to do house work but will need to do it anyway.
Furthermore, how is it going to work when we have kids as well and obviously need to give them our attention as well? There is a part of me that wonders if I will be able to juggle work, kids and a house at the same time. It seems very over-whelming. However, I know that before I started my internship this seemed very over-whelming as well and now I feel like I am handling the added responsibility very well.
Still with all things considered we made good time and got into Rapid City tonight around 5:30 local time. However, mom went to Romania for two weeks to visit Vicki who was our foreign exchange student for a year almost ten years ago. Because mom has been gone grandpa also has been gone for the last week to North Dakota. All of this resulted in extremely long grass that needed to be cut.
I decided that I should get out and mow the grass tonight even thought I was extremely tired. It made me think of what life is going to be like when Amanda and I are out of college and have a house of our own that we need to keep up with constantly. I know there will be days when I am extremely tired and do not want to do house work but will need to do it anyway.
Furthermore, how is it going to work when we have kids as well and obviously need to give them our attention as well? There is a part of me that wonders if I will be able to juggle work, kids and a house at the same time. It seems very over-whelming. However, I know that before I started my internship this seemed very over-whelming as well and now I feel like I am handling the added responsibility very well.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Discipleship: The Means to an End
Today I did a lot of reading again. Bonhoeffer kind of hurts my head, but it is really good at the same time. I am trying to get my head around the concept of discipleship, specifically because I am hoping to focus Extended Play on the idea of discipleship. What I am starting to realize is that not only is discipleship incredibly important, but that it is really a means to an end. The point of discipleship is not just so that we can have a bunch of people that are calling themselves disciples of Jesus. But instead that people are following Jesus, becoming disciples, so that they can reach the true end which is to known and be known by God. Discipleship is merely the means to the end.
Part of that realization came from reading a quote from Thomas Aquinas recently that said, “The essence of a human being is participation in the essence of the divine being [God].” The questions to flow from that then are (1) in what ways do we participating in the life of God and (2) in what ways does this participation define our essence as people?
On Wednesday, I told the group how Martin Luther compared Christians to beggars who were simply telling other beggars where to find bread. But that recently I read a story that compared Christianity to a store that had a sign out front advertising hot, fresh bread for a dollar. A man went into the store hoping to buy some of the bread, only to find that the store did not have any bread. All the store had inside were pictures advertising the bread and a sign encouraging the man to give those pictures to his friends.
I encouraged the group to not make evangelism and church growth our focus, as much as seeking an authentic relationship God through discipleship, and to allow the group to grow through our passion for God and other people. Everyone seemed to connect with what I said. I think I might like to continue with the analogy through the year. Experiencing God is like eating hot, fresh bread straight from the oven. We cannot simply show people a picture of that bread and expect them to get excited. We have to be eating that bread, experiencing God for ourselves, and out of that, pour into the lives of others.
Part of that realization came from reading a quote from Thomas Aquinas recently that said, “The essence of a human being is participation in the essence of the divine being [God].” The questions to flow from that then are (1) in what ways do we participating in the life of God and (2) in what ways does this participation define our essence as people?
On Wednesday, I told the group how Martin Luther compared Christians to beggars who were simply telling other beggars where to find bread. But that recently I read a story that compared Christianity to a store that had a sign out front advertising hot, fresh bread for a dollar. A man went into the store hoping to buy some of the bread, only to find that the store did not have any bread. All the store had inside were pictures advertising the bread and a sign encouraging the man to give those pictures to his friends.
I encouraged the group to not make evangelism and church growth our focus, as much as seeking an authentic relationship God through discipleship, and to allow the group to grow through our passion for God and other people. Everyone seemed to connect with what I said. I think I might like to continue with the analogy through the year. Experiencing God is like eating hot, fresh bread straight from the oven. We cannot simply show people a picture of that bread and expect them to get excited. We have to be eating that bread, experiencing God for ourselves, and out of that, pour into the lives of others.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sick Leave
Today was the first day I got up on time in a while. I have not been sleeping the best, which naturally means that I have been resetting my alarm when I wake up. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I have been sick for the last few days. Part of me wants to just stay home and sleep all day. In some ways I might even consider that if it were not for the fact that we have three outreach events coming up in a three week span.
The first one is this weekend. We have a car show here on Father’s Day where we bring in this hot rod club of some kind. It is supposed to attract all kinds of people to Epic that might not show up normally. I think it will be a big success; there is just a lot of planning for it, which does not give me much room for calling in sick.
Not to mention that I Amanda and I will be gone next week from Monday through Saturday for a wedding back in South Dakota. I am very excited to go, but I do not know how that will work as far as trying to continue working with Melanie on organizing the next two events we have coming up.
However, I came to a bit of a stop today on organizational work. There is only so much I can do at once, and part of everything is e-mailing people and waiting for them. Since other people have jobs that do not always allow them to check their e-mail right away, the waiting game is huge. Fortunately it gave me the time to read a lot more. I was able to finish reading Messy Spirituality and start reading The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer. I can already tell that Bonhoeffer will be good, especially for leading EP, but it is a heavy read. It took my almost an hour to get through the first chapter because I have to stop, reread and process everything before I continue on. But I think it will be a very good resource in helping people become passionate about following Jesus and not just following a doctrinal statement.
The first one is this weekend. We have a car show here on Father’s Day where we bring in this hot rod club of some kind. It is supposed to attract all kinds of people to Epic that might not show up normally. I think it will be a big success; there is just a lot of planning for it, which does not give me much room for calling in sick.
Not to mention that I Amanda and I will be gone next week from Monday through Saturday for a wedding back in South Dakota. I am very excited to go, but I do not know how that will work as far as trying to continue working with Melanie on organizing the next two events we have coming up.
However, I came to a bit of a stop today on organizational work. There is only so much I can do at once, and part of everything is e-mailing people and waiting for them. Since other people have jobs that do not always allow them to check their e-mail right away, the waiting game is huge. Fortunately it gave me the time to read a lot more. I was able to finish reading Messy Spirituality and start reading The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer. I can already tell that Bonhoeffer will be good, especially for leading EP, but it is a heavy read. It took my almost an hour to get through the first chapter because I have to stop, reread and process everything before I continue on. But I think it will be a very good resource in helping people become passionate about following Jesus and not just following a doctrinal statement.
The Beggar's Bread
Tonight was E.P. our young adult group. Originally we were planning on handing out free water bottles at the baseball fields. Last week Amanda and I ended up there after getting lost and noticed that there were little league games going on with tons of people. So I decided that it would be a great way to serve the community.
However, when I woke up this morning it was raining. It continued to rain almost all day too, so I figured that if there were any games scheduled for today they would have been canceled. In a way this was good because I am not sure if we could have pulled off a quality service project. In some ways I bet it would have seemed half-heart and sloppy. So I am somewhat glad that we had to delay it. Hopefully we will be able to reschedule it for a few weeks from now.
Fortunately I asked Christina to prepare a game that we could play as a group inside just in case it rained. She said that was fine and came prepared with Scategories. She also said she had another game prepared, but she never said what it was. At the same time, I suggested that we play Pictionary telephone again. In some ways I was not entirely serious, however since Lee, Lindsey, Mallory and Amanda were all there and had played it at Xplode on Sunday they were very excited to play again.
In some ways I feel like I might have crossed the line and stepped into Christina’s territory by suggesting a game after I asked her to prepare something for us. I do not want anyone to feel like I am completely taking over EP as much as coming along side them and helping guide the group. I want to help by providing the group with a purpose, a reason to exist beyond social activities. I need to make sure Christina knows that I did not mean to over step my bounds.
I also had a chance to speak to the group tonight. It went really well. I spoke about Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on the water with Jesus. I focused on how Jesus has faith in us and our ability to act like he acts, respond how he responds and love like he loves. Everyone seemed to respond very positively afterward, which I can only attribute to God. I feel like God is guiding me toward discipleship when it comes to the group. I feel like we need to be less concerned about being specifically attractive to people and more about creating an authentic community where people can experience God and be real with each other.
Furthermore, we had our journey team meeting this morning. I am not sure who said it exactly, but while someone was talking I had a thought about our spirituality. Any doctor will tell you that the secret to getting in shape is eating right and exercise. I realized today that the same principles apply to our spiritual journey. The way to get “in shape” is to eat right (taking in the correct doctrine/teaching) and exercise (acting out our faith with real actions).
However, when I woke up this morning it was raining. It continued to rain almost all day too, so I figured that if there were any games scheduled for today they would have been canceled. In a way this was good because I am not sure if we could have pulled off a quality service project. In some ways I bet it would have seemed half-heart and sloppy. So I am somewhat glad that we had to delay it. Hopefully we will be able to reschedule it for a few weeks from now.
Fortunately I asked Christina to prepare a game that we could play as a group inside just in case it rained. She said that was fine and came prepared with Scategories. She also said she had another game prepared, but she never said what it was. At the same time, I suggested that we play Pictionary telephone again. In some ways I was not entirely serious, however since Lee, Lindsey, Mallory and Amanda were all there and had played it at Xplode on Sunday they were very excited to play again.
In some ways I feel like I might have crossed the line and stepped into Christina’s territory by suggesting a game after I asked her to prepare something for us. I do not want anyone to feel like I am completely taking over EP as much as coming along side them and helping guide the group. I want to help by providing the group with a purpose, a reason to exist beyond social activities. I need to make sure Christina knows that I did not mean to over step my bounds.
I also had a chance to speak to the group tonight. It went really well. I spoke about Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on the water with Jesus. I focused on how Jesus has faith in us and our ability to act like he acts, respond how he responds and love like he loves. Everyone seemed to respond very positively afterward, which I can only attribute to God. I feel like God is guiding me toward discipleship when it comes to the group. I feel like we need to be less concerned about being specifically attractive to people and more about creating an authentic community where people can experience God and be real with each other.
Furthermore, we had our journey team meeting this morning. I am not sure who said it exactly, but while someone was talking I had a thought about our spirituality. Any doctor will tell you that the secret to getting in shape is eating right and exercise. I realized today that the same principles apply to our spiritual journey. The way to get “in shape” is to eat right (taking in the correct doctrine/teaching) and exercise (acting out our faith with real actions).
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Partnership
This morning I did a lot of reading. I feel like I spend a good portion of my time at work reading. In fact, it seems like I do more reading at work than Lee or Melanie, which makes me wonder if I am spending too much time reading, or if maybe I should be doing my reading at home. But at the same time, my role as an intern is different than Lee and Melanie’s roles. Perhaps they do not have nearly as much reading as I do. This is something I think I will need to bring up with Ed when he gets back.
This afternoon I meet with Melanie to finalize some plans for the Father’s Day Car Show that we are doing on Sunday. We needed to figure out the placement of the cars in the parking lot, the kids bouncy houses, the grill and food would be, and the rest of the activities. We also decided to change the judging of the cars this year. Last year Ed judged the cars by himself, but this year Ed, Lee and I will be judging the cars. I also created a spreadsheet so that we can judge the cars based on three different categories and another spreadsheet that we will use to sign in the cars complete with a numbering system.
Furthermore, I had a very interesting conversation with Lee about Epic and the Wesleyan church as a whole. The membership handbook for Epic, which we call our partnership handbook, has some less stringent requirements than the Wesleyan church does. For example, while the Wesleyan church disallows members from drinking alcohol, Epic does not take the same stand. We simply ask people who want to become partners to avoid drunkenness, which is biblical.
Personally I agree with this policy. Most of the people that join our church as partners come from either a de-churched or an un-churched background. They have never even considered a life completely void of alcohol, and if we were to suggest to them that they abstain they would no longer pursue partnership. I think this is probably the route the church as a whole will start to take in the next few years. Especially considering the conversations I have had with other students at Bethany, who will be the future of the church in a few years.
This afternoon I meet with Melanie to finalize some plans for the Father’s Day Car Show that we are doing on Sunday. We needed to figure out the placement of the cars in the parking lot, the kids bouncy houses, the grill and food would be, and the rest of the activities. We also decided to change the judging of the cars this year. Last year Ed judged the cars by himself, but this year Ed, Lee and I will be judging the cars. I also created a spreadsheet so that we can judge the cars based on three different categories and another spreadsheet that we will use to sign in the cars complete with a numbering system.
Furthermore, I had a very interesting conversation with Lee about Epic and the Wesleyan church as a whole. The membership handbook for Epic, which we call our partnership handbook, has some less stringent requirements than the Wesleyan church does. For example, while the Wesleyan church disallows members from drinking alcohol, Epic does not take the same stand. We simply ask people who want to become partners to avoid drunkenness, which is biblical.
Personally I agree with this policy. Most of the people that join our church as partners come from either a de-churched or an un-churched background. They have never even considered a life completely void of alcohol, and if we were to suggest to them that they abstain they would no longer pursue partnership. I think this is probably the route the church as a whole will start to take in the next few years. Especially considering the conversations I have had with other students at Bethany, who will be the future of the church in a few years.
Xplode and a Monday Sabbath
Sunday night Lee had me run Xplode, the youth group ministry. I was supposed to come up with the game and the lesson, although he already had the topic picked out. I was supposed to talk about prayer, and then afterward give the teens an opportunity to actually pray. So we played a game that I learned from Jen Ochej called Pictionary Telephone.
The game is like the telephone game, except that everyone has pieces of paper. At first you write a phrase on a piece of paper, and then hand that to the person on your right who tries to draw the phrase. After they have drawn the phrase, they pass that to the next person who tries to re-write the phrase based on the picture. Then the next person redraws whatever phrase they have been given, and the games continues going around the circle until everyone has their original phrase back.
I chose this game to try and illustrate how messages get jumbled when we go through a mediator, but that when we pray to God we are able to talk directly to him. Afterward I spoke on the topic of prayer using Jesus lesson on prayer from Matthew 6. I think there is a lot of great information in that chapter about how we should approach prayer. However, I do not think I effectively communicated that to the kids. I have never been able to figure out how to talk to teens in a way that holds their attention and teaches them something.
Then yesterday I decided to take the day off. Ed is out of town in Panama, Lee is taking Monday’s off and Melanie took the day off to take her kids to the zoo. So I would have been the only person in the office. Not to mention that last week I switched days off and worked on Friday, intending to take Saturday off. However, Amanda wanted to help out at the yard sale on Saturday, so we came down to the church and I ended up doing some work anyway. So instead of getting a day off I sort of worked both Friday and Saturday.
I remember when I was younger my dad would always tell me “Find something you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I love this saying and I think it is completely true. But the problem is, if I am never working a day in my life, how do I differentiate between work hours and non-work hours? At what point do I stop doing the work that I love just to make sure that I do not get burned out?
The game is like the telephone game, except that everyone has pieces of paper. At first you write a phrase on a piece of paper, and then hand that to the person on your right who tries to draw the phrase. After they have drawn the phrase, they pass that to the next person who tries to re-write the phrase based on the picture. Then the next person redraws whatever phrase they have been given, and the games continues going around the circle until everyone has their original phrase back.
I chose this game to try and illustrate how messages get jumbled when we go through a mediator, but that when we pray to God we are able to talk directly to him. Afterward I spoke on the topic of prayer using Jesus lesson on prayer from Matthew 6. I think there is a lot of great information in that chapter about how we should approach prayer. However, I do not think I effectively communicated that to the kids. I have never been able to figure out how to talk to teens in a way that holds their attention and teaches them something.
Then yesterday I decided to take the day off. Ed is out of town in Panama, Lee is taking Monday’s off and Melanie took the day off to take her kids to the zoo. So I would have been the only person in the office. Not to mention that last week I switched days off and worked on Friday, intending to take Saturday off. However, Amanda wanted to help out at the yard sale on Saturday, so we came down to the church and I ended up doing some work anyway. So instead of getting a day off I sort of worked both Friday and Saturday.
I remember when I was younger my dad would always tell me “Find something you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I love this saying and I think it is completely true. But the problem is, if I am never working a day in my life, how do I differentiate between work hours and non-work hours? At what point do I stop doing the work that I love just to make sure that I do not get burned out?
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Gospel According to Starbucks
I came in to work today which is usually my day off. Ed is leading a mission trip to Panama for a week and they are leaving early tomorrow morning; which would mean that I would be the only one around the office tomorrow. So I decided to switch days off and take tomorrow off instead.
But since I do not have much work on my plate today I was able to finish reading The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet today. The book is less a church resource and more a Christian-living resource, dealing with how to live life with “grande passion.” However it gave me some good ideas for Extended Play.
There was a section where Sweet quoted Thomas Aquinas by saying “The essence of a human being is participation in the essence of divine being.” Or essentially, “We exist to take part in nature of God.” He then asked a two part question of “What ways do we participate in the life of God?” and “In what ways does this participation define your essence as a person?”
To be honest, I had to think about it for a bit. How do I in fact participate in the life of God? What does that even mean? I would say that my desire to teach others about God and lead them in His direction is part of how I participate in the life of God. I was say it also, for good or bad, probably defines who I am as a person.
Also, according to ethnologist Ray Oldenburg, we desperately need what is referred to as “third places” in our lives. Places where we feel comfortable that are not home or the office. I wondered how successful the church is at being that third place for others. I want to see if we can successfully make the church that third place once again. However, it also made me curious where that third place can be for me as a pastor. If the church is my office, then the church is not my third place, but my second place. I want to discuss that with Ed.
But since I do not have much work on my plate today I was able to finish reading The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet today. The book is less a church resource and more a Christian-living resource, dealing with how to live life with “grande passion.” However it gave me some good ideas for Extended Play.
There was a section where Sweet quoted Thomas Aquinas by saying “The essence of a human being is participation in the essence of divine being.” Or essentially, “We exist to take part in nature of God.” He then asked a two part question of “What ways do we participate in the life of God?” and “In what ways does this participation define your essence as a person?”
To be honest, I had to think about it for a bit. How do I in fact participate in the life of God? What does that even mean? I would say that my desire to teach others about God and lead them in His direction is part of how I participate in the life of God. I was say it also, for good or bad, probably defines who I am as a person.
Also, according to ethnologist Ray Oldenburg, we desperately need what is referred to as “third places” in our lives. Places where we feel comfortable that are not home or the office. I wondered how successful the church is at being that third place for others. I want to see if we can successfully make the church that third place once again. However, it also made me curious where that third place can be for me as a pastor. If the church is my office, then the church is not my third place, but my second place. I want to discuss that with Ed.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Serving through personality
I woke up late this morning. More accurately I woke up this afternoon. I make it a practice to be in at work by 9, but today I woke up at 12:30 and did not get in until 1:00. Nobody said anything. I think I have a much more rigid demand for myself than others have on me. I have the feeling that people will assume that I was slacking off if I am not in to the office “on time”. Sure I was sleeping, but at the same time I had a few hours of “work” last night too for Extended Play. Although to be honest I kind of hate referring to what I do as work. I also hate saying that I am “going to the office” or that I am “at the office.” I mean, I realize that every church needs to have an office, and that a large portion of my job will consist of me in the office doing work that most people will never see or acknowledge.
I guess I want to feel like I am impacting people, actually making a difference in the lives of people and bringing them closer to Jesus. I know that the kind of work I am doing is all a part of a larger joint effort to do that. But it is hard sometimes to remember that by collecting names (for example) I am eventually helping advance the cause of Christ.
Last night Extended Play met at a baseball field to play kickball. It was fun, except that we played a “guys versus girls” game. Which essentially meant that we played a game of “watch the guys run laps around the bases.” When called by that, it is significantly less appealing. But on the plus side Amanda and I got lost on the way to the baseball field and discovered another group of fields that was packed with little league games going on. Tons of people were over there watching games that, rumor has it, go on ever Wednesday. So I think I want to have us do an outreach event there by handing out free water bottles to the people in the stands.
I guess when it gets down to it I want to be active in front-line ministry. I want to be actively serving people and showing them the love of Christ. I am the type of person that is much more comfortable up in front of the crowd and on the frontlines than I am the guy that wants to be behind the scenes doing the menial tasks. Although I recognize that those tasks need to get done by someone. But does it need to be me?
I guess I want to feel like I am impacting people, actually making a difference in the lives of people and bringing them closer to Jesus. I know that the kind of work I am doing is all a part of a larger joint effort to do that. But it is hard sometimes to remember that by collecting names (for example) I am eventually helping advance the cause of Christ.
Last night Extended Play met at a baseball field to play kickball. It was fun, except that we played a “guys versus girls” game. Which essentially meant that we played a game of “watch the guys run laps around the bases.” When called by that, it is significantly less appealing. But on the plus side Amanda and I got lost on the way to the baseball field and discovered another group of fields that was packed with little league games going on. Tons of people were over there watching games that, rumor has it, go on ever Wednesday. So I think I want to have us do an outreach event there by handing out free water bottles to the people in the stands.
I guess when it gets down to it I want to be active in front-line ministry. I want to be actively serving people and showing them the love of Christ. I am the type of person that is much more comfortable up in front of the crowd and on the frontlines than I am the guy that wants to be behind the scenes doing the menial tasks. Although I recognize that those tasks need to get done by someone. But does it need to be me?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Jesus and experiencing God
Today was more productive. I started the day doing some much needed Bible reading. I am way behind my “schedule” and have for the past couple days been reading larger sections in order to catch up. Although to be honest I wonder if reading large sections of the Bible at a time are even helpful. At that point am I more focused on simply “get through” the Bible and less focused on letting God get through to me by way of His word? Definitely something I need to consider.
Perhaps I will start doing the One-Year Bible soon. I think part of my problem is that I am somewhat competitive. I have this idea that if I can get through the Bible in less than a year than I am somehow a better person for it. Instead I should try and slow down and realize that reading the Bible is not a chore, exercise or sacrament that will somehow make me a “holier” or better person in its own right. Only by focusing and God and developing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him can I actually be changed into anything other than the current me.
Beyond that, I had an interesting conversation with Ed today concerning Jesus. It started when Ed first made a comment about how many people today seem to have issues with their own fathers and how that has led to the rise in people looking at and considering the feminine side of God. Now, I understand that God must have feminine qualities as much as “He” has masculine qualities. After all, how else could He have made both male and female in His image? Yet regardless, the Scriptures and Christ both refer to God as our Father quite often and probably for a good reason.
This discussion of God as Father led us into a conversation about the possibility that Jesus had “daddy issues” himself. Many scholars believe that Joseph, his adoptive earthly father, probably died when Jesus was around 13-15 years old. It would explain why we see Mary a lot in the Gospels, but not Joseph. It would also explain why Jesus was a carpenter and not a Rabbi, despite the fact that he obviously could have passed Rabbinic training with flying colors.
That also led us into another discuss regarding Jesus. Did Jesus every make mistakes? Obviously he was without sin; the Bible is clear on that. But what about non-sinful mistakes? Did Jesus ever trip and fall? Did he every call Peter by John’s name? I do not see why not. After all, we see that Jesus was fully human and subject to other human characteristics: hungry, fatigue, emotion.
Perhaps I will start doing the One-Year Bible soon. I think part of my problem is that I am somewhat competitive. I have this idea that if I can get through the Bible in less than a year than I am somehow a better person for it. Instead I should try and slow down and realize that reading the Bible is not a chore, exercise or sacrament that will somehow make me a “holier” or better person in its own right. Only by focusing and God and developing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him can I actually be changed into anything other than the current me.
Beyond that, I had an interesting conversation with Ed today concerning Jesus. It started when Ed first made a comment about how many people today seem to have issues with their own fathers and how that has led to the rise in people looking at and considering the feminine side of God. Now, I understand that God must have feminine qualities as much as “He” has masculine qualities. After all, how else could He have made both male and female in His image? Yet regardless, the Scriptures and Christ both refer to God as our Father quite often and probably for a good reason.
This discussion of God as Father led us into a conversation about the possibility that Jesus had “daddy issues” himself. Many scholars believe that Joseph, his adoptive earthly father, probably died when Jesus was around 13-15 years old. It would explain why we see Mary a lot in the Gospels, but not Joseph. It would also explain why Jesus was a carpenter and not a Rabbi, despite the fact that he obviously could have passed Rabbinic training with flying colors.
That also led us into another discuss regarding Jesus. Did Jesus every make mistakes? Obviously he was without sin; the Bible is clear on that. But what about non-sinful mistakes? Did Jesus ever trip and fall? Did he every call Peter by John’s name? I do not see why not. After all, we see that Jesus was fully human and subject to other human characteristics: hungry, fatigue, emotion.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Busy Work
One thing that I have started to notice so far is that it is incredibly easy to get side tracked with all kinds of busy work and lose sight of what is really important. I already have a few things that I need to be getting done, and a few books that need to be read. Yet when I look over my log of what I did today, it does not seem like I actually accomplished much. When I reflect on this, I would say it is because I allowed a lot of the smaller, more menial tasks to get in the way of the really important work.
I am actually reminded of something Gina Mason mentioned in a class last semester at Bethany. While she was on her internship, her church had a secretary that each week organized her tasks into three categories: things that must get done, things that should get done, and things that it would be nice to get done. I think I need to start organizing my work into categories like that. Perhaps if I start with all the projects that must get done I can feel more productive and still get everything done.
However, at the same time I am still getting used to the job and there are some bugs to work out. I am still in the process of reviewing church materials and getting organized with my internship projects. So hopefully in the next week or two I will start to move passed the initial pre-work.
On a more positive note, it is always encouraging to see God work. Amanda is still looking for a job, and considered the economy and the Michigan economy at that, it has not been going too well. But we have continued to pray that God will provide for us in whatever way he chooses. Well, when I was meeting with Ed today he informed me that someone (although I am not sure who) sent in a check for Amanda and I that will be in my mailbox shortly. Also, immediately after meeting with Ed I received two calls from employers wanting to set up interviews for Amanda. She was able to call them back and already had one of the interviews this afternoon. Lesson learned: We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. – Romans 8:28.
I am actually reminded of something Gina Mason mentioned in a class last semester at Bethany. While she was on her internship, her church had a secretary that each week organized her tasks into three categories: things that must get done, things that should get done, and things that it would be nice to get done. I think I need to start organizing my work into categories like that. Perhaps if I start with all the projects that must get done I can feel more productive and still get everything done.
However, at the same time I am still getting used to the job and there are some bugs to work out. I am still in the process of reviewing church materials and getting organized with my internship projects. So hopefully in the next week or two I will start to move passed the initial pre-work.
On a more positive note, it is always encouraging to see God work. Amanda is still looking for a job, and considered the economy and the Michigan economy at that, it has not been going too well. But we have continued to pray that God will provide for us in whatever way he chooses. Well, when I was meeting with Ed today he informed me that someone (although I am not sure who) sent in a check for Amanda and I that will be in my mailbox shortly. Also, immediately after meeting with Ed I received two calls from employers wanting to set up interviews for Amanda. She was able to call them back and already had one of the interviews this afternoon. Lesson learned: We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. – Romans 8:28.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Ministry Match
There is a personality/ministry style test called Ministry Match that Ed told me about a while ago that he wanted me to take. Today I finally got the chance to take the test. It took me three hours and included 450 questions. But it was really good to get a broad look at who I am. Last week I took another test called Flag Page, although that test was much less ministry focused and much more about whom I am and what my motivations are.
With the ministry match test I discovered that I am much more focused on the big picture than details, I cater more towards the group as a whole rather than the individual, choose logic over relational thinking and am more flexible than rigid. I am also more proactive than responsive. So things I was aware of, others not as much.
Something interesting that I discovered was that I really value purpose. I like when people have a good idea of what they are doing and why they are doing it. It explains why I love mission statements, vision casting and core values. I really like to have a clear idea of where we are going and how we are going to get there. I also want people to have that same understanding of where we are trying to go so that they can put their abilities to work towards that common goal. This will come in very useful when I go to plant churches in Calgary because I will be able to cast vision. I will be able to set the overall mission of planting a new district from the very beginning and work at getting people on board with it.
Also, Ed and I decided that I will be preaching on August 16th. It is actually our last Sunday in our current building before moving into our new space. The sermon will be part of a series on the life of Josiah called O2: Breathing Lessons from the Life of Josiah. I am looking forward to it because I have never been given parameters in preaching before. Usually I get to pick my text and work with it to whatever capacity I want. I think it will be good training for when I need to be doing sermon series of my own later on in life.
With the ministry match test I discovered that I am much more focused on the big picture than details, I cater more towards the group as a whole rather than the individual, choose logic over relational thinking and am more flexible than rigid. I am also more proactive than responsive. So things I was aware of, others not as much.
Something interesting that I discovered was that I really value purpose. I like when people have a good idea of what they are doing and why they are doing it. It explains why I love mission statements, vision casting and core values. I really like to have a clear idea of where we are going and how we are going to get there. I also want people to have that same understanding of where we are trying to go so that they can put their abilities to work towards that common goal. This will come in very useful when I go to plant churches in Calgary because I will be able to cast vision. I will be able to set the overall mission of planting a new district from the very beginning and work at getting people on board with it.
Also, Ed and I decided that I will be preaching on August 16th. It is actually our last Sunday in our current building before moving into our new space. The sermon will be part of a series on the life of Josiah called O2: Breathing Lessons from the Life of Josiah. I am looking forward to it because I have never been given parameters in preaching before. Usually I get to pick my text and work with it to whatever capacity I want. I think it will be good training for when I need to be doing sermon series of my own later on in life.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Sabbath Rest
Saturday’s are a half day for me. Although the fact that I still need to get up early and spend the morning at the church makes it feel like a full day. I ended up spending more than half the day here. The way it works is that I get Friday’s off, Saturday is a “half-day” and Sunday is… Sunday. So I think I essentially have two full days off, but it feels like one since my other off day is broken up. The question I must figure out is how to effectively have a Sabbath rest on Friday when it is my only day off in many ways. I feel compelled to do all kinds of non-church work on Friday to get it all done. But then am I ever really resting?
Yesterday I spent the majority of the day taking Amanda around to different places to get job applications and what not. I glad to be doing it, but it is not exactly my idea of a day off either. Not to mention that since I have been here, I have had the tendency to get up early on my work days, spend time reading my Bible and then praying. But on Friday’s it never seems to get done. I wake up late and then end up getting distracted with something else. Somehow I need to figure out how to maintain my prayer and Bible reading on my day off, especially when it is supposed to be a “Sabbath” of sorts.
Today, being the half day that it was, was spent helping out with the Helping Hands ministry we do at the church. Once a month we help people who are less fortunate by meeting their physical and material needs. We do it by appointment and the whole thing is very structured, but I get the feeling that it is working well for everyone. We actually had a few ladies come in this morning for food and then start asking questions about the church. They said they would come check us out tomorrow morning. It makes me curious how a ministry like that gets started in the first place. Do people just automatically come to churches for help still? Do we do any sort of advertising for this at all? These are thing I will need to ask Ed about.
Yesterday I spent the majority of the day taking Amanda around to different places to get job applications and what not. I glad to be doing it, but it is not exactly my idea of a day off either. Not to mention that since I have been here, I have had the tendency to get up early on my work days, spend time reading my Bible and then praying. But on Friday’s it never seems to get done. I wake up late and then end up getting distracted with something else. Somehow I need to figure out how to maintain my prayer and Bible reading on my day off, especially when it is supposed to be a “Sabbath” of sorts.
Today, being the half day that it was, was spent helping out with the Helping Hands ministry we do at the church. Once a month we help people who are less fortunate by meeting their physical and material needs. We do it by appointment and the whole thing is very structured, but I get the feeling that it is working well for everyone. We actually had a few ladies come in this morning for food and then start asking questions about the church. They said they would come check us out tomorrow morning. It makes me curious how a ministry like that gets started in the first place. Do people just automatically come to churches for help still? Do we do any sort of advertising for this at all? These are thing I will need to ask Ed about.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Church Marketing
I have been thinking a lot today about church advertising. We have been working on a campaign for our prelaunch in the new building and trying to come up with some ideas for it. What I have been trying to figure out is how to advertise our church to unchurched and dechurched people without necessarily offending or insulting the other churches in the area. In all reality what we are trying to advertise is that we are different than most churches and that if you did not like other churches that you should come check us out. However, how do you communicate that you are a different church without also communicating that all the other churches are the same?
I started reading the book The Gospel According to Starbucks which has some great information about marketing and advertising. While this is not the intention of the book, it has given me some great ideas about advertising the church based on experience and community. I think if I try to create some ads around the idea that regular people can find belonging at Epic, then I can avoid the entire idea of us versus other churches.
Later in the day I went to introduce myself to the youth pastors of the other churches in town. From their websites it looks like a lot of the churches in town have multiple services on Sundays, but almost no one has a full-time youth pastor. I do not understand how churches that have enough people attending to have multiple services do not have youth pastors. It seems like that is usually the first position hired in a church.
I guess there are a lot of things I need to learn about the area of Portland. But I am excited to learn what makes the people around here tick. It seems like the people that do the best on their internships are the people that immerse themselves in the area they are in. So I need to figure out what it looks like to be a Michigander and become that.
I started reading the book The Gospel According to Starbucks which has some great information about marketing and advertising. While this is not the intention of the book, it has given me some great ideas about advertising the church based on experience and community. I think if I try to create some ads around the idea that regular people can find belonging at Epic, then I can avoid the entire idea of us versus other churches.
Later in the day I went to introduce myself to the youth pastors of the other churches in town. From their websites it looks like a lot of the churches in town have multiple services on Sundays, but almost no one has a full-time youth pastor. I do not understand how churches that have enough people attending to have multiple services do not have youth pastors. It seems like that is usually the first position hired in a church.
I guess there are a lot of things I need to learn about the area of Portland. But I am excited to learn what makes the people around here tick. It seems like the people that do the best on their internships are the people that immerse themselves in the area they are in. So I need to figure out what it looks like to be a Michigander and become that.
Leadership Anyone?
Today was an interesting day. Amanda and I went up to St. Johns to have lunch with Steve Cymbal who is planting a church off of Epic this fall called Pathway. We went to St. Johns so that I could essentially talk to him about church planting since he is right in the thick of pre-launch. It was incredible to be able to talk with him. One thing that I have always been confused about as far as planting a church is the pre-launch stuff.
In all my church planting classes it seems like we have done a great job of discussing what to do in that first year after launch, marketing, leadership, programs, etc. But when it comes to pre-launch… I have no idea what that even looks like. So to get the opportunity to talk with Steve about what he is doing in the pre-launch stage was great. We spent a solid two hours talking about the things they are doing; how they are connecting with people; developing their mission, vision, and core values; administration; everything. I am so thankful that I was able to do that, I feel like I have an idea of what pre-launch looks like. Furthermore, I think Amanda and I will start attending their pre-launch core team meetings each week. I do not think we will be doing anything for Pathway, pre-launch-wise, but at least we will be able to observe.
Then tonight we went to Extended Play, which is the young adult group for epic. We had a barbeque at the church and then played a game that was essentially “four on the couch.” It was a good opportunity to meet the people that usually come. However, I think I might start leading that group, which I am hoping for. From what I have heard from a few people is that Extended Play (or E.P. as they call it) is mainly a social get together, which is not uncommon for young adult groups in churches.
It seems like everyone I talk to in church leadership always says that young adults are a difficult age range because they are too transient. I disagree though. I think that young adults have the greatest ability to go out and be the church. They are older than youth and have a better grasp on what they truly believe, yet most do not have families yet, so there are few responsibilities. I think the reason young adult groups are not more successful is because of a lack of real leadership and purpose. When we create young adult groups that are mainly social is purpose then young adults will only come when they do not have something else to do.
What we need to do is create an environment where young adults can own the group and feel responsible for the success of the group. That can only happen if we as a group have mission and vision. Once again that means that the group needs to have clear leadership that can inspire others to get involved in that mission. If we view young adult groups the same way we view youth groups I believe there will be a lot more success.
In all my church planting classes it seems like we have done a great job of discussing what to do in that first year after launch, marketing, leadership, programs, etc. But when it comes to pre-launch… I have no idea what that even looks like. So to get the opportunity to talk with Steve about what he is doing in the pre-launch stage was great. We spent a solid two hours talking about the things they are doing; how they are connecting with people; developing their mission, vision, and core values; administration; everything. I am so thankful that I was able to do that, I feel like I have an idea of what pre-launch looks like. Furthermore, I think Amanda and I will start attending their pre-launch core team meetings each week. I do not think we will be doing anything for Pathway, pre-launch-wise, but at least we will be able to observe.
Then tonight we went to Extended Play, which is the young adult group for epic. We had a barbeque at the church and then played a game that was essentially “four on the couch.” It was a good opportunity to meet the people that usually come. However, I think I might start leading that group, which I am hoping for. From what I have heard from a few people is that Extended Play (or E.P. as they call it) is mainly a social get together, which is not uncommon for young adult groups in churches.
It seems like everyone I talk to in church leadership always says that young adults are a difficult age range because they are too transient. I disagree though. I think that young adults have the greatest ability to go out and be the church. They are older than youth and have a better grasp on what they truly believe, yet most do not have families yet, so there are few responsibilities. I think the reason young adult groups are not more successful is because of a lack of real leadership and purpose. When we create young adult groups that are mainly social is purpose then young adults will only come when they do not have something else to do.
What we need to do is create an environment where young adults can own the group and feel responsible for the success of the group. That can only happen if we as a group have mission and vision. Once again that means that the group needs to have clear leadership that can inspire others to get involved in that mission. If we view young adult groups the same way we view youth groups I believe there will be a lot more success.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Deja Vu
Today was mainly spent reviewing materials for the church. It never dawned on me that when I start working for a church I will have to get to know the people, the policies and start working at the same time. When I have done volunteer work for churches in the past I have had the opportunity to get to know people and policies gradually over time before jumping into whatever ministry I would help out with. But now as a pastor, or in this case a pastoral intern, I will need to hit the ground running so to speak. Fortunately I should be able to figure everything out over the next few weeks.
I also had the opportunity to talk with our youth pastor Lee about what I will be doing for him over the next six months. I am excited about working with the youth group to the extent that I am. Part of my job will be to contact the other youth leaders in the area and plan a large event that includes all of our youth groups. Lee is giving me free reign to decide the lesson, theme and structure of the event. It should be a great learning experience to do that amount of planning and organizing.
Later today I got an e-mail from our organizational coordinator. We are moving into a new building in September and she was asking a group of us to brainstorm some ideas for an ad campaign to promote the new build. Although I do not think I have any spectacular talents when it comes to marketing it was a great experience to design a possible poster for the fall. It was also cool to see what some of the others came up with and work off of each other’s ideas. I think I enjoy working as a team when it comes to projects like this. Here's what I came up with.
I also corresponded with Ed a little bit about the letter I wrote yesterday. He asked me to type up a letter that we can send out to the congregation announcing our upcoming service day and baptism event. Instead of holding our regular weekend worship gatherings, we are going to go out and serve the community through group projects. Some people will pick up trash, others will visit people in the nursing home, and others might just to and do random acts of kindness. Ed read over my letter and said he really liked it.
I think I am starting to realize that I am the kind of person that needs at least an amount of acknowledgement for the work I do. I want to know that what I do matters to people. When I am doing a job that seems to go unnoticed I have a tendency to get discouraged. So knowing that I require “props” for my work is important.
I also had the opportunity to talk with our youth pastor Lee about what I will be doing for him over the next six months. I am excited about working with the youth group to the extent that I am. Part of my job will be to contact the other youth leaders in the area and plan a large event that includes all of our youth groups. Lee is giving me free reign to decide the lesson, theme and structure of the event. It should be a great learning experience to do that amount of planning and organizing.
Later today I got an e-mail from our organizational coordinator. We are moving into a new building in September and she was asking a group of us to brainstorm some ideas for an ad campaign to promote the new build. Although I do not think I have any spectacular talents when it comes to marketing it was a great experience to design a possible poster for the fall. It was also cool to see what some of the others came up with and work off of each other’s ideas. I think I enjoy working as a team when it comes to projects like this. Here's what I came up with.
I also corresponded with Ed a little bit about the letter I wrote yesterday. He asked me to type up a letter that we can send out to the congregation announcing our upcoming service day and baptism event. Instead of holding our regular weekend worship gatherings, we are going to go out and serve the community through group projects. Some people will pick up trash, others will visit people in the nursing home, and others might just to and do random acts of kindness. Ed read over my letter and said he really liked it.
I think I am starting to realize that I am the kind of person that needs at least an amount of acknowledgement for the work I do. I want to know that what I do matters to people. When I am doing a job that seems to go unnoticed I have a tendency to get discouraged. So knowing that I require “props” for my work is important.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
First Day
Yesterday was my first official day of internship, although this week Ed, my supervisor, has to be gone to Portland, OR for a class. This would seem like an odd start to the internship except for the fact that I actually started doing work around the church last week. So in some ways I feel like I am already off and running and I that I have had an opportunity to figure out what I really need to do work-wise before starting the internship side of things.
To be honest I am a little bit nervous. Not for the ministry work itself. Working as a pastor in a church is what I have been training for and working towards for the past four years now. The part that makes me nervous is the internship side of things. I have some many reports to write, journals to do, a daily log I have to keep. I guess I feel nervous that I am going to forget to cross a “T” or dot an “I” and fail my internship.
I am sure that once everything gets rolling I will feel much less nervous about things. I will get into the swing of things and realize that internship work itself is not something gigantic and enormous and impossible. Plus I do not believe that God has brought me this far simply to allow me to fail due to a mistake. I will have to trust God to help me through everything.
Last week I told Ed that I need to read three books during my internship in order to complete book reports. He laughed and said that three books are not enough. He said a good goal is a book a week, but that he would go easy on me and only assign roughly a book every two weeks. I left his office that day with a stake of thirteen books. Some of the books are small, some are bigger. Fortunately he also gave me some materials on speed reading.
It has been dawning on me recently that as much as someone could essentially coast through life getting others to do their work for them and making excuses for the rest that our spiritual lives run completely contrary to that. If I want a better relationship with God then I must act. I can only blame the state of my spirituality on bad sermons and tough circumstances for so long.
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