A Song From Chapel

One of my fav

orite parts of coming out to seminary (www.nts.edu) is that twice a week all the students come together for chapel. And during the module sessions (which last four hours!), that means that we stop our classes and join together for worship. It's a way of saying that while we're here to grow in our understanding of God, Scripture and the Church, true education is incomplete without worship. We could certainly learn an abundance of facts and preaching methods, but these fall flat without an adoration of God, without a love of God.

Well, today we had a singing and prayer service centered on God's call for the church. The prayer time was beautiful as we offered prayers of gratitude, prayers for God's people and prayers for the persecuted church.

After the prayers we sang a song that I am unfamiliar with, but the words were so powerful to me that I thought I'd share them with the intranet world. Thanks to the Oremus Hymnal for having this.

The Church's One Foundation

Samuel John Stone, 1868

The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed;
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blessed,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God, the Three in one,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

Transformed Nonconformists

I'm in Kansas City for two weeks of modules at Nazarene Theological Seminary.

Last night (inaugaration night) we interupted our evening classes to celebrate MLK's birthday with Blue Hills Church of the Nazarene, a congregation made up of mostly African-American's, in an extended chapel service.

What a joy it was to be led by the Blue Hill's choir and worship team. Their passion for God is exhibited in their enthusiastic singing.

What will stick with me is a brief part of the sermon, when the preacher talked about being transformed nonconformists in following the pattern of Christ. He did not really dive into what that meant, but I thought those two words together provide an excellent way of expressing who we are as a community of Christ followers seeking to live up to Paul's call in Romans 12 to not conform to the patterns of the world but be transformed in our minds.

kansas is far

Fascinating implications for youth ministry

I had to read this book for a seminary class I am in. It's a pretty good book on leadership within the pastoral realm. Interesting concept of the pastor as a producer of culture within the congregation and thus within the community that the congregation finds itself in. Most of the comments are based on a survey Carroll and his crew Pulpit and Pew conducted of clergy from around the United States of America.

What I found interesting is this:

Of the pastors polled: 71% were involved in youth ministry at 16, and 60% of them were in leadership positions in a youth ministry at 16. (247)

Carroll talks about developing a "culture of calling" where the church intentionally fosters the universal call of all Christians to live out the Christ-life, while at the same time fostering the "secret call" (as called by Reinhold Neibuhr) among the people of the congregation.

I'm not sure if these findings give verity to my profession as a youth pastor, but they certainly do cause me to sit and ponder how I can continue to develop this culture intentionally.

[EDIT] If this many were involved in a youth ministry, I wonder how many keep with them the format/ecclesiology that so many youth ministries have: separate from the rest of the church.

some pics from the KC

it's the academic building!
it's the frontside of the academic building!

it's my bed!

well, i've enjoyed the experience already. of course i love staying with the hulls. their hospitality blows me away. and i've already met some people who are of like mind and heart here. and i've met a dude who can give me a ride all the way back to Olathe.

it's odd, b/c i remember being here with my dad...20 years ago...

seminary begins...

and so it begins...

today marks the first day of seminary learning and shaping for me.

the first class: Evangelism Through the Local Church with Lyle Pointer

the texts:

Reaching Generation Next by Lewis Drummond
Building a Contagious Church by Mark Mittelberg
Evangelism in Everyday Life by Lyle Pointer and Jim Dorsey
Better than Imagined by Lyle Pointer

stated objectives:

1. to possess a working knowledge of a Gospel presentation
2. to grasp the NT principles of evangelism
3. to articulate the relationship of the church to the world
4. to grasp the sociological aspects of church growth
5. to attempt to lead someone to Jesus Christ and to nurture that convert
6. to think critically and prayerfully about one's personal philosophy and practice of evangelism

i'm very interested to see what's going to happen through this course and to see how i will be shaped, especially in light of our conversations on Christianity Rediscovered...