4 Steps

I'm sure somebody has written this down somewhere, but in thinking through the ministry here in York, I've tried to come up with a way for me to understand the process of changing the way things are done. And I was thinking about how the way we think affects the way we act. I haven't put tons of thoughts into this, so what will be found here is very very raw.

But in the movement of ministry there seems to be about 4 or 5 positions.

1. Content with where we are. Satisfied with the way things are done. There is nothing wrong with the system.

2. Noticing something might not be right. So I criticize what's going on. Just looking at the system itself and complaining. Not ready to change yet.

3. Something's not right, and I want to change that. So, I examine current structures with a critical eye and look at what can be improved or changed for the better.

4. We move forward. We adjust to what we see as the problems and seek to create space for what we desire through a new/old/revised/revisited format.

5. Content with the way we are.

6. Notice something might not be right.

7. I want to change.

8. Move Forward.

I guess it's more than 4, b/c things are always changing. And maybe there is another step that I am missing.

Anyway, i think it's my responsibility as a leader to identify the direction of our ministry, and then to evaluate whether or not we are heading in that direction. And if we aren't, what are the good things that we should keep, what are the bad things we should throw out, and what are things that we can improve.

Also, my responsibility is to help others in the process. To help them move from 1, to 2, to 3, to 4.

What happens if people get stuck on any of these steps? Stagnation...if you get stuck on 2, then you start to complain and that becomes your life...that's not centered in the creativity and love of God.

if you get stuck in 1, then it's possible (unless you have the perfect system and if you do, please call me), that you don't have your eyes open to what's going on. That you are unaware.

if you get stuck in 3, then you're being lazy. You're not moving on. You're not taking the insight you have gained and acting on it.

if you get to 4, great...but that puts you right at one again.

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

Sunshine won't you be my mother?
Sunshine come and help me sing
My heart is darker than these oceans
My heart is frozen underneath
Crooked soul trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
two scared little runaways
Hold fast till the break of daylight
When the shadow proves the sunshine
Oh Lord why did you forsake me
Oh Lord don't be far away, away
Storm clouds gathering beside me
Please Lord don't look the other way
I'm a crooked soul trying to stay up straight
Shine on me
Let my shadows prove the sunshine

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot wrote this song.

I appreciate his honesty when he echos the psalms by saying "Oh Lord why did you forsake me/Oh Lord don't be far away". I've been searching for songs that complain to God, but have a sense of hope. Many of the psalms are totally about complaining. And it makes me wonder if the content of our own songs on Sunday mornings or whenever you worship, should have more complaint within them. I've heard some people having "doubt night" and stuff like that...but can doubts and complaining be regular parts of worship?

I think our times together should reflect where we really are and where we want to be. But I think many of our songs, if not most of them, only talk about where we want to be and are pretty superficial...that's just what I think.

Seasons Change

Well, the fall is coming in...the sun is setting earlier, the leaves are falling, the wind is colder.

We pulled out our down comforter to brace for it. Boy I love the warmth of the covers when it's cold in the room.

This past weekend, Aubrey and I went down to Richmond with the cover excuse of me getting expert advice from Gregg Paul, who did NYC twice for the VA district. I did learn some good stuff from him, but the highlights were definitely seeing our family.

We got in late on Friday night, but we stayed up a bit talking with Aub's parents. It was one of those times when you don't want to go to bed and you feel giddy and comfortable. I have great in-laws.

The next morning, I met with Gregg and then hung out with my good friend Douglas (he will be refered to as Uncle Dougles by our children...). Then we had lunch with the ladies; Aubs' grandmother, mother, my nana and sister.

Then we went on a walk with Sis. that was great. We walked through a park that Aubrey and I spent much of our dating time in. We talked about Sue's future and stuff. She's a great young woman. I'm proud of who she is and is becoming.

Then we came home.

Now we are getting ready for our annual Pastor and Spouses Retreat! Yay, free hotel, free food, good friends. And the coolest thing this year is that Brian MClaren is going to be there! I think it will be great for all of us. And we'll get to see our friends...but Brian and Carol won't be there...so sad...we'll miss them.

Giving Charities but Holding Ourselves Back

"I came to a new understanding why Jesus passed up the religious establishment of his day, the economically secure, the socially prestigious, and sought out the poor, the outcast, the sinner, the broken, the sick, the lonely. He felt, as we so often do not feel, their sorrow. He was acquainted, as we too seldom are, with their grief. On Calvary he died of a broken heart. But that heart was broken long before Black Friday, by the desolation of the common people. 'In all their afflictions he was afflicted.'

"Most of the time we are not. We seem to have quite a different conception of life. We avoid as much as possible the unpleasant. We shun the suffering of others. We shrink from any burdens except those which life itself inescapably thrusts upon us. We seek arduously the wealth and power that will enable us to secure ourselves against the possibility of being involved with another's affliction. Lazarus sometimes makes his way to our door stop. We toss him a coin and go on our way. We give our charities but we do not give ourselves. We build our charitable institutions but we do not build ourselves in other's lives."

-From The Captivating Presence by Albert Edward Day

Treasure Trove

19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:19-21

Thinking through this...brought some questions to my mind.

What does heaven treasure?
Are there treasures that can never be taken away? If so, what are they?
What treasures can be taken away?
What happens when treasures are taken away?
If my heart is attached to a treasure, what happens to it when the treasure is destroyed? Is my heart destroyed too?
Was my heart made to treasure anything on this green earth? If so, what?

I don't have all the answers , but I know I've felt directed to make what heaven treasures the things that I treasure.

I've also thought about those things that can't be taken away from me. I think nobody can take away love or joy. People can take away my clothes. People can take away my legs. People can take away my computer. People can take away my reputation. But nobody can take love from someone.

So, I think that heaven treasures love. I think the heavenly treasure trove is loaded with love, with joy, with peace, with freedom. I want to be like Uncle Scrooge in Duck Tales, when he dives into his piles of gold. I want to dive into the heavenly piles...and unlike Scrooge I want to bring others into it...

I'm lucky

Today, I'm going to have three different types of meat. Steak and chicken at lunch. Pork at supper. I have so many options. So much variety.

While I have brothers and sisters all around the world who have no choice over what they eat. I'm eating like royalty compared to them.

I feel kinda guilty about that...

Anberlin

Well, I'm currently listening to the new Anberlin album...I think it rocks. I tried to get a picture of the album up here...but for some reason the stuff ain't working...oh well.

You should check 'em out if you like rock.

Jr. Hi Wisdom

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to lead the Jr. Hi fella's small group. There were 20 guys there and me. We were reviewing the past 12 weeks of curriculum, which was over the basic topic of "Dares from Jesus". Marko (from Youth Specialties) wrote some excellent small group sessions in his Wild Truth Series...anyway, this book was about the dares that we can get from Jesus' words and actions.

So, yesterday to review I had two intentions. One, I wanted to find out which one they thought was the hardest, and two, I wanted to find out which one they thought their school needed more than any other. I was impressed with how open some of the guys were with what dare they thought was hard. Here are the dares we covered.

Dare to be humble.
Dare to put God before money.
Dare to not judge others.
Dare to love God before anything else.
Dare to live up to your word.

When we got to what they thought was the most important dare for their schools they all said that the dare to not judge was the most important.

All of them had different reasons, but it seemed that the prevalent theme at each school is that people are classified into certain groups, which classifies their behavior and what they are expected to do. Everybody had a story from their school (even the homeschooled kids did)...

I asked them if they thought it was possible for their schools to be rid of judgementalism. Nobody thought it was possible. One kid said it was possible if everybody got "saved". To which I replied by asking who thinks they are saved and who still judges people. Not surprisingly, most of the kids raised their hands in response to both questions. (I'm not downplaying "Being Saved"...just pointing out that even the "good side" is doing the judging)

But this issue of judging others...I think the kids were astute to notice. Most of them have been victims of it. But most of them don't think they can do anything to change the system. It was actually happening right there in the circle while we were talking (some guys made fun of another guy for the shoes he was wearing...)

But I think I should hit this up a couple more times through the youth ministry process...maybe make it a part of who we are as a group. We are a group who leaves the judging to jesus, and the assist Him in the loving of the whole world...whew...that's a hard one to live up to.

A Cute Kid

Well, my good friend, Sam, has a brother named Kyle (who is also a cool guy). Kyle has a baby. That makes Sam an Uncle. Uncle Sam. You might have heard that name before. He's so popular his name precedes him.

Anyway, here's a picture of that cute nephew of his. The title is "Mischievous Naked".

Help, Help

I was walking from my office to the copy room that is right across the hallway when I heard some mumbling from down the hall. I hear, "Help, Help, Help", and I turn and see a woman stumbling down the hall crying out for Pastor Eric. The poor woman is heavily under the influence and all she can mutter is "Help".

I wonder if this is the way many of us walk around this world. Except we are this way in our spirits, and we don't give our spirits voices.

My Friend Dave

Well, I've got a friend. His name is Dave. He is currently serving with a mission organization in Europe. He's got great stories and he's a swell musician. He's using those talents to bring the good news/life to eastern european people. I like Dave. I think you should too. Check out his thoughts on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/daveapplegate).

DLC 3

Quick highlights from day...

1. Starbucks for breakfast again!

2. Walking to "work". We walked down to the convention center in the morning. I would love to live in a situation where I could just walk to my office. There's a cool connection to the community through that.

3. I remembered the ladies name who is from nebraska. It's Dynette. She won the iPod nano giveaway. I'm slightly jealous. I wanted to give it to Aubs, since I have a mini. But I think Dynette totally deserves it. She's so great.

4. I met some more people who know my parents. It's cool to have parents who have made an impact on different lives. it's like they've created ripples that have come back to hit me in unlikely ways. I hope my life creates ripples like theirs did and does.

5. We toured the possible hotels for NYC. Whew, that was a lot of walking. It's a tough decision. we'd like to be close to the convention center, but we'd also like nice sized rooms and a hotel that can accomodate us.

6. Morning seminar on life through the lens of a Jewish mindset by Darren Ojeda. He is a bivocational pastor who works in a Jewish Orthodox Synagogue and has developed some really quality relationships with the Jews there. From those relationships, he has found a deeper walk with the Messiah, and a deeper understanding of who God is (God is what God does...Jewish thought is always functional and practical).

7. Lunch with Darren and friends from the region. Stretch, Kevin, Terry, Adam and more went to lunch at some local pub. it was a good time to talk.

8. Got to talk with Aubrey for a little bit. Boy I miss being with her. I can't wait to be home.

9. Another midnight "emergent" conversation. (Funny, we almost went to a "Hooters" like place, without knowing what it was, but once we went in and saw how the ladies dressed, we walked out.) We focused on the detriments of thinking of our faith as a "personal relationship", and about how we can move from individual focus, to world wide focus...it was just great. we added 3 more guys to the conversation...it was Brian, Kevin, me, Bryce, James, Joel, Kyle, Scott and Mike. Everybody but me, Brian and Kevin were from Ohio. Craziness.

10. Dave Curtiss' encouragement that we are in the movement of the Messiah, bringing hope and restoration to our world!

Cynicism Refound

Well, it happened.

I got on the plane to get to St. Louis and the first words from my passenger friend were cynical remarks and included the word "stupid".

It goes with what Hornby said in his book...cynicism is the common language...

The Arch

We can totally see this from our window!

DLC 2

My four highlights from today.

1. Starbucks for breakfast! I had a Venti White Mocha and an apple-ginger spice loaf (Aubrey would have loved the loaf).

2. Throwing a football on the St. Louis Rams field.

3. The evening worship time was what Dave Curtiss calls, "God-drenched." Dave spoke about the broken state of youth ministry (perhaps even the complete misdirection of it), which really struck a chord in my spirit. He said that Barna says that close to 88% of 20-30 year olds who were involved in youth groups are no longer involved in church. What happened? He pretty much left us at the sad point, but said it was time for youth ministry to be redirected or thrown out for something different. After he did that, our worship leader sensed a real need just to pray for direction for youth ministry and the brokeness of our kids. I got a major sense that I needed to seek the Lord, rather than go into my brain and try to pull out ideas. Then we had a prayer time for each other, which was really encouraging.

4. The 'emergent/whatever' conversation at Friday's, 2 blocks from our hotel. Brian Hull (check out his blog at http://gilborules.blogspot.com) gathered some people together, and we worked through some good issues. Main focuses were how to handle homosexuals with grace (or how to teach our people to handle homosexuals with grace), the importance of Scripture, and how to help the Nazarene church become more missional and open.

More Jesus Pictures

Jesus Pictures

At DLC

Well, DLC started today. Kevin got in yesterday and we went to Union Station (a place where Aubrey and I stayed on our honeymoon roadtrip). Then this morning we went down to Starbucks and chilled for a while.

We had to cool opportunity to set up the atmospheric stuff for the evening. We got to cajole the hotel management into letting us borrow 300 pound marble coffee tables. We also persuaded them to let us use the sham pillows for altar kneelers. I think our little area looks rather sweet. We're going to set up a computer station where people can follow online labrynth's, sacred space, power point picture slides. That should be cool. I've been searching the net for pictures of Jesus to use in the slide. I'll put them on my next post.

Met some people from Nebraska and Missouri tonight. Dennis, (pulling a blank), Mona and Mark (from Mizzou). Pulling a blank is a lady working as a pastor. She says that the percentage of woman Nazarene pastor's is %20. Not bad, but only 60 of those are actually head pastor's. The rest serve in support roles. Anyway, I am impressed by her courage and love for the people out there, even though she recieves flak for being a woman pastor.

The worship segment tonight was pretty cool. Mark (something) spoke about vulnerability with each other, and about how all of us compare ourselves to each other, and how that is not the heart of Christ. Then the worship leader led us in songs he had written, which were all very insightful. My favorite part was when we were singing, "Less of me and more of you" to God, and the director told us to sing it to each other. That was awqward, but neat.

We can see the arch from our window. We're like the closest hotel to the arch.

Well, I'm gonna head to bed.

Hologram Jesus

I'm working through A Generous Orthodoxy by MClaren and just finished the chapter called The Seven Jesuses I Have Known. In that chapter he talks about how he was introduced to Christ through seven different branches of the church. He points out the differences between the perspectives, noting their strengths and weaknesses. He suggests that the best picture/understanding of Christ is one that takes into account all of them.

He says, "Up until recent decades, each tribe felt it had to uphold one image of Jesus and undermine some or all of the others. What if, instead, we saw these various emphases as partial projections that together can create a hologram: a richer, multidimensional vision of Jesus?"

Jon Powers is Getting Married

Well, this weekend, my college roommate, Jon Powers is joining the ranks of marriagehood (if it can be described as a hood). I'm psyched to go to his wedding and hang with him and our friends from college. Aubrey and I are heading out tomorrow morning to drive to Cincinnati.

While we're over there, my friend Sam (a guy I talk to like every wednesday night with Nate...nothing like a little three way conversation...thank Bill Gates for technology), is going to drive up and we're going to have breakfast on Sunday. Really looking forward to that.

And after that, I'm flying down to St. Louis for DLC, an event which is supposed to help me in the planning of NYC for our district. It's also an event where my good friends, Brian Hull and Kevin Snow, will be attending. And I think there will be other cool people there. Can't wait!