June 6, 2010

Sept 5, 2010 Yield

Oct 24, 2010-I have a good reason

Nov 21, 2010 - Wreckless

Dec. 26 2010- The Gift

thoughts on revival

a few months ago i signed up for a class on route to finish my masters. the class was titled "american history of revivals." it was a one week intensive class in marion, indiana taught by dr. black. leading up to the class we read books, prepared an oral report.

a week or two before i left for the class, the senior pastor from fumc marion, iowa challenged the staff to start praying for revival. i thought it was interesting right before i leave for indiana that pastor mike would make this challenge. so the whole week i am in class i was trying to figure out how i could apply it to the church back home.

the week after i got back the staff, during a meeting which we meet the 1st and 3rd mondays of the month decided that the mondays we were not in staff meeting we would get together and pray for the church and the community. that week was also the national day of prayer and from that spun a prayer meeting every thursday.

today we decided to have three special prayer meetings during the summer months. we are still unsure of the outcome, but we are expecting God to move in a big way here in marion, ia and in the life of fumc marion. if you are reading this please pray a quick prayer for the life of our church and community.

holy week

in the last few months i have had a taste of what it is like to be a united methodist pastor. there are many similarities to the wesleyan church but it was not until this week that i noticed how seriously the united methodist church takes the holy week. it is possible that it is just fumc marion that does this but what goes on during holy week has allowed me to dwell in the love, the life and the death of Christ. tomorrow i hope it will allow me the same experience of the resurrection. here is my schedule this past week.

1. lenten moments- monday-friday at 7am started each day with a couple hymns and a devotional led by a layperson. it was followed with fellowship at a breakfast. friday was by far my favorite as one of the youth gave the devotional. she feels a calling into ministry. it is great to see her heart.

2. maundy thursday- we had a communion service. i am not sure if any of you have ever seen it done this way before but i had not. we laid multiple loaves of bread on a table and laid a white sheet on it. the frame of the sheet around the bread made it seem like there was a body underneath the sheet. it brings new revelation to the "body of Christ" for me.

3. good friday- this was a service that i was in charge of putting together. we had a combined tenebrae and way of the cross service written by robert e. webber. it was a dramatized narration of the stations of the cross, focusing on the last few hours of Christ's life.

4. friday and saturday- we had a 24 hour prayer vigil.

many times in the past, holy week would come and go. i would worship, but there was something about this week that brought a whole new light to my Savior. i am thankful for the cross. and the week is not even over yet. the best day of holy week is still yet to come. i hope and pray that you do not allow holy week to pass by like i have done so many times.

fumc marion- first perceptions

when i came in here i had a lot planned on how to get settled and get to work. what i never really planned on was the learning curve for this job. i have quite an extensive job description and while it will eventually be manageable i have a lot to learn about the church, the community, and leading.

when i went to back to indiana wesleyan to get a masters in ministerial leadership it was because i wanted to learn how to lead and manage people. i was already good at loving God's people. for me that came easy. but to lead, delegate and cast vision was something i needed to grow in.

here at fumc marion we have met a few times as staff to learn how to mobilize leadership within our ministries. it will change the culture of the church. for some ministries it will be easier to raise up leadership then others. but this idea of equipping laity will free us up to allow us to dream, cast vision and pour ourselves into the leadership.

i never dreamed i would end up in iowa. i was hoping to head back to the northeast. i would have never picked this place. but i believe this is the right place and we made the right decision. this is definitely a place that God opened up the doors for us to be. when pastor mike told me that over a hundred people applied for the position, i was in awe that it was me they wanted.

as the pastor of youth and missions i am able to do things in ministry i have always been drawn to. disciple, develop leadership, serve the community.

this is a church where i can be free to be me, i can thrive, mess up, follow my passions, i can lead and be humbled. i can learn, i can experiment. i can put up boundaries, i can fail, but i dont expect to because God has equipped me for this.

The first few days...

This past week has been pretty crazy for the two of us. Last week we were surrounded by boxes hoping people would show up to help us pack the U-Haul. When people showed up we were pretty ecstatic. I am not sure if the people really wanted to help us or if they just wanted the pizza and coffee we had to offer them. But either way we accomplished our goal of packing.

November 2 we rolled out of Indianapolis heading for yet another adventure. We pulled into our townhouse at roughly 4 pm and were quickly welcomed by about ten young adults who enthusiastically unpacked our truck in approximately an hour. We enjoyed the conversation, becoming acquainted with our friends.

The week moved and was highlighted by meeting all the teens on Wednesday night. I am not sure how many were there. But the youth room was packed with teens and sponsors sitting on the floor in the few open spaces left. (The youth time is usually split up with Jr and Sr High.) They were all there for the passing of the torch. The celebration of what Pastor Melissa had done for the last seven years and anticipation of meeting their new leader (me) and wife (Jenny).

Wednesday night made it sink in that we are here. This is where we were meant to be and cannot imagine what God has in store for this community. We are looking forward to partnering in ministry here, in Marion for the many years to come.

anew

if there is anything constant about our life is that there is constant change. coming here two years ago was a big change. i am almost done with grad school and a masters in ministerial leadership. i thought it was time to start looking for what the next chapter might bring.

when all is said and done it will bring us to a new city and state (marion, iowa or north east cedar rapids) and a different denomination (united methodist). it was never planned to leave the wesleyan church, but feel that this is part of God's plan.

i accepted the position of youth and missions pastor at first united methodist church of marion on monday. in just a few short weeks we will back up the trailer and head 6.5 hours further into the midwest.

small church vs big church debate

check out the info at churchrelevance.com it is an interesting article that looks at the basic beliefs of christianity within different size churches.

answers vs truth

i have been listening to the song through smoke by needtobreathe lately and there is a line that has hit me

"i was born in a house in a town just like your own, i was raised to believe in the power of the unknown, and when the answers and the truth take different sides, will you still see me, will you still find me through smoke?"

everyone today is searching for something. they are searching for truth but they are settling for answers. someone's answers do not have to be truth, and i am wondering how many are settling for the answers they are receiving? the truth is powerful. how will we lead people to the truth?

on this blog i have always been about asking the questions to find truth. i wonder how often though i have settled for a simple answer instead of digging deeper to find the truth. i do not think that i have allowed the answers to be separate from the truth. but maybe i have not kept looking at the whole picture of the truth.

the biggest part of this song is that they are wanting to see the truth through this smoke. a clearer picture of truth will help us know God and hopefully love God more. so i guess my challenge is to continue to search for truth and not to stop with a partial answer but to continue until i see the big picture.

oh and if you do not already own the album "the outsiders" by needtobreathe, you should go and purchase it. it is an amazing collection of music.

atheist on evangelism

this video has been out a while but i thought i would still share it today. i have heard this video used in a couple sermons. the second video is a follow up from penn. it shares his thoughts on the reception of this video. just for your knowledge the second video is rated r.

service

the first church visited was saddleback. after hearing the sermon casper's reaction to it was something like this. "well it is good to hear about what i should do. but i would rather hear stories about how they are doing it."

stories of helping in the world will receive a better reaction then hearing directions on how to achieve it. i tend to agree that it is not hard to go find someone or some organization to help. i can think of a few places right of the top of my head with out referencing the yellow pages.

actions will always speak louder then words.

it is interesting however that later in the book that casper himself does not go out to his community and serve. he does expect the church to but the standard is different for himself. casper is an atheist, who says he does not have any beliefs. but believing in no God is a belief in and of itself. but not having a belief system entitles him to not have to help out others.

later in the book he says he might go serve in some capacity. but if he never does, we the church still have the responsibility to serve.

i ask myself on a somewhat regular basis, how can i bring people to Christ. as i am learning more and more it is not about bringing people to Christ but bringing Christ to the people. isnt that what Christ did by coming down to earth. he brought himself to the people.

i am reading another book now named "organic church" it is all about bringing the church to the people. starting churches in homes, coffee shops, bars, and any possible place where there are people who need Jesus. we need to become invested in the lives of the people.

i will finish this short blog with a quote from organic church. "every christian is a church planter, every home is a church, and every church is a training center." every thing about our lives need to transcend the love of God. how are we at living this out?

insights from jim and casper go to church

jim and casper go to church
by jim henderson and matt casper

a book about two people, a christian and an atheist going to churches all over the united states. they write their observations about the church and their unlikely relationship.

i really suggest every pastor, christian, and atheist to read this book. anyone interested in the church would have a lot to take away from it.

casper, the atheist, has some great insights about relationships, service, transparency. it will only help the church if you take the time to read this book. i will try later to write a post on some quotes from the book.

for fans of saved by the bell

thanks heath for this hilarious video

churches and the economy

the last few weeks i have heard some stories about some churches helping out different people during the rough times. i wanted to share what some of them are doing.

newspring church, pastor perry noble-- for mothers day gave away two paid off houses to two single mothers. the church purchased the two homes and fixed them up with volunteers from the church to bless the two families. this is something they do every mothers dsy.

12stone church, pastor kevin myers-- also for mothers day gave $50 to every single mom in the congregation and if anyone know a single mom they could take the gift for them as well.

mars hill church, pastor rob bell-- the church had an offering above regular giving to come up front and put money in the basket. if you needed money you could come up and take money out of the basket.

first of all, i want to applaud the churches because of their heart for helping out others. some of the gifts stand out to me because they seem to have put more effort into it. so it leads me to this, what has your church done? have you heard of any other churches that have helped out people during the economic downturn?

following Christ

assimilation is a term used by most churches to help bring people into the church body. assimilation can be defined as becoming like whatever you are being brought into. what is difficult here is are we trying to help people become like us or Christ?

i read an interesting illustration by one of my former professors dr. jim lo in his book intentional diversity.

there were missionaries to native americans and the told them “If you want to be good Christians, you need to… 1. cut your hair because good christians have short hair, 2. get rid of robes and wear pants, 3.get rid of sandals and wear shoes, because good christians do not show their toes in public and 4. build a church building, because good christians have a public meeting place. however when they had the grand opening of the church building they saw a picture of Jesus in long hair, wearing a robe and sandals and worshiping outside. this obviously confused the native americans, because everything they had been taught was to be more like Jesus but when they see Jesus, it looked more like their appearance before they changed.

how are we as the church leading? are we helping others to be like Christ or do we have our own perception of what a christian should look like? of course this is not just about mere appearance but also of the mind and heart. do you have any stories similar to that of the native americans to share?

100 people

F THE WORLD ONLY HAD 100 PEOPLE

Let us not be stopped by that which divides us but look for that which unites us

If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

60 Asians 12 Europeans 5 US Americans and Canadians 8 Latin Americans 14 Africans

49 would be female 51 would be male

82 would be non-white 18 white

89 heterosexual 11 homosexual

33 would be Christian 67 would be non-Christian

a.. 5 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth, and all of them would be US citizens

a.. 80 would live in substandard housing

a.. 24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76% that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)

a.. 67 would be unable to read

a.. 1 (only one) would have a college education.

a.. 50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation

a.. 33 would be without access to a safe water supply

a.. 1 would have HIV

a.. 1 near death

a.. 2 would be near birth

a.. 7 people would have access to the Internet