So I’ve been back in classes for about a month and I’m feeling very ambivalent.
One on hand, I have loved my seminary education and experience and will miss it when it is time to graduate. I have enjoyed the friends I’ve made, the opportunity to learn more and engage issues, and especially the experience of getting to know Jesus better. Let me assure anyone reading that I am coming out of seminary with more questions than I came in with – but I understand that’s typical.
On the other hand, I’m getting a little tired of it. Part of this is the nature of my course load this year: two languages that are beginning to feel tedious, having to commute two hours one way twice a week because that’s the scheduling, and a lot of books to read and papers to write. But the bigger part is probably just plain ol’ Senior- ites.
In High School and College it was just wanting to finish up and get on with one’s life. In law school, the paradigm was: “1st year: scare you to death; 2nd year: work you to death; 3rd year: bore you to death.” That last year of law school was ‘boring’ because by that time you felt you had enough learning the rules of the game, now you wanted to go out and play! For those of us lucky enough to get internships during school, it was actually even a little worse – we’d gotten to play a little bit and now we wanted to play for real!
So I’m coming to the end of my degree program and, I admit it, I’m itching to get out there and see how God will work. Also, like most of my classmates, I’ve had some part-time experience at my church so that makes me even more motivated to dive in head first.
At the same time, there’s anxiety about finding a ministry position. Is there really one out there for me? Will the search committees be able to look past the fact that I don’t look like the typical seminary graduate? Will my first position be affirming of my call to ministry or will it be – otherwise? Can I find a position that can actually support my family? And so forth.
These are going to be interesting days.
20080208
20080123
The Roots of My Seminary
I was browsing in the school's library and found a work, "Baptists in Oregon" by Albert W. Wardin, Jr. I thought that might be interesting - a 575 page history about a specific part of Christianity in a very specific part of the world. So I browsed the contents and then came upon a sub-heading that referred to the very school in whose library I stood.
I read about the formative history of Western Seminary. It was started in 1927 and founded by the then pastor of Hinson Memorial Baptist Church (Portland), John Marvin Dean. While he was certainly part of the Fundamentalist movement of that time, is more properly categorized as a moderate. In the Oregon Baptist history book, I found a very interesting quote from one of Dean's sermons. Here it is:
"Evangelism and social service are twins and cannot live in separation. It will be a glad day for American Christianity when all the social service theorists and faddists become soul-winners and all the evangelistic Christians become servants of the common good."
Dean had other attitudes somewhat foreign to today's so-called "Fundamentalists." Here's another quote from a report to the seminary's Board of Trustees in 1937:
"... up to date this year's service has been the most satisfactory in the history of the institution. Every year more students are learning to think independently, and to use Scripture in an honest attempt to learn what was in the mind of the writers and not to prove pet theories. If we can teach our students honestly to let the Book speak for itself, instead of using it as an arsenal of proof-texts to bolster up someone's philosophy of religion, we have performed a task well worth while."
If I may be so bold, I am happy to report that my experience at Western Seminary has so far been consistent with those foundational aspirations of John M. Dean.
I read about the formative history of Western Seminary. It was started in 1927 and founded by the then pastor of Hinson Memorial Baptist Church (Portland), John Marvin Dean. While he was certainly part of the Fundamentalist movement of that time, is more properly categorized as a moderate. In the Oregon Baptist history book, I found a very interesting quote from one of Dean's sermons. Here it is:
"Evangelism and social service are twins and cannot live in separation. It will be a glad day for American Christianity when all the social service theorists and faddists become soul-winners and all the evangelistic Christians become servants of the common good."
Dean had other attitudes somewhat foreign to today's so-called "Fundamentalists." Here's another quote from a report to the seminary's Board of Trustees in 1937:
"... up to date this year's service has been the most satisfactory in the history of the institution. Every year more students are learning to think independently, and to use Scripture in an honest attempt to learn what was in the mind of the writers and not to prove pet theories. If we can teach our students honestly to let the Book speak for itself, instead of using it as an arsenal of proof-texts to bolster up someone's philosophy of religion, we have performed a task well worth while."
If I may be so bold, I am happy to report that my experience at Western Seminary has so far been consistent with those foundational aspirations of John M. Dean.
20080117
1 Corinthians 13
Back In The Day, it became popular to paraphrase 1 Cor. 13. Such paraphrases are not just 'a dime a dozen,' but more like a dime a gross! Still, I came along the chapter in my devotional reading yesterday and my mind went to paraphrase mode. Here's what I came up with...
- If I exercise charismatic gifts but have not love, I have become an annoying ring-tone or a fire alarm buzzer
- If I have The Preaching Gift, and know my Systematic Theology thoroughly; and if I have the faith to change the most intransigent of Elder Board members, but do not love, I am Game Over
- And if I minister in an inner-city missio-community, and if I am a missionary to the most demanding and God-foresaken place on the planet, but do not have love, those are an utter waste of time
- Love keeps going, love is kind and doesn’t get tweaked when someone else gets the credit; love doesn’t entertain invitations to write ‘ministry success’ stories in Leadership, Outreach, or Rev!, and certainly doesn’t cop an attitude,
- Doesn’t get rude; it doesn’t welcome a pastor-centric ministry model, isn’t prickly, doesn’t keep score
- Does not gloat when someone from another movement gets trashed in the press, but rejoices in Jesus
- Is sacrificial in ministry, gives people the presumptive benefit of the doubt, is optimistic about the future, keeps doing ministry even when it is Really Hard
- Love doesn’t stumble; but if there are preaching gifts, they will be obsoleted; if there are charismatic gifts, they will be abandoned; if there is theology, it will be tossed
- Because we don’t have all the facts and we preach incompletely
- But when Jesus comes, all those gaps will be filled
- When I was a kid, I talked like a kid, I thought like a kid, had a child’s perspective; when I grew up, I wasn’t like that anymore
- Now we see in a pixilated manner, but then with our own eyes; now I have a limited perspective, but then I will see the whole thing just as I will be fully seen
- But now conviction, optimism, love, these things are always around; but the most important is love.
20080116
Seminary Program
I was reminded that this blog is supposed to be about things I’m learning about in seminary. I was made aware of two websites that specifically discuss going to and being in seminary. Here they are:
http://www.goingtoseminary.com/
http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/
Just in case there are some of you out there who are interested in some of the more programmatic parts of my seminary ‘career,’ I thought I’d do a blog on that stuff.
I am currently attending Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. The seminary is at the top of Hawthorne Blvd – the center of Portland’s Post-Modern community, it seems. My initial program was the Masters of Divinity (M.Div.), which is the ‘traditional’ professional degree for pastoral ministry. M.Div. programs include courses in Bible survey, Systematic Theology, practical skills, church history, original languages (Hebrew and Greek), and some electives to refine the seminarian’s knowledge base. What I really enjoy about Western’s program is that they require several Spiritual Formation courses.
After about a year, I could project that the money was running out. That meant that I would have to scale my seminary experience back. This was a hard pill to swallow, on many levels. But it turned out that I could fulfill the requirements of another degree in the time-money I had left.
That degree is the Masters of Arts in Exegetical Theology (M.A.E.T.). The MAET is basically the M.Div. without the practical ministry courses. It is useful for those who are headed for the Masters of Theology (Th.M.) degree. Personally, I’m going to miss those practical ministry courses but my plan is to keep plugging away at them part-time until I can get the M.Div.
Another unique feature of Western’s program is the “Functional” language track. Western had noticed that even the most brilliant language students, once they got into pastoral ministry, lost much of their language skills. Most seminary graduates settle into relying on lexicons, grammars, and (these days) software such as Logos or Bibleworks. Well, if that’s the case, said the Sages of Western, then why don’t we just prepare our students for what they will actually be doing in ministry? So Western offers two tracks: the “Foundational” (traditional) and the “Functional” (tool-intensive). I am in the Functional track.
http://www.goingtoseminary.com/
http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/
Just in case there are some of you out there who are interested in some of the more programmatic parts of my seminary ‘career,’ I thought I’d do a blog on that stuff.
I am currently attending Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. The seminary is at the top of Hawthorne Blvd – the center of Portland’s Post-Modern community, it seems. My initial program was the Masters of Divinity (M.Div.), which is the ‘traditional’ professional degree for pastoral ministry. M.Div. programs include courses in Bible survey, Systematic Theology, practical skills, church history, original languages (Hebrew and Greek), and some electives to refine the seminarian’s knowledge base. What I really enjoy about Western’s program is that they require several Spiritual Formation courses.
After about a year, I could project that the money was running out. That meant that I would have to scale my seminary experience back. This was a hard pill to swallow, on many levels. But it turned out that I could fulfill the requirements of another degree in the time-money I had left.
That degree is the Masters of Arts in Exegetical Theology (M.A.E.T.). The MAET is basically the M.Div. without the practical ministry courses. It is useful for those who are headed for the Masters of Theology (Th.M.) degree. Personally, I’m going to miss those practical ministry courses but my plan is to keep plugging away at them part-time until I can get the M.Div.
Another unique feature of Western’s program is the “Functional” language track. Western had noticed that even the most brilliant language students, once they got into pastoral ministry, lost much of their language skills. Most seminary graduates settle into relying on lexicons, grammars, and (these days) software such as Logos or Bibleworks. Well, if that’s the case, said the Sages of Western, then why don’t we just prepare our students for what they will actually be doing in ministry? So Western offers two tracks: the “Foundational” (traditional) and the “Functional” (tool-intensive). I am in the Functional track.
20071214
Why I Went To Seminary
Finals week has come and gone. This next semester, however, marks a milestone. The past semesters in seminary have been mostly about just enjoying the ride, so to speak. This next semester will be about finishing well and finding a ministry position.
That got me thinking about what caused me to pursue vocational ministry. The correct theological answer would be that it was the decree of God in eternity past. On the level we usually live, that’s not very helpful for most people. But it is a reality: God knew what the nature of his people and the church would be like in the opening decades of what we call the 21st century, allowed me to be born, experience certain things, and develop into the man I am today – with all the quirks and failings, as well as all the strengths and capacities, that I have. I am a man, created by God, for this time.
But from my perspective, it sure looks a lot messier. I came to faith in a stuttering sort of way. The opportunity came when, as a sophomore in high school, I was finally presented with a clear Gospel message: the reality of my sin, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, and my ability to appropriate that grace by faith. I didn’t know all those terms then, but I have a clear memory that all those concepts were there. I prayed to God to forgive my sins because of what Jesus had done. That was in 1971.
For the next 30 years, my life as a believer was characterized by several streams. The first was intellectual. I have always been a bit clever with words and ideas and took very quickly to understanding Bible and theology. The second stream was related: communication. I have enjoyed, and been fairly successful at, communicating difficult ideas to people for their benefit. This is the core of teaching. The third stream was service. I learned that service and ministry was my primary mode of spirituality. The fourth stream was leadership. I found myself (frequently in spite of myself!) consistently rising to levels of leadership and influence.
But even back in my early days as a believer, I knew that vocational ministry was a significant “calling.” Sweet old church ladies would say, “Eric, you’re such a nice young Christian man. Do you want to be a pastor when you get older?” Even then, I understood that there was something special about being a pastor and whatever that ‘calling’ was; I didn’t have it – yet.
And that was the state of affairs for decades until about 2000. Things were happening in my own life and the life of the church I was attending. They came together in a kind of spiritual crisis for me. It was pretty undefined at the time but I began to sense that I had to step up even more. This led to a very intense sense of spiritual unease in the beginning of 2003. At that time, several mentors suggested I engage in a ‘Focusing’ process to help me gain clarity as to what God seemed to be trying to tell me. I did that and came away with a rather surprising ‘call’ to “help hurting churches back to health…”
Well, then the question became; how do I do *that?* After several more twists and turns – especially in the job situation – I found myself positioned to enter seminary with the goal of entering full-time vocational ministry. I had the encouragement and support of my family and friends, I had the financial means, and I had a clear call to pursue what seminary would do to prepare me for ministry. I applied for, was accepted, and entered Western Seminary in January of 2006.
As I anticipate graduation in 2008, I am now looking for a full-time vocational ministry position.
That got me thinking about what caused me to pursue vocational ministry. The correct theological answer would be that it was the decree of God in eternity past. On the level we usually live, that’s not very helpful for most people. But it is a reality: God knew what the nature of his people and the church would be like in the opening decades of what we call the 21st century, allowed me to be born, experience certain things, and develop into the man I am today – with all the quirks and failings, as well as all the strengths and capacities, that I have. I am a man, created by God, for this time.
But from my perspective, it sure looks a lot messier. I came to faith in a stuttering sort of way. The opportunity came when, as a sophomore in high school, I was finally presented with a clear Gospel message: the reality of my sin, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, and my ability to appropriate that grace by faith. I didn’t know all those terms then, but I have a clear memory that all those concepts were there. I prayed to God to forgive my sins because of what Jesus had done. That was in 1971.
For the next 30 years, my life as a believer was characterized by several streams. The first was intellectual. I have always been a bit clever with words and ideas and took very quickly to understanding Bible and theology. The second stream was related: communication. I have enjoyed, and been fairly successful at, communicating difficult ideas to people for their benefit. This is the core of teaching. The third stream was service. I learned that service and ministry was my primary mode of spirituality. The fourth stream was leadership. I found myself (frequently in spite of myself!) consistently rising to levels of leadership and influence.
But even back in my early days as a believer, I knew that vocational ministry was a significant “calling.” Sweet old church ladies would say, “Eric, you’re such a nice young Christian man. Do you want to be a pastor when you get older?” Even then, I understood that there was something special about being a pastor and whatever that ‘calling’ was; I didn’t have it – yet.
And that was the state of affairs for decades until about 2000. Things were happening in my own life and the life of the church I was attending. They came together in a kind of spiritual crisis for me. It was pretty undefined at the time but I began to sense that I had to step up even more. This led to a very intense sense of spiritual unease in the beginning of 2003. At that time, several mentors suggested I engage in a ‘Focusing’ process to help me gain clarity as to what God seemed to be trying to tell me. I did that and came away with a rather surprising ‘call’ to “help hurting churches back to health…”
Well, then the question became; how do I do *that?* After several more twists and turns – especially in the job situation – I found myself positioned to enter seminary with the goal of entering full-time vocational ministry. I had the encouragement and support of my family and friends, I had the financial means, and I had a clear call to pursue what seminary would do to prepare me for ministry. I applied for, was accepted, and entered Western Seminary in January of 2006.
As I anticipate graduation in 2008, I am now looking for a full-time vocational ministry position.
20071204
Rick Warren Schilling for Hillary??
So I got another internet news item sent to me. Here it is … go ahead and read the article as it’s pretty brief:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/11/sen_clinton_at_saddleback_chur.php
So here was my response to my friend...
Thanks for sending me the link. I think I laughed out loud twice while reading it.
I loved the story – “at least one member of the popular author's Saddleback Valley Community Church called Clinton her "hero." That is hilarious – how many people are members of SVCC? What’s the percentage of people actually interviewed who called her a hero? That would be .0067%, friends – nearly a whole 7 one thousandth of a percent!
The end of the story is also hilarious: "What Saddleback is doing is helping raise her profile as a legitimate presidential candidate in the eyes of evangelical Christians," Of course Hillary Clinton is a legitimate presidential candidate – not liking her, not agreeing with her, and wishing she would simply disappear is not going to change the fact that Hillary is making a very serious run for her party’s nomination. And, at the moment, it is very likely she will get it. Is Tim Wildmont *that* dense? Yes, it seems so!
Are Warren’s actions calculated to boost Hillary’s acceptance among evangelicals; and is he campaigning for her? That is quite a stretch. It seems to me that Warren is shaming Republicans and other evangelicals for not stepping up on a very serious crisis to humanity. Doesn’t it seem more likely that Warren is saying: “Look, here’s a known abortion rights activist whose manifest attitude towards the sanctity of life is weak. And even she ‘gets it’ about the AIDS situation. When are our ‘sanctity of life’ proponents going to get off of the ideological glue and do the right thing?” Suggesting that Warren is promoting the rest of Hillary’s campaign platform is pretty silly.
Warren cares about people dying; image bearers of God are dying and it’s a lot of people’s fault. I think Warren very much wants that to change. But it seems to me that his agenda is AIDS relief, not promoting a liberal political agenda. I have no doubt that Warren has done his calculus and determined that his encouragement of Hillary as to AIDS policy outweighs any outlandish speculation that Rick Warren has gone to the far ideological left. Suggesting that Warren is politically dense is pretty presumptuous.
I seem to remember that Winston Churchill once said that “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” Even today we love that quote. Everybody understood that Churchill was saying that he was so determined on defeating Hitler, which was a good thing, that not much else compared to that goal. Nobody seriously thought that Churchill was promoting Devil worship.
The question isn’t whether Warren is supporting a particular candidate who I personally despise; it is when are the political candidates that I’m supposed to like going to start speaking out about “compassionate conservatism?” The silence is deafening – and condemning.
That’s my opinion – and it ought to be yours. :-)
Blessings,
- Eric
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/11/sen_clinton_at_saddleback_chur.php
So here was my response to my friend...
Thanks for sending me the link. I think I laughed out loud twice while reading it.
I loved the story – “at least one member of the popular author's Saddleback Valley Community Church called Clinton her "hero." That is hilarious – how many people are members of SVCC? What’s the percentage of people actually interviewed who called her a hero? That would be .0067%, friends – nearly a whole 7 one thousandth of a percent!
The end of the story is also hilarious: "What Saddleback is doing is helping raise her profile as a legitimate presidential candidate in the eyes of evangelical Christians," Of course Hillary Clinton is a legitimate presidential candidate – not liking her, not agreeing with her, and wishing she would simply disappear is not going to change the fact that Hillary is making a very serious run for her party’s nomination. And, at the moment, it is very likely she will get it. Is Tim Wildmont *that* dense? Yes, it seems so!
Are Warren’s actions calculated to boost Hillary’s acceptance among evangelicals; and is he campaigning for her? That is quite a stretch. It seems to me that Warren is shaming Republicans and other evangelicals for not stepping up on a very serious crisis to humanity. Doesn’t it seem more likely that Warren is saying: “Look, here’s a known abortion rights activist whose manifest attitude towards the sanctity of life is weak. And even she ‘gets it’ about the AIDS situation. When are our ‘sanctity of life’ proponents going to get off of the ideological glue and do the right thing?” Suggesting that Warren is promoting the rest of Hillary’s campaign platform is pretty silly.
Warren cares about people dying; image bearers of God are dying and it’s a lot of people’s fault. I think Warren very much wants that to change. But it seems to me that his agenda is AIDS relief, not promoting a liberal political agenda. I have no doubt that Warren has done his calculus and determined that his encouragement of Hillary as to AIDS policy outweighs any outlandish speculation that Rick Warren has gone to the far ideological left. Suggesting that Warren is politically dense is pretty presumptuous.
I seem to remember that Winston Churchill once said that “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” Even today we love that quote. Everybody understood that Churchill was saying that he was so determined on defeating Hitler, which was a good thing, that not much else compared to that goal. Nobody seriously thought that Churchill was promoting Devil worship.
The question isn’t whether Warren is supporting a particular candidate who I personally despise; it is when are the political candidates that I’m supposed to like going to start speaking out about “compassionate conservatism?” The silence is deafening – and condemning.
That’s my opinion – and it ought to be yours. :-)
Blessings,
- Eric
20071113
The Real Enemies
A good friend passed on to me a link to an article on the Internet. I read it and was pretty annoyed. It is a commentary on Willow Creek’s recent “recanting” of their ministry model. I’ll give you the URL: A Shocking “Confession” from Willow Creek Community Church.
Here’s my brief analysis. First, let me say I was there in October of ’06 and heard Hybels and Hawkings in person explain what was going on. OK – everybody knows that WCCC changed their tune – this is really old news. But besides being behind the curve, it seems to me that Burney has missed the point. It isn’t about Bill Hybels being wrong about the seeker-sensitive movement– in actual fact he has been very right for a couple of decades. In addition, it looks like Burney completely misses the boat when he labels Hybels as a “church growth guru” and conveniently forgets that WCCC has always been about outreach, evangelism, and reaching people who just were not being reached. Thousands of people are now headed for an eternal life with Jesus because of the ministry of Hybels, Rick Warren, etc. Burney seems to consider this unimportant as he doesn’t mention that fact at all. Come on, we all knew that the seeker-sensitive thing (in and of itself) was not, nor was it ever about, developing fully-devoted followers of Christ.
In fact, if you actually look at what the WCCC statements are saying: it is not that they have repented of trying to reach “unchurched Harry and Mary” – not at all. In fact, WCCC is repenting of a programmatic, get-them-involved-in-anything approach. They are repenting from not emphasizing the development of “self-feeding” believers.
Do you see what Burney has done? WCCC has repented of their *discipleship* model, NOT their evangelism model. But Burney attacks their *evangelism* model because of their statement about their discipleship model. And also no words of encouragement from Burney to WCCC for getting a better grip on how to grow disciples. Why doesn’t he say, “WCCC, the rest of us are really glad that such an influential church is getting serious - not just about bringing people into the Kingdom of light - but now that you want to grow them into fully devoted followers of Jesus.” No; it’s pretty much just: ‘You guys were wrong. About everything – wrong.’
It seems to me that Burney has gotten this wrong. In addition, from where I sit, he’s being a little mean: the tone of this article is way too much on the side of gloating. I’m pretty disappointed – throwing stones at brothers and sisters in Christ is wrong. Comparing Hybels to Dr. Spock is a cheap shot. WCCC has repented; and done so very publicly. I’ve got to wonder if Burney will.
So here’s my Big Point: I think Bob Burney – and far too many “Evangelicals” on the Fundamentalist side of the tent – may have fallen into an age-old trap. We have forgotten something very basic. The question they (and we) need to remember to ask is: Who is the real enemy?
Let me make it clear: sin, the Devil, and death are our enemies. Bill Hybels (as flawed as he is) is not the enemy – he’s a devoted brother in Christ. We get so incestuous in the fights we pick. It is clear that I disagree and am disappointed in Bob Burney. But he’s not my enemy – he’s my brother. I can pick on several goofy Christian leaders and point to their mistakes, their confusion, their error, and even their sin. It’s not my job to condemn or even convict them – I’ll leave that job to the one person who actually has that in their job description: the Holy Spirit. I believe instead that Jesus’ asks us to graciously and humbly confront our brothers and sisters. Even in this blog, I don’t condemn Burney; I want to humbly suggest that he reconsider his analysis and his tone.
As Christians, we have real enemies, but they should NOT be other believers, or the people who don’t vote like we do, or even our unbelieving and very annoying neighbor who is partly a victim of the blindness that accompanies sin. Let’s remember who our real enemies are: the Devil, sin, and death.
Here’s my brief analysis. First, let me say I was there in October of ’06 and heard Hybels and Hawkings in person explain what was going on. OK – everybody knows that WCCC changed their tune – this is really old news. But besides being behind the curve, it seems to me that Burney has missed the point. It isn’t about Bill Hybels being wrong about the seeker-sensitive movement– in actual fact he has been very right for a couple of decades. In addition, it looks like Burney completely misses the boat when he labels Hybels as a “church growth guru” and conveniently forgets that WCCC has always been about outreach, evangelism, and reaching people who just were not being reached. Thousands of people are now headed for an eternal life with Jesus because of the ministry of Hybels, Rick Warren, etc. Burney seems to consider this unimportant as he doesn’t mention that fact at all. Come on, we all knew that the seeker-sensitive thing (in and of itself) was not, nor was it ever about, developing fully-devoted followers of Christ.
In fact, if you actually look at what the WCCC statements are saying: it is not that they have repented of trying to reach “unchurched Harry and Mary” – not at all. In fact, WCCC is repenting of a programmatic, get-them-involved-in-anything approach. They are repenting from not emphasizing the development of “self-feeding” believers.
Do you see what Burney has done? WCCC has repented of their *discipleship* model, NOT their evangelism model. But Burney attacks their *evangelism* model because of their statement about their discipleship model. And also no words of encouragement from Burney to WCCC for getting a better grip on how to grow disciples. Why doesn’t he say, “WCCC, the rest of us are really glad that such an influential church is getting serious - not just about bringing people into the Kingdom of light - but now that you want to grow them into fully devoted followers of Jesus.” No; it’s pretty much just: ‘You guys were wrong. About everything – wrong.’
It seems to me that Burney has gotten this wrong. In addition, from where I sit, he’s being a little mean: the tone of this article is way too much on the side of gloating. I’m pretty disappointed – throwing stones at brothers and sisters in Christ is wrong. Comparing Hybels to Dr. Spock is a cheap shot. WCCC has repented; and done so very publicly. I’ve got to wonder if Burney will.
So here’s my Big Point: I think Bob Burney – and far too many “Evangelicals” on the Fundamentalist side of the tent – may have fallen into an age-old trap. We have forgotten something very basic. The question they (and we) need to remember to ask is: Who is the real enemy?
Let me make it clear: sin, the Devil, and death are our enemies. Bill Hybels (as flawed as he is) is not the enemy – he’s a devoted brother in Christ. We get so incestuous in the fights we pick. It is clear that I disagree and am disappointed in Bob Burney. But he’s not my enemy – he’s my brother. I can pick on several goofy Christian leaders and point to their mistakes, their confusion, their error, and even their sin. It’s not my job to condemn or even convict them – I’ll leave that job to the one person who actually has that in their job description: the Holy Spirit. I believe instead that Jesus’ asks us to graciously and humbly confront our brothers and sisters. Even in this blog, I don’t condemn Burney; I want to humbly suggest that he reconsider his analysis and his tone.
As Christians, we have real enemies, but they should NOT be other believers, or the people who don’t vote like we do, or even our unbelieving and very annoying neighbor who is partly a victim of the blindness that accompanies sin. Let’s remember who our real enemies are: the Devil, sin, and death.
The Form and Function of Switches
There is something about industrial design that's always floated my boat. Herein, a link to an insightful (and British) look at something only a mechanical nerd (and those with similarly refined tastes) could appreciate. Be warned, the following is not for everyone.
Behold, a gallery of switches!!!!
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/0,39029477,49293357-1,00.htm
Behold, a gallery of switches!!!!
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/0,39029477,49293357-1,00.htm
20071025
Sinful Church and Leaders Who Don't
I was chatting with an old friend who, like me, has been a believer from our high school days back when we were wearing long hair and called Jesus Freaks. Now as the Freaks have become “Evangelicals” (that is sooooo weird), we wonder what’s happened to the faith once for all delivered. Specifically, we were commiserating about the stupid, goofy, and occasionally sinful things we’ve seen in church contexts.
Yes! I frequently make the joke that I love Jesus, I love the church, but actual Christians are really disgusting – imagine what God thinks of us! (There’s a reason that I’m glad God has blessed me with parenthood: back when they were really little, my gorgeous children could be rather disgusting, but I still loved them dearly) Anyway, that's one reason that my calling is to dysfunctional churches. There is much that I've seen in the church that is good and right, and a lot that is stupid, ignorant, and rebellious. My desire is to facilitate God’s working in those churches; partly for no more noble reason than for them to stop giving Jesus such a bad name.
My friend and I were also talking about the many people we’ve seen wounded and scarred by church ministry. I also wonder at why so many guys end up leaving pastoral roles. I think something is systemically wrong. I highly suspect that our 'recruitment' process is messed up - there are a lot more that are "called" to ministry than really should go. We esteem leadership too low and allow people to lead who probably have no business doing so. Out of our egalitarian philosophy rather than Bible, we really believe that Christian leadership is something everyone should do. We should probably have fewer Elders and more Deacons. We should re-think what being "Elder Qualified" really means. And I could go on and on - but I can't because I really need to get my Greek homework done this morning. :-) Pray for me, we are beginning participles.
Yes, the church can and has been a place of rampant anti-Jesus stuff. Let’s change that! It is NOT easy to do, but God calls us to it anyway. It will not be comfortable and grate against most of our preferences, but God says he’ll be with us as we move to being better Jesus people.
Yes! I frequently make the joke that I love Jesus, I love the church, but actual Christians are really disgusting – imagine what God thinks of us! (There’s a reason that I’m glad God has blessed me with parenthood: back when they were really little, my gorgeous children could be rather disgusting, but I still loved them dearly) Anyway, that's one reason that my calling is to dysfunctional churches. There is much that I've seen in the church that is good and right, and a lot that is stupid, ignorant, and rebellious. My desire is to facilitate God’s working in those churches; partly for no more noble reason than for them to stop giving Jesus such a bad name.
My friend and I were also talking about the many people we’ve seen wounded and scarred by church ministry. I also wonder at why so many guys end up leaving pastoral roles. I think something is systemically wrong. I highly suspect that our 'recruitment' process is messed up - there are a lot more that are "called" to ministry than really should go. We esteem leadership too low and allow people to lead who probably have no business doing so. Out of our egalitarian philosophy rather than Bible, we really believe that Christian leadership is something everyone should do. We should probably have fewer Elders and more Deacons. We should re-think what being "Elder Qualified" really means. And I could go on and on - but I can't because I really need to get my Greek homework done this morning. :-) Pray for me, we are beginning participles.
Yes, the church can and has been a place of rampant anti-Jesus stuff. Let’s change that! It is NOT easy to do, but God calls us to it anyway. It will not be comfortable and grate against most of our preferences, but God says he’ll be with us as we move to being better Jesus people.
20071018
Cross Cultural Christians
If there’s anything that my one intro-to-missions course reinforced for me was the importance of contextualizing the gospel. This obviously goes beyond language acumen – which is hard enough! It’s has to also be about deeply understanding the culture that the gospel has to go into.
I’ve also been doing some thinking about “gospel.” The Gospel is clearly the news that Jesus died, was buried, and rose according the scriptures as an atoning substitution for the penalty of sin. But I’m increasingly aware that “gospel” is – for postmodern U.S. – part of what we would technically call ‘pre-evangelism.’ Thankfully, Evangelicals are coming to grips with this.
How do we become “good news” to our community? How do we take the Jer 29:29 thing and be a blessing to our immediate context such that they see that we Jesus-people are around and would miss us if we left? So an example of ‘pre-evangelistic gospel’ would be the good news that those Jesus-people did a ‘pick-up the trash around the neighborhood’ event, that they opened their facility to the neighborhood association, that they unilaterally gave out some Christmas gifts (because, after all, they think Christmas is a Big Deal) to kids around the place-neighborhood where they meet. All of that while maintaining a fierce devotion to Jesus.
That is a combination of missional and attractional, of course. But then it’s only attractional if, should these neighbors come to see what it’s all about that they see authentic worship done in a culturally coherent way. For example, in the case of an urban church that I’ve talked to, hymns are dorky and even praise choruses are contrived – and that’s just the music part. But they frequently have people walk into their service from the street and so make sure that what they are doing makes sense to those folks – that it is coherent with their culture.
In our increasingly ‘Balkinized’ society, every Christian needs to think cross-culturally. There’s a double entendre’ there: the more a believer becomes like Christ the more they are changed from an aspectational-perspectivalism of ‘the world’ to a God-perspective. A Christian, seem to me, should be moving to a "Cross Culture." OK, that’s dorky, but stay with me. Christians need to keep feet in both cultures: the culture that is profoundly shaped by the ‘Christ Event,’ as well as the culture that urgently needs that good news.
I’ve also been doing some thinking about “gospel.” The Gospel is clearly the news that Jesus died, was buried, and rose according the scriptures as an atoning substitution for the penalty of sin. But I’m increasingly aware that “gospel” is – for postmodern U.S. – part of what we would technically call ‘pre-evangelism.’ Thankfully, Evangelicals are coming to grips with this.
How do we become “good news” to our community? How do we take the Jer 29:29 thing and be a blessing to our immediate context such that they see that we Jesus-people are around and would miss us if we left? So an example of ‘pre-evangelistic gospel’ would be the good news that those Jesus-people did a ‘pick-up the trash around the neighborhood’ event, that they opened their facility to the neighborhood association, that they unilaterally gave out some Christmas gifts (because, after all, they think Christmas is a Big Deal) to kids around the place-neighborhood where they meet. All of that while maintaining a fierce devotion to Jesus.
That is a combination of missional and attractional, of course. But then it’s only attractional if, should these neighbors come to see what it’s all about that they see authentic worship done in a culturally coherent way. For example, in the case of an urban church that I’ve talked to, hymns are dorky and even praise choruses are contrived – and that’s just the music part. But they frequently have people walk into their service from the street and so make sure that what they are doing makes sense to those folks – that it is coherent with their culture.
In our increasingly ‘Balkinized’ society, every Christian needs to think cross-culturally. There’s a double entendre’ there: the more a believer becomes like Christ the more they are changed from an aspectational-perspectivalism of ‘the world’ to a God-perspective. A Christian, seem to me, should be moving to a "Cross Culture." OK, that’s dorky, but stay with me. Christians need to keep feet in both cultures: the culture that is profoundly shaped by the ‘Christ Event,’ as well as the culture that urgently needs that good news.
20071011
Jesus is the thing
In school I’m taking a course, “Interpreting Scripture.” To those who like the big words: Hermeneutics. We are learning that interpretation is not just a personal thing (perspectivalism) but a rational and fairly objective process. It’s not that perspective doesn’t enter in, it is that we strive to not let that happen. We attempt to manage our perspectives so that they don’t interfere with understanding the author’s intent. We do that through a process that helps that happen. The process is called, “hermeneutics.”
OK, all that aside, we are using a section of scripture to practice on. It is the book of Colossians. Doing either a casual read of the book or analyzing it deeply you come up with a pretty clear picture that the main theme of this letter that Paul wrote to the Colossian church is something like: “The Supremacy of Christ.” A direct statement of this theme is Colossians 3:11 – “… but Christ is all, ....” For Paul, The Main Thing he wanted to make sure the Christians in Colossae got was that Christ is All.
We Christians today don’t get that. We are a bit fuzzy on whether Christ is The Deal or not. Over a year ago I was challenged by David Byrant to listen to sermons and “worship songs” and count how many times we actually talk about Jesus, Christ, Lord Jesus, or any combination of those words. We as Evangelical Protestants are, these days, all about a kind of generic monotheistic religion. We like to talk about “God,” “The Lord,” and the like. But we don’t talk that much about “Jesus.” Why is that?
I think it’s because we’ve forgotten that Christianity is about Christ. We talk much about God – but that doesn’t distinguish us from Jews or Muslims. Christians believe in Jesus. Christians love and worship Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is worthy of worship in exactly the same way that we would worship creator God because we believe that Jesus IS creator God. I won’t get into the theology of that – save that for another post. But my point is that the Christian church has to be about Christ or it really is not Christian.
As a Christian, I invite you to an experiment. At church, walk up to a friend and ask them, “So what has Jesus been teaching you this week?” For most Evangelical, Bible-believing, born-again “Christians,” this will seem to be a kind of weird question to ask in a church lobby. But what is really weird is that it would be a weird question. Of all people, we ought to be able to talk "Jesus" to each other. As supposed fully-devoted-followers of Christ we should be able to talk about Christ with each other.Why are we reluctant to talk "Jesus?" Maybe because it hasn’t been modeled well by our spiritual leaders. Maybe because our theology is more impoverished than we thought and we don’t understand the supremacy of Christ (read Colossians!). Maybe because we are more comfortable with our vague generic monotheism than real Christ-ianity.
This much I do know: if we can’t talk about Jesus with each other then we certainly can’t talk about Jesus to those who don’t yet know him. If we aren’t comfortable talking about Jesus to Christians, how can we expect to talk about Jesus to seekers?
OK, all that aside, we are using a section of scripture to practice on. It is the book of Colossians. Doing either a casual read of the book or analyzing it deeply you come up with a pretty clear picture that the main theme of this letter that Paul wrote to the Colossian church is something like: “The Supremacy of Christ.” A direct statement of this theme is Colossians 3:11 – “… but Christ is all, ....” For Paul, The Main Thing he wanted to make sure the Christians in Colossae got was that Christ is All.
We Christians today don’t get that. We are a bit fuzzy on whether Christ is The Deal or not. Over a year ago I was challenged by David Byrant to listen to sermons and “worship songs” and count how many times we actually talk about Jesus, Christ, Lord Jesus, or any combination of those words. We as Evangelical Protestants are, these days, all about a kind of generic monotheistic religion. We like to talk about “God,” “The Lord,” and the like. But we don’t talk that much about “Jesus.” Why is that?
I think it’s because we’ve forgotten that Christianity is about Christ. We talk much about God – but that doesn’t distinguish us from Jews or Muslims. Christians believe in Jesus. Christians love and worship Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is worthy of worship in exactly the same way that we would worship creator God because we believe that Jesus IS creator God. I won’t get into the theology of that – save that for another post. But my point is that the Christian church has to be about Christ or it really is not Christian.
As a Christian, I invite you to an experiment. At church, walk up to a friend and ask them, “So what has Jesus been teaching you this week?” For most Evangelical, Bible-believing, born-again “Christians,” this will seem to be a kind of weird question to ask in a church lobby. But what is really weird is that it would be a weird question. Of all people, we ought to be able to talk "Jesus" to each other. As supposed fully-devoted-followers of Christ we should be able to talk about Christ with each other.Why are we reluctant to talk "Jesus?" Maybe because it hasn’t been modeled well by our spiritual leaders. Maybe because our theology is more impoverished than we thought and we don’t understand the supremacy of Christ (read Colossians!). Maybe because we are more comfortable with our vague generic monotheism than real Christ-ianity.
This much I do know: if we can’t talk about Jesus with each other then we certainly can’t talk about Jesus to those who don’t yet know him. If we aren’t comfortable talking about Jesus to Christians, how can we expect to talk about Jesus to seekers?
20070928
Tech Support
Having been in the biz, I have to say this little video is right on the mark.
thanks to my BFF Doug (http://doughumphreys.blogspot.com/) for cluing me into this one.
thanks to my BFF Doug (http://doughumphreys.blogspot.com/) for cluing me into this one.
20070908
Small Church - Big Church
This last summer I’ve been busy with a full load at school, getting my daughter ready for her first year of college, trying to enjoy something about our summer, and doing some great ministry at my church.
But for this blog-isode, I wanted to concentrate on some things that I’ve observed and thought about from one of my courses this summer. The course is entitled, “Shepherding the Small Church.” Even the title is a bit controversial because for the majority of the people reading this blog, they likely go to a church that is classified as medium to large, even “mega-.” One might even be tempted to ask: why should anyone learn to pastor a small church?
First, it is still true that the majority of churches in the U.S. are “small” comprising a membership of 75 or less. Second, in spite of some rather noteworthy movements towards large churches, there is a powerful ‘small church’ movement that uses terms like, “house church,” “cell church,” “missional community,” and so forth. Third, for people like me who have spent most of their spiritual lives in larger suburban churches, it is important for me to recognize and appreciate the very different sub-culture that small and rural churches represent.
Let’s start with that idea – small church and large church are very different cultures. One of the biggest mistakes that an inexperienced minister can make is attempting to exercise large-church suburban values in a small-church rural context. This is understandable as most seminary graduates are from larger churches in suburbia. When they take their culture with them, they experience culture shock and profoundly ineffective ministry. So this course is helpful to see the differences and to do effective ministry within (for me) a new culture.
What I hear from some, however, is not just “small church is different from big church,” but “small church is better than big church.” I think this is a profound error. This error states, like most errors claim, that small church values are “biblical” and so the trump card is thrown down right away. Second, and confusing, the accusation will be made that large churches use “man-centered,” “innovative” (meaning not biblical), and use otherwise non-biblical techniques and processes. This makes small churches of God and large churches heretical. Personally, this really bugs me. My experience has been with larger churches so these comments are a back-handed attempt to invalidate my spiritual environment. I think we can admire Hybels, Warren, Stanley, Piper, or Driscoll – all leaders of large churches – and show appropriate distain for T.D. Jakes, or even Joel Osteen who pastors the largest church in this country. Why? Because the first group honors God, Jesus, and the Bible. The last group – in my view – does not. Folks, honest to God – let’s not bash bigger churches merely because they are big!
On the contrary, the biblical evidence – what’s in the actual text - is that the church in the first century was in an urban environment. Second of all, the biblical church was large – these were not ‘house churches,’ these were city-wide, large membership churches that would meet in houses for logistical purposes. Third, there was innovative and situationally responsive ministry happening – the very ‘office’ of Deacon was invented out of thin air pretty much on-the-fly in response to a very specific ministry challenge. The biblical evidence is that New Testament, first-century, ‘biblical’ churches were large, urban, and innovative!
Now, in reality, I am NOT advocating that large churches are godly and biblical while small churches are not. I’m merely rebutting the "only small is godly" argument. My position is that small, medium, or large – the church has many ways of existing. Much of that, by the way, is a function of the culture that the church finds itself in. In large urban or suburban contexts, its rather natural to see churches be large or medium sized. In small town or rural environments, it is also predictable to see medium to smaller churches.
By the way, the society’s culture has a big role to play in the size of church. Let’s continue our conversation by noting that the Bible isn’t very specific at all about how church is done. There are a few parameters and the rest is, well, left to our discretion. In Russia, they do church leadership very differently than we do – but that’s a reflection of Russian culture and when well-done can fit within the parameters that the Bible gives us. In Zaire, they do church way differently than we do, but it’s a reflection of their culture and can fit within biblical parameters.
Here’s the thing! Why are we so quick to condemn our churches? Let us be good observers of our own society! We are Americans; Americans are big-corporation people; much of what we all should recognize as ‘best’ in doing church are done in churches that are well-aligned with the parent culture: in the American case, a bit corporate and large.
Additionally, look at the age and background of the people who have formed these large churches. They are mostly in the 50’s and 60’s, children of Modernity and corporate structures. They grew up hearing that ‘What’s good for General Motors is good for America.’ Now look at the new crop of seminarians – they are absolutely entranced with church planting and missional communities. Why? Are these more biblical? Not particularly. I suggest that the current emphasis on church planting has more to do with the decline of American corporations and the rise of American entrepreneurship in the 1980’s and ‘90’s than any newly-discovered biblical ecclesiology. That happened to coincide with Schmacher's "Small Is Beautiful" movement (1973). Several of you have just turned me off, but from where I sit with a perspective granted by several decades, that’s what I see.
A small biblical church is a good thing. So is a large biblical church, as well as a medium-sized biblical church. Let’s stop evaluating based on externals (walking by sight) and look to the core matters.
But for this blog-isode, I wanted to concentrate on some things that I’ve observed and thought about from one of my courses this summer. The course is entitled, “Shepherding the Small Church.” Even the title is a bit controversial because for the majority of the people reading this blog, they likely go to a church that is classified as medium to large, even “mega-.” One might even be tempted to ask: why should anyone learn to pastor a small church?
First, it is still true that the majority of churches in the U.S. are “small” comprising a membership of 75 or less. Second, in spite of some rather noteworthy movements towards large churches, there is a powerful ‘small church’ movement that uses terms like, “house church,” “cell church,” “missional community,” and so forth. Third, for people like me who have spent most of their spiritual lives in larger suburban churches, it is important for me to recognize and appreciate the very different sub-culture that small and rural churches represent.
Let’s start with that idea – small church and large church are very different cultures. One of the biggest mistakes that an inexperienced minister can make is attempting to exercise large-church suburban values in a small-church rural context. This is understandable as most seminary graduates are from larger churches in suburbia. When they take their culture with them, they experience culture shock and profoundly ineffective ministry. So this course is helpful to see the differences and to do effective ministry within (for me) a new culture.
What I hear from some, however, is not just “small church is different from big church,” but “small church is better than big church.” I think this is a profound error. This error states, like most errors claim, that small church values are “biblical” and so the trump card is thrown down right away. Second, and confusing, the accusation will be made that large churches use “man-centered,” “innovative” (meaning not biblical), and use otherwise non-biblical techniques and processes. This makes small churches of God and large churches heretical. Personally, this really bugs me. My experience has been with larger churches so these comments are a back-handed attempt to invalidate my spiritual environment. I think we can admire Hybels, Warren, Stanley, Piper, or Driscoll – all leaders of large churches – and show appropriate distain for T.D. Jakes, or even Joel Osteen who pastors the largest church in this country. Why? Because the first group honors God, Jesus, and the Bible. The last group – in my view – does not. Folks, honest to God – let’s not bash bigger churches merely because they are big!
On the contrary, the biblical evidence – what’s in the actual text - is that the church in the first century was in an urban environment. Second of all, the biblical church was large – these were not ‘house churches,’ these were city-wide, large membership churches that would meet in houses for logistical purposes. Third, there was innovative and situationally responsive ministry happening – the very ‘office’ of Deacon was invented out of thin air pretty much on-the-fly in response to a very specific ministry challenge. The biblical evidence is that New Testament, first-century, ‘biblical’ churches were large, urban, and innovative!
Now, in reality, I am NOT advocating that large churches are godly and biblical while small churches are not. I’m merely rebutting the "only small is godly" argument. My position is that small, medium, or large – the church has many ways of existing. Much of that, by the way, is a function of the culture that the church finds itself in. In large urban or suburban contexts, its rather natural to see churches be large or medium sized. In small town or rural environments, it is also predictable to see medium to smaller churches.
By the way, the society’s culture has a big role to play in the size of church. Let’s continue our conversation by noting that the Bible isn’t very specific at all about how church is done. There are a few parameters and the rest is, well, left to our discretion. In Russia, they do church leadership very differently than we do – but that’s a reflection of Russian culture and when well-done can fit within the parameters that the Bible gives us. In Zaire, they do church way differently than we do, but it’s a reflection of their culture and can fit within biblical parameters.
Here’s the thing! Why are we so quick to condemn our churches? Let us be good observers of our own society! We are Americans; Americans are big-corporation people; much of what we all should recognize as ‘best’ in doing church are done in churches that are well-aligned with the parent culture: in the American case, a bit corporate and large.
Additionally, look at the age and background of the people who have formed these large churches. They are mostly in the 50’s and 60’s, children of Modernity and corporate structures. They grew up hearing that ‘What’s good for General Motors is good for America.’ Now look at the new crop of seminarians – they are absolutely entranced with church planting and missional communities. Why? Are these more biblical? Not particularly. I suggest that the current emphasis on church planting has more to do with the decline of American corporations and the rise of American entrepreneurship in the 1980’s and ‘90’s than any newly-discovered biblical ecclesiology. That happened to coincide with Schmacher's "Small Is Beautiful" movement (1973). Several of you have just turned me off, but from where I sit with a perspective granted by several decades, that’s what I see.
A small biblical church is a good thing. So is a large biblical church, as well as a medium-sized biblical church. Let’s stop evaluating based on externals (walking by sight) and look to the core matters.
20070811
Review of Leadership Summit ‘07
The first session with Hybels just wrecked me. “Vision to Die For.” He reminded us of John 10: the difference between the hired hand and the shepherd. When trouble comes, the hired guy scoots but the shepherd stays even at grave personal risk and cost. Why? The hired hand doesn’t own the sheep and the shepherd does. So when we are called to a leadership vision (or ministry itself) and trouble comes, how much do we own the vision (or calling)? Do we just give up and boogie because we merely “hired” the vision, or do we stay and give it our all – maybe even to die for it – because we own the vision. That’s what Hybels meant by “Vision to Die For.”
So here I’ve been whining about not having enough money to finish a degree. The reality is that I don’t have enough, based on the large pot that I started with. But we do have other assets: retirement, home equity, etc. How much do I own this calling to ministry? Enough to dip into those other sources?
Hmmm. Well, it’s relatively easy to put oneself on the altar. But it’s quite another thing to put my family’s financial security, my daughter’s college education, and so forth on the altar. It’s one thing to make a decision to put myself at risk, it is quite another to make a decision and put others at risk. Geez, I hate that Bill Hybels! :-) So I have a couple of conversations to make with my family.
So here I’ve been whining about not having enough money to finish a degree. The reality is that I don’t have enough, based on the large pot that I started with. But we do have other assets: retirement, home equity, etc. How much do I own this calling to ministry? Enough to dip into those other sources?
Hmmm. Well, it’s relatively easy to put oneself on the altar. But it’s quite another thing to put my family’s financial security, my daughter’s college education, and so forth on the altar. It’s one thing to make a decision to put myself at risk, it is quite another to make a decision and put others at risk. Geez, I hate that Bill Hybels! :-) So I have a couple of conversations to make with my family.
20070730
Capstone Theology Course
I realized I’m fully into the seminary experience. So much so that I’ve noticed that I had briefly lost touch with where people are really at. I had a conversation with a friend of mine who’d asked about how my classes were going. I then launched into a description of the course on Old Testament theology and some of the controversial issues we were discussing. At one point, I commented that “I really am not all that into Biblical Theology.” My friend responded: “What??!?”
Now in my mind I was maintaining the technical distinctions between the four classic parts of theology: Biblical, Systematic, Historical, and Practical. What I was saying was that I had only gotten a taste of Biblical Theology at this point in my education so was having a challenge getting up to speed in this advanced course. What my friend heard me say is: “I really don’t care about the Bible!” Yikes! I cleared up the confusion – yes, I really DO care about the Bible!! I also laughed at myself because I’d fallen so far into Theologian jargon that even my rather bright friend got confused. So I slapped myself out of my ivory tower and I think I’m better now. :-)
I finished my “Integrating Theology and Ministry” class (this is the 'capstone' course) on the 23rd and that culminated with a brief oral examination that was similar to what I might face during an ordination process. The process goes like this: the room is filled with a few other students who have all had a chance to pick over my work in detail, the prof picks about three subject that he thinks will get the most traction, then they start in with “clarifying” questions about my beliefs and hypothetical questions about ministry, after some time the prof calls a halt, the examinee leaves the room (“cast out into utter darkness”), and then the student is graded by everyone on how well they did in several areas as well as a final “excellent/pass/retake” grade.
So my time came up and the professor announced the three subjects the other guys were to grill me on: one that he knew I was shaky on, one that he knew I’d done some extra work on, and one that he knew I held the minority position with the other guys in the room. So I managed to not completely embarrass myself on my shaky subject (election and atonement), probably did an over-kill on my good subject (humanity), the guys ignored my third subject but started in on me about a completely different area (church discipline and ordinances). I think they were trying to rattle me by bringing up an area that the prof hadn’t put on the table. Still, I did alright, actually. At the end of the allotted time, the prof announced that I was ‘ex-communicated from the room.’ I left and they deliberated my fate. So, after the blood had subsided, they passed me. Whew!
Altogether, it was a great exercise and showed me several weaknesses and a couple of strengths.
Now in my mind I was maintaining the technical distinctions between the four classic parts of theology: Biblical, Systematic, Historical, and Practical. What I was saying was that I had only gotten a taste of Biblical Theology at this point in my education so was having a challenge getting up to speed in this advanced course. What my friend heard me say is: “I really don’t care about the Bible!” Yikes! I cleared up the confusion – yes, I really DO care about the Bible!! I also laughed at myself because I’d fallen so far into Theologian jargon that even my rather bright friend got confused. So I slapped myself out of my ivory tower and I think I’m better now. :-)
I finished my “Integrating Theology and Ministry” class (this is the 'capstone' course) on the 23rd and that culminated with a brief oral examination that was similar to what I might face during an ordination process. The process goes like this: the room is filled with a few other students who have all had a chance to pick over my work in detail, the prof picks about three subject that he thinks will get the most traction, then they start in with “clarifying” questions about my beliefs and hypothetical questions about ministry, after some time the prof calls a halt, the examinee leaves the room (“cast out into utter darkness”), and then the student is graded by everyone on how well they did in several areas as well as a final “excellent/pass/retake” grade.
So my time came up and the professor announced the three subjects the other guys were to grill me on: one that he knew I was shaky on, one that he knew I’d done some extra work on, and one that he knew I held the minority position with the other guys in the room. So I managed to not completely embarrass myself on my shaky subject (election and atonement), probably did an over-kill on my good subject (humanity), the guys ignored my third subject but started in on me about a completely different area (church discipline and ordinances). I think they were trying to rattle me by bringing up an area that the prof hadn’t put on the table. Still, I did alright, actually. At the end of the allotted time, the prof announced that I was ‘ex-communicated from the room.’ I left and they deliberated my fate. So, after the blood had subsided, they passed me. Whew!
Altogether, it was a great exercise and showed me several weaknesses and a couple of strengths.
20070626
Vinyl To Jesus Freaks
Having gone through this vinyl-rippin’ exercise, I found myself thinking about the impact of this music on my own life, as well as the life of the American church. I find both impacts to be positive.
Personally, what is noteworthy about these pieces is that they fueled my own (very) mediocre musical talents. Not only were these great talents affirming the gospel but they were also affirming the expression of the gospel through my generation’s ‘heart music.’
Decades later, I appreciate the missionary work they did in reaching into a different culture than the American Church had not, up to this time, been able to penetrate. Today, Christian thinkers such as Ed Stetzer confirm the observation that American culture is finally being recognized as fragmented and those barriers are cultural: language, dress, behavioral norms, music, worldview, etc. Today, among those Christians sensitive to reaching people with the Jesus News, this is obvious. Back in the Day, no – not so much. The expectation was an Old Testament ethos: “The people need to come here to learn of the Lord.” That is, bring people to church and not only convert them to Jesus, but also ‘church culture.’ But the New Testament ethos is: “As you are going about your business, make disciples: convert and teach them how to live.” That is, go out, meet lost people, learn how to talk to them, and tell them the Jesus Story so they can respond.
I am reminded again of the Third Great Awakening in the United States. What we now know of as the “Jesus Freaks” was the engine to modern evangelicalism. Back then, it was clear – it’s supposed to all be about Jesus. “He’s the Real Thing” was, though bumper-sticker theology, still an indicator of the ethos of the time. Now, it is more confusing.
Ask your average un-churched, post-Christian, culturally engaged person what “Evangelical” means and you’ll get an answer about politics, ideology, or culture. Rarely will you hear, “an emphasis on the good news about Jesus.” Ask them to describe Jesus and you’ll probably hear: “loving, kind, gentle, wise, forgiving” – and they would be right, wouldn’t they? Ask them to describe an Evangelical and you will probably not hear any of those words. Something is wrong with that picture.
We’ve lost something from the days of the Jesus Revolution – not only the one during the 1970’s, but the even bigger one during the first century. Christ is now proxy for ideology and the gospel is something to run away from.
What have we done?
Personally, what is noteworthy about these pieces is that they fueled my own (very) mediocre musical talents. Not only were these great talents affirming the gospel but they were also affirming the expression of the gospel through my generation’s ‘heart music.’
Decades later, I appreciate the missionary work they did in reaching into a different culture than the American Church had not, up to this time, been able to penetrate. Today, Christian thinkers such as Ed Stetzer confirm the observation that American culture is finally being recognized as fragmented and those barriers are cultural: language, dress, behavioral norms, music, worldview, etc. Today, among those Christians sensitive to reaching people with the Jesus News, this is obvious. Back in the Day, no – not so much. The expectation was an Old Testament ethos: “The people need to come here to learn of the Lord.” That is, bring people to church and not only convert them to Jesus, but also ‘church culture.’ But the New Testament ethos is: “As you are going about your business, make disciples: convert and teach them how to live.” That is, go out, meet lost people, learn how to talk to them, and tell them the Jesus Story so they can respond.
I am reminded again of the Third Great Awakening in the United States. What we now know of as the “Jesus Freaks” was the engine to modern evangelicalism. Back then, it was clear – it’s supposed to all be about Jesus. “He’s the Real Thing” was, though bumper-sticker theology, still an indicator of the ethos of the time. Now, it is more confusing.
Ask your average un-churched, post-Christian, culturally engaged person what “Evangelical” means and you’ll get an answer about politics, ideology, or culture. Rarely will you hear, “an emphasis on the good news about Jesus.” Ask them to describe Jesus and you’ll probably hear: “loving, kind, gentle, wise, forgiving” – and they would be right, wouldn’t they? Ask them to describe an Evangelical and you will probably not hear any of those words. Something is wrong with that picture.
We’ve lost something from the days of the Jesus Revolution – not only the one during the 1970’s, but the even bigger one during the first century. Christ is now proxy for ideology and the gospel is something to run away from.
What have we done?
20070623
Rippin' Vinyl
Here’s an update on my vinyl rippin’ efforts. First, it is amazing how well I remember these tunes, the lyrics, and what appealed to me about the music back in the day. Second, I listen to some of these albums and can’t help but react: “What was I thinking??!” My only defense was that my musical tastes were ‘evolving.’
So here’s what is now in my digital library:
Maranatha Music – Growing up in SoCal as a Christian coming of age in the days of the Jesus Freaks, there was pretty much one show in town and that was Saturday night concerts at Calvary Chapel. This was just after they moved out of the circus tent into their (at the time) brand-spankin’ new auditorium. It was my first exposure to a mega-church and was the emerging church of its day. As part of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa’s (CC/CM) outreach, they had several ‘worship teams’ (bands) of top-notch talent. These bands would not only play at home, but toured and recorded. CC/CM created its own record label, “Maranatha Music,” and here are the titles I bought and have ripped to digimedia:
Love Song – while some would say that “Children Of The Day” was the first, “Love Song” was the flagship group of the Maranatha label
Daniel Amos – country style with some Big Band fun
Mustard Seed Faith – “Sail On Sailor;” like several albums side B much stronger than A
The Way - title album
The Way – “can it be?” [note the lack of capitals, e.e. cummings was Very Big then]
Maranatha x – a series of compilations ranging from “The Everlastin’ Living Jesus music Concert” to Maranatha VIII; I have ‘volumes’ 1 through 5
Issac Air Freight – “Fun In The Son;” IAF was a trio of guys who did Christian comedy; it’s a bit dated now, but was very cool back then
Solid Rock – created by the Bad Boy of Jesus Rock, Larry Norman. Solid Rock operated under the principle, “Why Should the Devil Have All The Good Music?” Larry was my role-model for the Angry Young Man thing (the problem was that *I* stayed angry long after my youth). Larry was personally problematic but pushed the envelope in several directions that the church is only now coming to grips with (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman). Larry discovered several talents. It seems to me that the most significant was Randy Stonehill. The sweet guitar work in this album was done by Stonehill.
Larry Norman – In Another Land; very serious, full of the thundering prophet
Randy Stonehill – Welcome To Paradise; as Larry was serious, Randy was playful
Spirit – a division of Sparrow; Jesus Rock now getting some commercial attention.
Benny Hester – fun, loud, impossibly high tenor
Myrrh – a division of Word and distribution channel for Solid Rock
The 2nd Chapter of Acts – wow, a trio of siblings who sang real pruty-like
Power Music – a collection of some of their artists and albums for 1977: Chuck Girard, B.J. Thomas, Michael Omartian, Tom Howard, Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman, Phil Keaggy, et al.
Bob Ayala – “Joy By Surprise;” an interesting album themed by great thinkers within the faith; Bob was blind and would comment that his first sight would be of the risen Jesus – which sure beats what the rest of us have to look at day to day.
John Fischer – “Johnny’s Café;” apparently somewhat panned by critics, I actually loved it
So here’s what is now in my digital library:
Maranatha Music – Growing up in SoCal as a Christian coming of age in the days of the Jesus Freaks, there was pretty much one show in town and that was Saturday night concerts at Calvary Chapel. This was just after they moved out of the circus tent into their (at the time) brand-spankin’ new auditorium. It was my first exposure to a mega-church and was the emerging church of its day. As part of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa’s (CC/CM) outreach, they had several ‘worship teams’ (bands) of top-notch talent. These bands would not only play at home, but toured and recorded. CC/CM created its own record label, “Maranatha Music,” and here are the titles I bought and have ripped to digimedia:
Love Song – while some would say that “Children Of The Day” was the first, “Love Song” was the flagship group of the Maranatha label
Daniel Amos – country style with some Big Band fun
Mustard Seed Faith – “Sail On Sailor;” like several albums side B much stronger than A
The Way - title album
The Way – “can it be?” [note the lack of capitals, e.e. cummings was Very Big then]
Maranatha x – a series of compilations ranging from “The Everlastin’ Living Jesus music Concert” to Maranatha VIII; I have ‘volumes’ 1 through 5
Issac Air Freight – “Fun In The Son;” IAF was a trio of guys who did Christian comedy; it’s a bit dated now, but was very cool back then
Solid Rock – created by the Bad Boy of Jesus Rock, Larry Norman. Solid Rock operated under the principle, “Why Should the Devil Have All The Good Music?” Larry was my role-model for the Angry Young Man thing (the problem was that *I* stayed angry long after my youth). Larry was personally problematic but pushed the envelope in several directions that the church is only now coming to grips with (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman). Larry discovered several talents. It seems to me that the most significant was Randy Stonehill. The sweet guitar work in this album was done by Stonehill.
Larry Norman – In Another Land; very serious, full of the thundering prophet
Randy Stonehill – Welcome To Paradise; as Larry was serious, Randy was playful
Spirit – a division of Sparrow; Jesus Rock now getting some commercial attention.
Benny Hester – fun, loud, impossibly high tenor
Myrrh – a division of Word and distribution channel for Solid Rock
The 2nd Chapter of Acts – wow, a trio of siblings who sang real pruty-like
Power Music – a collection of some of their artists and albums for 1977: Chuck Girard, B.J. Thomas, Michael Omartian, Tom Howard, Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman, Phil Keaggy, et al.
Bob Ayala – “Joy By Surprise;” an interesting album themed by great thinkers within the faith; Bob was blind and would comment that his first sight would be of the risen Jesus – which sure beats what the rest of us have to look at day to day.
John Fischer – “Johnny’s Café;” apparently somewhat panned by critics, I actually loved it
20070617
Fun Father's Day
Happy Father’s Day!
I have to report a major endorphin rush. My children, God Bless ‘em, bought their Ol’ Man a wonderfully thoughtful piece of technology. Perhaps you’ve seen these at Costco or elsewhere. These are turntables – yes, “record players” (for those under 30) that have a USB connection and software to capture the playing of vinyl into an MP3 (or other format). Sweet!
So, in yet another way for me to waste time rather than read theology, I’ve started ‘ripping’ my vinyl into MP3 files. Now this is Major Fun. First, I haven’t heard these cuts in maybe three decades and so that in itself is a treat. Second, to hear what my taste in music was like when I was 15 years old or such is also a (pardon, I’m an old guy now) “hoot.” Additionally, with the software (Audacity), it is possible to clean up some of the hiss and scratch of some records that were never well taken care of back in the day.
So, for a guy who has a thing for music, this was a wonderful Father’s Day.
Thanks, kids!
Love, Dad.
I have to report a major endorphin rush. My children, God Bless ‘em, bought their Ol’ Man a wonderfully thoughtful piece of technology. Perhaps you’ve seen these at Costco or elsewhere. These are turntables – yes, “record players” (for those under 30) that have a USB connection and software to capture the playing of vinyl into an MP3 (or other format). Sweet!
So, in yet another way for me to waste time rather than read theology, I’ve started ‘ripping’ my vinyl into MP3 files. Now this is Major Fun. First, I haven’t heard these cuts in maybe three decades and so that in itself is a treat. Second, to hear what my taste in music was like when I was 15 years old or such is also a (pardon, I’m an old guy now) “hoot.” Additionally, with the software (Audacity), it is possible to clean up some of the hiss and scratch of some records that were never well taken care of back in the day.
So, for a guy who has a thing for music, this was a wonderful Father’s Day.
Thanks, kids!
Love, Dad.
20070601
25th Anniversary
Just a quick update on our trip...
Barb and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this last weekend. A quarter of a century! I remember as a child thinking that a quarter of a century was a very long time indeed. Now: no, not so much! We did some reminiscing and I felt like the years really have flown by. We did a mini-vacation while the kids were at home.
First, we went to a Bed’n’Breakfast near Port Angeles. Let me recommend this place to you – let me HIGHLY recommend this place! It is called “A Hidden Haven” and run by Chris and Jodi Jones. The facility was wonderful, the grounds beautiful, and the service excellent. If you’re thinking of a weekend getaway, please check these folks out (www.ahiddenhaven.com). We enjoyed the local San Juan de Fuca Arts Festival going on that weekend – also much fun.
Then we took the ferry and crossed to Victoria, B.C. and stayed two nights at the Empress. We’ve been to Victoria several times over the decades and enjoy Canada very much. The weather was picture-postcard-perfect! We rented scooters and rode around the peninsula, had very nice dinners (I recommend “Milestone’s” right on the Inner Harbor), did tourist-shopping, went to the Butchart Gardens (we were there once before 15 years ago), and generally goofed around.
We took the ferry back through the San Juan Islands, then drove down Whidbey Island (the second longest island within the contiguous 48 states), merged with I-5 and came home last night.
Barb and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this last weekend. A quarter of a century! I remember as a child thinking that a quarter of a century was a very long time indeed. Now: no, not so much! We did some reminiscing and I felt like the years really have flown by. We did a mini-vacation while the kids were at home.
First, we went to a Bed’n’Breakfast near Port Angeles. Let me recommend this place to you – let me HIGHLY recommend this place! It is called “A Hidden Haven” and run by Chris and Jodi Jones. The facility was wonderful, the grounds beautiful, and the service excellent. If you’re thinking of a weekend getaway, please check these folks out (www.ahiddenhaven.com). We enjoyed the local San Juan de Fuca Arts Festival going on that weekend – also much fun.
Then we took the ferry and crossed to Victoria, B.C. and stayed two nights at the Empress. We’ve been to Victoria several times over the decades and enjoy Canada very much. The weather was picture-postcard-perfect! We rented scooters and rode around the peninsula, had very nice dinners (I recommend “Milestone’s” right on the Inner Harbor), did tourist-shopping, went to the Butchart Gardens (we were there once before 15 years ago), and generally goofed around.
We took the ferry back through the San Juan Islands, then drove down Whidbey Island (the second longest island within the contiguous 48 states), merged with I-5 and came home last night.
20070531
Yet Another Loss
I have some more unhappy news – a dear friend of the family has passed away from pancreatic cancer (http://etzen.blogspot.com/). Mark Etzen was a much loved and a wonderful guy. He was another bright, talented, and a deep lover of Jesus guy. A few months back he’d been diagnosis with pancreatic cancer that had metatesized to the liver: a death sentence. There were many around him who strongly felt that God would cure Mark. Certainly there was no doubt that God could. Yet, God chose to allow Mark’s body to respond to the disease like the vast majority of other folks.
Mark, since the time we met about ten years ago, had been a great friend to me and my family. We served on various ministries at our church, Community Baptist of Alta Loma (http://www.cbconline.org/), watched our kids grow up, and sweated through our mutual issues with career and family. The pattern usually went like this: I would fret, Mark would give a little laugh, cock his head, and say something like, “Is it really that bad?” I would get the reality-check he just offered, and we would go about our day. I could go on and on about Mark, but you get the idea.
I would count it a favor if you could pray for this situation. Please remember Mark’s children (three daughters: two married and one going through college) and wife (who now has to manage a very disruptive ‘transition’) – the loss in their lives is palpable.
I am so happy to know that Mark no longer has pancreatic cancer and is now living the way God always intended us to be. Still... I will miss him very much; the world is now a little emptier for me knowing that Mark is not around. I look forward to the day when we'll see each other again and catch each other up on what's happened since today.
As you may remember, this is the second death close to our family so far in 2007. Please take a look at my blog, “A Loss Experienced” on March 1st (http://ericmesselt.blogspot.com/2007/03/loss-experienced.html). In that blog, I mentioned several things about grieving and some things that occurred to me. My observations just a few months ago haven’t changed that much, but I want to conclude with the summary:
- Death is pretty crappy. It is good to remember that death is still the enemy
It is not unspiritual, immature, faithless, or less godly to feel pain at the loss of a loved one or friend - Death, in itself, is a reminder that it is not supposed to be this way
- As much as we can try to ‘handle’ or ‘manage’ our grief ‘process,’ we should not be surprised when that breaks down: we can NOT expect this kind of thing to be ‘managable’
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