The End of One Road, And the Beginning of Another

GRADUATES HONORED
Springfield, MO Ceremony

Aaron Winowiski, a church planter from Wisconsin, was one of thirty-three graduates honored during June 5 graduation ceremonies in Springfield, Missouri.

Diploma in Ministry Leadership: Christopher F. Cahill (Florida), Luke Crosby (California), Melanie Ann Dixon (Maryland), Ellie Louise Edwards (California), Bill Johnson, Jr. (Alaska), Thomas C. McElligott (Washington), Elizabeth Puffer (California), Janice Sawyer (California), Jane Sue Wallace (California)

Master of Ministry Leadership: Mark Edward Canfield (Florida), Joseph Michael De Rico (Arizona), Ronald Ed Emmerling (Michigan), Douglas L. Hart (California), Karen Klender Heist (Maryland), Joseph F. Kane (Ohio), Stacey M. Manske (Virginia), Mark Andrew Miller (Missouri), Katherine Ann Oshiro (California), Robert K. Paylor (Virginia), Mark A. Sisler (Illinois), Douglas Edward Street (Taiwan), Thomas Michael Thompson (South Carolina), Heath Owen Tucker (Oklahoma), James R. Wilke, Jr. (California), Aaron T. Winowiski (Wisconsin), David Anthony Wilson (Florida)

Master of Divinity: Thomas F. Bartlett (North Carolina), Bruce C. Coats (Wisconsin), Patrick W. Giraldin (California), Scott Steven Mills (Texas), Matthew Nash (Michigan), James A. Robbins (California), Timothy Gary Swigart (Wisconsin)
____________________________________________________________________

Yes, it is now official. Yours truly completed the requirements for the Masters of Ministry Leadership at Rockbridge Seminary earlier this year. I would have loved to been able to go to the physical graduation and meet some of the great people I took the journey with, but that wasn't possible. So I want to take this opportunity to once again thank the staff, faculty, and students that walked with me along the way, and in particular a couple of people who really made it possible.

First, to my wife Bunny, my cheerleader and motivator, I owe more than I will ever be able to repay. You have been the greatest gift my Savior has ever given me. Thank you for encouraging me and supporting me.

Second, to a fellow student and brother in Christ who stepped up at the end of the journey when I was unable to continue for lack of funds - again, my heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice you made. I'll not give your name, since that wasn't what you wanted, but I will never forget the grace you bestowed on me.

To you who read this and are wondering about a seminary education, all I can tell you is go for it! The advent of quality online education is upon us, and Rockbridge offers world class and practical instruction that will make you more effective for the Kingdom of God regardless of what your role might be where you are.

Renewing Theological Education

Most of the readers of this blog know that I have been working on graduate degrees in theology or theological disciplines for many, many years. I began immediately after my call into the ministry in 1991, at the Marietta Campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. For almost two years I worked on a Masters of Divinity degree there. We met at Roswell Street Baptist Church, and almost all of the professors flew in from New Orleans each week,taught in Marietta, then flew back to New Orleans and taught there. I drove up from Macon, about a 90 minute drive, every Monday afternoon, and left after class, arriving home around midnight.

When we moved to Florida, once I was reasonably sure that we would remain here, I reapplied for admission at New Orleans and began work at their Graceville Florida extension. I would drive over on Monday afternoon and take a class or two. It was about an hour and fifteen minute drive over there. In this case the professors were either local pastors with doctorates, professors at the Baptist College of Florida (on whose campus we met)or the content was delivered over TV live from New Orleans most of the time or rarely from one of the other extension centers.

My attendance was predicated mostly on money and time. If I had enough of both, I would attend. If not, I wouldn't. Over the years I had some great experiences in class at NOBTS. I also attended some Saturday classes on campus in New Orleans in order to try to satisfy the requirement the accrediting board places on them to have 30 hours of on campus work as part of the degrees. The credits I lack now for that degree are solely because of that requirement. It ran afoul of time AND money. To take a week was hard. To get the money was hard. To take a week and get the money for the course AND for the stay in New Orleans was impossible. So I lack 17 hours of on campus credit to this day.

Along comes Rockbridge Seminary with an innovative delivery system, a Purpose Driven paradigm, and a cost that I could manage. They weren't Southern Baptist, but had SBC people at the top of their leadership team. They weren't accredited, but had people in leadership who knew exactly what would be needed to achieve that. I began in 2004 and except one hiatus went straight through and just finished my Masters there.

Sam Simmons, cofounder of Rockbridge asked today on Facebook about whether the seminaries can stand outside the conversation that most institutions are having today concerning the delivery of information to students. He references this video.



I commented on Facebook but ran out of room. ( no surprise there :) ) Here's what I said expanded to fit this space.

Seminaries desperately need to immerse themselves in the Church. Technology is a tool to accomplish that, but only a tool. We need to connect the learners, the learning, and the work the learners are doing in their contexts. Are you teaching for information or for action?

I interacted with people in ministry all over the world during my Rockbridge years. It was an eyeopening experience to hear about how ministry was done in Singapore, South Africa, in Korea and other places around the globe. If an effort was made to bring more ministries together through the seminary... in other words for the seminary to become a serving AND sending unit using the social networking tools we have now - you have a revolution in the effect a seminary education can have.

And if we enlisted graduates across the world who were willing to mentor (even open internships for Rockbridge students, host mission trips by their churches, partner in plants, whatever God leads) we would take it to another level.

Establish "cohorts" of graduates to continue their conversations and interaction for continuing ed. Create a chorus of dreamers who want to see what Rockbridge delivered to them distilled and focused for even more impact.

Rockbridge needs some serious networking focus externally, and some serious networking focus internally if it wants to lead the other seminaries to the future. It needs to show to the Church (big "C") what its students and graduates are doing around the world to expand the Kingdom of God. Explore partnerships with leading edge ministries and expand the ones you have.

Random thoughts...

P.E.A.C.E. plan equipping should be a no-brainer.
LifeChurch.tv - they have a grip on what's coming and are continually rolling out new ideas.
Mark Batterson and the movie church guys. Who trains planters to do that? Offer courses for different contexts. Urban planting by Tim Keller, Batterson or the like. How to start service outreaches by Steve Sjorgen.
There are numerous ministries out there today who are looking to expand the Kingdom and not afraid to try something new. Go see them. Pray with them. Share dreams with them.
Worldwide - can you leverage that to help groups in AUS, SA, ESP,etc who need training but can't go get it?

Yes - go talk. Go share. GO!

I Can See It From Here

Yesterday was one of those up and down days that seem to characterize the life of a pastor.

Personally, it was great to celebrate Bunny's birthday and look forward to today's celebration of our 35th anniversary. But we also were wading through the process of (along with the rest of Bunny's family) taking a look at what we can do to improve Bunny's Mom's care and eventually see her return home. That pressed us all day long.

Then there was the sadness as we prayed for Harriet Standifer and her family as they laid to rest her sister and her husband who passed away last week. Added to that was the news that one of our elderly members, Evelyn Brown, who was visiting her daughter in Colorado, fell down a flight of stairs and suffered serious injury.

Later in the day I got a notice that the materials I had submitted for my final review for graduation from Rockbridge Seminary were lacking a few pages of work, and that they were needed immediately. The reviewer was one of my favorite professors at Rockbridge, Dr. Dean Finley, and he and I worked out through a series of emails what was needed and I stayed up last night until I was able to get that done.

For me, one of the greatest revelations I received earlier as a pastor was that I was involved in an avocation that guaranteed my frustration unless I came to grips with the fact that my work was never really ever "finished." People don't stay "fixed." Churches don't continue to be healthy, or continue to grow unless the pastor and the people he loves and cares for continue to do the little things to stay in step with the Holy Spirit.

Until you understand that, you will be on the way to going nuts.

So early on I realized I needed something in my life that had a starting point and an ending - a finish line. When we first moved here, it was easy - we had old cars that continually needed work. Fixing them, at least fixing one thing until another happened - filled my need. But we eventually moved upstream from $150 cars and I entered seminary again. While my work at New Orleans still lacks a few credits due to their on campus requirements, my tenure at Rockbridge is in sight of the finish line. I can see it from where I sit today, and if everything goes right, I'll be finished in February and graduate in June.

It is... right... there.

So what's next?

I'm praying about that. I'd definitely like to knock out the 17 hours I need at NOBTS, but time and tides make it difficult. I could roll the credits from there into another Rockbridge program. It really has been a great experience. Initially I plan to write more and listen to the Holy Spirit for my ultimate direction.

But it is so wonderful to be near the finish line.

Finished

Just completed uploading all the required documents for graduation at Rockbridge Seminary.

Excuse me while I dance the dance of joy.

About that whole unexamined life deal...

"The unexamined life may not be worth living, but the life too closely examined may not be lived at all" -Mark Twain

The last few weeks have been full ones here.

Bunny and I have been journeying to Macon Georgia every two weeks to help care for and encourage her Mom. We have had a flurry of church members with needs - from hospital visits (in bunches), to surgeries (likewise), and a funeral for a member's dad. The Christmas season is packed anyway, but we're at 150%.

And all while those were going on, I have been trying to complete the Rockbridge Seminary "Capstone" program. The "Capstone" is the final course of my program, and sums up everything that you have learned in the Rockbridge experience. The course itself is called "Practicing the Focused Life."

I have written before about how I have enjoyed my time at Rockbridge and expressed my admiration for the way they go about equipping pastors and ministry leaders. Once I finish the "Capstone" I will write a lot more, but for now, the experience has solidified my bond with that bit of Mark Twain's work. The process has devolved into a flurry of paperwork that serves little purpose.

That's a shame.

Google Apps for Education Comes To Rockbridge

Just received an email from Brian at Rockbridge saying that along with the rollout of student emails (still not the coveted "edu" unfortunately) we are in the process also going to receive the full "Google Apps for Education" suite.

From what I can tell, on my side, there's nothing there I don't already use. I was just having a discussion inside my head today about getting a netbook instead of a laptop next time. Since I'm connected almost all the time to the web, why not just work with Google, Google Apps, and online storage sites instead of toting the load on a hard drive? Less aggravation, less cost. Just makes sense. But I'm still ahead of the seminary I guess.

But it is great to be a participant in education with a seminary that is technology forward in their approach. I can remember vividly a discussion I had with an NOBTS prof years ago when I suggested instead of faxing him a paper I could just email a pdf. He literally had no idea what a pdf was. Now they've come a long way since that event, but they still are mired in bricks and mortar.

Now if Rockbridge will just fix the mess that is the Capstone.

Almost There

Almost.

I've completed all the courses for the Masters In Ministry Leadership now, except for the "Capstone" course "Practicing the Focused Life." In the course, we're asked to collect documents such as our mentor reports, projects, etc. that tell the story of how we have grown during our time at Rockbridge.

We are measured against 35 Competencies:

“Worship” Skills

* Leads and/or works with other people in planning and facilitating worship.
* Performs baptisms, weddings, funerals and other ordinances of the church in an appropriate manner.
* Designs creative worship experiences that involve music, media, and the arts.
* Educates the congregation in personal, family, and corporate worship.
* Communicates Scripture in a way that leads an intended audience to worship and to experience life transformation.
* Leads a congregation in prayer and a prayer ministry.
* Practices and leads the church in practicing worship through stewardship of life and resources.

“Fellowship” Skills

* Builds and maintains healthy relationships with others.
* Sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
* Develops relationships within and external to the ministry organization for accountability and personal support.
* Functions effectively with professional staff and church members and works with others in resolving conflict in the body of Christ.
* Listens and responds in ways that let people know they have been heard.
* Develops small groups and leads them to birth new groups.
* Leads the church in developing a process for connecting new members into the life and purposes of the church.

“Discipleship” Skills

* Interprets the biblical text and applies its truth to life situations.
* Effectively employs Bible study tools and basic biblical language skills for personal Bible study and Bible teaching.
* Evaluates current ministry programs and issues in light of church history and theology.
* Leads the church in planning, conducting, and evaluating a comprehensive program of discipleship and Christian maturity.
* Demonstrates a vibrant spiritual life through the implementation of spiritual disciplines including prayer, Bible study, holiness of life and communion with God.
* Models the role of an effective teacher and communicator.
* Leads in developing, evaluating, and administering curriculum plans; functions as resource person in discipleship curriculum.

“Ministry” Skills

* Exercises the administrative skills of strategic planning, organizing, leading and evaluating the work of ministry that leads to achievement of defined goals and the mission of the New Testament church.
* Provides spiritual guidance in helping others analyze how God has shaped them for ministry through spiritual gifts, heart for ministry, abilities, personality, and experiences.
* Recruits, trains, and supervises individuals to fulfill the purposes of the church.
* Assesses the needs of the ministry community, designs appropriate actions to meet those needs, and effectively markets the church’s ministry in the community.
* Develops and administers budgets for ministry programs and organizations; reads and prepares financial reports.
* Provides pastoral care and counseling for the sick, hurting, and grieving, and makes appropriate referrals to other sources of professional help.
* Demonstrates godly humility and sacrificial love for those in the church.

“Evangelism” Skills

* Communicates biblical truth through preaching, personal witness, teaching, speaking, writing, music, and other ways as may be appropriate to fulfill the Great Commission.
* Leads the church in an effective program of evangelism; plans and conducts a program of community witness.
* Leads the church in planning and conducting cross-cultural missions.
* Builds relationships with unbelievers that lead to opportunities to share the gospel.
* Interprets the culture and plans appropriate strategies for sharing the gospel in that culture.
* Respects persons of different cultural, social and religious backgrounds.
* Articulates the Christian message and contrasts that message with other worldviews and major world religions.

These have to be expressed through the projects we have done along the way, and VERIFIED by people. That last little bit was an unexpected part of the information dump I received as the Capstone opened yesterday. I'm asking for clarification to see if my professors and mentors can serve to verify the projects I have done or whether I will have to go outside that.

So dear reader, take a look at the list of competencies. If you think you can verify that I have on occasion accomplished one or more with competence, I may have to get back to you. :)

Over the last 17 years and 109 hours of seminary plus 20 hours of other Masters level coursework I've learned a lot. But Rockbridge's focus is right on - what do you do with what you have learned?

The End Is Near

This email confirms your registration for the October term which begins Tuesday, October 21. You will not have access to your classroom until Tuesday. Your registration will appear after the rosters are built Friday the 17th or Monday, October 20th.

This term represents a record enrollment and we truly appreciate you continuing or beginning your studies at Rockbridge.

Sincerely,

Linda LaRussa
Student Advisor

My last class at Rockbridge Seminary - The Capstone Course

In this course you will build a ministry portfolio that demonstrates your accomplishment of learning goals which you set at the beginning of your seminary program.

To demonstrate learning, you will:

• Describe your learning journey during the time you have been enrolled in your Rockbridge Seminary degree program
• Analyze how your ministry competency inventory has changed from the beginning of your Rockbridge Seminary studies until now and where your development horizons are moving forward
• Present a digital Ministry Portfolio documenting your achievement of 35 ministry competencies

I can see the end of this phase approaching, and I am glad.

Using Secular Music In Worship

"The fact is that secular music speaks to people--seekers, unchurched, and churched alike ... because many secular songs articulate universal human needs. The reason so many songs are written about love is because it's a universal desire, and one that the Bible affirms when it tells us that God's very nature is love. A secular song in church is so attractive, then, because every attendee is likely to be familiar with it and comfortable listening to its truth ... Most people expect a teacher to use non-biblical stories to illustrate a biblical truth ... At Saddleback [we use] secular songs as illustrations pointing people to biblical truth."

-Rick Muchow

So how would that work? I did a set of worship plans recently for a Rockbridge class and here is how I could see us using secular music to illustrate biblical truth and help get the people attuned to where we are headed in a thematic way.

Here's a worship plan I wrote recently for a class at Rockbridge Seminary.

Today's service will focus our attention on the power of Almighty God to heal our hurts through the power of Christ.

How Long (U2) - Praise Band and team

During the time the congregation is filing in and preparing for worship, we'll set the tone for the service as well as connect the biblical theme to the culture by doing these warm-up songs.

Psalm 12 - Lay Reader

The idea again is to begin building the atmosphere for examination and reflection on today's theme.

Prayer - Associate Pastor

Blessed Be the Name - Congregation and praise team

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) – Congregation and team

Distribution of pottery shards to each attender. Sharpies are in each chair back. As the video of "Everybody Hurts" runs, we ask each member to write a hurt that they have had in their life on the shard of pottery.

Everybody Hurts (REM) - video (run until 4:52)

Message for today – iHurt – Hebrews 2

Call for response – congregation asked to come forward and bring their shard of pottery as they come. They exchange the shard for the unleavened bread and juice.

Potter's Hand - Praise Band

The artists take the shards and start placing them within a frame prepared for the purpose. Once everyone has come forward and returned to their seats after having taken communion, the arts pastor lifts the completed mosaic of a cross to show the congregation what God can do with their hurts.

Prayer of Thanksgiving by the pastor.

Offering and Announcements

I'm Trading My Sorrows – Congregation and Praise team (closing and dismissal)

How?

From - The Last Christian Generation, Josh McDowell

In his research, McDowell has uncovered some startling statistics. For example, among churched youth:
* 63% don't believe that Jesus is the Son of the one true God.
* 51% don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
* 68% don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a real entity.
* It has been estimated that between 69% and 94% of churched youth are leaving the traditional church after high school, and very few are returning.
* Only 33% of churched youth have said that the church will play a part in their lives when they leave home.

How did we get here?

Put aside all those people we haven't reached. What about the ones we have?

I'm in a worship class right now at Rockbridge, and we're wrestling with the issue of "cultural relevance" this week. One of the great things about Rockbridge not being tied to any one denomination is the diversity of thought among students. That brings us to some areas that we might not enter. Here's a snippet from a conversation we're having on being "relevant". The questions are from another student, and below them are my replies.

"Do we create a Christ-centered counter-culture, different from what is around us?"

Yes, but not in the way we have so often in the past. We are measured as different from the culture not by our opposition to it, but by our love for God and our neighbors in spite of it. We should take from culture what is good, work to raise the other to that level, rejecting what is harmful. We can disagree without denouncing. We can live another way.

"Do we rise above the culture situation?"

No, we go down. Making ourselves less - in service to God through our service to our fellow men and women. Then when we gather we celebrate who God is and what He has done in us and through us. Just as the organic is changed when lightning flows through it, so will we change as the power of God flows through us.

What I'm suggesting isn't the "social gospel". We aren't doing this with the belief that through our efforts we will be saved, or that by providing service to others that they will be saved. What we are doing is acknowledging that living faith produces action and that action repeated grows faith.

"Or do we live with the tension of being in the world, but not of the world?"

In our weakness we would see it as a tension, but the safest and most stress free place on earth is the center of God's will.

We have to equip our youth and our adults with the ability to learn how God's truth applies to the present day. This will mean a "Manhattan Project" level of spiritual formation where the words of Jesus are learned not just through facts, but through service. Just as the athlete or musician learns and hones their skills through practice, so must we learn and grow more productive through not just knowing, but doing.

Simply coming to church, accepting the music and teaching into the space you give it and then going back out into life isn't cutting it and never has. We've confused the size of our churches and our youth groups with the depth of their devotion.

Every member a minister. Every single one.

We got a go ahead from the new principal at Valparaiso Elementary to do a service project over there. Their picnic tables are a mess and need refinishing. It's a start. We're serving inside, have worked outside with another church, nave provided school supplies and will again, but this is a new opportunity to show that educator what we have learned about Jesus includes loving our neighbor.

My hope is that our men involve some of our youth in that effort. Just as there used to be an apprenticeship as one learned a trade, maybe what's needed is that sort of pathway to servanthood for our children and youth.

Get out there!

iWonder

"If there is one characteristic more than others that contemporary public worship needs to recapture it is this awe before the surpassingly great and gracious God."
Henry Sloane Coffin

I'm working this week on what will probably be the first of a series of messages on the iLife theme. With the new iPhone 3G being launched Friday, I expect some people will be aware of the whole "i" deal. I thought about going at it using the five purposes, and still may do that. But I'm thinking that maybe a more oblique approach will help the truths get a audience in a more effective way.

So instead of:
iWorship
iLearn
iServe
iTell
iGo

iWonder
iDoubt
iRoll Over and go back to sleep :)
iSay nothing
iStay here

What do you think? Well, the first two are pretty firm anyway. :)

The sense of wonder at just who God is and what He has done in Jesus should captivate every Christ follower and not just enrich our lives personally, but drive us out of the comfort zone and into life with passion and purpose. The core course on worship I'm enrolled in this term at Rockbridge and in particular the interaction with the professor and an amazing group of students, is really driving me to search out the deeper things about this most important part of being His.

One of my favorite preachers of all time was Vance Havner. One of his greatest sermons was title "Have You Lost the Wonder". I'm praying for that kind of insight and power to be available through the message Sunday.

Rockbridge Seminary Assignment - Write A Poem

In the class I'm enrolled in this term, we are studying the theology and practice of worship. Our hope is that we'll learn more about what worship is, how it has been done - so that we'll worship differently - deeper - and help others do the same.

Rockbridge's seminary experience is different. Up to this class I would have used "practicality" as a descriptor. But in this class, I was asked to do something so far outside the box that practicality doesn't do it justice. Michelangelo covered a ceiling with paint once. Did the job. But no one who walks into the Sistine Chapel says, "Wow, that really covered well."

Maybe it's because I love words that the assignment touched me so. We were asked to write a worship poem that expressed the worship of our heart to God. I write all the time - blogs like this one, devotionals, and of course sermons.

But I've never written... to worship.

Until today.



Whatever I was, is dead
I gave it up willingly, without knowing what that meant
and yet, I would never take it back
It is His

Whatever I am, is alive
Life came within, and learning what it meant to live
and so, I live to give more, ever more
I am His

Learning About Worship

Okay, tomorrow a new term at Rockbridge begins. I'll be enrolled in my last "core" course.

The Theology & Practice of Worship W5301
An examination of how to provide biblical worship in today's culture. Learners will study the doctrine of God, explore the biblical theology of worship, examine the heart of the worship leader, and learn how to work with a team to develop worship experiences in the church. (Formerly named “The Life of Worship”)

This is something I really need. How do you "provide biblical worship" in the average sized church? We all have seen what can happen with waves of talented musicians and vocalists. But what about in places like here?

Some of you are aware that New Hope has operated without a worship leader for two years now. At first we used a group of girls - teenagers and younger, as a praise team. What they brought to the table was sincerity and a sense among the congregation of appreciation that they were New Hope's kids. Over the last few months, we've added some adults to the mix and have been very grateful for their willingness and hearts.

As a pastor, my hope from the music is that it takes us nearer to God as a congregation, just as I hope that the message I prepare and deliver does. With that in mind, I have been choosing the music for the last two years trying to make that happen. I love music and love to worship God through it. But I'm not a musician like someone who is called to lead worship is. My wife Bunny does a great job in getting the praise team ready every week, but she is confined to playing the digital piano on Sunday morning, so we really don't have a worship leader.

I've been praying that God sends us someone to lead, because I believe we are leaving a lot on the table each week. The praise team is great, but I think we need a point person for worship that can "see" what is possible and lead us there. That will have to be a God thing, for providing for such a person is way outside our ability as a congregation right now. Living here is expensive, and living here as a church is too. I hope and pray God will grant our request. But until then, I need everything I can get about worship.

So tomorrow morning the adventure begins. We'll be using a text by Robert Webber, who was until his passage recently, one of the more irenic spirits in the worship spectrum. I have a couple of his books, but not this one - Worship Old and New.

(He has a couple of new ones out - Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting Gods Narrative (Ancient-Future)and Who Gets to Narrate the World?: Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals , that I will order along with the class text.)

There's a lot going on in churches today, and I am really feeling like we are about to recapture our sense of worship. We're far enough along that the battles of the past are almost gone, and now we can use the best of what lies behind us while always looking ahead.

So stay tuned.

Rockbridge Seminary - Ministry assignment paper

From time to time I want to drop some of my work for Rockbridge here. Two reasons - One because I want New Hope to know that their pastor is engaged in transformational discipleship himself. I truly believe that God will continue to change me into a more effective pastor and follower of Jesus as I continue to seek to learn and become more like Him.

The second reason is that I think people need to understand more of what the Rockbridge seminary experience is about. The world is changing, friends, and education is changing right along with it. I certainly have valued my "bricks and mortar" experiences at Mercer and NOBTS, but the Rockbridge journey has been a real blessing and a help. This class is filled with people in ministry across the nation in churches big and small, so the perspectives they bring, and the discussions that ensue are really fascinating and engaging. Really challenges your preconceived notions and makes you think and grow.

So below is an assignment I completed this week. We aren't allowed to use quotes in these papers, so these are my thoughts, beliefs and convictions, not a cut and paste.

1. What I believe about the biblical purpose of ministry
The Scriptures say that we are to do whatever we do - in word or action, to expand the glory of God. The model we have to accomplish that is two fold – a personal commitment in living our lives out loud for Jesus, and in community with other Christ-followers in the Church.

The functional aspects of that would include evangelism of those who have not heard the message and responded in faith, and teaching those who have responded how to relate rightly to God and to each other. I like the idea of thinking through these issues while envisioning the church “gathered” and “scattered” because that recognizes both the normal way people look at the church as the people who are gathered in a building every Sunday, but also recognizes that real work – valuable Christ exalting work – also takes place in the community out in the workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools.

The Scriptures also point us toward living life together. The litany of the “one another”, the heart cry of Jesus that we would all be one, His pointing toward the ‘sign” that the world would recognize us by our love for one another all solidify the concept that community is the means God uses to not just gather, but scatter His disciples into a world in sore need. So when we read that we belong to each other, that we are to bear each other’s burdens and meet each other’s needs it is not just another programmed slogan but the very pulse of the church. When Augustine quipped that we preached in more ways that just words he was clearly pointing to ministry as an effective evangelistic tool in God’s hands.

The practice of ministry has to include that religion that Micah referred to as well. For too long we have not done very much more than give lip service to the biblical concepts of justice and mercy as part of the life lived out loud for God both individually and in community.

One of the areas I have been interested in as we’ve progressed through this course is how open some are to ministry being done by people who are not believers. One of the foundation convictions I have about ministry is that it is an every believer gift best returned to God in the everyday, so I wonder about whether or when such work done by unbelievers turns from a good deed to ministry. If God has prepared in advance some things for us to do, what role do the efforts of those who haven’t started their journey play in His plans. And does this practice of allowing those outside to work “inside” with us contribute to an earlier and better “launch” into the deeper waters of life with Christ and life together in a church?

My beliefs are moving toward the affirmative. As we welcome people into ministry even before their coming to faith I seem to see God at work all around them and creating an expectation in them of ministry and an excitement in their friends who bring them.

2. What I believe about the practice of ministry in the local church
I look upon these as efforts in: Missional Practice, Spiritual Formation, Fellowship, and Worship. I hold along with that a definite conviction that every member must be involved in ministry, and try to consider what we do within the gathered and scattered circles.

Missional Practice
The local church must build bridges with the community in every way we can. Not forcing our way in, but using the connections we already have within the “networks” such as schools, home-schoolers, Little Leaguers, Soccer, etc. as well as opening their facilities to groups and creating bridges to them as well. We need to use “affinity groups” lead by our people in areas of their interest to create “front porches” for our neighbors to come and “sit a spell” in. Men and women’s groups are to be involved in constantly looking for ways to invite and invest in people. The children’s and youth ministries need to begin teaching their charges that they too can have a part in God’s Big Story.

Building bridges, making connections leads to conversations. When God’s people are asked for a reason they have such hope, now we are really fulfilling our calling as missionaries.

Spiritual Formation
Once a person becomes a follower of Jesus, the part of the Great Commission that deals with discipleship needs to kick in and kick in big. We have to teach them how to follow. So in my view the church has to turn the key in the lock on church membership with mandatory new membership classes, a signed membership covenant, and a personal interview with the pastors. That doesn’t mean that we don’t welcome anyone as we gather, but it means (especially in a congregational leadership model) that we are as sure as we can be that they are serious about their practice.

People need to know that we care enough about them to invest in their spiritual growth. As churches, we have to create the expectation that a Christ-follower… follows. Grace does not mean you don’t have to work. It takes effort to grow. But that effort has to be placed in helping people learn the disciplines that will help them grow, not just giving them a heaping helping of facts each week. So we have to make sure everyone knows where they are in the process and continually encourage and measure growth. People should find themselves growing away from just inhaling God’s grace and mercy, and growing toward exhaling both in service to Him.

Fellowship
Quite frankly, I used to think fellowship was highly overrated. You know, dinner on the grounds, Sunday School picnic, friendship banquet – fellowship. But that’s not what fellowship really is. It is loving your neighbor as yourself. It’s following in the tradition of those early believers who held all things in common and no one had need. It’s being that group of believers who were so fearless that when the plagues came, they went into the cities when others came out. It is halving the suffering of your brother and sister. It is helping others find their places of service, living within their SHAPE and rejoicing as God uses them to glorify Himself.

Worship
When the church is gathered for the purpose of glorifying God in worship of Him, it needs to be out of the Body, not out of Variety magazine. Too many of our churches put on performances and call it worship. The number of people involved is reduced to the trained and the pretty. In my view of the local church’s ministry, we would stress congregational worship at the expense of individual soloists.

That worship needs to include prayer, reading and teaching of the Word, and be aimed at God, not man. While we do not want to put any unnecessary barriers in front of a sincere seeker of Truth, and ruthlessly eliminate Churchianity wherever it rears its ugly head, when we gather it is for worship, not publicity.


3. What I believe about the responsibility of church leadership in leading others to serve

The old saw about equipping the saints still holds true for me as a pastor. My biggest thrill is to see people grow as they step out in their gifts and serve the King. So we should be working hard to grow people. We should be collaborative, want lots of opinions and input, and enjoy it when the team wins. I’d describe my concept of pastoral ministry as shepherd like in that I think the pastor should be constantly running the ideas and concepts that God is working with them on through the grid of their love and care for the people He has given them. The goal is to help them discover Christ and develop as Christ-followers so that they in turn can use their gifts for ministry to glorify God.

The goal for the pastor of a local church should be to see empowered people using their gifts in community with each other to the glory of God. We help people find where they can serve with passion and then equip and encourage them in that. It’s build on shared convictions, fueled by a shared passion to please God, and held together by trust. You should find people coming to the table with ideas for enlarging the Kingdom, being encouraged and affirmed when the community catches the vision. When we fail, we fail forward and keep learning and becoming more effective. When we win, we celebrate with each other and credit God.

So the pastor is a visionary, a resource, a coach, and a coworker with others who are themselves passionate about the vision that God has given.

Servant Evangelism

Steve Sjogren offers ten practical reasons for using Servant Evangelism in your church:

1. It opens doors into the heart of your community.
2. It develops a doable ministry in your church.
3. It creates an opportunity for the church to "get involved."
4. It allows a few to touch many.
5. It gives practical tips for public considerations.
6. It is simple, non-aggressive and inexpensive.
7. It doesn't require extensive training.
8. It offers many evangelism and outreach strategies.
9. It nurtures team efforts and team-centeredness.
10. It is a lot of fun! (HT: BTW, you should be reading Steve's stuff)

And sometimes Rockbridge Seminary prof and all around great thinker/leader Gary Rohrmayer adds why he thinks they are important to the mission of the local church here. (HT) Notice how Gary sees the biblical basis behind what seems to many a radical, even emergent church practice. It's biblical to serve, folks.

Quoting Gary here: (And you should be reading his stuff too!)

I would add the following:

1. It promotes an incarnational spirit of evangelism. Getting people out of the building and onto the streets. John 20:21
2. It helps to identify the "men and women of peace" in our communities. Luke 10:5-6
3. It reinforces the gospel in the life of the participants.Philemon6
4. It shines a light in a dark world. Matthew 5:14-16
5. It is easily delegated to lay leadership. Professionals are not needed!
6. It promotes the values of kindness, generosity and servanthood.
7. It leverages permission based marketing.
8. It unleashes outreach creativity with the church. Ideas are limitless.
9. It provide an avenue for "Research & Development" in the local church.
10. It fills peoples buckets through a positive emotional experience.

New Hope folks, if you're reading this, how can we serve Valparaiso and our area in ways that surprise people with the grace of kindness and compassion, and give testimony to our love for Jesus and people?

Stay tuned, there could be a big announcement about that later today. :)

Is next - Theology and Practice of Ministry

Tomorrow begins the new term at Rockbridge Seminary and one of the last core classes for me - Theology and Practice of Ministry.

The course is being taught by Dr. Randy Bennett, Director of Missions, Kern County Southern Baptist Association, Bakersfield, CA. He's well versed in the online educational experience as well as the bricks and mortar classroom, having taught at Golden Gate and at Midwestern. He's currently serving as an Interim in a church as well.

I'm looking forward to interacting with Dr. Bennett.

The course is designed to be: "An introduction to the purpose of ministry through the study of the biblical and theological basis for "every member ministry," the rise of clericalism in church history, the equipping church model vs. the dependency model, and the permission-giving church vs. the controlling church. Students will examine approaches to gift discovery and ministry matching."

Books should arrive this week and I'll get busy. That ticking noise you hear in the background is the time running out in my pursuit of this Masters. I'll have it in hand before Christmas, Lord willing.

Rockbridge Update - end of a term

In the last few months, I've picked up on a lot of the "buzz" about "The New Seminary." The idea is circulating that the bricks and mortar seminaries will face increasing pressure from several directions: the rise of the nondenominational church and church planting movements, the cost, the perceived out of date nature of the training, and the rise of alternatives.

I've certainly experienced some of those during the time I've pursued theological education. Many of my friends and I have been frustrated in the extreme by a system that demands so much from us, but refuses to acknowledge anything is amiss in how it faces its "customer." While I intend to finish my degree program in a denominational seminary eventually, I was led to enter Rockbridge Seminary a couple of years ago in order to get solid, practical training in a way that fit my life and budget. I'll finish (Lord willing) a Masters in Ministry Leadership degree this fall.

This term I was somewhat limited in my course choices, simply because I am nearing the end of my tenure here. The prospective courses boiled down to "Preaching for Life Change" and "Understanding Other Cultures." While I appreciate Rick Warren and what he and Saddleback have added to the Body of Christ, after my experience with 40 Days of Purpose and having already previewed the notes from the "Preaching For Life Change" seminar, I opted for "Understanding Other Cultures."

The instructors at Rockbridge have typically been very high quality professors who are engaged in the fields they teach. This course was no exception, being led by Dr. Jeff Ginn, who serves as a pastor and on the SBC International Missions Board. He has been on the field as a missionary, led a seminary, and was really helpful in my efforts to bend this course to fit where I serve.

As someone not called to the "mission field" as it has traditionally been presented, but who believes that where ever God puts a believer THAT is their Jerusalem, I thought going in the course would have little practical value now. Our area is pretty homogeneous. The one people group different from most places is the military. We have plenty of people in uniform. Dr. Ginn could relate well, since he serves just outside a military base too. So I took the classical tools presented as basic anthropology and applied them - not to a people group overseas - but to the people all around me.

My findings, even after almost 9 years here, have really helped me see areas of opportunity for ministry in and among the military. I've shared some with other people within my church and at a meeting with a sister church where we were looking for ways to bless our "parishes" and their eyes were opened too. So the course I dragged myself into reluctantly, proved to be a real blessing.

Now on to the next course!

Crossing Cultures and Building Bridges

This term at Rockbridge is winding up, and the course I'm taking "Understanding Cultures" is beginning to come together for me. We've been learning how our cultural view affects how we perceive our world and how it colors our relationships. We're also acquiring some anthropology chops to enable us to study and understand cultures and people groups.

Going in, I had probably the lowest expectations of any course I have ever taken at Rockbridge. With two weeks to go, I can say I've learned a great deal that I believe I can use. Kudos to Dr. Jeff Ginn and Rockbridge as well as my classmates.

My role in the Kingdom is that of pastor/communicator, not anthropologist. I'm learning how to "read" cultures and people groups for one purpose - to better proclaim the Word of God and give testimony to God's greatness. So tonight, when I read this quote in the lecture notes, I just had to share it

Communicating God's Word is a deeply spiritual event involving the Holy Spirit. Gospel presentation is a missionary act.

Communicators of the Gospel are intimately and personally involved as participants in this process. And the best communicators do it in deep, deep prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit.

There is something mysterious about the infinite communicability of the Bible.

There is nothing else like it in the world that is proclaimed and then transforms people.

True, the Bible by itself does not do this either. The community, the church, works through the text and brings their understanding to what they receive.

R. Daniel Shaw and Charles E. Van Engen, Communicating God’s Word in a Complex World (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003):29-30

It is through the Holy Spirit, through a prepared communicator in awe of the power and majesty of God's revealed Word, and to a community prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive it - that God can do amazing things.

He can change the course of a life and through that life the course of history.
He can bring the Words written down thousands of years ago to bear on the problems of today.
He can lead a person across the "bridge" of the gospel into newness of life.

Too cool! And I get to do it every week!

Your friendly neighborhood anthropologist

The new term started at Rockbridge Seminary last Tuesday, and yours truly went out on a limb by selecting "Understanding Other Cultures". My thoughts were that maybe it would give me a new set of "eyes" to see the community here with. Here's the course description.

Course Description
Develop skill sets to interpret a different cultural context and to create strategies that build bridges to that community. Emphasis will be given to building understanding and discernment for persons of different cultural, social, and religious backgrounds.

The course is taught during an eight-week term that includes a course introduction week, six Learning Units, and a learning evaluation week. All units are designed to help the learner fulfill the learning objectives of the course. Learning units may include lecture and research materials, outside reading, learning community discussion, and church-based assignments. The professor serves as a ministry learning mentor, providing almost daily interaction and facilitation among the learners.

Course Competency
This course will help you develop the following ministry competency:

Respects persons of different cultural, social and religious backgrounds. (#34 on Rockbridge Seminary’s list of 35 Ministry Competencies)

Course Goal and Indictors
As a result of completing this course, you will gain skill sets to help you understand persons of different cultural, social, and religious backgrounds. To demonstrate learning, you will:

1. Use six proven anthropological tools to understand another person or group of persons
2. Apply the use of these anthropological tools to a cross-cultural evangelism context
3. Identify a cross-cultural people group that God is calling you to understand
4. Develop approaches for effective intercultural communication
5. Identify challenges related to cross-cultural communication and hermeneutics
6. Analyze your verbal communication style and how it can influence cross-cultural communication
7. Participate in an online learning community of fellow students that discusses cross-cultural ministry
8. Probing the wisdom and experience of a mentor related to understanding other cultures
9. Assess at the conclusion of this course your continued learning needs related to understanding other cultures

I'm really not sure if it is going to be immediately applicable, but I definitely felt that this was the course I should take. I was bummed to find out that anthropologists don't get to dress like Indiana Jones.

Has anyone approached their community in this way? I know Rick Warren went door to door as he developed "Saddleback Sam" - the profile for who they targeted. Anyone else?

The New Seminary

Last night, I was leading our adults through the beginning of Chapter 5 in Paul's massive theological treatise - the Book of Romans. Back in the days of dot matrix printers and floppy disks, I first taught through the book. In those days I printed out my notes and took them with me. Not sure why I decided to go back to that method for this time through (my fourth), but I have. When I flipped through the blue notebook, I found that my notes began in September 1994. Almost 14 years ago. I'd like to think I know more now than I did then.

A friend and I were talking about seminary education earlier in the week, and I asked him about where he was in the process. He and I had attended New Orleans Theological Seminary together for a while at the beginning of his ministry career. He left a very successful career and a position as a vice president of our most prominent local bank to follow God's call. Good guy.

"I'm having trouble finding a seminary that will accept my credits. Most of them won't accept any credits that are over five years old," he said.

I expect he's learned a lot since then too, having gone on to interim at his home church, and pastor two other churches. God has used him in each place he's served. I guess God's not as high on formal theological education.

In my case, it has been time and money that caused me to not finish my New Orleans degree yet. All I need are a few on campus courses. Apparently the organization who accredits the seminary requires a certain number of courses to be taught on campus. Unless it doesn't. You see some classes have always given on campus credit even if you weren't on campus. In years past, NOBTS held workshops in N GA which you could receive that credit for. And if you were a NO student but traveled elsewhere to pick up a class, you'd get on campus credit. Thinking back, I can remember that when I started in 1991 you received on campus credit for the languages. Well, I'm stuck until I reapply and pick up those few remaining courses. Taking a week or two out of my life at one chunk, dropping a $1000 each week - just wasn't going to happen.

So I began the pursuit of a Masters in Ministry Leadership with Rockbridge Seminary. RS was begun for people like me who wanted a quality education but who couldn't move to seminary or afford to "commute". The list of the leadership looked like a who's who of online theological education, was very SBC heavy, and idea of competency based education was appealing. I'll finish that degree at the end of the October term. RS has been a blessing and I'd recommend it to anyone.

But I want to humbly suggest that the "New Seminary" goes on with and without places like New Orleans and Rockbridge. The pastors I talk to are constantly reading, constantly asking questions and taking what they learn and applying it to ministry and to life. I'll read over 150 books every year, thousands of articles in print and online, listen to podcasts, watch online videos, and discuss via email everything from funeral sermons to postmodernism.

The "New Seminary" classrooms are as close as the laptop in front of me. The professors aren't stuck in a classroom but on the front lines of ministry. Many have been failures multiple times, and kept pressing on using what they learned and become successful pastors. They share their knowledge with the rest of us as we do with them. Does a particular evangelism program have merit? In days past we would ask our Director of Mission or Lifeway rep. Now through the networks we can hear the straight scoop from another pastor.

Or we can email the author.

I have been able to ask questions of authors such as Reggie McNeal (The Present Future), Dan Kimball (They Like Jesus, But Not the Church), Mark Taylor of Tyndale House (The New Living Translation) and others. When I email them, they are so kind and generous that I am often amazed. I had quoted a Ray Prichard sermon as an example of what I had hoped one I had written would be, and he wrote me an email of encouragement and counsel. Not name dropping here by any means, just trying to help you who read this understand that we are most exceedingly blessed today with access far beyond what previous generations of seminarians could have dreamed.

So I'm sitting here with 123 hours of post graduate work in the can, yet possessing no single Masters degree recognizing them, and having learned more from those outside the seminary gates than within. Yes the seminary degree from a denomination's institution is still the good housekeeping seal of approval. But that too is going to change as churches see how God is using and will use those who got their education through other means.

In the future, my hope is that education will be pushed outside seminaries and back into the churches where it should always have been. That using a combination of online courses, internships, and mentoring - pastors will be better educated and more effective immediately than ever before.