In Every Way You Can Think Of And More

Our friend Allan

Had one of those morning runs today that was more walk than run. Left knee wasn't happy; lungs voiced their concerns; mind versus body all the way around. So I thought and I prayed my way through it. Something about taking thoughts captive and all that.

On the homeward stretch I saw my friend Allan up ahead.

Allan's still grieving the loss of his grandfather, and as I saw him my heart cried out to God to comfort him. 

I lost sight of him for a moment behind a building but when I drew alongside a local restaurant, "Say Cake", that serves breakfast and lunch along with what you'd think they served, there was Allan inside. He was talking to someone and gesturing about where to sit, or that's what it seemed to me. A young man walked from behind him and pausing slightly, put a hand on Allan's shoulder. The look on his face told me that God had answered my prayer for Allan.

That's my God. 

I've been here twelve years now. Preached a gazillion sermons, taught through most of the Bible. Prayed over and over than God would use my feeble efforts to let others know they are loved. That God is incredibly resourceful and relentless in that love. That He'll take every opportunity - even create them if there's need - to whisper in your joys and shout into your pain (to paraphrase CS Lewis) - to let you know - YOU ARE LOVED.

But there are some people whose perception of themselves and/or the world around them just won't let them see that. And it breaks my heart.

Brennan Manning wrote this in his amazingly grace filled book "The Ragamuffin Gospel" - 

"And Grace calls out, 'You are not just a disillusioned old man who may die soon, a middle-aged woman stuck in a job and desperately wanting to get out, a young person feeling the fire in the belly begin to grow cold. You may be insecure, inadequate, mistaken or potbellied. Death, panic, depression, and disillusionment may be near you. But you are not just that. You are accepted.' Never confuse your perception of yourself with the mystery that you really are accepted." 
— Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out)

In every way you can think of and more, you are accepted for who you are. You are loved. Open your ears, your eyes, your heart to the One who gave everything to show you how much.

Outsiders and Insiders

Having started another educational program recently at a local community college, it's taking me a wee bit of time and a lot more effort than I thought it would to get onboard. Thinking back, I realized that for the last 20 years of my life, I've been in school as much as I have been out of it, pursuing one degree or another. Each and every one has helped me grow as a person and as a pastor. But each of them has it's own barriers and "hoops" to jump through.

This particular program to certify teachers has a language all it's own that has to be learned in order to make any progress whatsoever in learning the skills you need. Here's just a sample of the terms I've learned in two weeks.

formative assessment
summative assessment
student learning objective (SLO)
Florida Educator Accomplished Practices
rubric
artifact
and many, many more.

I'm an outsider in the sense that if I don't know the terms used in educational textbooks and lectures, I cannot get to the truth of what they are telling me. Sure I can hear the words, but the meaning doesn't transfer just because I know them. I have to be able to use them correctly and in the proper context.

I totally get that.

Here at the church, we have a language too. Oh we are better at unpacking it than we used to be, but there are still times when I look out at the congregation after delivering some information and see a "huh?" expression on some people's faces. Anyone who teaches has to realize that people don't need any more barriers than they came in with. If the threshold is artificially high because of the language, then make the call - is the language worth it? Or is the truth so important that whatever we need to do to convey it - we should.

I vote for change. I vote to let people hear the compelling and convicting words of Jesus in a way that they can "hear" them. I vote to do everything we can to make sure that people hear those words as "good news" and that they hear them in time to make a difference.

What about you?

Underneath

One of the things Bunny and I love to do on vacation is to visit old churches and old cemeteries. The Huguenot Cemetery in St Augustine is a favorite. The gravestones are old, dating back to the late 1700's. They are also ornate and the pinnacle of the craftsman's art at the time. Every single person who carved the stones is long dead.

They went to work each day, used their talents and skills to the best of their ability and hopefully pleased their customers, providing some comfort perhaps in their time of grief. In the cemetery there are stones that are well preserved like this one, and others that you cannot read at all, as time and the elements have erased the stone-carver's efforts.

I guess that's what drove me to take this picture - I can identify with that.

As a pastor, I'm giving everything I can to the work of God through New Hope Baptist Church. While I was on "vacation" I was still thinking about New Hope - praying that Sunday would go well, having certain people come to mind as I saw things in St Augustine, praying each day for others along the way. Having done everything I could take make sure Sunday without the Wilson family would "work", all I could do then was trust God.

But then that's all I can do everyday.

I can encourage. I can even inspire. I can teach God's Word. I can serve in any area needed, from worship leadership to setting up tables and cook the midweek meal. I can lead in prayer and by example. I can be there to cry with people and rejoice with them. I can love them.

But I can't... make them want more of God or more for their church. I can't.

I guess that's what bothers me, underneath.

If It Was Easy, We Wouldn't Need A Commandment To Do It

When you invest your life into a ministry in the smaller local church, it becomes way more than just a job or a place of ministry. You love it fiercely and work and dream and pray for it multiple times a day. So like the Philippian Jailer's example below, when people come with a litany of issues and say they may start looking for a new church, or worse - up and leave without notice, it hurts. Hasn't happened lately, but it's happened, and when I read about it anywhere, I wince.

By now I've been here long enough to see people leave for frivolous reasons, for pride's sake, because their feelings were hurt, or because they didn't get their way. But every now and then I'll get something like this:

My friend Kathy had just finished recounting to me the myriad insufferable problems with our church. The theology was impure, the congregation was insufficiently devoted, the leadership was distracted and divided ... in short, the church was hopelessly off-course. She and her husband were thinking of leaving for another church that promised better everything: from the pastor to the laity to the doctrine. It was time to go find a congregation more pure, united, and Christ-like ... well, you know, like those wonderful first-century churches.

"Okay, Kathy", I said. "I completely understand. I just ask you one favor. Call me when you find the perfect church."

HT: The Philippian Jailer: In Search of the Perfect Church:

You should read it all.

If your church has holes that you spot, what if God has placed you there to fill them? How will it ever get to be more effective in its areas of weakness if people don't step up and serve?

I know it can be tempting to find an easier place, a shinier building, more of this or that and yet...

...like in marriage, the glory of committing yourself to a particular body of believers is in actually honoring the commitment. If loving one another was easy, we wouldn't have to be commanded to do it. Every church has problems, many of them severe. Every church struggles, changes, has bad apples, and goes through ugly trials. It is the nature of a congregation of sinners that they will, in fact, sin, and that will be unpleasant for all involved.

HT: The Philippian Jailer: In Search of the Perfect Church:


Yes it is. We will in fact, sin.

We will in fact, fail from time to time in different areas.

There will be times when we move too slowly to fix what needs fixing.

There will be changes we do make that just don't work out. And yet...

Again from the Philippian Jailer's post

In relationship to my local church, as in my marriage, fidelity must be my first and overwhelming inclination, my consuming passion, and my ultimate objective. As long as there is still love for Jesus present, there is still work for me to do in the place where God has planted me.

There are some things that can improve, some things that have improved, and some things we do well here. We are NOT perfect by any measure. But God has worked here and is working here. Lives have been changed and are being changed. Relationships have been born and continue to be.

If you serve your church. If you love her, and love Jesus, then bend your heart toward making it your forever church home. Bend your knee frequently to pray for her and for her pastor(s). Build a relationship with him so that you can help by not just spotting what needs fixing, but pointing out how you and others you enlist can help it get fixed.

It won't be easy at times. But it will be the right thing to do.

David Wilson - Cat Herder :)

Just was looking at who had come here to the blog lately and saw that someone from Canada had arrived by searching for "david wilson cat herder." If you could have seen my grin.:) I may break out into a stirring rendition of "O Canada" any minute. Thanks visitor from our friends up north, you made my day. And now, the commercial that started it all

It Really Is Like Herding Cats

Verb

to herd cats

1. (idiomatic) To attempt to control those resistant to control.

Hi, my name is David Wilson, and I am a cat-herder.

That's all I'm saying tonight. :)

Get up tomorrow morning, go to church and worship God. And if you think about it, say a prayer for all of those like me, who will stand before people tomorrow and ask them to change - to give up control of their lives to Jesus Christ.

Long Day

It is like herding cats. Even when your goal (unlike that of the dog above) is worthy, beneficial, and biblical with the best interest of your friends at the center of what you do.

Pastoral work - all of it - is tied to the relationships you have with the people God has placed you on mission with. There's no "work friends" and "real friends". You begin each week praying for them to God. While you study the Bible and listen to what the Spirit is saying they are on your mind and heart. The message is crafted (just as all the teaching is - just as the music is - just as the events are - just as... everything is) to the glory of God and the building up of the faith in your fellow believers.

You will experience resistance. (BIG GRIN - and all the pastors reading this go "duh")

You will be disappointed when people you thought were farther along trip over things they should long since picked up and moved aside.

And there will be times when you just want to run into the woods. Or to the beach. :)

Amens all around

"The happy result of a theological understanding of people as sinners is that the pastor is saved from continual surprise that they are in fact sinners. It enables us to heed Bonhoeffer's admonition: 'A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.'"
- Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor (via Bob Hyatt and shamelessly posted here)

It's like... herding cats. :)

There are cats and there are cats

Just saying that sometimes life comes at the pastor and his family at high speed.

Right now we're waiting for word from Macon about Bunny's mom who had to be admitted again to the hospital through the ER today. Our niece Abby continues her courageous fight against cancer as she begins another round of chemo soon. The probate case concerning my father's will hasn't finished. I'm in my final term at Rockbridge Seminary and gathering materials to make my case for a diploma in February. Bunny's struggling with some physical issues.

That overlays all the "normal" ebbs and flows of a "typical" week in the smaller church. We have worship practice, bible study and prayer tomorrow night. One of our deacons is in the hospital. Friday night we'll host the neighborhood for a movie and treats. Then Sunday is Sunday and requires preparation and time to reflect on what God is saying.

So when you think about those cats I'm herding, don't think tabby or persian. Just remember the picture above. :)

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?

Before there was "Joe Plumber"...

KnowwhatImean?

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Not A Chance

I received a postcard in the mail today from a group called "Alliance for Churches VS IRS"in Mossy Head, FL. The postcard was stamped with a message on the back.





Friends, I'm up to date on the laws regarding the limits of church and state. Personally, I can endorse and attempt to persuade others on issues and for candidates. From the pulpit I can do all God calls me to do - and will. There's not a chance a postcard or the whole federal government will change my determination to carry out the will of God.

Politics isn't what matters to me. The spiritual lives and health of the people God has placed me here to serve matter. If God calls me to speak a word about how a particular issue relates to His will expressed through the Scripture, then I'll do it every single time as long as I have breath.

/rant off