Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I just can't get used to this.

It is not that I am afraid of lizards or reptiles of any sort, it is just still sort of freaky for me to find them in the bathtub. (These things don't live where I come from.)

What I find fascinating is that these neat creatures, that can climb up and down nearly any surface, can get trapped in my bathtub. It has to do with the science of how their feet bond with the molecules of the surface they are touching. Obviously my plastic-like bathtub is not good for bonding. Anyone who knows more science than me (that won't be hard) is welcome to post a comment explaining that better.

This little guy was safely returned to the outdoors where he most likely quickly found a way back in. It is cold outside.

peace,

will

Watching the Simpsons at Church

January has been a pretty busy month, but I am getting to do a lot of fun stuff. Tonight is the second week of The Gospel According to The Simpsons that I am leading with the youth. I really enjoy this course because, for some reason, watching The Simpsons really helps a lot of people self-reflect and be open about their own relationship to God. I think there may be something to seeing someone else get it so wrong that allows us a little room to examine ourselves.

I plan on offering this course again this year for anyone to take. In the meantime, if you are interested, there is a great book on the subject. Check out Mark Pinsky's The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family.

peace,

will

Friday, January 26, 2007

Maintenance or Mission

I have been working a lot this week to get ready for our annual Grace Leadership Retreat. The subject of this year's retreat doesn't sound very exciting at first. We are going to be talking about meetings. However, when you think of the fact that everything we do as a church relates to reaching out to share the abundance of God's love and deepening discipleship, meeting become really important. How we meet affects directly how we make disciples.

As I was thinking about that, I came across a blog post from Will Willimon, Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. It is from last year so I don't quite know how I stumbled upon it. In it, he quotes a piece from Harold Percy's Good News People. I am going to repost it here. This piece ties well into what we are doing tomorrow. Is also ties into the Congregational Transformation Process which we are in the middle of. The process makes us look at the church in terms of whether we are dying, maintaining or transforming. The theory behind the process is that churches that are maintaining, if they don't move toward transforming, will eventually be dying. This piece puts that in terms of maintenance vs. mission:

MAINTENANCE OR MISSION?

1. In measuring the effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, "How many pastoral visits are being made? The mission congregation asks, "How many disciples are being made?"

2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says, "If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won't do it." The mission congregation says, "If this will help us reach someone on the outside, we will take the risk and do it."

3. When thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance congregation ask, "How will this affect me?" The majority of members in the mission congregation ask, "Will this increase our ability to reach those outside?"

4. When thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation says, "We have to be faithful to our past." The mission congregation says, "We have to be faithful to our future."

5. The pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer, "I'd like to introduce you to some of our members." In the mission congregation the members say, "We'd like to introduce you to our pastor."

6. When confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the maintenance congregation asks, "How can I meet this need?" The pastor in the mission congregation asks, "How can this need be met?"

7. The maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds). The mission congregation understands that conflict is the price of progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it from doing what needs to be done.

8. The leadership style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial, where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The leadership style in a mission congregation is primarily transformational, casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the vision into reality.

9. The maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The mission congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and their points of accessibility to the Gospel.

10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, "How many Lutherans live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?" The mission congregation asks, "How many unchurched people live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?"

11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, "How can we get these people to support our congregation?" The mission congregation asks, "How can the Church support these people?"

12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The mission congregation thinks about how to reach the world.

peace,

will

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Problem Solved Audio Now Available

Since I moved to the new and improved blogger, I was having some problems with posting the audio versions of my sermon. I believe the problem has been solved. Let me know if there are any glitches.

"Jesus the Troublemaker" Audio Version

peace,

will

Monday, January 22, 2007

The Real Life of a Pastor

I sometimes forget that people without much connection to the church figure that a pastor's normal day is something like this:

Rise early for prayer
Eat simple breakfast
Pray
Read Bible
Work on sermon
Pray
Eat simple lunch
Pray
Visit sick person
Work on sermon
Pray
Eat Simple Dinner
Watch "Touched by an Angel" on DVD
Pray
Go to Bed

Just to continue to debunk that myth, let me share how my day started today.

I got up early because I was assisting with a funeral today and wanted to go over some things.
I got out of bed, fed and let out the dogs, made coffee, prayed, ironed a shirt, let the dogs in, took a shower, went over the notes and prayers I had for the funeral, got dressed, and ate my usual breakfast of Kashi Go-Lean Cereal mixed with Fruity Cheerios.. I was waiting for the last minute to wake up Josh, feed him breakfast and get him dressed for Mother's Day Out. I had it planned out so that I could drop him off and have just enough time to take care of some last minute details before the funeral. When it was time, I went upstairs, and Lo! (that is usually only used in the Bible, but it fits here) Lo! The Smell! There had been a catastrophic poopie leak during the night. I reached for my cell phone to contact FEMA when I realized there wasn't time. Fortunately Alisha was right downstairs. I owe her big time for taking charge of the mess so that Josh and I were still able to get out the door in time. Though that smell is still in my nose.

The moral of this story is... well there isn't one.

peace,

will

Sunday, January 21, 2007

This Week's Sermon

This week's sermon, the first in the five week series, "Who Was Jesus?" has been posted. You can read it here:

"Who Was Jesus?" Week 1 - Jesus the Troublemaker


With the new blog setup I am having a little trouble posting the audio version. I hope to have it up later this week.

peace,

will

Friday, January 19, 2007

Pretty New Colors, Same Old Blog

Blogger has updated their technology a bit so and I have migrated the weblog over to the new platform. I thought a little color change wouldn't hurt either. Let me know if you find any kinks in the blog.

peace,

will

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Jesus the Troublemaker

The sermon series, "Who Was Jesus" starts this Sunday. I am preaching on "Jesus the Troublemaker." You still have time to start a small group. The group leader guides and study guides are pretty much ready. They are still being proofed, but if you want to see one now, email me and I will send you the draft.

peace,

will

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Can't you find time for just one blog

My only excuse for these giant gaps between blog entries is just that I am swamped. I have been about a week behind since before Christmas and I just can't seem to catch up. I tend to blog when I have just a couple of free minutes but those minutes keep getting taken up with trying to sneak in couple of minutes on something else I am behind on. The good news is that when I am busy, it often means that there are cool things on the horizon, like these cool things:

  • Who Was Jesus, a sermon series on the person of Jesus begins this Sunday with "Jesus the Troublemaker" The small group guides will be available tomorrow. (If I don't blog too long.)
  • Starting next Wednesday, I am leading one of my favorite classes, The Gospel According to the Simpsons. I am leading it this time with the youth, although a number of adults are coming anyway.
  • The annual Grace leadership retreat is coming up on Saturday the 27th, the theme is "Leading and Becoming Disciples." Leaders of our congregation give up a big part of a Saturday for this, I like to make sure it is totally worth it.
  • Just when you thought everything was calming down after Advent and Christmas, February 21st is Ash Wednesday already which means we are already planning for Lent and, you guessed it, Easter.
I swear I will be back on my blogging routine soon. I hope you are having a great new year!

peace,

will

Friday, January 05, 2007

I hate reruns...

I know how you must feel when you click over to the weblog and find nothing new. Television has been like that lately. Except on tv, you might find a rerun you haven't seen. I have been a little lax in blogging because the rest of my life has been a bit hectic. To catch you up, here is some of the good and the bad.

  • We had our first Christmas with Joshua, which was more exciting for us than him.
  • Christmas week consisted of 8 services. (I only had to preach at three)
  • All of the Christmas services were wonderful with a great turn out with lots of faces I have never seen!
  • Three funerals in one month wore me out. (See this earlier post for why they take such a toll.)
  • My father got to spend Christmas with us.
  • My iPod broke making me wonder what my ears did before. As a former professional disc jockey, I can say with some authority that the radio stations here aren't that great. (Well of course except for KFTX.)
  • In a marvel of modern, quality customer service, Apple overnighted me a little box, into which I placed my broken iPod. I called DHL who came and got it. Apple informed me the next day that they had it and would send it back fixed or send me a new one very soon.
  • Joshua started Mother's Day Out here at the church three days a week. Alisha gets a little break and Josh seems to be having fun.
If I am waiting for things to settle down, I have a bit of a wait. I am off the Mt. Wesley in Kerrville today for a meeting. I will come back Saturday night, be in worship on Sunday and then head off the Mt. Wesley again Monday for Covenant Connection. (See this post for more info on that.)

If I get some time at Mt. Wesley, I will try to write about some of the cool things coming up this month.

peace,

will