Looking forward to some sabbath

Friday usually sneaks up on my but I am actually anxiously awaiting a day of rest this week. Not that the week was overly taxing, it just wore me out. This Sunday is confirmation Sunday when we will welcome 18 youth into full membership in the church. When that many people join, it tends to make for a large crowd so we are moving our 11 service into our gym.

Moving worship from one place to another sounds pretty easy, but it is not. There are about a million details including chairs, a stage, microphones, speakers, video, not to mention putting it all together. We actually rehearsed the service with the confirmands last night to make sure it would all work, which it will. However, the rehearsal helped me figure out what else we hadn't thought of yet.

I hope to see you on Sunday. It will be a wonderful service.

peace,

will

A Laptop, A Lab and A Little Boy

Alisha is out this morning so I am working at home, which is always a relative term based on what kind of mood Josh is in. Currently he is on board. He is reading books (well he is 20 months so reading is a relative term as well) while my lab, Bodhi is sprawled out beside him. He is actually not interested in my laptop this morning. Once it catches his attention, the "work" part of "work at home" is out the window.

peace,

will

A New Kind of Church

I made a brief reference to the book, A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach by Dan Dick and Evelyn Burry in my sermon on Sunday:

I actually read it as part of the project I am writing for my ordination process. (See more details are in a previous post "Where is Pastor Will's Stole... And Where is Pastor Will?") The book really supports what I am writing about and what I have been talking about in different team meetings in the church, our need to take a more systematic approach to making disciples. As I say over and over, the church as a whole has forgotten about what happens to Christians after they make the initial decision to accept the grace the God offers them. In theological terms we talk of the grace that calls us into relationship with God prevenient grace. We talk of that moment (or moments) of "conversion" where we see who we are, accept our need for God and turn our hearts toward God as justification and speak of God's action in that as justifying grace. Practically, we are all pretty clear on that. However, John Wesley believed that God's work wasn't over. It is God's sanctifying grace that continues to work in us moving us on toward perfection in love, on toward re-creation in the image of Christ. Wesley believed that God did this work, but there was work we should be doing in the process, like praying, receiving communion, studying scripture, and meeting in community.

This is where I contend the church has lost some direction. This is where we need to follow Wesley's desire to have more systematic approach to helping people move on to and through this next stage. This is where the "ocean diagram" I bring up in just about every meeting we have comes in. It is simply a graphical way to see that they journey is not over when someone joins the church.

Anyway, this is some of what is going on in the book. As you can see I am pretty deep into this project, so I can't stop writing about this stuff. The book is really great though. It is a book I wish some other people were reading and asking about. If you are interested in how the church is evolving and changing to make disciples, give it a read and let me know what you think.

peace,

will

Not recommended for all (but some of you will love it)

This is another book I picked up at random at Half Price Books. Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert cartoon which you probably either love or hate. Adams' irreverence takes on religion instead of the corporate world in this little book which is sort of a follow up to God's Debris.

If you are at all sensitive or easily offended about differing ideas about religion you should probably consider reading something else. However, if you don't mind being challenged and want to laugh a bit, check this out. Adams writes a smart and funny and strange story of the religion war to end all wars and the funny little man who saves the world.

peace,

will

This Week's Sermon

For the first time in a while I am not horribly behind and I am posting my sermon on Monday morning! Yeah!

Sermon #40 - "One"

You are invited to use the post to respond with any thoughts and/or comments!

peace,

will

Good to Great

I finished reading Jim Collins' Good to Great a couple of weeks ago and am just getting around to writing about it.

This is a fantastic book and I think it is one secular book that should be required reading for all who consider themselves leaders in the church. Over and over we get people telling the church to acts more like a business in one way or another and most of those models fail. The church is not a business. However, this book does not lay out another "fad" for building a better business, it simply looks at what makes great companies great. The book is the product of a fairly insane amount of research into companies who made a transition from poor or mediocre performance to a place where they consistently outperformed other companies in the same sector with similar situations. The author and his team looked for things that these companies, from a wide variety of different industries and service sectors, had in common. The results were remarkable clear.

The consistently great companies held in common:

• a higher level of management
• focused on building a great team before choosing a new direction
• were willing to confront the brutal facts of their current situation
• were able to determine what they were passionate about, able to do better than anyone else and actually profit at
• were disciplined
• used technology to accelerate performance, not jumping on technology bandwagons but carefully selecting only new technology that helped them with their core competency
• understood the flywheel concept (sometimes success doesn't come over night, but building momentum is the key.

I have oversimplified this all a bit just to give you a little taste. What I love about this book in terms of thinking about the church (and I am talking about churches in general) is that, as I have said before, I think that churches don't think much about being great. I think that is unfortunate. I know some people don't like my way of thinking and believe that it is inappropriate to think of church in these terms. However, I think that the institutional aspect of the church should be the BEST institution. We should do a better job than any other type of organization in sharing our message because our message is vitally important.

I apologize in advance for this comparison if it offends you. Gillette from 1980-1995 outperformed the general market by over 7 times. The study showed this was due to all the characteristics I listed above. They were selling razors. Nice, sharp razors with multiple blades are really nice, but they haven't really changed the world. The mainline church in America, which can share a message of grace and salvation that can change the world is on the decline.

If the church really wanted to reach as many people with the message of grace and salvation as possible, it wouldn't need to follow a business model, but it would need to decide it wanted to be great and think about getting the best people on the team (clergy and lay people) think about facing the brutal facts, consider what aspect of sharing the gospel or building the kingdom each individual church was best at and had a passion for and do that, be disciplined and use technology to accelerate a clear mission.

If you are still interested, read the book. I would love to hear your thoughts.

peace,

will

Save the Darfur Puppy

I read this op-ed piece by Nicholas Kristof last week and wanted to post a link but The New York Times won't let me do that with their "premium" content. However, it was such a good piece that is has now been reposted all over the blogosphere. I don't think I am going to comment on it, I just commend it to you.

Save the Darfur Puppy by Nicholas Kristof

peace,

will

Going Retro... Here is Last Week's Sermon

This never got posted last week.

Will Rice - Sermon #39 - “When You’re Tempted to Go Back to Your Old Life: Living as an Easter Person in an Ordinary World”

peace,

will

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the moms and moms to be and all the mothering types who make the world a better place! This week has proven to be a good mother's day week for me. I got to spend time with a brand new mom and her baby, a great-grandmother and, of course, my wife Alisha who is celebrating her first mother's day. Last evening, I also got to preside over a wedding, which is sort of how the whole mom thing usually gets started.

peace,

will

Live from Kerrville, It's Covenant Connection!

I am spending another couple of days in Kerrville for my Covenant Connection retreat. Mt. Wesley (our Methodist retreat center) installed wireless internet this year. I, at first, thought it was a good thing. Now I am convinced I liked it before when I couldn't do as much work.

peace,

will

Cleaning off my bookshelf, part II

I just don't feel like I can put books away until I have written about them on the blog. (If you ask my wife she will tell you I just don't like to put books away period.) So, here is another recent read.

I just think Robin Cook books are fun. They are about one step from watching TV. Cook always tries to weave some current controversial theme into his books and, because he is a doctor, they tend to be medical. This one, in the midst of a good story, took on health care specifically the concept of concierge medicine. Concierge medicine is a fairly recent movement in the health care business to enable people to have better access to a physician by paying a retainer. (There is a quick article on the topic from Newsweek here: House Calls)

That's all the review you get on this one. You'll find some more depth in some of the other books on my stack as I continue to clean off my bookshelf.

peace,

will

Cleaning off my bookshelf, part I

I am way further ahead in my reading than my weblog suggests. I need to start posting some comments on some books I have read and moving them off the sidebar. So, here goes.



I picked up Vodka by Boris Starling on a whim and lucked out. I guess the title isn't what some expect to find on their pastor's bookshelf. Interesingly, it is actually about vodka or, at least, the story line revolves around out. It is sort of a drama, thriller set in Russia in the 90s with much of the plot involving a giant vodka producer in Moscow. It was a pretty enjoyable fiction read with lots of well developed characters.

The thought that comes to mind when describing this book is that it like Tom Clancy meeting Fedor Dostoevsky and deciding to write together. But at 656 pages, it is more like The Brothers Karamazov than Crime and Punishment.

peace,

will