I am glad things have slowed down

Wow! The current pace of life is really fast! After the final interview for my ordination and after the finalization of Josh's adoption, I thought life would slow down. I was wrong. I got my new appointment, which required a couple of trips to San Antonio which led me right into the busiest week of the church year, Holy Week, which is made even busier by the fact that it coincides with the permanent movement of one of our services into the fellowship hall. Oh, and if that were not enough, because we are moving to San Antonio, we are house hunting.

It is all good. It is just a lot all at once!

peace,

will

My Column

This appeared in this week's edition of The Good News our newsletter at Grace. If you get the newsletter and read it, you can skip this post...

To my brothers and sisters in Christ at Grace,

It is hard to believe that it was about three years ago that Alisha and I learned that we would be moving to Corpus Christi and beginning a new chapter of ministry at Grace. I still remember the series of events and decisions that led us here. I had been an associate pastor at Oak Hill UMC in Austin, serving with Rev. Barbara Ruth and Rev. John Wright. Barbara was selected to become District Superintendent of the Corpus Christi District. A couple of months later, I learned that John had been appointed as Senior Pastor of Grace. Because I had finished seminary and was to be commissioned that year at Annual Conference, I informed my District Superintendent that I was ready to leave Oak Hill and accept an appointment as a solo pastor of a small congregation. Somewhere along the way, I learned that there might be an associate pastor opening at Grace as well. Having worked with Pastor John for a number of years, I was excited about the possibility of continuing my working relationship with him and taking our experience together into a new context. After much thought and prayer, I informed the cabinet that I would be open to the idea of taking another appointment as an associate. I was eventually appointed to Grace.

Some of my colleagues expressed disappointment that I did not take “my own church.” There is an underlying assumption among clergy and laity that the ultimate goal of someone called to be an Elder in the church is to become the pastor in charge. However, I believe that the ultimate goal of an Elder or any baptized Christian is to be obedient and faithful to God, wherever that may be.

During my time here at Grace, people have continued to ask and speculate about me taking “my own church.” Knowing that I am to be ordained in June, some people assumed that the cabinet would reassign me in June as a solo pastor. Some may be startled to hear that, while I will be moving, it will not be to an appointment as a solo pastor, but rather to another associate pastor position.

During my three years at Grace, while Pastor John handled the administrative and big-picture aspects of the church, I was able to focus my energy on one basic question: how is it that we “make” fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ? Those of you who have worked with me closely on programming teams at the church have been on the front lines of my research and testing of ideas and strategies for helping people move from membership to discipleship. Through the incredibly hard work of the lay leadership of Grace, the thinking, praying and planning has born much fruit with the addition of a number of programs designed to help people grow in faith, knowledge and fellowship.

I truly believe that a systematic (or methodical) approach to helping people grow in grace and discipleship is at the heart of what is needed for a true renewal to begin within the United Methodist Church. It is no coincidence that the Methodist Movement was born out of an effort to help people take a structured approach to their own spiritual development.

During my work at Grace, I learned that the new Directing Pastor of University United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Charles Anderson, was implementing a church-wide map of discipleship. I asked Charles to help me on a project entitled, “Growing in Grace – Wesleyan Sanctification and Discipleship Systems.” I learned during our time working on that project that Charles and I share a common vision about how the church can truly be in the business of following the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” When I learned the University had an opening for a Discipleship Pastor, a position designed to focus on discipleship systems, I expressed to my District Superintendent, Barbara Ruth, that I would like the cabinet to consider appointing me there. The details were worked out and the Bishop has announced his intention to appoint me as an associate pastor to University UMC in San Antonio this June. I am extremely excited about his appointment. I will part of a team of six full-time pastors, (not counting retired pastors and other clergy staff members) part of an exciting group of focused, ministry specific leaders at a church of 5700 people. While bigger is not necessarily better, the sheer scale of the ministries at University will give me the tools and resources to continue my work of creating discipleship systems. I pray that my time there will be fruitful not only for University but for the United Methodist Connection as a whole.

I often hear talk at United Methodist Churches of the Bishop and the Cabinet, “snatching away” pastors from churches. This is not the case here. As much as I have loved my time here at Grace and as much as I have learned from Pastor John and all the people I have worked with here, I believe it is time to take what I have learned here and put it to work in a new place.

Change can be hard. Alisha and I will soon be packing and leaving behind the friends we have made here. This will be the first time in my ministry that I will not be working with John or Barbara. But Alisha and I both firmly believe that change can be powerfully good. It forces us to grow and to face new possibilities. It is my prayer that change will be powerfully good at Grace as well. You will get a new associate with new energy, new ideas and another perspective. It is my prayer that you will embrace your new associate and use this opportunity to continue the amazing steps forward that the church has already taken. God is doing amazing things and Grace and I believe God will continue to bless this congregation as it reaches out to spread the Gospel to this community.

And don’t forget, I will still be here until June. We still have lots of work to do together!

peace,

will

The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 2

Where was I? Oh yes, now I sort of remember...

Pastor John ordered me a copy of Christian as Minister. When it came in, I took it home and read it. I think one of the main purposes of the book is to make the point that all Christians are called to ministry and therefore feeling a calling doesn't necessarily mean one is called to full-time Christian vocation. However, after much thought and prayer, I decided I was indeed being called to full-time Christian vocation.

As a side, all this time I was following another piece of advice John have me which was to get more involved in the life of the church and see if I really found it interesting. So, I became a Sunday School Superintendent. (I took attendance, counted the offering and kept the kids out of the hall.) I also signed up for Disciple Bible Study. I was also in the choir and somewhere along the way, I was asked to be a Lay Leader.

I finally went back to John and expressed that I still felt called and I ran into my first official roadblock. It turns out one needs to be a United Methodist for at least two years before one can become what is called a Inquiring Candidate. So I waited...

More soon.

peace,

will

A Blog Free Vacation

Alisha, Josh and I were in Florida last week. I usually do some posting on vacation, but that becomes more difficult with a two year old.

Life has been pretty non-stop for the last few weeks. If you haven't heard already, check back next week (or read your newsletter if you get it) to hear what is keeping us hopping now.

peace,

will

Greetings from Mount Wesley

I really am going to get back to the story of my journey toward ordination. I am counting on things slowing down a little soon. Today, I am at Mount Wesley in Kerrville for the annual Bishop's Convocation. The clergy of the Southwest Texas Conference gather every year to learn and worship and just spend some time together. With the sheer size of our conference, sometimes this is the one time of year I see some of my colleagues.

I will be out of the office until next week, but I may still be on the blog.

peace,

will

My Column

Here is my column from this week's newsletter at Grace for those of you who don't get it and for those of you wait.

Two rather major events occurred in my life within the last two weeks. On Tuesday, February 12, at Mount Wesley in Kerrville, I sat for my interview with the full Board of Ordained Ministry and was recommended unanimously for ordination at Annual Conference on June 7. This was my final interview in a process that has taken about seven years and has included three years of schooling, countless interviews, and hundreds of pages of writing.

Then, on Friday, February 22, at the Bexar County Courthouse, Alisha and I stood up together as the judge announced that our adoption of Joshua Steven Rice had been granted. This was the final step in a process that has taken close to a year and a half and has included nearly as much paperwork as my ordination process.

A couple of people have asked, “Aren’t you glad to be finished?” And I am, but finished is probably not the right word. These two milestones in my life are very similar in that they were and are both things that were already done and not yet completed. I believe that God called me into Christian ministry on my baptism. My ordination will mark the end of a process but not the beginning and certainly not the end of my ministry. It is really just another step on the path that I have allowed my heart to follow. Our adoption of Joshua is the end of a legal process but we became Joshua’s parents and he became our son the day he was carried through our front door and we still have a long journey ahead as a family.

It is important to mark milestones in our lives. It is good to stop and mark major events and accomplishments and give thanks to God for where we have been and how far we have come; but we always need to do so in the context of the continuing journey of growth and change that God has in store for us.

The Apostle Paul, with so many accomplishments already behind him writes in his letter to the Philippians about his own spiritual journey, “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is speaking of sanctification, the idea that, while there is a major milestone in our lives when we accept the grace that God offers us, when we are justified, there is also so much more. There is the prevenient grace of God that loved us before we even knew it and the sanctifying grace of God that continues to mold us and change us and recreate us more in God’s image. I was called to be a pastor before I knew it, I will be becoming a pastor for the rest of my life. Joshua and Alisha and I were a family long before the court decided so and we will be becoming a family as long as we live.

During the season of Lent, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, I invite you to consider where you are on the journey. Where are you on the continual journey of transformation and re-creation that God has undertaken in you?

peace,

will

More after this...

Another break from the story of my epic journey to share with you a piece from yesterday's New York Times on a new poll released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. There is a ton of stuff in this article and more in the study it is referring to that could inform our church's or any church's evangelism effort.

The line that really jumped out at me was this:

“Those losing out are offering impersonal religion,” he said, “and those winning are offering a smaller scale: mega-churches succeed not because they are mega but because they have smaller ministries inside.”

Give the article a read. I would love to hear your comments.

Poll Finds a Fluid Religious Life in U.S.

By NEELA BANERJEE

Published: February 26, 2008

More than a quarter of adult Americans have left their childhood faith for another religion or no religion.

peace,

will

The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 1

So I have decided to reflect on the all the things that have brought me to the eve or my ordination in June. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will count on any of my colleagues who read the blog to chime in with corrections or experiences that were different than mine. Here goes:

The very first thing someone is to do when they feel a call to ministry is go and talk to their pastor. Which raises the question, "How do you know if you are being called into ministry?" Good question. Everyone's experience seems to be different. I have friends who always knew they were supposed to be in full-time ministry. Others describe a pretty dramatic moment of revelation. For me, it was more similar to having some nagging discomfort that someone finally convinces you to go to the doctor about.

My first step was schedule a meeting with Pastor John. For me, it took a while to schedule this meeting. It is a little unnerving to go and tell someone you think God is calling you into full-time ministry. What if the person says, "No, I talked to God and you heard wrong."

This is especially an issue if the person feeling the call is fairly new to the Christian faith as I was. There tends to be a initial suspicion about people who are young in the faith that perhaps there call to ministry is just a strong feeling of the call that all baptized Christians are called to ministry of one sort or another.

Anyway, Pastor John did as he was supposed to and ordered me a copy of A Christian as Minister. Those who initial feel the call to ministry are to read this to learn a little bit about Christian vocation and all the different option that were available. Pastor John also spent a little time explaining what actually goes into the process of ordination. It sounded impossible and like it would take forever. It didn't take quite that long.

More next time.

peace,

will

I Love it When the Blog Gets Interesting

Responses to postings are the lifeblood of an interactive weblog. So, check out my post from yesterday: But First... and then check out the reply it inspired. Good stuff.

peace,

will

So much to write... So little time

All the complexities of life have caused me to slack on writing about the books I am reading. This causes me other headaches because I refuse to put the book back on the shelf or lend it out until I have written something about and moved it from my What Will is Reading Now list to my What Will Read Last list.

Stuck on my desk is one of the most fun books I have read in a while, A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically, One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.

I had seen this author on television after the book came out last year but didn't get a chance to pick it up until a friend of Alisha's who works at Simon & Schuster sent it our way. I didn't know what to expect. The premise is pretty simple an author, who happens to be a non-practicing Jew decides try to live the words, laws and instructions of the Bible as literally as possible for a year and write about it as he goes. The main thing this book accomplishes is being hysterically funny and oddly not irreverent. But the writing also does some other things. For me, as a Christian and a person who struggles to live faithfully it gave me an opportunity to see my struggles through the eyes and experience of someone else, someone else who takes to the project without nearly as many preconceived notions of what living faithfully is supposed to look like. Oddly, as hysterical as it was to read about Jacobs dealing with unruly facial hair and building booths in his living room and someone maintaining a relationship with his wife, the book actually increased my belief in the life changing power of scripture. It was fascinating to see how someone who engaged the Bible pretty much just to write a book, was radically changed. His efforts to be faithful were inspired by his commitment as an author but they still had a profound, altering effect on him. Don't get me wrong, he has not become an orthodox Jew or a born-again Christian, but it seems that he was a profoundly different person by the end of the book. And at the end of reading the book, I had an even deeper respect for the complexities and power of the Bible.

I think open-minded Christians could do a great small group book study on this. This is a fantastic book, I highly recommend it.

peace,

will

But First...

I hope to start today writing about the ordination process (see previous post). However, I wanted to first share this op-ed piece from Paul Krugman of The New York Times. I am often frustrated when people believe that everyone in America has the same shot at a full an abundant life. Where and when we are born has a massive impact on the possibilities that are before us. Sure it is possible for a poor kid from inner-city Philadelphia to grow up to be a senator, an astronaut, a pro quarterback or a C.E.O.. However, it the it is statistically less probable than for a rich kid from Martha's Vineyard. There are lots of reasons for this and Krugman talks a little bit about the science behind it.

Poverty Is Poison

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: February 18, 2008

To be poor in America today, even more than in the past, is to be an outcast in your own country. And that, the neuroscientists tell us, is what poisons a child’s brain.

peace,

will

O.K. I am done (pretty much)

Last Tuesday, I took another trip to Kerrville for my interview with The Board of Ordained Ministry, my final interview of my ordination process. Good news! The interview went very well and the full board has unanimously recommended me for ordination. The final two steps are election into full connection by the full clergy session of the Annual Conference on Wednesday, June 4th and Ordination by the Bishop at the Ordination Service on Saturday, June 7th. If you happen to be in the area, that service is open and is a really wonderful service.

Because this process is so amazingly complex and because so few people understand it, I have undertaken a new project. I am going to try to blog about the whole process from start to finish. I am going to count on my colleagues to post comments when I leave something out or get something wrong or if I had a experience not typical of the process. How long this whole explanation on the weblog takes will just depend on how motivated I am. So, keep checking back for updates!

peace,

will

Blogging in Lent

Last night's Ash Wednesday service really has me thinking about the power and pitfalls and sharing and writing about spiritual disciplines. As I talked about in my sermon last night (which I really hope to post today) there may be some power in sharing with each other the things we are doing during Lent to enhance our relationship with God and to increase our obedience to God. If we share them with each other, we may encourage each other. But, as I also shared, we have to be careful that our sharing is not boasting, that we are not doing it to "show off" our piety. I was in a meeting with a colleague the other day and he paused to get some juice from his office refrigerator. He apologized for interrupting and mentioned that he was fasting. For some reason, either the way it was shared or because of my relationship with the person, I didn't hear it at all as boastful. In fact, it really made me consider my own relationship with the discipline of fasting. Here was one of my colleagues, someone far busier and more overworked than me and he could manage to undertake this discipline. So why couldn't I. When we share, we may encourage each other and we may also gain some degree of accountability. If my friend had asked for a sandwich, I may have reminded him that he was fasting. If I were to say that I was going to observe the sabbath every week in lent and you saw me working on the day I had set aside, you might inquire as to why.

So with all this, I still don't have a clear answer on the appropriate level of sharing. So far, you won't find a list of the disciplines I will undertake during Lent here on the weblog.

peace,

will

Still catching up...

I have not been posting sermons as quickly as I like. In fact until now, there were not any from this year. I just posted the first two of the year and the sermon from this week should be up tomorrow.

Will Rice - Sermon #56 - "There's More to the Story"

Will Rice - Sermon #57 - "Baptism of the Lord"

peace,

will

Thanks for your patience

My apologies to those who read the blog on a regular basis. It has been a bit "content challenged" lately. I tend to write on the blog when I have a couple of free minutes or when I need a break from something else I am working on. Over the last month, I have really been forced to work in a different mode trying to get as much done in as little time as possible. As I have written about before, between the adoption process, the ordination process and the rapidly accelerating pace at the church, it has been hard to get it all done.

It should slow down soon. And I hope so. I have lots to write about. I still have two sermons I have not posted and I have read some great books I want to write about. More soon!

peace,

will

Just One More to Go!

I traveled to Gonzalez yesterday for my interview with the interview team from the Board of Ordained Ministry. This was a group who read all my responses to the doctrinal question as well as my sermon and Bible study. The session was pretty uneventful and went well and the group voted unanimously to recommend me to the Board of Ordained Ministry for ordination. This means I have all positive recommendations for my final step, my interview by the full board on February 12th at Mt. Wesley in Kerrville. I will let you know how that one goes.

peace,

will

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Upper Room Daily Devotional has a wonderful piece on the topic today. Some of you may get the printed copy. For everyone else, here is a link to the website:

The Heart of Justice - The Upper Room

peace,

will

keeping up

My ordination process has certainly consumed a lot of my time and energy lately but with a lot of that out of the way, I don't feel much less swamped. There are lots of really big things going on at Grace. Sort of topping the fight for my attention is the upcoming move of the 9:45 service into the gym. The is a really large and complicated project and we are all lucky that there is a great team working on it. This week, the rest of the materials are being shipped. This weekend, we hope that the painting will begin. Over the next couple of weeks, you will really start to see the room transformed. Starting this Sunday, we will be recruiting setup and teardown teams.

While that is the biggest project on my plate right now, it certainly isn't the only one. We have a dynamite Adult Council and they are planning discipleship opportunities for the whole year. It all starts with Methodism 101 next week. Already on the calendar are Bible 101, Prayer 101 and Worship 101. There are even more in the works.

There are also two new small groups forming right now and another round of Genesis, our small group ministry incubator. (That should be the subject of a whole other post.)

We are already running full steam and it is only January. I haven't even yet had first of the year meetings with Missions, Congregational Care or Welcoming and I new their leaders have big things planned for 2008.

There are so many ways to be involved in all of this. If you want to get more involved and don't know how, drop me an email and I will give you some ideas.

peace,

will

Almost there

I want to report that I am one step closer to my ordination. I had my final interview with the Covenant Connection Committee on Tuesday morning and they unanimously voted to recommend me to the Board of Ordained Ministry for Ordination as an Elder and election to full connection in the United Methodist Church.

That was a pretty big step and this committee's recommendation carried a lot of weight. I have two more steps before June. Later this month I will be interviewed by a team selected by the Board of Ordained Ministry. They will read my answers to the assigned theological questions and then give me sort of an oral exam. There recommendation will then be passed along to the full Board. In February, I will travel to Mt. Wesley in Kerrville again where I will be interviewed by the Full Board of Ordained Ministry who will make the final recommendation. Then, if all that goes well, in June, at Annual Conference, all the clergy members in full connection to the conference will vote to admit me into full connection. This happens at a special clergy meeting. Then, if that goes well, the Bishop will ordain me on the last day of Annual Conference at the ordination service.

If this all sounds complicated, trust me, this is the easy part.

peace,

will

Quality Airport Time

I don't mind being stuck in the airport anymore now that most airports have wireless internet access. I am going to be here for a while though so I may need to look for a power plug soon. I have not posted my sermon from this Sunday yet since the copy with my edits and changes in back on my desk. I may try to edit it again and post it today. Has anyone done the homework? (If you weren't there Sunday, you will have no idea what I am talking about?) If you have done your homework, feel free to post it as a response to this post. Again, the questions is, "What are you going to do about Christmas?"

peace,

will