I am pleased to report that, at the clergy session yesterday, I was elected to full connection and set to be ordained on Saturday. That was the very last vote!
peace,
will
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Monument Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 10
I am really getting down to the wire to finish this project. Today, I am to be voted on by the full clergy session of the Southwest Texas Conference. All ordained elders will be eligible to vote later this afternoon on whether to elect me to “full connection.” If they do, I will be ordained on Saturday. Since I come before the group with a unanimous recommendation from the Board of Ordained Ministry, this is sort of a formality, but it still raises a tiny bit of anxiety. This is the very, very, very last vote in a seven (plus) year process.
But back to the unfolding drama. I enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where they gave me a full scholarship and a really, really cheap apartment. About that time, there were some staff changes at Oak Hill UMC. I spoke a couple times to Rev. Barbara Ruth, then the senior pastor there and she offered me a part time position as Adult Ministries Coordinator. It paid just enough that Alisha and I would be able to get by.
And then, I was back to the process (which was supposed to be what this was about.) At this point, I had been a United Methodist long enough to continue. I was assigned a Clergy Mentor, Rev. Dick West, at the time, Senior Pastor of Covenant UMC in Austin. I was given a giant binder to work through with him. We met once a month for more discernment, working toward my opportunity to sit in front of my church’s staff parish relations committee and the District Committee on Ordained Ministry. And that is where I will pick up next time!
peace,
will
But back to the unfolding drama. I enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where they gave me a full scholarship and a really, really cheap apartment. About that time, there were some staff changes at Oak Hill UMC. I spoke a couple times to Rev. Barbara Ruth, then the senior pastor there and she offered me a part time position as Adult Ministries Coordinator. It paid just enough that Alisha and I would be able to get by.
And then, I was back to the process (which was supposed to be what this was about.) At this point, I had been a United Methodist long enough to continue. I was assigned a Clergy Mentor, Rev. Dick West, at the time, Senior Pastor of Covenant UMC in Austin. I was given a giant binder to work through with him. We met once a month for more discernment, working toward my opportunity to sit in front of my church’s staff parish relations committee and the District Committee on Ordained Ministry. And that is where I will pick up next time!
peace,
will
Monday, June 02, 2008
Some Closing Thoughts
This is one of two columns printed in this week's Good News, the newsletter at Grace, I am publishing it here for my readers who don't receive it...
In concluding my time here at Grace, I want to offer some thoughts and reflections for you to consider as you continue to move forward in mission and ministry. It is easy to offer thoughts on the way out the door. I get to offer these things and then make a quick exit. However, I offer them with the heartfelt hope that they will provide you insight as you plan for the future of Grace. In keeping with the mission that was shown to me when I first arrived here, I have broken them into three categories: ways to better invite, nurture and serve.
Invite – In order to better invite members of our community into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we must make room. We are already working on making physical room by making plans for a new facility on 624. However, physical room is only part of the equation. We need to think about other limitations and how to remedy them. In order to be ready to invite, consider the following:
Invest in technology – Churches tend to live a few years behind the curve when it comes to technology. I think this causes churches to miss out on the opportunity to be more faithful to God’s call and commission. Technology for technology’s sake is idolatrous, but computers, projectors, wireless connections, web portals and other new technologies can make us better stewards of the gifts and time of our staff and allow us to better connect with our congregation and our community. Faster computers and better software allow our staff and lay ministers to work more effectively and efficiently. Technology when used well in worship can connect a new generation to the gospel. Innovative use of the world wide web, email and even text messaging can connect us to each other and to our community.
Invest in staff – This means two things: investing in training and nurturing the staff we have and growing the staff to meet the needs to the future. Just like we can limit the number of people who worship with us when our sanctuary is too small, there is a physical limit to the number of new people we can invite into our midst when the support staff is too small. We need to constantly evaluate our staffing needs, provide for the nurture, support and growth of our current staff and plan to make additions in order to grow not when we grow.
Nurture – I think many established churches struggle with an understanding of what it means to be nurtured in the faith and who is to do the nurturing. First of all, nurturing involves more than just being taken care of in a time of need. It involves helping one to be open to the growth that the Holy Spirit offers through God’s sanctifying (or perfecting) grace. Second of all, nurturing is a function of the whole community. In order to better nurture each other, consider the following:
Take care of each other. Grace is truly a caring and loving community. As you continue to grow you will need to be more intentional and systematic about what you already do naturally. You will also need to be thoughtful about how your pastors help you to care for one another. Let me give you an example. Quite often, I receive a call from a member of the church letting me know that they heard someone is in the hospital and one of the pastors should go. That’s not bad, but here is something better: Every once in a while I receive a call from someone letting me know that they heard someone was in the hospital and they already went to see them and they just wanted to keep my updated.
Take small groups seriously. In order for us to nurture each other, we need to meet in groups smaller than our worship services. This idea of meeting in small groups in order to nurture, sustain, encourage, care for and hold each other accountable goes back to our spiritual founder, John Wesley. We have started a comprehensive small groups program at Grace but we have only just started. Small groups are central to the life of faith and it takes work to develop, maintain and promote them.
Commit to a plan of discipleship. During my tenure, I talked a lot about a map for discipleship. Some of you heard a lot about the “ocean diagram” which is a plan for better understanding the stages of spiritual and faith development. Whether or not you use the ocean diagram, stay committed to the idea that making disciples is not a one time thing but a life long journey. The church is responsible not just for making members but for leading people into the deep waters of true discipleship of Jesus Christ and service in his name.
Serve – In order to live out our call to be disciples and make disciples; in order to follow our commission to serve the least, last and the lost, we must be organized and intentional in our effort. In order to better follow our calling to serve God and each other, I offer the following thoughts:
Meet well. We did a lot of work to move away from long, unfocused, unproductive meetings that accomplished little, frustrated many and drove talented people away from doing the work of the church. We adopted guidelines for meetings that reminded us to start on time, end on time and have a plan for getting our work accomplished. We also began using an opening liturgy that helped us to root our meetings in prayer and in God’s Spirit. It is really easy to fall out of good habits. Don’t give this up. In my experience, better meetings have allowed us to be more faithful to our mission.
Set goals. It is really easy to get lost if you don’t know where you are going. Last year the Church Council adopted a number of church-wide goals that were developed by our church leadership. Big picture goals not only give us something to aspire to, they give us a way to evaluate our progress. Without them, we can’t even tell if we have succeeded or failed in what we were trying to do. I suggest that you take time before the end of the year to evaluate how you are doing and then set new goals for next year.
Plan. It is also easy to get lost of you don’t think about how you are going to get somewhere. Plan as much and as far ahead as you can. Otherwise, it is too easy to get to the end of another year and realize you never did what you set out to do.
Those are my thoughts. There are so many more floating around in my head, but it is time for transition. It is time for me to begin thinking about my responsibilities at University and it is time for you to start looking to Pastor Mark as he begins to add his insight, vision and leadership to that of Pastor John. I have faith that if you remain strong in your commitment to the Gospel and faithful in your call to follow Christ, God will bless you and the ministry of Grace United Methodist Church.
peace,
will
In concluding my time here at Grace, I want to offer some thoughts and reflections for you to consider as you continue to move forward in mission and ministry. It is easy to offer thoughts on the way out the door. I get to offer these things and then make a quick exit. However, I offer them with the heartfelt hope that they will provide you insight as you plan for the future of Grace. In keeping with the mission that was shown to me when I first arrived here, I have broken them into three categories: ways to better invite, nurture and serve.
Invite – In order to better invite members of our community into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we must make room. We are already working on making physical room by making plans for a new facility on 624. However, physical room is only part of the equation. We need to think about other limitations and how to remedy them. In order to be ready to invite, consider the following:
Invest in technology – Churches tend to live a few years behind the curve when it comes to technology. I think this causes churches to miss out on the opportunity to be more faithful to God’s call and commission. Technology for technology’s sake is idolatrous, but computers, projectors, wireless connections, web portals and other new technologies can make us better stewards of the gifts and time of our staff and allow us to better connect with our congregation and our community. Faster computers and better software allow our staff and lay ministers to work more effectively and efficiently. Technology when used well in worship can connect a new generation to the gospel. Innovative use of the world wide web, email and even text messaging can connect us to each other and to our community.
Invest in staff – This means two things: investing in training and nurturing the staff we have and growing the staff to meet the needs to the future. Just like we can limit the number of people who worship with us when our sanctuary is too small, there is a physical limit to the number of new people we can invite into our midst when the support staff is too small. We need to constantly evaluate our staffing needs, provide for the nurture, support and growth of our current staff and plan to make additions in order to grow not when we grow.
Nurture – I think many established churches struggle with an understanding of what it means to be nurtured in the faith and who is to do the nurturing. First of all, nurturing involves more than just being taken care of in a time of need. It involves helping one to be open to the growth that the Holy Spirit offers through God’s sanctifying (or perfecting) grace. Second of all, nurturing is a function of the whole community. In order to better nurture each other, consider the following:
Take care of each other. Grace is truly a caring and loving community. As you continue to grow you will need to be more intentional and systematic about what you already do naturally. You will also need to be thoughtful about how your pastors help you to care for one another. Let me give you an example. Quite often, I receive a call from a member of the church letting me know that they heard someone is in the hospital and one of the pastors should go. That’s not bad, but here is something better: Every once in a while I receive a call from someone letting me know that they heard someone was in the hospital and they already went to see them and they just wanted to keep my updated.
Take small groups seriously. In order for us to nurture each other, we need to meet in groups smaller than our worship services. This idea of meeting in small groups in order to nurture, sustain, encourage, care for and hold each other accountable goes back to our spiritual founder, John Wesley. We have started a comprehensive small groups program at Grace but we have only just started. Small groups are central to the life of faith and it takes work to develop, maintain and promote them.
Commit to a plan of discipleship. During my tenure, I talked a lot about a map for discipleship. Some of you heard a lot about the “ocean diagram” which is a plan for better understanding the stages of spiritual and faith development. Whether or not you use the ocean diagram, stay committed to the idea that making disciples is not a one time thing but a life long journey. The church is responsible not just for making members but for leading people into the deep waters of true discipleship of Jesus Christ and service in his name.
Serve – In order to live out our call to be disciples and make disciples; in order to follow our commission to serve the least, last and the lost, we must be organized and intentional in our effort. In order to better follow our calling to serve God and each other, I offer the following thoughts:
Meet well. We did a lot of work to move away from long, unfocused, unproductive meetings that accomplished little, frustrated many and drove talented people away from doing the work of the church. We adopted guidelines for meetings that reminded us to start on time, end on time and have a plan for getting our work accomplished. We also began using an opening liturgy that helped us to root our meetings in prayer and in God’s Spirit. It is really easy to fall out of good habits. Don’t give this up. In my experience, better meetings have allowed us to be more faithful to our mission.
Set goals. It is really easy to get lost if you don’t know where you are going. Last year the Church Council adopted a number of church-wide goals that were developed by our church leadership. Big picture goals not only give us something to aspire to, they give us a way to evaluate our progress. Without them, we can’t even tell if we have succeeded or failed in what we were trying to do. I suggest that you take time before the end of the year to evaluate how you are doing and then set new goals for next year.
Plan. It is also easy to get lost of you don’t think about how you are going to get somewhere. Plan as much and as far ahead as you can. Otherwise, it is too easy to get to the end of another year and realize you never did what you set out to do.
Those are my thoughts. There are so many more floating around in my head, but it is time for transition. It is time for me to begin thinking about my responsibilities at University and it is time for you to start looking to Pastor Mark as he begins to add his insight, vision and leadership to that of Pastor John. I have faith that if you remain strong in your commitment to the Gospel and faithful in your call to follow Christ, God will bless you and the ministry of Grace United Methodist Church.
peace,
will
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Monument Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 9
And now, back to our program.
I got off track a bit and now I am going to go back and pick up where I left off in volume 7. I was in my first semester of seminary, barely hanging on when it was discovered that Alisha had a serious brain tumor. (I guess all brain tumors are serious but this one was especially serious.) I have some really vivid memories of getting that phone call in my depressing little apartment. I remember being completely beside myself for a while, then calling Southwest Airlines then calling my sister to get a ride to the airport. Alisha, being the free spirit that she is was not around when I got to Austin. She had tickets to a concert and opted to go.
Alisha was already my fiancée; we had our wedding scheduled for the next spring. However, the next day, I asked her to marry me sooner, before the surgery. She wouldn’t answer me right away, but finally we went to the courthouse and got the license. Our friend Tina performed the ceremony in the chapel at First UMC in Austin the day before Alisha’s surgery. In fact, after the wedding, we had a little cake in the foyer and then, instead of heading off on our honeymoon, we got in the car with her mother and drove to the hospital for pre-op tests.
Because this is about my call to ministry, and not about Alisha, I am not going to write a lot about the surgery. Alisha ought to write a book about the whole thing. The important news is that she did fine and continues to do fine. In fact, given the diagnosis, things went miraculously well. For the point of this series, the key question is, how did this affect my call to ministry?
Looking back, I feel that my calling has always been pretty deep because this part certainly could have derailed it. It wasn’t that it tested my faith; it was that it just sort of got me off track. For two weeks I was focused solely on Alisha. I was just praying, at first, that she would survive, and then I was thinking about recovery, insurance, income and what we were going to do for the next few months.
I thought for a while about dropping out of seminary, for now. And then I did something that really impacted my future ministry. I went to visit the folks at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I decided to finish up the semester at Perkins in Dallas and then move back to Austin to be with Alisha and what turned out to be a wonderful seminary community. And, oh yeah, I ended up back to Oak UMC, but more on that later!
peace,
will
I got off track a bit and now I am going to go back and pick up where I left off in volume 7. I was in my first semester of seminary, barely hanging on when it was discovered that Alisha had a serious brain tumor. (I guess all brain tumors are serious but this one was especially serious.) I have some really vivid memories of getting that phone call in my depressing little apartment. I remember being completely beside myself for a while, then calling Southwest Airlines then calling my sister to get a ride to the airport. Alisha, being the free spirit that she is was not around when I got to Austin. She had tickets to a concert and opted to go.
Alisha was already my fiancée; we had our wedding scheduled for the next spring. However, the next day, I asked her to marry me sooner, before the surgery. She wouldn’t answer me right away, but finally we went to the courthouse and got the license. Our friend Tina performed the ceremony in the chapel at First UMC in Austin the day before Alisha’s surgery. In fact, after the wedding, we had a little cake in the foyer and then, instead of heading off on our honeymoon, we got in the car with her mother and drove to the hospital for pre-op tests.
Because this is about my call to ministry, and not about Alisha, I am not going to write a lot about the surgery. Alisha ought to write a book about the whole thing. The important news is that she did fine and continues to do fine. In fact, given the diagnosis, things went miraculously well. For the point of this series, the key question is, how did this affect my call to ministry?
Looking back, I feel that my calling has always been pretty deep because this part certainly could have derailed it. It wasn’t that it tested my faith; it was that it just sort of got me off track. For two weeks I was focused solely on Alisha. I was just praying, at first, that she would survive, and then I was thinking about recovery, insurance, income and what we were going to do for the next few months.
I thought for a while about dropping out of seminary, for now. And then I did something that really impacted my future ministry. I went to visit the folks at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I decided to finish up the semester at Perkins in Dallas and then move back to Austin to be with Alisha and what turned out to be a wonderful seminary community. And, oh yeah, I ended up back to Oak UMC, but more on that later!
peace,
will
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Monument Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 8
On our last episode of General Hospital…
It is really difficult to keep forward momentum in this project. I keep wanting to go back and fill in something that I missed. For instance, I could go back and talk about my experience in Disciple Bible Study (mentioned in vol. 2). After I had first expressed my call to ministry, Pastor John had suggested I get more involved. One of the ways I did this was in Disciple Bible Study. I cannot begin to tell you what an amazing impact that study had on my life and call to ministry.
I was with our Bishop, Joel Martinez this past week for his annual meeting with the class of ordinands. Part of his opening reflection was about how it is important to remember those people who helped us and walked with us in our faith journey and our call to ministry. The members of that Disciple Bible Study we are all incredibly important people in my journey. I spent two and a half (and often three) hours a week with eleven other men and women studying the Bible, praying and discussing God’s work in our lives. I learned more about God, scripture and myself in those nine months than I ever have since. That is where I really got to know Rev. Barbara Ruth, my current District Superintendent (and another person who will lay hands on me as the Bishop ordains me at Annual Conference) and my friend Katie who walked with me through some amazingly wonderful and difficult parts of my call to ministry.
It was also during this class that I became very clear about my call. I walked into the class the first week with my brand new Bible having never really read anything from it. During the second to last class, the group is to take time reflecting on each other’s gifts. It was there that I first heard my internal call confirmed by others. I was quite shocked to hear my new friends express that, in me, they saw gifts and a calling to full-time Christian ministry.
I have amazing trust in God’s ability to get things done, but I just can’t imagine that I would have followed my call had it not been for that class. It wasn’t just what I learned, but what I became through it. I guess it is really fitting for a person called to a ministry of deepening discipleship to have been nurtured in his call during a class called Disciple.
As I reflect on this, it really reminds me how important it is for all of us to be aware of those around us who may be wrestling with God’s call on their lives and how important it is for us to be that voice of confirmation. This doesn’t always have to be about ordained ministry. If someone says to you, “You know, I just feel like I might want to work with youth,” and you see in them gifts and talents for that ministry, God may be calling you to tell them that, to confirm what God is placing on their heart. Sometimes confirmation needs to come in the midst of ministry. If you see someone following God’s call and doing a good job at it, God may be calling you to let them know that they are valued.
I am also reminded of the importance of community in our journey as Christians. We are all called to ministry of some sort and that call and confirmation most often come to us in community, in the Body of Christ we call the church. The place where this community does its best work is in small groups, especially small groups that are focused on scripture.
More soon, I promise I will get back to the cliffhanger ending of the last episode!
peace,
will
It is really difficult to keep forward momentum in this project. I keep wanting to go back and fill in something that I missed. For instance, I could go back and talk about my experience in Disciple Bible Study (mentioned in vol. 2). After I had first expressed my call to ministry, Pastor John had suggested I get more involved. One of the ways I did this was in Disciple Bible Study. I cannot begin to tell you what an amazing impact that study had on my life and call to ministry.
I was with our Bishop, Joel Martinez this past week for his annual meeting with the class of ordinands. Part of his opening reflection was about how it is important to remember those people who helped us and walked with us in our faith journey and our call to ministry. The members of that Disciple Bible Study we are all incredibly important people in my journey. I spent two and a half (and often three) hours a week with eleven other men and women studying the Bible, praying and discussing God’s work in our lives. I learned more about God, scripture and myself in those nine months than I ever have since. That is where I really got to know Rev. Barbara Ruth, my current District Superintendent (and another person who will lay hands on me as the Bishop ordains me at Annual Conference) and my friend Katie who walked with me through some amazingly wonderful and difficult parts of my call to ministry.
It was also during this class that I became very clear about my call. I walked into the class the first week with my brand new Bible having never really read anything from it. During the second to last class, the group is to take time reflecting on each other’s gifts. It was there that I first heard my internal call confirmed by others. I was quite shocked to hear my new friends express that, in me, they saw gifts and a calling to full-time Christian ministry.
I have amazing trust in God’s ability to get things done, but I just can’t imagine that I would have followed my call had it not been for that class. It wasn’t just what I learned, but what I became through it. I guess it is really fitting for a person called to a ministry of deepening discipleship to have been nurtured in his call during a class called Disciple.
As I reflect on this, it really reminds me how important it is for all of us to be aware of those around us who may be wrestling with God’s call on their lives and how important it is for us to be that voice of confirmation. This doesn’t always have to be about ordained ministry. If someone says to you, “You know, I just feel like I might want to work with youth,” and you see in them gifts and talents for that ministry, God may be calling you to tell them that, to confirm what God is placing on their heart. Sometimes confirmation needs to come in the midst of ministry. If you see someone following God’s call and doing a good job at it, God may be calling you to let them know that they are valued.
I am also reminded of the importance of community in our journey as Christians. We are all called to ministry of some sort and that call and confirmation most often come to us in community, in the Body of Christ we call the church. The place where this community does its best work is in small groups, especially small groups that are focused on scripture.
More soon, I promise I will get back to the cliffhanger ending of the last episode!
peace,
will
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Monument Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 7
I seem to be bouncing around a bit. I started in the first post telling about my first step in declaring my call to ministry. Somewhere along the line I got off the timeline and went back to what got me to church. We will call this a flashback sequence. But, if I want to get this project done before I am actually ordained, I better jump forward in time. Maybe, I won’t jump, but fast-forward. I went to that church (Oak Hill in Austin) for a while. I quit that job at KHFI and I went camping. I took my dog Bodhi and loaded up my truck and drove. We camped in Oklahoma, Arkansas and in just about every state on the way to New York where I visited my parents for a while. Then I took off and went to Pennsylvania to see some friends. I stopped by to visit some friends at the radio station I used to work at in Pennsylvania. While I was there I met a man who ran a new division of that radio company in Austin, Texas. He told me to go back to Austin and he would give me a job. So after a little more camping, off I went. I got a cool job which gave me more time to go to church. I got baptized and joined the church. I got more involved. I felt a call to ministry (that was covered in an earlier post). I went to talk to Pastor John and began the inquiry process which got stalled when I hadn’t been a member long enough and restarted a couple months later (also covered earlier). This brings us back up to volume four and my time with Tina Carter at First UMC in Austin. Sometime after I started visiting that Saturday night worship service I: got laid off from my job, fell in love and got engaged, applied to and got accepted to Perkins School of Theology at SMU in Dallas, and finished up the first step or my ordination inquiry process.
So, in the fall of 2001, I packed up my stuff, sent my dog to live with my sister and drove to Dallas to start seminary. I moved into a horrible little apartment about ten minutes from the school and began some of the hardest months of my life. I had never really thought about it before in these terms, but beginning a Master of Divinity degree program less than two years after my baptism was a really crazy thing to do. First of all, nearly all my fellow students had years and years of background that I didn’t. I was one of the younger members of the entering class and I hadn’t grown up the church. I had learned a lot already but many of my classmates were much more familiar with the history, tradition and beliefs of the church as well as much more familiar with scripture. Some of the folks in my classes even had undergraduate degrees in religion. I was a communications major who hadn’t even been through confirmation.
It also occurs to me as I look back that spiritually I was a very new Christian. I hadn’t had time to develop the spiritual depth and foundation to support me through the incredible stress of the workload, the complete upheaval of my life, and the loneliness (all my new Christian brothers and sisters were back in Austin as was my fiancé!)
And then just as I was hanging on by a thread, reading more than I had ever read, learning to write at a Master’s Degree level, trying to continue my spiritual journey, my fiancé, Alisha, calls one day crying. After some prodding, she tells me she has a brain tumor. I have to tell you, for both Alisha and I, before that point, we only used “brain tumor” to describe what something wasn’t, as in “Well, at least it is not a brain tumor.” She had a pretty big one and it needed to come out right away. I was back in Austin that night, leaving seminary behind, for a while.
More soon!
peace,
will
So, in the fall of 2001, I packed up my stuff, sent my dog to live with my sister and drove to Dallas to start seminary. I moved into a horrible little apartment about ten minutes from the school and began some of the hardest months of my life. I had never really thought about it before in these terms, but beginning a Master of Divinity degree program less than two years after my baptism was a really crazy thing to do. First of all, nearly all my fellow students had years and years of background that I didn’t. I was one of the younger members of the entering class and I hadn’t grown up the church. I had learned a lot already but many of my classmates were much more familiar with the history, tradition and beliefs of the church as well as much more familiar with scripture. Some of the folks in my classes even had undergraduate degrees in religion. I was a communications major who hadn’t even been through confirmation.
It also occurs to me as I look back that spiritually I was a very new Christian. I hadn’t had time to develop the spiritual depth and foundation to support me through the incredible stress of the workload, the complete upheaval of my life, and the loneliness (all my new Christian brothers and sisters were back in Austin as was my fiancé!)
And then just as I was hanging on by a thread, reading more than I had ever read, learning to write at a Master’s Degree level, trying to continue my spiritual journey, my fiancé, Alisha, calls one day crying. After some prodding, she tells me she has a brain tumor. I have to tell you, for both Alisha and I, before that point, we only used “brain tumor” to describe what something wasn’t, as in “Well, at least it is not a brain tumor.” She had a pretty big one and it needed to come out right away. I was back in Austin that night, leaving seminary behind, for a while.
More soon!
peace,
will
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Overwhelming Sadness
I have noticed that no one is talking about the cyclone that has caused inconceivable loss in Burma nor the earthquake that has killed thousands in China. Then I realized that I wasn't talking about it either. I was pondering this on my way in this morning and I remembered having this feeling a few times before. In fact, whenever we are faced with overwhelming loss like this, our reaction tends to be very slow. I have discovered two underlying reasons.
First of all, it just takes time to process the magnitude of that kind of loss. When I hear that over 100,000 people may die in Burma and that over 10,000 are already counted as dead in China, my brain can't really come to terms with that right away.
I wrote in a blog post August 31st, 2005, (A Deep Sadness):
I am struck with a deep sadness this morning as the full impact of Hurricane Katrina begins to sink in. I realized after December's tsunami that with catastrophic events, it takes a number of days for people to truly understand. Even if we watch all the media coverage, for many, it takes a certain amount of time before the events become real and they are able to begin to process the full emotional impact. I think in a day of information overload, it may be how our brains protect us. But now, beginning to see how bad things are, and beginning to connect with the emotions, this is overwhelmingly sad.
So there is a sort of cognitive delay. There is also scientific evidence that people are less emotionally stirred by mass suffering than they are by the suffering of individuals. There was a great article on this topic by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times some months back. It was called Save the Darfur Puppy and it looks at some of the research beyond the phenomenon that we can look at something as devastating as the loss in Burma and have little reaction yet be devestated by the story of one little girl who lost her parents in the tragedy.
As the scope of the tragedy does begin to filter into our brains, many of us want to help. Unfortunately we just don't know how. Here is a statement from The United Methodist Committee of Relief about how you can help:
Please continue to pray for the cyclone survivors and for additional venues for assistance to be opened to help those in need. Financial gifts will allow UMCOR to respond immediately and with generosity when the appropriate structures are in place to receive further assistance.
You can give to UMCOR by bringing a check to the church and marking it "UMCOR Advance #3019674, Myanmar Emergency" or you can go directly to their website at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
peace,
will
First of all, it just takes time to process the magnitude of that kind of loss. When I hear that over 100,000 people may die in Burma and that over 10,000 are already counted as dead in China, my brain can't really come to terms with that right away.
I wrote in a blog post August 31st, 2005, (A Deep Sadness):
I am struck with a deep sadness this morning as the full impact of Hurricane Katrina begins to sink in. I realized after December's tsunami that with catastrophic events, it takes a number of days for people to truly understand. Even if we watch all the media coverage, for many, it takes a certain amount of time before the events become real and they are able to begin to process the full emotional impact. I think in a day of information overload, it may be how our brains protect us. But now, beginning to see how bad things are, and beginning to connect with the emotions, this is overwhelmingly sad.
So there is a sort of cognitive delay. There is also scientific evidence that people are less emotionally stirred by mass suffering than they are by the suffering of individuals. There was a great article on this topic by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times some months back. It was called Save the Darfur Puppy and it looks at some of the research beyond the phenomenon that we can look at something as devastating as the loss in Burma and have little reaction yet be devestated by the story of one little girl who lost her parents in the tragedy.
As the scope of the tragedy does begin to filter into our brains, many of us want to help. Unfortunately we just don't know how. Here is a statement from The United Methodist Committee of Relief about how you can help:
Please continue to pray for the cyclone survivors and for additional venues for assistance to be opened to help those in need. Financial gifts will allow UMCOR to respond immediately and with generosity when the appropriate structures are in place to receive further assistance.
You can give to UMCOR by bringing a check to the church and marking it "UMCOR Advance #3019674, Myanmar Emergency" or you can go directly to their website at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
peace,
will
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 6
Previously on Battlestar Galactica… I had just started going to church. I think I will linger on this for at least one post because it is really important. We talk a lot about how to get more young people to follow the call into the ministry. Well, it is very difficult for a young person to follow a call into the ministry if they can’t find their way into a church.
My first visit to church was, how shall I say it, terrifying. I sometimes hear lifelong church people criticizing modern churches for trying to look more like a mall or an office plaza than a church. However, from a person who walked cold into church for the very first time all by himself, I applaud churches who go out of their way, in any way possible to be welcoming to unchurched people. Most people have no idea how terrifying it is for a seeker to take the first step into a church. Many churches make this worse by making themselves quite difficult to enter in the first place. It is very clear, even from the outside that churches have a structure and language all their own. It seemed to me, as an outsider, that churches wanted to make it clear that I was an outsider.
None of the following is meant as a criticism of Oak Hill UMC, where I first attended, especially since they have since remedied most of these things. I went to the church early, at least a half hour before their 8:30 service. I wanted to check things out. Also, being an outsider, I didn’t know how early one was supposed to get there. I saw two, “first time visitor” parking spaces right in front of the building. Did I park there? No way! Do you think a young outsider want to be instantly labeled as a new person? I parked far away. There were three buildings and lots of doors. Being fairly smart, I went to the doors by the visitor spots and immediately entered into the wrong building. I walked right into the choir warming up. I have to tell you, this was a bad way to start off. Fortunately, the choir director Mary Beth was an overwhelmingly graceful presence (most people don’t describe her that way but she was for me.) After inviting me to join the choir, she showed me how to get to the building where worship was held.
I finally got to the right place, was handed a bulletin, sat in the very back row and proceeded to be completely lost for an hour. I tried to follow the bulletin but I didn’t really know what was going on. At one point everyone stood up to sing and I couldn’t, for the life of me figure out why or what they were singing. (I was later told they were singing the doxology to which I replied, “what’s a doxology?”) And then came Holy Communion. I didn’t really know what it was or if I was really invited. (Note to pastors, just because you say, “all are welcome” doesn’t mean everyone hears “all are welcome.” They may hear, “all are welcome except unbaptized heathens” which may be what some pastors actually mean.”) So I didn’t go, even when the usher tried twice to tell me it was my turn. I was the only one who didn’t go.
In reflection, as I write this, I am become more convinced of the power of prevenient Grace. For, if it were not for the power of God’s grace tugging at my heart, in light of my first experience of church, I would have never gone back.
More soon!
peace,
will
My first visit to church was, how shall I say it, terrifying. I sometimes hear lifelong church people criticizing modern churches for trying to look more like a mall or an office plaza than a church. However, from a person who walked cold into church for the very first time all by himself, I applaud churches who go out of their way, in any way possible to be welcoming to unchurched people. Most people have no idea how terrifying it is for a seeker to take the first step into a church. Many churches make this worse by making themselves quite difficult to enter in the first place. It is very clear, even from the outside that churches have a structure and language all their own. It seemed to me, as an outsider, that churches wanted to make it clear that I was an outsider.
None of the following is meant as a criticism of Oak Hill UMC, where I first attended, especially since they have since remedied most of these things. I went to the church early, at least a half hour before their 8:30 service. I wanted to check things out. Also, being an outsider, I didn’t know how early one was supposed to get there. I saw two, “first time visitor” parking spaces right in front of the building. Did I park there? No way! Do you think a young outsider want to be instantly labeled as a new person? I parked far away. There were three buildings and lots of doors. Being fairly smart, I went to the doors by the visitor spots and immediately entered into the wrong building. I walked right into the choir warming up. I have to tell you, this was a bad way to start off. Fortunately, the choir director Mary Beth was an overwhelmingly graceful presence (most people don’t describe her that way but she was for me.) After inviting me to join the choir, she showed me how to get to the building where worship was held.
I finally got to the right place, was handed a bulletin, sat in the very back row and proceeded to be completely lost for an hour. I tried to follow the bulletin but I didn’t really know what was going on. At one point everyone stood up to sing and I couldn’t, for the life of me figure out why or what they were singing. (I was later told they were singing the doxology to which I replied, “what’s a doxology?”) And then came Holy Communion. I didn’t really know what it was or if I was really invited. (Note to pastors, just because you say, “all are welcome” doesn’t mean everyone hears “all are welcome.” They may hear, “all are welcome except unbaptized heathens” which may be what some pastors actually mean.”) So I didn’t go, even when the usher tried twice to tell me it was my turn. I was the only one who didn’t go.
In reflection, as I write this, I am become more convinced of the power of prevenient Grace. For, if it were not for the power of God’s grace tugging at my heart, in light of my first experience of church, I would have never gone back.
More soon!
peace,
will
Thursday, May 08, 2008
A Gift for Others
This column will appear in this week's Good News, the twice monthly newsletter at Grace.
On June 7, at a service beginning at 10 a.m. at Selena Auditorium at the American Bank Center, Bishop Joel Martinez will lay hands on me and ordain me as an Elder in The United Methodist Church. Just two days later, Alisha, Josh and I along with our dogs Bodhi and Violet (and our turtles Simon and Simone) will drive to San Antonio to start the next chapter of our ministry at University United Methodist Church.
Many people have asked Alisha and I what gift they might give to recognize my ordination and honor my time here at Grace. First of all, let me say that no gift is necessary. My ordination and my time here are precious gifts from God. So many of you have gifted me through your support and presence in this community and through your love and service to God. Second, let me say that any expression of love warms my heart. Third let me say, that truly, I am in need of nothing. With that, let me make a suggestion. A really good way to show your love for me is by expressing your love for others.
Many of you know that I am not an extremely emotional person. However, it brings tears to my eyes that I lack nothing while in our world a child dies every 30 seconds for lack of something as simple and inexpensive as a mosquito net to cover her bed. One of the fruits of the recent General Conference of The United Methodist Church was a renewed commitment to stamping out the diseases of poverty, beginning with malaria. Malaria is a horrible disease that infects nearly 500 million people each year and kills more than a million children. Ninety percent of those deaths are in Africa. What is so sad to me is that this horrible disease can often be prevented simply by providing bed nets treated with insecticide. These nets stop mosquitoes from biting children at night and infecting them with the deadly disease. It costs only $10 to provide a net through the Nothing But Nets Campaign.
To show you my own love for this ministry, I am opening a special offering by contributing the first hundred dollars in honor of the life of Scott Hammond. That’s ten nets, ten kids who may very well stay alive because they will sleep safely. If you would like to give a gift to me by supporting this campaign, you can just write a check out to Grace UMC and write “Nets” in the memo line. You can let me know by sending a card or dropping me an email. You can also go online to www.NothingButNets.net. They will even send an e-card for you so that I will know the gift of life that you have given.
peace,
will
On June 7, at a service beginning at 10 a.m. at Selena Auditorium at the American Bank Center, Bishop Joel Martinez will lay hands on me and ordain me as an Elder in The United Methodist Church. Just two days later, Alisha, Josh and I along with our dogs Bodhi and Violet (and our turtles Simon and Simone) will drive to San Antonio to start the next chapter of our ministry at University United Methodist Church.
Many people have asked Alisha and I what gift they might give to recognize my ordination and honor my time here at Grace. First of all, let me say that no gift is necessary. My ordination and my time here are precious gifts from God. So many of you have gifted me through your support and presence in this community and through your love and service to God. Second, let me say that any expression of love warms my heart. Third let me say, that truly, I am in need of nothing. With that, let me make a suggestion. A really good way to show your love for me is by expressing your love for others.
Many of you know that I am not an extremely emotional person. However, it brings tears to my eyes that I lack nothing while in our world a child dies every 30 seconds for lack of something as simple and inexpensive as a mosquito net to cover her bed. One of the fruits of the recent General Conference of The United Methodist Church was a renewed commitment to stamping out the diseases of poverty, beginning with malaria. Malaria is a horrible disease that infects nearly 500 million people each year and kills more than a million children. Ninety percent of those deaths are in Africa. What is so sad to me is that this horrible disease can often be prevented simply by providing bed nets treated with insecticide. These nets stop mosquitoes from biting children at night and infecting them with the deadly disease. It costs only $10 to provide a net through the Nothing But Nets Campaign.
To show you my own love for this ministry, I am opening a special offering by contributing the first hundred dollars in honor of the life of Scott Hammond. That’s ten nets, ten kids who may very well stay alive because they will sleep safely. If you would like to give a gift to me by supporting this campaign, you can just write a check out to Grace UMC and write “Nets” in the memo line. You can let me know by sending a card or dropping me an email. You can also go online to www.NothingButNets.net. They will even send an e-card for you so that I will know the gift of life that you have given.
peace,
will
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 5
When last we joined our web slinging wonder…
Where was I? Oh yes, I was telling about going to church in downtown
So, how was it that a boy from
It took me a while to remember the timeline of the next part. At some point, the irritation inside me just got overwhelming. I was deeply unhappy and I just couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t feel lonely. I didn’t feel depressed. I was just empty. So the oddest thing happened. I felt this desire to pray. And I had no idea where it came from. And so I did something I had never really done before. I got down on my knees in my bedroom (cause that’s how people pray on T.V.) and I prayed. And I prayed the oddest prayer. I said, “God, show me the path.” It felt weird even saying that and especially saying it to someone who didn’t appear to be in the room.
I did that for a few days. And then stuff started to happen. I noticed that I passed a church on my way to work everyday.
peace,
will
Friday, May 02, 2008
...for the transformation of the world
Most of the work done at the General Conference meeting of the United Methodist Church is just about words. They consider, debate and vote on words that appear in our Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions. Words are important. One very small but significant change votes on this week was to change the statement of mission of the United Methodist Church. Actually it is not being changed as much as added to. The old mission statement was:
"The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ."
The new statement reads:
"The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."
You can read an article on the change here:
United Methodist Mission Statement Revised
peace,
will
"The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ."
The new statement reads:
"The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."
You can read an article on the change here:
United Methodist Mission Statement Revised
peace,
will
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Ordination Tale Returning Soon!
This week I meant to post more about my journey toward ordination. However, life has been a bit hectic this week. Pastor John is in Ft. Worth at the meeting of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. It is actually a bit quieter when he is gone but there have been some pastoral care emergencies that have consume a lot of my time. I will get back to sharing about my journey next week. In the meantime, you may be interested in what they are all talking about in Ft. Worth. The General Conference, which meets every four years, is the only body that can make decisions for the United Methodist Church as a whole. Our own District Superintendent (and Pastor John's Wife) is a delegate. You can read the latest news about the work they are doing here:
General Conference News at umc.org
peace,
will
General Conference News at umc.org
peace,
will
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Bible 101
I mentioned this in my e-mail Sunday preview this week. Here is all the information:
Bible 101
We base our faith and Christian life on the words of scripture. However, some of us are not as familiar with scripture as we would like. Sometimes the Bible can overwhelm us and we need help getting started in the discipline of Bible reading and study. Join Pastor Will Rice and the Bible 101 team for this four week class specially designed for people who have never engaged in an adult Bible study. It is even great for those who have never picked up a copy of the Bible. The fee for the course is $30 and covers the cost of one of the best study Bibles available, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible. During the four weeks you will get an overview of the Bible and you will be introduced to the skills and resources that will help you engage the Bible on your own. The class will be held from
Register by emailing me at pastorwillrice@gmail.com.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Reinforcing our Prejudices
You may notice that the blog avoids political issues and that tradition continues. So, when you follow the link to the article I am sending, and it begins with "If you’re a Democrat, your candidate won in Wednesday night’s presidential debate." don't think you are reading a political article. It is about something much deeper. It is, instead, an article that uses the example of what is going on the democratic primaries to talk about how we process information in a way that tends to reinforce what we already believe. This is a really poignant issue for Christians. The Bible is our book, but how we read it can affect whether we will allow it to change our lives or if we will simply use it as a tool to feel better about how we already live. This is a really poignant issue for United Methodists, especially this week. As we head into General Conference, where we will be making decisions that will deeply affect the future of our denomination, will we actually listen to each other, or we will hold so firm to what we already believe that we will possibly miss where the Holy Spirit is leading us?
Give the article a read. I would love to read your feedback!
peace,
will
Give the article a read. I would love to read your feedback!
Even though the policy differences between the two Democratic candidates are minimal, each camp is becoming increasingly aggravated at the other.
peace,
will
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Jury Duty
So I have to report for jury duty Monday. Some people are surprised that pastors have to go. We have to do all that stuff: report for jury duty, pay taxes, obey the speed limit. I dread going only from the point of view that I am really busy and this could keep me out of the office and away from my family even more. However, it is a servant thing to do. The Constitution gives us all the right to an impartial jury. That is a very important right, but it doesn't work if we won't be part of such a jury once in a while.
There will be less blogging if I am picked. I am pretty sure that blogging is not allowed in a jury box. (At least not on T.V.)
peace,
will
There will be less blogging if I am picked. I am pretty sure that blogging is not allowed in a jury box. (At least not on T.V.)
peace,
will
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Catching up with the stuff on the right side of the blog
If you are a close follower of my reading list, it may look to you like I have given up on reading. Honestly, I really have been reading a lot less since finishing all my work related to covenant connection. That seems sort of illogical because covenant connection took up so much of my time I would have thought I wouldn't be reading. However, I think there were two things driving my pretty voracious reading habits during the process. One was that I was mentally overwhelmed to the point with the ordination process, the adoption process, etc., etc., that I needed to slip into some other storyline besides my own especially at bed time. The other thing, I realized was something about my own insecurity. Knowing that I was being evaluated and had a number of high-pressure interviews ahead, I had this overwhelming need to continually put new knowledge in my head hoping that it would help me better articulate my answers. All in all, this might not have been a bad plan. I wouldn't say that, in my time preparing for my ordination interviews, I really gained a lot of new knowledge but I did continue to enhance my contextual framework. As a pastor and amateur theologian, I think about nearly everything in theological terms. When I am processing new stuff, even stuff marginally related to what could be understood as theology, I am expanding and strengthening the bridges of my own understanding. So when faced with a particular question of faith, practice or thinking about God, my answer has a better chance of making some amount of sense to the questioner.
Anyway, this is a really long way of getting to moving another book from my "What Will is Reading Now" list to my "What Will Read Last" list.
I finished James Morrow's Towing Jehovah a while ago but just picked it up off my nightstand to blog about. I think I delayed so long because this book is fundamentally blasphemous. If you have any predilection to being offended especially regarding matters of faith, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. If me writing that got you interested, this might be for you. The book is wildly irreverent, and brilliantly written. To test the level at which you are offended, the general premise of the book is that God has died and fallen into the sea and needs to be towed to his final resting place. It gets worse.
But let me tell you how I, as a pastor, found enjoyment in this book. First of all, it is pretty funny at times. Second of all, books that sort of tromp on the fringes of my belief system are really healthy for me. When I read something that offends me, I have to think about why. When I think about why, I think about what I believe. When I think about it those terms, I am usually left standing in a stronger place about my beliefs. If am not, I have to question why a silly book would raise such a doubt.
That is all I am going to write about that. If you read the book and enjoy it, let me know. If you read it and get horribly offended, please remember I warned you!
peace,
will
Anyway, this is a really long way of getting to moving another book from my "What Will is Reading Now" list to my "What Will Read Last" list.
I finished James Morrow's Towing Jehovah a while ago but just picked it up off my nightstand to blog about. I think I delayed so long because this book is fundamentally blasphemous. If you have any predilection to being offended especially regarding matters of faith, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. If me writing that got you interested, this might be for you. The book is wildly irreverent, and brilliantly written. To test the level at which you are offended, the general premise of the book is that God has died and fallen into the sea and needs to be towed to his final resting place. It gets worse.
But let me tell you how I, as a pastor, found enjoyment in this book. First of all, it is pretty funny at times. Second of all, books that sort of tromp on the fringes of my belief system are really healthy for me. When I read something that offends me, I have to think about why. When I think about why, I think about what I believe. When I think about it those terms, I am usually left standing in a stronger place about my beliefs. If am not, I have to question why a silly book would raise such a doubt.
That is all I am going to write about that. If you read the book and enjoy it, let me know. If you read it and get horribly offended, please remember I warned you!
peace,
will
Monday, April 14, 2008
Where are the sermons?
I have had a few questions lately about the absence of my sermons both online and in printed form at the church. Well, what started as me being a little behind led me to reevaluate a bit. First, let me say, I love the idea of making my sermons available. I know people who read them when they miss church, read them to clarify something they heard in a sermon, I even have some readers online from far away. Second, let me say that publishing a sermon takes a little bit of work. I tend to print and post my sermons without them being perfect. However it still takes some time to take what I write and put it in publishable form. I don't mind a typo or two but sometimes what I am working from on Sunday morning is a pretty rough form of what I actually say. So, it takes me some time to look back at the notes and create a finished manuscript. Really what happened for me is that the time for this got squeezed out.
In making the decision as to whether or not to reprioritize my time to keep printing and posting, I started looking over how my time as allocated and why I don't have time for this thing I used to have time for. I made a mental list of all the things we are doing at Grace that I am heavily involved in that we were not doing when I got here three years ago. I don't offer this list as a chance to say: "look what I have done." The point isn't that I personally do all this stuff. We have a really dedicated core of lay people who do a ton of praying and planning and working to pull this all off. We also have a dedicated staff that is involved in administering these things. However, as a pastoral leader, these sorts of things take a lot of my time. Since coming to Grace, I heavily focused on programming while John focused on leadership and administration. We have come a long way in programming. While it is still in its infancy, we have developed a discipleship program to help people take their first steps into the life of Christianity: Bible 101, Prayer 101, and Methodism 101 have taken a huge number of hours to launch and nurture. Worship 101 launched last week led by Pastor John. The Why Grace intro session has been polished and expanded to be more informative and welcoming to new people. We have added local mission experiences like Kairos Cookie night to connect new people with missions. We have added an orientation event for new members to challenge them to get involved in the life of the church. The teams I work with have become systematic in their planning and visioning to create even bigger plans for the future.
Outside of discipleship, John and I have led a movement to make worship excellent here at Grace. That has involved extra planning and training of lay ministers. It has also taken a lot of weekly preparation for worship. We have added a lot of multi-media to all three services including sermons slides and video. The lyrics at 9:45 are finally on the big screen! I love all that stuff and I think it is worth it, but it all takes time to plan and to implement.
Multi-media and a desire to be excellent in all we do carries beyond worship. If you have taken any of the 101 classes of Why Grace, you have probably noticed that we use multi-media and multi-sensory learning to make these classes the best that they can be.
Over the last two years, Grace has also been involved in the Church Transformation Process with Don Nations from DNA coaching. Don has challenged us to evaluate all we do and do all we can to be in the business of making disciples. This has involved a huge investment of time both in training, evaluating and implementing.
I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining about all I have to do. I love this stuff! It just so happens though that there is a physical limit to my time. Most of the time, as a pastor, I am aware of the boundaries I need to keep. When I work too long and too hard without family time and R&R, my ability to do my job and be a pastor is severely hampered. With a physical limit of time, when I add enough additional projects without an increase in support staff, something has to go. In this case sermons.
The reason we have been able to add so much to the church in the last three years is that lay people have stepped up to carry the weight. Our 101 classes would not even happen without lay leadership. In fact, Prayer 101 is completely led by lay people. Most of the work of our Church Transformation Process has been done by lay people and they attend as much training as John or I.
What is interesting in retrospect, is that with all the amazing expansion in programming in the last three years, the staff has remained the same size. I look at the main role of the staff of the church as a vehicle to empower the lay ministers of the church. That goes for the pastors as well though the pastors have some additional function (some call these the priestly role, but that is for another post.) Even with the huge expansion in ministry and the large number of additional people involved in ministry, the staff size has remained mostly constant. There have been some changes and some filled vacancies and we did add a very part-time sound tech at 9:45 but otherwise we are the same. The staff here has been amazing in their ability to continue to accept more and more work, but they, like me have physical limits.
It is interesting how a thing like published sermons, or a lack of, can raise the question, "Are we staffing our church in a way that will allow us to continue to grow or in a way that will cause us to shed useful ministries as others grow?" For that, I don't have and answer and I have to get back to work.
peace,
will
In making the decision as to whether or not to reprioritize my time to keep printing and posting, I started looking over how my time as allocated and why I don't have time for this thing I used to have time for. I made a mental list of all the things we are doing at Grace that I am heavily involved in that we were not doing when I got here three years ago. I don't offer this list as a chance to say: "look what I have done." The point isn't that I personally do all this stuff. We have a really dedicated core of lay people who do a ton of praying and planning and working to pull this all off. We also have a dedicated staff that is involved in administering these things. However, as a pastoral leader, these sorts of things take a lot of my time. Since coming to Grace, I heavily focused on programming while John focused on leadership and administration. We have come a long way in programming. While it is still in its infancy, we have developed a discipleship program to help people take their first steps into the life of Christianity: Bible 101, Prayer 101, and Methodism 101 have taken a huge number of hours to launch and nurture. Worship 101 launched last week led by Pastor John. The Why Grace intro session has been polished and expanded to be more informative and welcoming to new people. We have added local mission experiences like Kairos Cookie night to connect new people with missions. We have added an orientation event for new members to challenge them to get involved in the life of the church. The teams I work with have become systematic in their planning and visioning to create even bigger plans for the future.
Outside of discipleship, John and I have led a movement to make worship excellent here at Grace. That has involved extra planning and training of lay ministers. It has also taken a lot of weekly preparation for worship. We have added a lot of multi-media to all three services including sermons slides and video. The lyrics at 9:45 are finally on the big screen! I love all that stuff and I think it is worth it, but it all takes time to plan and to implement.
Multi-media and a desire to be excellent in all we do carries beyond worship. If you have taken any of the 101 classes of Why Grace, you have probably noticed that we use multi-media and multi-sensory learning to make these classes the best that they can be.
Over the last two years, Grace has also been involved in the Church Transformation Process with Don Nations from DNA coaching. Don has challenged us to evaluate all we do and do all we can to be in the business of making disciples. This has involved a huge investment of time both in training, evaluating and implementing.
I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining about all I have to do. I love this stuff! It just so happens though that there is a physical limit to my time. Most of the time, as a pastor, I am aware of the boundaries I need to keep. When I work too long and too hard without family time and R&R, my ability to do my job and be a pastor is severely hampered. With a physical limit of time, when I add enough additional projects without an increase in support staff, something has to go. In this case sermons.
The reason we have been able to add so much to the church in the last three years is that lay people have stepped up to carry the weight. Our 101 classes would not even happen without lay leadership. In fact, Prayer 101 is completely led by lay people. Most of the work of our Church Transformation Process has been done by lay people and they attend as much training as John or I.
What is interesting in retrospect, is that with all the amazing expansion in programming in the last three years, the staff has remained the same size. I look at the main role of the staff of the church as a vehicle to empower the lay ministers of the church. That goes for the pastors as well though the pastors have some additional function (some call these the priestly role, but that is for another post.) Even with the huge expansion in ministry and the large number of additional people involved in ministry, the staff size has remained mostly constant. There have been some changes and some filled vacancies and we did add a very part-time sound tech at 9:45 but otherwise we are the same. The staff here has been amazing in their ability to continue to accept more and more work, but they, like me have physical limits.
It is interesting how a thing like published sermons, or a lack of, can raise the question, "Are we staffing our church in a way that will allow us to continue to grow or in a way that will cause us to shed useful ministries as others grow?" For that, I don't have and answer and I have to get back to work.
peace,
will
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 4
When we last left our caped crusader, he was precariously perched on the precipice of pandemonium. Well, not really...
I was working with my lay guide through a book called Ministry Inquiry Process. Before I move on to the next step I want to fill some more details of what was going on during this process. The process took several months. During these months, I experienced what was probably some of the most intense spiritual growth of my life. This all happened in the midst of some pretty intense activity in my life. I apologize in advance if I mess up some of these details. As the presidential primary has reminded us, sometimes we remember things as being a little different than they actually were.
So there I was, flying into Bosnia under heavy fire from artillery. Wait...
So there I was working through this book with my guide Sue, meeting about once a month. My spiritual hunger brought about by this experience and by my call in general caused me to exhaust most of the resources at the church I was baptized, so I went looking for another one. Not to replace the first one, but to supplement it.
I was searching around on the web (this was back in the day that not many churches had websites) and found that First United Methodist Church in downtown Austin had a Saturday night alternative service. They had their very own website with pictures and it looked really cool. So I went. And as God would have it, I met one of the most significant people in my spiritual journey: my friend Tina. If you don't know her, you will see her if you come to my ordination service. She will be one of the one's laying hands on me as the Bishop ordains me. She was interning at First UMC at the time and launching this new service.
We made an immediate connection, which may be less telling for her since she is all about connections, but it was something for me. I am getting chills as I am writing this because I have never really thought back to the enormous things that happened in God leading me to that Saturday evening worship service. Tina was there as I made my decisions about seminary. Tina was there as I decided to get married. Tina drove me to the hospital when I found out I was deadly allergic to ant bites. Tina performed the marriage ceremony for my wife Alisha and I. She sat next to me during Alisha's brain surgery. She helped me decide to transfer to seminary in Austin. Well, let me not bore you with every major event she was part of. (There are a lot more.) And don't let it seem like she was the only person who had an enormous impact of my journey. I could write whole books about Jen, Barbara, John, Mary Beth, Sandy, Alisha, Grant, Sharon, and on and on and on (sorry if I left you out, but there are more posts to come). The reason that I write about Tina at this point is that it was a fairly "random" decision that sent me to worship at her church. But for me, it was clearly a decision that affected my decision and ability to follow my call to ministry.
Calls to ministry, just like the other aspects of what God does in our lives are clearly built on relationship, intertwining interactions of God's people who are called together to be the church.
More soon!
peace,
will
I was working with my lay guide through a book called Ministry Inquiry Process. Before I move on to the next step I want to fill some more details of what was going on during this process. The process took several months. During these months, I experienced what was probably some of the most intense spiritual growth of my life. This all happened in the midst of some pretty intense activity in my life. I apologize in advance if I mess up some of these details. As the presidential primary has reminded us, sometimes we remember things as being a little different than they actually were.
So there I was, flying into Bosnia under heavy fire from artillery. Wait...
So there I was working through this book with my guide Sue, meeting about once a month. My spiritual hunger brought about by this experience and by my call in general caused me to exhaust most of the resources at the church I was baptized, so I went looking for another one. Not to replace the first one, but to supplement it.
I was searching around on the web (this was back in the day that not many churches had websites) and found that First United Methodist Church in downtown Austin had a Saturday night alternative service. They had their very own website with pictures and it looked really cool. So I went. And as God would have it, I met one of the most significant people in my spiritual journey: my friend Tina. If you don't know her, you will see her if you come to my ordination service. She will be one of the one's laying hands on me as the Bishop ordains me. She was interning at First UMC at the time and launching this new service.
We made an immediate connection, which may be less telling for her since she is all about connections, but it was something for me. I am getting chills as I am writing this because I have never really thought back to the enormous things that happened in God leading me to that Saturday evening worship service. Tina was there as I made my decisions about seminary. Tina was there as I decided to get married. Tina drove me to the hospital when I found out I was deadly allergic to ant bites. Tina performed the marriage ceremony for my wife Alisha and I. She sat next to me during Alisha's brain surgery. She helped me decide to transfer to seminary in Austin. Well, let me not bore you with every major event she was part of. (There are a lot more.) And don't let it seem like she was the only person who had an enormous impact of my journey. I could write whole books about Jen, Barbara, John, Mary Beth, Sandy, Alisha, Grant, Sharon, and on and on and on (sorry if I left you out, but there are more posts to come). The reason that I write about Tina at this point is that it was a fairly "random" decision that sent me to worship at her church. But for me, it was clearly a decision that affected my decision and ability to follow my call to ministry.
Calls to ministry, just like the other aspects of what God does in our lives are clearly built on relationship, intertwining interactions of God's people who are called together to be the church.
More soon!
peace,
will
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Trash
I find it fascinating that one of the most poignant weblog posts I have read in a while is about garbage:
trash - Ryan Barnett's u|preacher
peace,
will
trash - Ryan Barnett's u|preacher
peace,
will
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Monumental Journey Towards Ordination - Volume 3
When we last left our hero, he was tragically stuck at the first roadblock of his journey toward ordination! Paragraph 311 of The United Methodist Book of Discipline, section 1 reads:
Those seeking to begin candidacy for licensed or ordained ministry: a)shall have been a professing member in good standing of The United Methodist Church for at least two years immediately preceding the application for candidacy; including a year of service in some form of congregational leadership, either in the local church or one agreed to by the district committee on ordained ministry, provided that in the case of an affiliate member, there has been a consultation with and approval by the charge conference of the home church.
So, since I was baptized in January of 2000, I had to wait until January of 2002 before I could start, which seemed like an insanely long time. As I was thinking through this timeline, I realized that I didn't really wait two years and suddenly worried that I must have cheated. It turns out, my District Superintendent at the time clarified that I could do one part of the process without waiting. So I became an inquiring candidate. To do this, I had to write a letter to the district superintendent and request a lay guide. I was assigned a wonderful guide, Sue, and we worked together through a book called, Ministry Inquiry Process. It is know affectionately as "The Purple Book" by those who have been through it. I have to say in reflection that this was one of the most rewarding processes I have ever been through. I took it pretty seriously and spent a lot of time with the guidebook, a lot of time praying and a lot of time reading the books that it suggested.
In thinking back about this, I have to wonder how I would react to someone so new to the church expressing a call to ministry. I would hope that I would embrace their call because I do believe that God calls people in a lot of different ways. But I hope I could encourage that person to take the process at least as seriously as I did. Although I felt certain of my call early on, I did not allow myself to breeze through the process as something to "get done." The months during which I completed this first phase were some of the most spiritually intense months of my life. I remember a bunch of late nights drinking coffee at Mozart's on the lake in Austin reading scripture and praying and trying to discern what God was doing with me.
More soon!
peace,
will
Those seeking to begin candidacy for licensed or ordained ministry: a)shall have been a professing member in good standing of The United Methodist Church for at least two years immediately preceding the application for candidacy; including a year of service in some form of congregational leadership, either in the local church or one agreed to by the district committee on ordained ministry, provided that in the case of an affiliate member, there has been a consultation with and approval by the charge conference of the home church.
So, since I was baptized in January of 2000, I had to wait until January of 2002 before I could start, which seemed like an insanely long time. As I was thinking through this timeline, I realized that I didn't really wait two years and suddenly worried that I must have cheated. It turns out, my District Superintendent at the time clarified that I could do one part of the process without waiting. So I became an inquiring candidate. To do this, I had to write a letter to the district superintendent and request a lay guide. I was assigned a wonderful guide, Sue, and we worked together through a book called, Ministry Inquiry Process. It is know affectionately as "The Purple Book" by those who have been through it. I have to say in reflection that this was one of the most rewarding processes I have ever been through. I took it pretty seriously and spent a lot of time with the guidebook, a lot of time praying and a lot of time reading the books that it suggested.
In thinking back about this, I have to wonder how I would react to someone so new to the church expressing a call to ministry. I would hope that I would embrace their call because I do believe that God calls people in a lot of different ways. But I hope I could encourage that person to take the process at least as seriously as I did. Although I felt certain of my call early on, I did not allow myself to breeze through the process as something to "get done." The months during which I completed this first phase were some of the most spiritually intense months of my life. I remember a bunch of late nights drinking coffee at Mozart's on the lake in Austin reading scripture and praying and trying to discern what God was doing with me.
More soon!
peace,
will
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