Dang it... It's not just that they are taking on the Emerging Church. Even I poke fun now and again...
But this is just kind of dumb.
Ahh... the Good Old Days, back when we used to pass issues of the Door around in youth group like they were contraband...
Do you ever get the sense you've Peter Principled yourself out? The Peter Principle says everyone rises to his or her level of incompetence, that is, that when you know how to do a job, you'll be promoted or given additional duties until you reach a place where you no longer know what you are doing... and there you'll stay.
If I had to be perfectly honest, I'd say that's pretty much how I'm feeling right now in just about every area of my life. Pastoring, being a dad, being a husband... interpersonal relationships and general life skills. I feel like any heat I might have had to throw got thrown a good while ago.
It's not as though my life is particularly difficult- I don't have many challenges- considerably fewer than a lot of people. But what I do have tends to stymie me. My own inabilities seem perfectly matched to the challenges I face.
Or more likely, they create them...
And if my particular challenges and created by my particular inabilities... erg.
So I'm praying- Praying that God will help me gain new sensitivities and skills and grow as a husband, a father, a pastor. Probably in that order too.
Sometimes I just hate the fact that it seems like the only way to really learn how to do something is to fail at it.
Long time readers of the bob.blog know about my (now conquered) addiction to the "discernment" blogs of Ken Silva and Ingrid "Slice of Laodicea" Schlueter. I tried to swear them off time and again, but like the addict I was... I wrote about it here.
It's been a while since I posted anything on their antics, but...
I just couldn't resist this:
Hi Ingrid,
On behalf of Pastor Rick Warren, I would like to personally invite you to attend this years Purpose Driven Church Gathering (May 20-22) at our wonderful campus in Lake Forest, California. Pastor Rick would not only like to invite you, but pay for you to come out and spend three days with this group of national and global leaders. We are anticipating close to 2,000 leaders will gather to learn from our guest speakers. The only request we have is that you please wait to share your thoughts until the conference has completed. This will give you the best chance to listen and learn before responding. Lastly, I would like to include you in an open discussion time with Pastor Rick and a few other leaders on Thursday, May 22nd.
I truly hope you will accept this wonderful offer to come and learn. Please let me know by Monday, May 12th if we can count on you joining us. If you can, I will have our travel agent connect with you to take care of your travel needs. To learn more about this great gathering please click here PDC Gathering.
Sincerely,
Erik Rees
Saddleback Church
1 Saddleback Parkway
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Dear Erik,
I am in receipt of your invitation offering an all-expenses paid trip to Saddleback’s worship conference. I cannot accept your invitation. In the world of live church webcasts, book publishers, websites and so on, it is no longer necessary to travel to see a church to understand what it is all about. Your pastor’s copious writings, speeches and sermons are online and available for everyone to see and analyze in the light of God’s Word.
No amount of time spent with Rick Warren or the worship conference leaders at Saddleback can change basic facts. One of your speakers, Pastor Mark Batterson, recently referred readers on his website to the writings of New Age teacher, Eckhart Tolle, featured by Oprah Winfrey. He said that Tolle’s book, Practicing the Power of Now, was instrumental in the way he thought about life. I could not sit and listen to someone with that lack of discernment. Also featured at your worship conference is Pastor Jentezen Franklin, of the Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia. This is the pastor who featured a Michael Jackson Thriller dance on his church platform at a Halloween-themed service, complete with a haunted house set-up on stage. Again, how could I sit under that kind of pastor to learn about worship of the Most High God? Additionally, you have Pastor Mark Driscoll as a speaker. Mark’s filthy language and vulgarity is not fit for any woman’s ears, and I’m not about to subject myself to his disobedient use of coarse jesting in the name of ministry. It does not comport with the Scripture’s requirements for conduct in the office of the ministry. Pastor Mark Beeson of Granger Community Church will also be there to speak on the subject of worship. I cannot listen to a “pastor” who claims personal responsibility for the sex-sermon-campaigns by churches across the nation. These campaigns have brought complaints even from the unregenerate who are sick of their children getting hit with lewd materials in public places. Any pastor who is responsible for this kind of filth has nothing to share on the subject of worshiping our holy God.
Pastor Rick Warren has had vast financial resources to share with the world his solution to mankind’s problems. He, unfortunately, has chosen to introduce an entirely new generation to a social gospel, rather than the exclusive message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is telling that none of the E’s in his P.E.A.C.E. plan stand for “evangelism”. This is wrong.
I cannot agree to Rick Warren’s invitation. He has been biblically confronted repeatedly by those far more able than I regarding his numerous unbiblical teachings and the damage they have done to churches nationwide. We are to worship the Lord both in spirit and in truth. The mixture of truth and error is a dangerous combination spiritually, and that is why I will not be coming to Saddleback.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Schlueter
VCY America Radio Network
(HT: MMI)
Some of the men of Evergreen hang out at the Lompoc pub on Monday nights... I had to leave a little early last night to go downtown for the meeting with homeless folks in front of City Hall...
I need to bookmark Tina's post on parenting a teenage girl for future reference
From the Wall Street Journal: The other side of firing a professor for getting a divorce
"Being different is nothing new for Wheaton. The most famous building on campus was once a way station on the Underground Railroad. That was a time when abolitionist evangelicals were out of touch with the reality of slavery in a nation whose claim to liberty rested on God-given truths about human dignity. Today Wheaton advances a proposition that may be equally radical, at least in the groves of modern academe: That character is as important as chemistry – and that teachers have some obligations as role models for their students."
Actual t-shirt made and sold by GA bar owner...
Feeling pretty helpless in the face of what's happening in Burma and China...
"The death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan
province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of
Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday's massive, 7.9- magnitude quake."
We sent extra benevolence to Haiti last month to help with buying food. Now these disasters... Makes me feel like the aid our small community can provide is so infinitesimal as to be practically useless.
But I also know that thousands and thousands of small communities like ours and individuals sending what they can adds up. I also know that simply praying isn't enough... but if I'm not doing AT LEAST that? If I'm not praying daily at this point for those suffering through cyclones (both here and abroad), earthquakes, food shortages...
So pray. And consider supporting Medical Teams International
I stopped by the protest that's happening in front of City Hall on my way home from the Lompoc last night... The city has passed a no camping within city limits ordinance and begun sweeping people off the streets, confiscating their belongings and generally making it illegal to be homeless in Portand.
Our friends on the street responded by moving in front of City Hall, where it's not "camping" but "protesting" and so they can't be forced to move on.
There have been numerous talks with the mayor/city leaders, which led to funds for 100 more shelter beds being freed up (a number of the "beds" were mats on a floor... not sure what kind of funding that requires, but...
The real issue that I heard from the folks last night was the need for more than shelter beds. Those are fine if you are single/not part of a couple, if you don't have a pet as many do, if you don't have a lot of belongings... but it's not really a plan to get you off the street.
Portland does have a ten year plan to end homelessness in PDX- we're in year 4 and so far it seems to be working. From yesterday's Oregonian: "Over the past three years, city government has developed more than 1,008 new low-income housing units and replaced more than $20 million in federal housing money cut by the Bush administration, much of it money meant to help people pay their rent.
Portland's 10-year plan to end homelessness recently won plaudits from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The number of Portlanders considered chronically homeless has dropped from 1,284 to 386 in the last two years, although advocates say the annual census of who's on the street can't count everyone."
A number of evergreen people have been hanging out with those protesting, building relationships, hearing stories and drawing the rest of us into their heart for the people they are meeting...
And in my mind, that's exactly how it's supposed to work.
... Chris, Glad, Chad, Scotty, Justin... Not pictured- Amy D., Gregory
@ the homeless protest downtown in front of city hall. Very low key-
no police around...
Hey everyone-
If you enjoy Bob.blog and are thinking to yourself "Is there an easy, yet tangible way I can show Bob some love?" look no further.
If you want to express a bit of appreciation, do one of two things.
If you see an ad that genuinely interests you, go ahead and click. Some
of them lead to truly entertaining stuff (like: The Jezebel Spirit or
the DVD Player for Church which removes profanity, nudity, violence from DVDs).
Or,
if you've been economically stimulated and you plan on buying some
books with the portion of your money with which the government is so
crassly (and speaking of "crass"...) attempting to buy your love, you
could get to amazon through any of the book links on this blog, like
this-
A nice way to throw a couple of pennies Bob's way.
Tip of the hat to you all!
Scot McKnight has been running a fantastic series...
If you could begin all over again, what one thing would you have focused on more? Or, put differently, what wisdom would you give to a new pastor if you were asked this question: What should I focus on? Here’s a reflection by Bob Smallman, pastor at Bible Presbyterian Church way up in northern Wisconsin where, if you’re not looking, you can get bitten by a muskie.
First of all, I am glad by God’s grace that we can’t “begin all over again!” Once around is enough for me. I’ll never understand why reincarnation appeals to so many!
For context, I’m 61 years old, and Linda and I are in our 30th year in our current parish. I was at my first congregation, a church plant, for nearly three years. And that would be my first suggestion to someone starting out: don’t try to start a new church right out of seminary! In fact, knowing what I know now, I would have looked hard for an assistant/associate position to get several years of seasoning. That first church just about finished me off, and only my wife’s faith in me and a return to seminary for an advanced degree kept me in ministry.
It’s almost impossible to answer the question, “What ONE thing would you have focused on more?” because the pastorate (at least in smaller and medium-sized churches) won’t let you do that (and I don’t have the iron will of a Eugene Peterson to stay focused!). With the exception of an incredible half-time youth director (who’s been with us for 15 years and built an amazing youth ministry), I am the only paid ministry staff member. Because we’ve invested our personnel dollars in youth ministry, we don’t even have a secretary (though a volunteer does put the Sunday bulletin together). So I am the classic “jack-of-all-trades” pastor — and I love it! It has forced me to lean heavily on the ministry skills of my people (and made me wish I were a better mentor/trainer than I am).
But if I could go back (now) and talk to myself as I was first starting out, I would say to myself...
But as I read this series, I wonder... is it just what we wish we'd done differently? What about what others bring to the table, specifically in a mentorship role.
So here's my question for all you young bucks and buckettes who read bob.blog:
What do you need in ministry right now? Whether you are volunteer, paid or whatever- you are working hard for the Church, for people, for others... and you wish that people would notice what need? Would bring what? Would build into you in what way?
I run a site called PastorHacks.com... here's why:
David Allen of GTD fame has a metaphor he uses... "Mind like water."
Now, before you turn me in to WatchBlogs™ for being a New Age
sympathizer, let's hear how he describes this ideal state for dealing
with all the things (input) that comes our way.
He says "Behind all this lay the 'mind like water' concept, an image I'd come across years ago while studying karate. When you throw a pebble into a pond, what does the water do? It responds with total appropriateness to the force and mass of the rock. It does nothing more and nothing less. It doesn't overreact or underreact. It doesn't react at all. It simply interacts with the whatever comes to it and then returns to its natural state. The water can do that only by design. A human being can act this way only if he or she has a conscious system in place and if that system is built on principles that can withstand chaos and stress."
I find it odd that those of us (pastors) who preach the merits of life abundant and "peace that passes understanding" seem so often to live lives of neither.
Why is that?
Sad day... Why oh why did Media Shout cancel their Mac project???
Eugene H. Peterson: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy
Alan Hirsch: The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
David Allen: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Joseph R. Myers: The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups
Michael Frost: The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church
William J. Webb: Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis
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