Entries Tagged 'The Church' ↓

An interesting development in the world of American Presbyterianism . . . the New Wineskins Association of Churches, a group of theologically orthodox churches in the left-leaning Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is getting out of Dodge and joining the more moderate Evangelical Presbyterian Church as the New Wineskins Presbytery.

Episcopalian bishop Peter James Lee is quoted as having said “if you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy”. I’m glad the NWAC disagrees.

We’re thinking of having Zoë baptized.

*ducks bottles, tomatoes, and various other objects being thrown by my Baptist friends and readers*

Most of you know that for the last few months, I’ve been working as Director of Ministry for my church. It was a rare opportunity for someone like me (no seminary degree and no “full-time” ministry experience), but since I’ve felt a call to ministry ever since I got out of high school, I jumped on it.

Thing is, I suck at administrative-pastor-type stuff (which is pretty much what this job is) . . . I can get it done, but inefficiently, and it stresses the hell out of me. So, my pastor and I had a talk a couple of weeks ago and think it best for the church, for me, and for my family that they find someone else for the position. If we were a bigger, more established church, they would’ve just changed my job description to something that better fits my gifts (teaching, pastoral care, etc), but as it stands, they really need someone to do the admin stuff, and it ain’t me.

Still, I’m really disappointed and discouraged by this whole thing. On good days, I’m assured of God’s sovereignty and care over the situation and know that if this is good for the church, then it’s also good for me. On bad days (ie: most days), I feel completely defective as a Christian, a husband/father, a man, and a human being. The last three years have been full of tumult and uncertainty, and we were just starting to feel like we were in a place of stability . . . and now this. I’m not so sure about this call to full-time ministry anymore, either, but I don’t know. My pastor gave me some encouragement, in that he sees definite teaching and pastoring gifts and abilities in me, and that he wants me to stick around and become an elder, so . . . that helped. Still, this sucks.

The plan (for now) is to go back to IT . . . which is fine for a season anyway, since it’s something I have skill and experience in. I just don’t want to be an IT guy for big corporations for the rest of my life. Being in ministry has really sapped away my tolerance for putting forth my vocational efforts toward fixing computers and networks, so Joe End-User can go about fulfilling some corporate mission statement. Obviously, any work is meaningful if done as unto the Lord, but at the same time . . . my heart is now in ministry.

I’m now fairly certain that I want to put forth as much time and energy as possible into giving people the Gospel and helping them discover and user their gifts in the local church to further God’s kingdom. So (in my head), the plan is to go back to IT to feed the family, finish my bachelor’s in something like network security (which should only take a year or so), get a quality M. Div or MTS, and then find a position in a church in which I can actually use my gifts, skills, and knowledge. Long view, and maybe unlikely, but that’s what I’ve got so far. (There’s actually a possibility of a couple of good seminaries that’d be willing to accept me under “special circumstances”, since I don’t have a Bachelor’s degree.)

Anyway, that’s that. A few specifics to pray for:
1) Pray that I would run to Christ with this despair, because honestly, he’s the last one I want to take this to right now. I’d rather take it to Mr. Frito Lay, Mr. Sam Adams, and Mr. Internet for a while, and that’s just not healthy.
2) Pray that I would trust in God’s care and sovereignty over my life, my family, my vocation(s), and my future.
3) Pray that I would submit joyfully to my pastor’s leadership and that the temptation to run from the church I’ve covenanted with would go away.
4) Pray that things won’t be “weird” for too long at church (people still treating me as if I’m on staff, etc).
5) Pray that I’ll be able to find gainful employment quickly.
6) Pray that I’d figure out just what the heck to do as far as discerning whether or not I’m called to full-time ministry.

Due to the arrival of little Ella Blosser, and her dad’s (correct) decision to take the week off, the responsibility for leading worship this coming Sunday night falls on yours truly. Everything except for preaching and communion, anyway (I’m not yet equipped to do the former and not yet ordained to do the latter . . . thankfully, we have an Army Air Force chaplain in our congregation, so he’ll be taking care of those things).

If you’re the praying type, remember me. If you’re not the praying type, then trust Jesus, become the praying type, and remember me. Leading the congregation in corporate confessions and a few prayers (both prescribed and extemporaneous) doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but I’m a rookie. Nerves and feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness abound.

My friend Stephanie believes that the foment of controversy over the Doctrines of Grace will eventually split the Southern Baptist Convention, possibly within the next ten years.

What do you think?

Work was good today. I’ll elaborate more at the end of the week, when there’s more to report on.

In other news, apparently there’s a church in Dallas that’s being sued by one of its members (or former members, depending on your perspective) over what amounts to a case of biblical church discipline. Hopefully, whatever court gets this case will follow the precedent set by previous similar cases and say that a civil court has no standing to adjudicate religious matters, but if not, I shudder to think of what could end up happening if a non-Christian (or non-theologically trained) judge is called upon to determine whether or not a church’s pastors/elders are interpreting the Bible correctly.

*shudder* < — see?

I may write more on that later as more on the story comes out.

I posted this on a couple of messageboards I frequent, so if this is the second (or third) time you’re seeing this, I apologize!

So recently, I took an interest in the pastor search of one of Birmingham’s — and possibly one of the entire state of Alabama’s — biggest and most influential SBC churches. (It should be known that I was never a member of this church, but I did occasionally attend during a season of less-than-thrilled-ness with the church I was a member of at the time.)

Anyway, the front page of this church’s website puts forth the news that their Pastor Search team recently gave their unanimous recommendation, who by all indications will do a great job in that role. I have to wonder, though, about the process apparently used and whether if this is the norm in churches say they’re congregationally goverened. Here’s what I mean . . .

1) A Search Team was formed and names were submitted by the congregation. (Sounds pretty kosher and “congregational” so far.)

2) Meanwhile, there are “guest teachers” preaching every Sunday morning since the former pastor’s resignation. Occasionally, these are staff pastors, but there’s one guy in particular (from outside the church family) doing most of the preaching.

3) Search Team gives periodic updates, saying that there have been many names submitted and they’re earnestly praying and seeking God’s will for “His man” to lead their church.

4) Search Team announces that they have a unianimous recommendation for senior pastor and SURPRISE — it’s the same guy who’s been filling their pulpit 80% of the time during the last few months. Congregation breaks into uproarious applause after announcement.

5) Senior Pastor “candidate” is scheduled to preach a couple of weeks after announcement. Congregation is given opportunity to “affirm him as our new senior pastor” after he preaches. Anticipating the obvious (that he’ll be “affirmed”), church website already has a staff page for him, and his planned sermon series is already listed in the “upcoming teaching” section.

In other words, it looks like the deck was stacked in this one dude’s favor from the get-go, and the congregational vote is nothing but a formality. This is highly unusual to me and seems anything but “congregational”. Now keep in mind, I’m pretty convinced that elder rule with congregational input (presbyterian government) is the way to go, so the fact that this church’s elders and pastor search team seem to have controlled this process actually seems right to me. BUT, is it “congregational”?

Here’s my current framework of how congregational government works in relation to choosing a new pastor. At the church I was a member of back in B’ham, we similarly had a pastor search one year. There ended up being two candidates. They each preached once (1 time) to our church on consecutive Sunday mornings, and there was a Q&A session for each guy at each evening service. The congregation then voted, with a 2/3 majority needed to elect a pastor (so as to not split the church). In this case, it was nearly unanimous, and the pastor-elect was soon called and installed as the new pastor.

So, is the strange-sounding situation I described earlier the order of the day for Baptist churches, do you think it’s just because this place is so big and prominent, or is this just unusual? I know I have some Baptist, former Baptist, and otherwise-familiar-with-congregational-gov’t readers out there. Let’s hear ya.

Nothing original today. Just a pointer to Mark Driscoll’s blog post today called Death By Ministry, giving some statistics, signs, and solutions to the not-talked-about-enough problem of pastoral burnout. Take a look.

On another note . . . SOUL PATROL!!

The Miami Herald has a story this weekend about a church in Cooper City, FL (near my old stomping grounds of Coral Springs) that spent $35,000 on a campaign to give away $10 Starbucks gift cards for the purpose of attracting new visitors to its Easter weekend services. What do you think of this idea?

I’ll pretend that someone asked my opinion and say that I find it a bit ill-conceived, like most megachurch marketing these days. See, the past twenty-plus years have brought us what’s been termed the “seeker-sensitive” movement in evangelical America. This movement is well-intentioned, in that its focus is to draw unchurched people into the church, get the Gospel into them, and turn them into disciples of Jesus. At the same time, its execution often focuses too heavily on one demographic to the neglect of another (usually age-based), markets and caters to primarily people’s “felt needs” or desires (like free coffee, for instance), or at its worst, neglects those who already believe. Call me crazy, but scripture seems to demonstrate that a church’s “target audience” should be the church (ie: believers). Yes, Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations, but that does not end with evangelism or a “decision for Christ”. That is but the beginning of disciple-making. Now, in a sense, every sermon should be “evangelistic”, in that it should focus on the Gospel — the Good News of Christ’s victory over death and atonement for the sin of all who’ll believe — and how it applies to a particular biblical passage and to our lives. But in that same sense, everyone needs to be evangelized every week: believers and non-believers alike. We all need the Gospel all of the time — some for the first time, others as a “refresher”.

Back to the Starbucks Card church: this just seems like another well-intentioned attempt to make church and the Gospel “relevant” enough to draw younger people in. The thing is, the Gospel is relevant and always will be. We don’t need a “Gospel 2.0″. There is no upgrade available. We already have the latest and greatest version, and have for a while now. We don’t need to primarily target people’s “felt needs”. We need to target their greatest need. They don’t primarily need to know how to make their marriages better, or how to be better parents, or how to best serve the poor, though those are all good and important things. Primarily, though, people need Jesus — all of these other things are outworkings (or “inworkings”) of following him.

Still, don’t get me wrong . . . some may come in for a free latté and end up hearing the Gospel for the first time and meet Jesus then and there. Praise the Lord if he decides to use this venture to save even one. Still, the methodology seems a little silly to me. The Gospel is “foolishness” enough in and of itself . . . do we really need to add our own?

(HT: StarbucksGossip)

tags: church marketing, Starbucks, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists, Florida Baptist Convention, Florida Baptists, Flamingo Road Church, seeker sensitive, seeker-sensitive

My friend Luke, a church planter with the Christian & Missionary Alliance in my hometown of Birmingham, AL, recently posted his “Top Ten Ways To Fight Boredom in District Conference”.

I may have to employ these when and if I tag along with Greg to presbytery meetings.

10. Fall Asleep, this option only works if you don’t snore!

9. Play “I spy with my little eye” game.

8. Drink a lot of coffee or any beverage and time how long you can hold your pee before having to run out scream!

7. Practice your paper airplane making with the annual report

6. Watch an episode of “Lost” on your ipod. Just try not to gasp too loud.

5. Find a wireless hotspot to upload your latest blog.

4. Count the number of “other” people asleep

3. Sit across the room from your friend and make funny faces at each other.

2. Randomly scream out your favorite lines from the “The Princess’ Bride” and see who finishes the line for you.

1. Coffee Break! Starbucks!

I don’t watch Lost, but I’ll have my video iPod at that point, so I might give it a try. Also, there’s no such thing as a “coffee break” for me . . . coffee is something I would need to take a break from, not to.