Category Archives: General
Servant 923
I haven’t been posting here lately because my latest project at work is launching a brand new worship community. The launch date is December 4, 2011 at Church of the Servant UMC (14343 N. MacArthur, Oklahoma City, OK) and you can find more information here @ Servant 923. We’d love to see you there beginning December 4th!
Rambling Update
When I finished my D.Min. degree earlier this year, I just knew that I’d have more time than ever. Of course, that spare time was immediately filled with other responsibilities and opportunities. I thought I’d write a quick post to update everyone on the latest events in my life.
This fall I had my first experience leading a major stewardship campaign. We developed and tried a different approach that we were really happy with. Instead of the normal focus on the importance of stewardship as a spiritual discipline, as important as that is, we focused on the difference giving makes in the life of our congregation. We developed four different video testimonies of individuals whose lives have been changed or transformed in the life of the congregation. We also continually reminded the congregation of the way our giving transforms lives through our missional involvement locally and globally. The campaign was called “Giving Changes Lives,” and we have had an incredible response, seeing increases in giving across the board for the first time in several years. We also had lots of comments about the different “feel” of seeing how our faithful stewardship makes a difference for Christ and his Kingdom.
After the major part of this campaign finished up, I’ve been heavily involved in a visioning process for our future. I’ve leaned heavily on Will Mancini’s book, Church Unique, which is probably the best book I’ve ever read on developing vision in a local congregation. In the back of our mind, we’ve continued to be influenced and inspired by Reggie McNeal’s work after hearing him speak at the UMC Large Church Initiative in San Antonio. We’re closing in on a vision framework that we’ll be presenting to our laity for final refinement in the beginning of 2011.
On a personal spiritual note, on November 30th I finally managed to finish a goal that I began on November 30, 2010. Along with my small group, I’ve been working through a one year bible reading plan using the Life Journal. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, this is the first time I’ve ever maintained this discipline for an entire year. It has been a transforming discipline to say the least. As cliche as it might sound, instead of just reading the bible for study, preaching, and teaching preparation, I’ve been reading the bible daily for personal spiritual transformation and it makes a difference. After this year, I am more deeply committed to the God revealed in Scripture, more fascinated with the incredible missional calling that Scripture describes and more committed to being a faithful follower of Jesus. If you haven’t began a discipline like this, I strongly recommend the Life Journal for 2011. If you’re like me, you’re definitely going to need a small group of committed Christ-followers to hold you accountable on a weekly basis to make sure you stick with your commitment.
Finally, life in my family is cruising right along with all the challenges and blessings of raising an 8, 5, and 1 and 1/2 year old. We’re busier than ever and learning how much work parenting can be! Fortunately, we have the support of a remarkable community of faith and a great family, which makes all the difference.
In Defense of the Megachurch
Lately, I’ve heard and read several conversations wondering about the megachurch. Some question its authenticity, others question its methodology, while some just question whether big is good. As these questions bounce around in my head, I’m serving on staff at the largest United Methodist congregation in Oklahoma City. Needless to say, I’ve got a little different take on the megachurch than some of the voices you hear.
Just this week we started Vacation Bible School. Yesterday, those of us here in OKC were just about washed away in a torrent of rain, and we ended up having to cancel the first day of VBS. As a result, several of our members who were volunteering quickly found themselves as volunteers without a cause. In the end this was a real blessing, because I was able to have some great conversations with the folks who waited inside to avoid going home in the hardest rain.
As I was speaking to one of our volunteers, we began to talk about her children. As we talked she mentioned a friend of her children who has experienced some hard times, but is facing those difficulties with the help of an amazing community surrounding them. As she described the beauty of this caring community, she gestured around at our building and the people gathered there and said, “You know, this is that community for our kids, and it has been since they were little.”
In that moment, I realized something. This family has specifically chosen to raise their kids in an intentional way, surrounded by incredible men and women of faith, and it just so happens to be here in a megachurch. When I look at this family, I can say the same thing for myself. I want my kids to grow up in a community of faith like the one I’m appointed to serve.
Although megachurches are bigger than the churches many of you attend or pastor, they are no less communities of faith and discipleship. In fact, they aren’t even necessarily big for the sake of bigness. In a very large urban or suburban area, the megachurch actually shrinks the city and becomes a smaller community of faith and discipleship within that setting. We aren’t the big box store selling religious experiences or goods; we are a community of people, albeit a large community, who’ve said, “This is where I want my family to grow and be shaped in their faith. This is the place where I want to live out my faith, both inside and outside the walls. This is the place where I want to nurture Christian friendships and live out my commitment to Jesus Christ.”
Are we bigger than some of the small towns in Oklahoma? Sure we are. But just as people who live in those towns are shaped by the life of those communities, people here at Servant are shaped and formed into the image of Jesus Christ because of the living, breathing, faithful men and women who come here to celebrate the goodness and grace of Jesus.
Who is Your Tribe?
Michael Hyatt’s excellent blog has a guest post by Mary DeMuth that explores how she discovered her tribe (a la Seth Godin‘s, Tribes). This post got me thinking about the ways we find our tribe. How do we figure out the group where we have the most potential for impact and influence? DeMuth has a few suggestions.
- Ask others, “What is my one thing?” My friend Alex has often said everyone has a “one thing.” This is the theme of your life and ministry – the well you find yourself continually returning to when you feel dry. If someone asked you to communicate one message (verbally or through actions) and one message only, what would that be? DeMuth suggests sending a wide variety of people you know an email asking them to help you define you and your ministry (or calling). I may do this.
- Seek Professional Help. As an author, DeMuth had the ability to consult with a variety of experts to help her whittle down to the core of what she lives to communicate.
- Finally, so some soul-searching. Here, I’ll quote DeMuth in full, “Frederick Buechner says that the place that you ought to serve is “where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.” So define that. In your opinion, what is the world’s greatest need? (Everyone’s will be different). What is your greatest joy? How do they intersect in your life right now? How would you like them to? Another exercise: List your three favorite movies. (Don’t think about it; just list them.) Now look over your list. What is the common thread in all three? That common thread is typically your passion colliding with the world’s greatest need.”
I’d take the movie thing with a grain of salt, because I’m not quite sure what gritty westerns (Tombstone, Unforgiven, etc.) and stupid comedies (Talladega Nights, Dumb & Dumber, etc.) have to do with my passion colliding with the world’s greatest need, so take the movie thing with a grain of salt.
However, it could definitely be a good exercise to spend some time thinking about your greatest joy, your understanding of the world’s greatest need, and how you see those intersecting in your life. If you’ve identified your tribe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Amazing Rescue in Haiti
If you haven’t seen this yet, watch the young boy’s response at the first of the video.
The rest of the video shows the ongoing need. If you’d like to make a donation that will send 100% of your donation to relief, please click here. UMCOR’s administrative costs are covered outside of your donations, so you can make a real difference with your donation.
Mission Trumps Tradition
In case you don’t know, I really like Dan Kimball. Why? Because I think he does his very best to connect with the people in his community who don’t know Jesus Christ. I think he carries a sense of urgency about sharing the gospel that we need to reclaim across the Church. I also think he properly understands sharing the faith with our community as an essential piece of our overall mission as followers of Christ. Take time to watch his presentation from the Nines (FYI: I have an HP laptop and a Mac, so I’m like Switzerland in that debate), and see what I’m talking about.
15,000 Visitors
Whoever reads this post first will be the 15,000th visitor to this blog. I’ve been using Twitter a lot more than blogging lately, because it really fits my schedule better right now. However, I think it also probably forces me to do less in-depth thinking. So, I’ve been thinking about doing a little more posting here at the blog.
Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about leadership (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins were my most recent reads in that area), challenges within the UMC (see the book by Collins), and some of the core commitments of my life (for instance, as I’ve studied and taught through the book of Acts, I’ve been thinking more about the way Paul and the earliest followers of Christ called both insiders and outsiders to repent and respond to God in Christ).
Methodist? Move to Oklahoma & Live Longer
Reports on the UMC aren’t usually an encouraging thing, unless you live here in Oklahoma. Check out this report (h/t John Meunier). All kidding aside, are we really this much younger than the rest Methodism in the US? If so, wow…
A Goal Accomplished
Running has never been my favorite sport. In fact, after playing baseball and basketball in high school, I have always joked that running means that I’m being punished! But I had to do something. Heart problems run in my family, and I haven’t been exercising since moving back to Oklahoma City. On top of that, clergy are notorious for being in terrible health, and I just don’t want to go down that road.
So, on January 30th, I began the “Couch to 5K” program. It wasn’t easy, and I had to take a little time off right after Blake was born in late March, but I did it! This morning I ran my first 5K at the Andy Payne Memorial Races.
It was a pretty exciting morning. The only hitch came about a quarter of a mile in when my left shoe came untied and the racing chip used to check our times began to bounce along the road. I stopped for a split second, jumped off to the side, and tucked it in my shoe before sprinting to catch back up to where I was before. Even with that goofy little mishap, I finished at 34:03, my very best time yet! It feels good to reach this goal!
Distance Between Pulpit and Pew
In case you haven’t caught wind of this yet, you’ll need to see the conversation that is beginning between Shane Raynor at Wesley Blog and Jeremy Smith at Hacking Christianity. I tend to agree more with Shane on this issue.
One of the best books I read during seminary was by Helmut Thielicke, A Little Excercise for Young Theologians. In fact, this short book should probably be required reading for incoming pastors, as it touches on this very issue in some pretty insightful ways.
