wedding attendance

this isn’t such an easy decision…

i just received a phone call from a past student’s fiancé. here is the situation:

i have known this student for about 8 years. i used to teach his sunday school class when he was a wee little lad, then later taught him through his high school years. upon graduation this student began to make some poor decisions. the chiefest of which was moving in with his girlfriend and moving out of state (and lying to me about it when asked). now he is getting married to his girlfriend and has invited me to the wedding.

here’s the dilemma – do i attend the wedding? is my attendance at the wedding condoning his actions and behavior, or simply showing that i love him and will help him when difficulties arise (as i know difficulties will arise). part of me says, “don’t go” so that he knows that i am not in support of his decision, but then i wonder who he will call or where he will turn when things go south. the other part of me says, “attend, but let him know that you are there because you love him and will be there for him when things go awry.” i have not encountered this decision before, but i think i am leaning toward the latter.

what the ministry is (not)

i took part in a school of ministry last night, and it got the wheels turning…

yes, back to school. upon graduating high school i went through a school of ministry. me and 34 of my closest friends, all shacked up in a little a-frame house on the church property. we spent 6 weeks driving a school bus to honduras and back (the bus was forever known and the stinky twinkie after that trip), countless hours in a classroom being taught the bible, and every waking moment trying to not strangle our snoring bunkmates.

well, our church has started a weekly school of ministry as well. it is not quite as intense as the one i previously attended, but i see that it will bear fruit nonetheless. it is designed to cover the basics of what ministry is, what it entails, how it should be done, etc. these classes are kind of the 101 courses for more to be held in the future. they deal with the heart and motive behind ministry, more than the hands-on workings of ministry.

all that to say, it got me thinking last night. in fact, i got home and started discussing it with my wife some, as well. the thought that came to mind was this – how do we look at ministry? when i say, “the ministry”, what comes to mind? do you think of what takes place inside a building between the hours of 8am and noon on a sunday morning? maybe you think that’s too small-minded. after all, something happens at the church nearly every day of the week, so how could ministry be limited to sunday morning? instead, you associate ministry with the title you hold at your church; whether it be deacon, elder, pastor, overseer, children’s ministry volunteer, board member. but maybe that’s too easy. after all, that high school kid is a children’s ministry volunteer, and surely he isn’t in the ministry. ministry is for the elite, those that are hired on staff at church or a para-church organization. to be on staff – that’s the ministry. right? wrong!

i write this hoping that all who read this will know that the rhetoric in the paragraph above is designed to draw a resounding NO! from you. but i hope it challenges you to take a step back and look at the way you view ministry. i’m passionate about this, because i once thought that being on staff was the epitome of ministry. having the title of deacon, elder, pastor, or leader. let me tell you, that was wrong. don’t get me wrong, either, thinking that i’m saying your pastor, leader, or staff person is not involved in the ministry. they are. but so much ministry takes place outside the church building.

my wife and i have recently moved back into town after 5 years in the country. it’s been wonderful seeing ministry taking place in my neighborhood. in fact, i would venture to say it has rekindled my love for ministry. serving neighbors, encouraging friends, sharing with those that haven’t put faith in Christ, and living out my faith in front of them. that’s a ministry any believer can get involved in, regardless of title or position.

what should church look like (part 2)

as promised, here is the second installment…

let me start this post out by telling you a little about my own personal church history. the year was 1985. the place was doran, minnesota. i was a cute, fat-faced boy, all of five years old. well, cute by my mom’s estimation at least. each week my mom would lay out my “sunday” clothes for church, which typically consisted of worn out payless shoes, tan slacks, a pink (yes, pink) shirt and pink (yes, pink again) tie. gotta love the 80’s right? having adorned ourselves with our sunday best, we would walk the block and a half down the gravel road to the small white wood-framed presbyterian church.

what should church look like?

sparked by some good conversations i had this weekend…

this is take two. i just deleted my first 200 words because i don’t think i was saying what i wanted to say. make sense? if not, hopefully the rest of this will.

i was blessed to have had some good conversations this weekend. i would say great conversations, but unfortunately they were cut short due to garage sale mayhem and the fact that kids don’t care about your grown-up conversation. ever notice that just about the time you’re really enjoying yourself, the kids start squawking?

anyways, both conversations were dealing with the same topic for the most part. “what was that topic”, you ask? church.

quiet waters

quiet waters run deep…

Rogue River

i know it’s been quiet around here, but i think that means things are running deep right now. i’ll be back, though.

what’s your twenty?

seems like it may be time for a late-summer eval…

ever get carried away by summer? i know i do. just looking at the decline in my posts over the summer months, i begin to realize how summer can get me away from those things that i do so regularly during the other 9 months of the year. here in central oregon, they say we have winter and august, so when the weather is nice, take advantage.

pray for greg laurie and family

they have suffered a great loss today…

earlier today, christopher laurie died in a car accident in riverside, CA. please take a moment to pray for christopher’s wife and daughter, as well as greg and the rest of the family.

more info can be found here

you can also leave a comment on greg laurie’s blog by clicking here.

emergent bend

it seems that the emergent church is picking up some steam here in central oregon…

as a guy in his 20’s (late 20’s) who works at a church and spends much of his time with others in their 20’s and teens, it seems that i am continually being faced with this thing called the emergent movement. as time goes on i find that i don’t even need to go out looking for it, but it comes to me, standing directly in front of my face. what do i mean? i have sitting on my desk right now a paper written by a local pastor, calling into question use of words like ‘infallible’ and ‘inerrant’ when speaking of the Word of God. though this pastor and church refuse to take the title emergent, their actions seem to be speaking more clearly than their public words. then take last night for example.

coffee with a mentor

in the midst of a hectic weekend i was able to enjoy a cup of coffee with a mentor…

wow, i’m glad to be back home with my family. i was home all week while my wife and kids were away visiting grandparents in henderson, nv. on friday she flew into the medford int’l airport and, after a monthly youth outreach we do, i drove down to meet her in southern oregon. i arrived around 3am saturday morning, but that was just the start of a busy weekend.

i woke up saturday morning around 8am in order to have coffee with an old high school math teacher of mine. yes, he is a mentor to me. i’m not sure he even realizes it, but as years have gone by, he has always had encouraging words and direction for me in the midst of chaos. it all began my junior year of high school…

grants pass

i’ll be heading down to grants pass this weekend to share about my trip to africa last february…

i’m blessed to be able to go down and share with the body at calvary chapel grants pass this weekend. i’m always blown away by the fact that anybody would listen to me, let alone call me and ask me to come and speak. God truly does use the foolish things, eh?

i’m working on outlining what i’ll share while down there. it’s a little out of the norm for me, as i’ll be sharing more of a presentation than a bible study. i’m hoping to saturate it with the word of God, though, and leave everyone with something more than just a good “speech.” part of my presentation will be the slideshow i put together after my trip there.

i’d better get back to it. i’ve got a limited amount of time to finish my prep, and i definitely don’t want to be “winging it” on saturday night and sunday morning.