the church geek

So, I’ve been thinking about joining Rotary. But as of now I’m still undecided. I thought I’d share my pros and cons here and see if you can give me some feedback:

Pros:
1.) At this point I’m not that well connected in the community. While I tell my parishioners that we need to be involved in the community (finding out its needs and finding ways that as the Body of Christ we can serve), I myself don’t have a lot of connections around town. My connections are in the Presbyterian world and not so much in our community. That seems kind of insular to me, and I’m looking for ways to change that.

2.) I really like what Rotary does. My wife joined one of our city’s Rotary clubs, and I’ve been impressed by their activity in the community and around the world. The club I am thinking about joining is actively raising money to build a water well in a village in Kenya. Each meeting features some sort of program about a particular aspect of our community’s life.

Cons:
1.) It’s expensive. Dues alone for the club I’m looking at are over $1,500. I give a good portion of my income to the church, so I don’t feel like I can redirect that money elsewhere. I do have a ‘professional expense’ account as part of my compensation package, so perhaps I could use some of that to help cover dues expenses. But either way, joining Rotary requires a significant chunk of change.

2.) It’s time consuming. Attending weekly meetings are an expectation along with work on a committee. In some regards being a Rotarian is even more demanding than being a member of a church…expectations for your time and monetary investment are clearly laid out front and if you want to be a member you are required to meet them.

That’s my current thinking about joining Rotary. Really the big issue for me is the money. Personally, I’m not sure that the benefits outweigh the monetary cost, especially given other important priorities at this time in our lives.

I’d appreciate your thoughts.

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Sometime in the spring, we had a woman visit our congregation. I had a brief chat with her prior to the service and asked her how she found out about our church. She shared with me that she had just moved into the neighborhood and was happy to find out that there was a “pentecostal” church right around the corner.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we were actually a “p-r-e-s-b-y-t-e-r-i-a-n” church, but once the service started I think she pretty quickly figured out that we were nothing like the sort of pentecostal church she thought she came to visit. We didn’t see or hear from her after that visit.

Recently, we had another visitor, and before the service we chatted about the various Presbyterian congregations in the city. This visitor then asked me if there were any churches in our city that were “pentecostal” in the character of their music and ministry.

These types of chats before the church service always make me a little nervous. I start thinking about how the visitor will be disappointed that we just weren’t the type of church they were looking for. I wonder if they are politely sitting in the worship service, all the while critiquing the theology, the scriptural interpretation, and the style of our worship music. I look at them during the service and wonder what is going through their mind.

I suppose my desire for visitors to accept and enjoy what we do here can’t be helped, but the reality is that we simply cannot be all things for all people. What we can do, however, is strive to be faithful to God and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, be the absolute best at what we do, and not apologize if our best does not turn out to be what our visitor came here looking for.

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I’ve been tagged to play along on this new Presbymeme. So here it goes:

1) What is your favorite faith-based hymn, song or chorus.

That’s a toughie, especially since a lot of people have already said “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing” which I do love dearly. BTW, have you heard Sufjan Stevens version? it’s simple and absolutely beautiful. The one hymn though that I think I could sing every Sunday without tiring is “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

2) What was the context, content and/or topic of the last sermon that truly touched, convicted, inspired, challenged, comforted and/or otherwise moved you?

I was inspired by Joan Gray’s sermon during the opening worship at this year’s General Assembly about our call to love others as Christ as loved us. I was particularly moved by her story about the member of her congregation, who was dying of cancer, looking her in the eye as she was preparing to leave for vacation and saying “Promise me one thing: That you won’t come back early to do my funeral.”

3) If you could have all Presbyterians read just one of your previous posts, what would it be and why?

I honestly don’t come up with a lot of original stuff on my blog. However, I think the one post I’d want the PC(USA) to read is this one: The Mission and the Institution.

4) What are three PC(USA) flavored blogs you read on a regular basis?

I have lots of Presbyterian blogs in my Google Reader and I seem to keep adding more, but the three blogs that I most look forward to reading are:

Tribal Church - I resonate a lot with Carol and her husband Brian’s faith journey, as in some ways it’s similar to my own. Plus Carol is one prolific and thoughtful blogger on issues of ministry.

A Church for Starving Artists - Jan’ s reflections and thoughts on church and ministry in a post-denominational world are groundbreaking. More pastors, elders, and congregations, need to hear and be challenged by her voice.

The GA Junkie - How can you not love a blog with that name? Steve provides insightful and balanced analysis of issues not only in the PC(USA) but of other reformed denominations as well.

5) If the PC(USA) were a movie, what would it be and why?

Oh, I don’t know, for some reason the one that comes to mind is “The Savages.” It’s about a brother and sister who are forced to deal with their estranged and dying father. On my most cynical, least hopeful days sometimes I think that is the situation of our denomination.

Tagged: Since the whole Presby world seems to have already been tagged on this one, if you’ve read this and haven’t played along already, I say “Tag, you’re it.”

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Just a few items for you this week, while I have a few minutes off from Synod School:

1.) A pretty good start to a list of what a perfect church might look like. What would you add?

2.) Funny little video on how not to be a small group leader.

3.) This picture captures a sense of motion so wonderfully! Almost makes me motion sick just looking at it.

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This is the fourth sermon in my six part sermon series on discipleship. I preached this on July 13th. The text was 2 Timothy 1: 1-7; 2: 1-7

I started my sermon by showing this video:

I love that video. The expression on that kid’s face at the end is priceless.

Now, I bet that most of you don’t really come to church thinking that it’s really all about “you” Or at least I hope most of you don’t do that….

But in a very real way, your average run of the mill church is really just a “meChurch.” If you take a good hard look at them, you’ll begin to notice that just about everything these churches do is focused solely on it’s members.

Their programs, worship services, and ministries are all designed to keep their members happy. But, that’s not really the way it’s supposed to be.

The famous preacher, Tony Campollo, tells the story of a visitor who tours a factory. The factory is humming along. There’s a lot of activity and all the workers are very busy. It looks like things are really efficient and the work is getting done.

The visitor is greatly impressed, but once the tour is over, the visitor says to his tour guide, “Hey, wait a minute, you never showed me the shipping department.”

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In the comments to my post “This is not our Hurricane Katrina” Joe, from City Team Ministries, has asked me to provide some sort of assessment as to where Cedar Rapids is in its flood recovery efforts. I’m perhaps not the best person to provide an assessment that is thorough and factually based, but per his request I will provide a few of my personal thoughts and observations:

1.) I find this personally most disturbing: It is quite possible to go day to day without really realizing that anything has happened here. That is to say that most of the city was not affected. If the majority of your life wasn’t based out of downtown, or if you didn’t live in the “Time Check” or “Chezk Village” areas, then you can pretty much get on with your life without facing the reality of what happened.

Still the enormity of it all is huge. According to the city, over 5,000 homes and 1,000 businesses parcels were affected. Most city services have moved to the struggling Westdale Mall (a place that used to be a ghost town, but is no longer….) The Public Library lost the majority of its book collection. Lots of non-profit organizations, including public services to the under-served, lost everything. The list goes on…

2.) Things are moving slowly. People’s lives are being held in the balance as the city tries to figure out what it’s priorities are and the best way to not only rebuild but to limit the chance of a similar scenario happening again. 500 year flood plain homes are getting building permits, while many permits for homes in the 100 year flood plain are being held up.

A walk through a few city streets a week ago revealed rebuilding activity among some home owners and other homeowners who appeared to be dazed and confused. Neighbors didn’t know where the renters or home owners were for houses that appeared to be abandoned. $28,800 (apparently the most that a home-owner can qualify for under FEMA) doesn’t seem like nearly enough to get some of these homes back into shape.

3.) While Cedar Rapids has been getting all sorts of attention, there are tons of little communities scattered up and down the various rivers in Iowa that are struggling to recover. It is my impression that places such as Palo and Oakville are not receiving the same sort of attention and resources that a big city like Cedar Rapids is able to attract.

4.) Lots of congregations were significantly affected, and yet the church city-wide has banded together in order to be the hands and feet of Christ in the city. It began even before the flood with a local group called “Serve the City” that was instrumental in providing the city with volunteers to help in preparation as well as early response efforts.

On the recovery end of things, Churches United has been very involved. And now all the big denominational response organizations are on the ground helping coordinate volunteers and supporting local congregations as they respond to recovery needs.

5.) The tricky thing, I think, and something that I’m slowly coming to terms with is that while people in local congregations have a desire to help out it is just not possible for everyone. Certainly, there is the issue of time, but there is also the reality that the work of gutting a home is physically demanding and not for everyone. Also, as recovery efforts go on, it is mostly going to demand folks who possess construction skills.

As a local pastor or as a local congregation, it takes keeping your eyes and ears open for just the right opportunity to materialize, but in general the reality is that we are simply going to have to rely on groups from outside the area to come here and help us out. And that’s OK, after all, we are all a part of the body of Christ.

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1.) I love some of the stuff that new faith communities are doing…they are bold challenges and proclamations to existing congregations. Internet Monk singles out one new congregation that is committed to giving 60% of their budget to mission!!…If they can do it, why can’t we?

2.) As always Jan raises good observations and questions about the nature of staffing in the established church today. I’d love for her to be a colleague in this presbytery, as we need to hear more of her voice…

3.) Tony Campolo presents what seems like a reasonable, faithful response to the problem of abortion in our country.

4.) How many of the 100 NEA Recommended books of fiction have you read? I’ve read book #6, but I’m not really sure why it’s considered a “work of fiction.”

5.) Today I’ve decided to point to a few of my recent favorite photos from my flickr contacts. I particularly love the lighting in this one and the depth of field in this one.

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I’m beginning to do some preaching in my congregation that really speaks to our moving to a missional focus. Currently, I’m in the midst of a series on discipleship and yesterday spoke about the fact that the church really needs to begin to turn its focus outward. The direction of our faith and Christianity is necessarily toward the world and not toward the church as an organization.

The impetus of my sermon was that as a congregation we can no longer afford to focus on our current 94 members, instead we need to begin to focus on our next 94 members.

To me, that means a lot of things. Some of them entail 1.) no longer giving money and calling it “mission,” 2.) no longer designing worship services and other programs just with our members ‘needs’ in mind, and 3.) inviting friends to join us and having places (small groups) where people can plug in and learn about the faith from our current members.

Two comments following my sermon struck me as indicators that we have a long way to go and that I have a lot of work to do to help us get this missional focus thing down….

Last year we decided to no longer pay for our church to advertise in our local newspaper in the religion section on Saturday morning…Part of the reason? 1.) The only people who look at those ads are our church members. It makes them feel good when they see it, but that’s about the limits of their effectiveness, 2.) We decided to invest our time and money in a website.

In response to my sermon, someone said to me yesterday that we really need to put that ad back in the newspaper. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this…the underlying assumption is that spending a few bucks on advertising is what is going to grow the kingdom and bring people to visit our church. Unfortunately, I think its a way to absolve the members from having to do anything to be a part of helping the church to grow, and that’s not missional thinking…

The second comment I heard was “I don’t have any friends who don’t go to church, so I must be hanging out in the right crowds!?!” The answer is no, and again, that’s not missional thinking. You really need to have some friends in your circles who are not Christian…if this church is going to grow it’s going to be by your listening to others no matter where they are in their faith journey, inviting them to think about the faith, and asking them come join us as we explore this thing together.

I’m realizing this moving to a missional focus is a monumental change. It’s a big change for me as I begin to think about my ministry differently and as I think about what it’s going to require in my preaching and leadership within this congregation. It’s also a big change for this congregation.

But, I’m becoming more and more convinced that if we’re going to have any success together then we all have got to change our focus. That focus needs to be missional, and its direction needs to be outward, toward the world around us.

Please pray for me and for us!

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For three days I felt like a lab rat…

My experience as a commissioner to this year’s GA was a bit different than most. For my committee work, which is what the first part of a week at GA involves, I was assigned to the “Worship and Spiritual Renewal” Committee.

My experience was different because two different committees were given the commission to run their business in a different manner. Following the suggestion of an overture passed by the previous General Assembly to practice some different models of decision making, the GA offices decided to have two committees employ a consensus building, discernment model.

Committee work at GA is hard enough already. When you mix 50 to 60 people together in a room who don’t each other and then you consider the different theological commitments combined with personal agendas that exist in a group that size, you are waiting for a disaster to happen.

Which is why Parliamentary Procedure works so well. People get to make motions, they can put their ideas on the table and see what the rest of the group thinks, and while the minority might not get its way in the end at least they had their say.

When the idea of working with a model for discernment and consensus building was introduced to our group, people freaked. They were uncomfortable, either because they didn’t know or simply didn’t like the rules. As time went on, some felt like their voice was not being heard. Others were hurt by the process, expressed their pain, and left it all together. It took us a full two days to work through our paltry list of two items of business.

I am a pastor in a small church. To me that seems like an appropriate place to operate using models of discernment and consensus building. In fact we hardly use parliamentary procedure at all to run our session meetings. It works because people already have a relationship with one another. They know that when they speak they will be heard. No one is trying to figure out each others agendas or theological leanings.

However, based on my experience as a GA lab rat, I’m not so sure that it’s such a good idea at General Assembly.

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No more talk about GA here, I promise:

1.) Feedly is a new tool you can use in Firefox 3. It integrates with Google Reader and provides you with a whole new way to view and work through your RSS feeds. I like it so far, though I occasionally find some of the navigation a bit awkward.

2.) Please! Don’t let this be you.

3.) Thought provoking post: Don’t Come To My Church.

4.) A while ago, I was looking for some open source presentation software to replace PowerPoint, but I couldn’t seem to find anything. I’ve not tried this yet, but it looks like openlp is just what I was looking for.

5.) This is sort of a different photo than what I normally point you to.

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A deeply sorrowful story, with a few slivers of hope. This story is not quite a good as the author’s first book (The Kite Runner), but it is still a richly detailed and compelling work set in war torn Afghanistan.

Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Not done yet with it, but the best part of this book is the eye-opening interpretations of scripture, especially key new testament texts. The weakness so far, is that it fails to deal with the issue of violence in the Old Testament, glossing over it on its way to achieve its narrative purpose. Still this is an important, compelling, and ultimately convicting work about who our true Lord really is.


View all my reviews.

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Here I offer a few glimpses into my experience at GA:

1.) I’ve mentioned this already, but it bears repeating again. For me one of the great joys of going to GA was meeting up with, as we called them, the “imaginary friends” I only knew by way of the blogosphere. Some of my spare moments at GA were spent in conversation with these folks at the Presbymergent booth, at the Tuesday evening party, during a bloggers dinner, by way of twitter, and in brushes with folks in the hallways of the assembly center.

2.) It was moving to have people extend words of concern, sympathy and support when they discovered that I was a commissioner from East Iowa. Once people found out I was from Cedar Rapids, they inquired as to the state of my home, my church, and our city. Many offered to send resources as well as mission work teams. It was such a blessing to know that the wider church will be there and available to help us in our recovery.

3.) Once I broke the ice speaking at the microphone, a few other opportunities presented themselves for me to speak on the floor of the assembly. One particular moment was when I offered an amendment to a resolution that offered thanks for the Presbyterians and PDA for their work in Katrina, Rita, and Wilma recovery efforts. The approved amendment offered a word of thanks to those whose help was extended, not just through PDA, but though local congregations in hurricane affected areas.

4.) One extremely frustrating moment was on the floor of the assembly when one item of business was tied up in parliamentary procedure and motion after motion for what was close to two hours only to find out that in the end what was being argued was not going to have any significant or practical affect. The argument was merely symbolic, in the end a complete waste of time, and the primary reason our Friday evening session went until 11:30 p.m. In this and many other cases (the debate on ‘amendment b’) it became quite clear that those who know the rubrics of Parliamentary procedure are able to wield power over those who do not and that the stated clerk’s advice can significantly set the course of the assembly’s action.

5.) Turns out that the election of Bruce Reyes-Chow as moderator was a harbinger of things that were to come later in the week for the assembly. The election of the candidate of ‘change’ foreshadowed other significant votes - changing the church’s official stance on homosexuality and sending a replacement “amendment b” to vote in the Presbyteries. Thankfully the second nuclear bomb that would have totally blown apart our denomination by changing the language of marriage in our constitution was not dropped by this assembly.

6.) At the same time there were moves to ‘center’ the church on issues such as developing resources that better reflect the diversity of the churches teaching and opinion on abortion and sex education, on balancing what the denomination has to say about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and the acceptance of a “commissioners resolution” which encourages extending a means for gracious separation to churches who wish to leave the denomination.

7.) There is more to say, but for now, one final highlight was the honoring of Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick who served our church as its Stated Clerk for the last twelve years; which is longer than I’ve been Presbyterian! During his service to the church, Cliff was often a lighting rod for those pained by the various problems of our church. However, I have only experienced him as a capable, affable, and faithful servant not only of the church but of Jesus Christ.

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1.) The PC(USA)’s General Assembly is just over a week away. There are many things I’m looking forward to and one of them is the Church Basement Roadshow which happens to be passing through town on the first Friday of GA. Check out a preview of CBR here.

2.) While I wait patiently for my economic stimulus check to arrive in the mail, this post on God’s Politics makes me wonder if there aren’t better things that both the government and I could do with the money.

3.) Jan, as always, has another good post. She looks at the difference between two coffee houses in the exact same location, one successful and the other one not, and asks what the church can learn from this.

4.) A while ago, I asked some questions about doing youth ministry. The internet monk has some great suggestions that I think are spot on.

5.) Today’s photo creatively and humorously depicts the current reality of major river flooding in northern and eastern iowa.

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Bruce Reyes-Chow has graciously responded to the five questions I posed to him. Bruce is standing for moderator of this year’s PC(USA) General Assembly.

Aside from being a fellow church geek, Bruce is a blogger and he plays a pretty mean game of Scramble (a boggle-esque game) on facebook.

BRUCE’S DISCLAIMER: These responses are done in a free-flow manner as if we were sitting at a cafe sharing a cup of coffee and are not edited or vetted in the same manner as with official publications.

1.) You are a busy man, with a young family, and a pastor of an active, vibrant church. What on earth has motivated you to run for moderator?

As I have answered in at least one other “interview” that the real reason I am doing this is because of the nation-wide potluck sampling that I will get to partake of should I be elected. “Mr. Moderator, would you like a side of starch with that helping of starch?”

The short answer is that I believe that the church has helped me to grow into who God is hoping me to become and that we as a church should now be doing the same thing for the next generation of Presbyterians. At one point, the focus was rightly on my generation. The church was for my development hoping that my generation of servants would move into leadership someday. I firmly believe at all levels of the church, that day is now. And while we are all in a continual journey of faith, I sense that my role in the church is changing. Rather than the focus being on what I need the church to be, i must now shift into helping to prepare the church for what is to come. I hope to now be about the work of ensuring that there is a meaningful place for my three daughters that draws them to God not just because of obligation but because the church understands their culture and their needs in a way to be able to both comfort and challenge them in their faith.

I am also motivated by the obvious movement within the church of folks who are ready to move beyond traditional areas of conflict and get on with doing the ministry of Jesus Christ in the world. I think there is a whole community of people who no longer abide by age-old polemics and ideological loyalty, but rather engage in values based ministry that is much more freeing and compelling. These are the folks that are missing from most of the conversations about the future of the church and I believe that, because of my experience within the structure of the church, I stand in a unique place where I might be able to create some space for those missing voices to be heard.

2.) What do you think the PC(USA) is going to look like in 20-30 years?

I really have absolutely no idea or guesses at this point . . . and I am okay with that. What I HOPE the PC(USA) looks like is more about its approach to ministry rather than it’s size and or structure. I hope that we will be a gathering of people that hold common values about the presence of Christ in the world. I hope we are not just fiscally sound, but financially generous. I hope we value a breadth of clergy roles and the many different ways we NEED clergy to be in ministry. i hope that we are a church that my children have been drawn to and through that experience are not preparing the church for their own childcare and what the church is to become next.

3.) Name 2 or 3 of your favorite religious writers (theology, spirituality, church development, fiction, you name it…) and briefly, why?

Sorry . . . here are 4, call me wild and rebellious
B.A. Garrish helped me frame my understanding of Communion in his book, Grace and Gratitude.
Brian McLaren has given words to my growing understanding of what it means to be a postmodern Christian in A Generous Orthodoxy
Molly Fumia helped me understand transformation of person and community in Honor thy Children
Carlos Bulsan reminded me what it means to honor the past while moving into the future in America is in the Heart

4.) Who has been your most important and influential mentor in the faith?

Jesus.

and . . . the Rev. Dr. Virstan Choy who has been a friend, colleague and mentor from my days a wee teenager to more recent experiences as one of our General Presbyters. Virstan has been a model of grace and humility that is flavored with a dry wit and a prophetic mind that gets to the heart of the complexities of living the Gospel in a world that often seems overwhelming.

5.) I see you’re an A’s fan, when is the AL ever going to give up on the DH? (Real pitchers bat…)

No comment as you are so clearly on the wrong side of the fence on this one
Go A’s!

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If you could care less about denomination shop talk then feel free to skip this post!

This year, I am a commissioner to GA, which is our denomination’s bi-annual gathering and the largest governing body of the church. It is a big responsibility, especially with the volumes and volumes of overtures that are being considered this year.

One thing that’s been fun to watch is how the GA moderator election is unfolding this year. The GA moderator is elected to run the meeting for the week and then he or she spends the next two years serving as kind of ‘talking head’ for the church.

There is always a lot of public attention given to this role and to this election, especially in this year when so much information is getting out ahead of the actual meetings. Thanks to the blogosphere, I bet I know more about these four candidates than anyone has ever been able to known about the various candidates in previous elections. Personally I think this a great thing.

At the same time there is another arguably more important election that will happen during the week of GA; that election is for the role of Stated Clerk. The stated clerk is the highest office or position within the GA. It is a very important position/post, certainly more so than the Moderator. Cliff Kirkpatrick has served in that important post for twelve years (which is longer than I’ve actually been a Presbyterian!)

This year there is one ‘official’ candidate nominated by the nominating committee who is an insider within the GA offices, having served there for many years. There are three other candidates, who were interviewed through the nomination process but were not nominated as the ‘official’ candidate of the committee.

Considering the importance of this position in the life of our denomination, I must admit I know next to nothing about the four candidates who are running, beyond the name recognition of the ‘official’ candidate. In my assessment, the level of information, dialog, and interest, about this particular election is nothing compared to what is happening for the role of moderator.

Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong place for that information, but really shouldn’t we be paying just as much if not more attention to this election?

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