lighthouse/searchlight church

caroling with the neighborhood

2011-12-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

In the past eight days, two significant neighborhood encounters occurred. Both could easily have slipped by unnoticed, but I think the persistent focus on being the church outside the walls has sharpened my eyesight a little.

The second encounter (read the first here) came last night at our annual caroling event in the neighborhood. We've been doing this for a number of years (eight?), usually going a different direction each year in the neighborhoods right around our church.

This year, something significant happened. We had two different families from the neighborhood show up and join us for dinner and caroling. I'm not sure how or where they heard about when we were going - in one case, a grandparent couple invited their out of town daughter and young grandkids to join us. They said that the kids had never been a part of caroling and they wanted them to have the experience. In another case a mom from down the street brought her two young daughters. And they jumped in with us - part of the "Good Shepherd family" caroling to our (and their own) neighbors.

What stood out to me is their willingness to come do something as "out there" as walking in the dark with a big group of strangers, knocking on doors, and singing... again, I think that this was made possible, or at least easier, by the time we've spent out in these same neighborhoods. We used to be relatively unknown to these neighbors. Now we are not only safe to associate with, but desirable companions in carrying music (and Good News!) to our mutual neighbors. As I said in the previous post, I'm not sure we even know all the significance of this encounter, but I'm pretty sure it is significant!

Here's a video clip of us singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

eating with the neighborhood

2011-12-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

In the past eight days, two significant neighborhood encounters occurred. Both could easily have slipped by unnoticed, but I think the persistent focus on being the church outside the walls has sharpened my eyesight a little.

The first encounter came eight days ago on a Wednesday. That morning we got a call in the office from a neighbor who had seen on our church sign that we had a Wednesday night dinner and wondered if he could come get some food for himself and his sick wife, who was housebound. I think he thought we were offering meals for sale - he asked a question along those lines. But the person taking the call said it was a potluck, and neighbors visiting were not expected to bring food, and he should just come on and join us. Well, sure enough, he came that night. We invited him to sit and eat with us before taking the plate home to his wife, but he wanted to get back to her. So we visited in a line for a few minutes. He lived nearby and simply noticed our sign.

What stood out to me is that he would venture inside a church full of people he didn't know to accept food that was "family meal" style. I don't think this would have happened even two or three years ago. I think that we have been spending so much time out in our neighborhood, including HIS immediate neighborhood, that he perceived us as safe, friendly, and helpful - worth calling and visiting to help out his wife. It was a subtle interaction, and I don't think we have yet grasped the significance of it; but I'm pretty sure it was significant in our growth as a church for the neighborhood.

the filter bubble: the invisible self-idolatry of the internet

2011-12-09T13:58:00.001-05:00

This is a fascinating and disturbing TED Talk on the ways that Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and many other online sites sort and individualize our "personal internet experience" with the mostly invisible (to us) result of only showing us what we WANT to see rather than what we NEED to see.

Not only do we only see what is let INTO our "filter bubble"; we don't get to see what is filtered out.

On the video, the speaker shows two different friends' simultaneous Google search results on "Egypt" during the revolution there. One friend's results were full of news and politics and revolution; the other got nothing related to it.

We used to have human editors serving as gatekeepers to public information. Now we have programs (algorithms) that feed us back ourselves. Additionally, these programs don't have the kind of embedded ethics that human editors did.

What are we missing when we can't see beyond our individual horizon?

We lose a sense of public life and civic responsibility - and we need some controls over what gets through and what doesn't

We need programming (algorithms) not just keyed to relevance, but to things that are uncomfortable, challenging, and important.

I challenge you to watch and comment about what you think we are missing or losing and how we can address these problems through changed habits, different programming, a rediscovery of ethics and public good, etc... Share your thoughts!

Update: on my FB post linking to this article, I received an excellent comment from Grant Sutphin, who is a Presbyterian pastor in Statesville, NC. Here is a part of his post I'd like to share and then respond to:

I think you're principally promoting the presenting issue of this talk rather than its conclusions, but I feel I should point this out:

Internet companies are just that: companies. They are market-driven entities that will make whatever decisions maximize their market-determined value to their shareholders. Imploring corporations to be altruistic and have at their core a desire toward building a more perfect society is a distraction from what we as pastors know to be the real issue.

It is the individual who proves a steady disdain toward world events in their internet-behavior who determines how the Google algorithm will then lead them in the future away from news stories. Pariser's own newsfeed begins to weed out conservative opinion not randomly but after he's clicked exclusively on progressive articles for a period of time. He might want to read the conservative headlines, but it would seem he doesn't need to look any deeper by clicking the links. If he did, the algorithm would continue to promote them.

Sin will always draw the individual away from community, away from otherness, away from confrontation. The sin isn't in the corporation, it's in the people, and that's where you have to go (Christ before you and beside you) to get it out. Regulating internet companies so they more readily show content unrelated to previous searches won't solve the strong desire we have toward alienation. We should never believe that a more altruistic Google or Yahoo will cure us of this.

I responded:

I agree, which is probably why I focused more on the presenting issue than the speaker's solution. I don't think pleading with corporations to employ ethic-coding programmers is the solution (or reasonable in any way). The speaker also notes that while he holds up human newspaper editors up as capable of gate-keeping, they were historically no better - also serving the needs of their employers.

My intent was to note the problem - our tendency towards self-preoccupation, made significantly easier and more accessible by the Internet. It's not unlike what having Star Trek like food replicators in the home might do for the gluttonous among us. (Lord, help us!) We are all the more in trouble when we allow technology to feed and enable our sin.

You rightly point us towards what is needed - a spiritual remedy for sin and bent towards sinning.

online ministry tech - cloud storage

2011-11-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

Though I wrote my "online ministry tech" series just over a year ago, the recent burst of free and ample cloud storage prompts me to add this topic as an entry to that series.

Cloud storage is digital file storage not on your computer hard drive or a memory stick or CD/DVD... it is figuratively "in the clouds." (Actually, it is stored on a remote hard drive or storage device at Google, Amazon, or any number of places that specialize in storing data.)

In 2011, cloud storage went mainstream with Amazon, iTunes, Google, and others starting to offer free offsite storage simply for opening an account or using their products. As of this posting date...

Amazon has offered cloud storage they refer to as the Amazon Cloud Drive. They offer 5GB of storage free with an Amazon account, and much more with paid plans. This will store mp3s, movies, Kindle books, or even your own computer files and is accessible from any computer using your user name and password.

iTunes has offered iCloud - also 5GB of free storage with a free Apple ID. New i-devices default to backup data to the iCloud, but 5GB is only barely sufficient for core contacts and information; photos and music quickly over-run the space (when the smallest ipods now hold 8GB of music); but paid plans are available for more. This is tempting, especially if one hasn't backed-up all that carefully accumulated music. (I have about 30GB of music on my laptop and carry much of it on my iPod) What if it's all lost in a fire? Or my computer dies? A year or two ago I backed up much of it to DVDs, but that was really tedious and not something I'd do with regularity. And I've added a lot of music since then. But I also couldn't bring myself to pay Apple to store music that I had already bought from them.

Well, there's Dropbox... but it only comes with 2GB of free storage, though with a student (.edu) account and lots of friend referrals, you can apparently build that up to a total of 18GB with no charge. I'm up to 10.5GB, but also use much of that syncing all my files between three computers. I do still think Dropbox is a standout among the cloud storage sites because of the local software that allows creation of the "dropbox" folder on one's computer. But, for sheer storage space, read on...

So, when I last posted about Dropbox, someone mentioned Box.com (same as Box.net)... I checked them out and they give 5GB of free online storage, along with some nice collaboration and sharing features for those files. So that matches up well with Amazon and iTunes. But **here's the thing** - last week I ran across a special promo that Box.com is running. If you download the free Box.net (yes, I know they are inconsistent with the name) app for iPhone, iPod, or iPad, and create a new account before Dec. 2, they will give you 50GB of free storage. Clearly, competition for customers is ramping up!

Right before I found that deal, I also found Adrive.com, which gives you 50GB free any time. But it is clunky and has limitations on the size of files uploaded. Once I found the Box.com deal, I left it behind. But if you miss the window for the Box.com deal, it's worth checking out for that large storage space.

And finally, last week I also read about Google Music, which is offering online storage of music files (any type) for up to 20,000 songs (approx. 100GB!). These can be accessed from any computer or device, though it is initially geared to be an iTunes alternative for Android-based phones and devices. (Having said that, there is an iPhone/iPad app for it, too). Google provides a desktop program to help upload all your files to their cloud storage. This is a good alternative backup for the music, though a small percentage of DRM-protected files won't copy (I haven't figured out which ones; it's not ALL my purchased music.). This is a nice feature because I will be able to access 98% of my iTunes (and other) music from any computer or device, any time. Google Music also allows a one-time sharing of an entire song... good for FB and other links.

So, how have I used this new-found online storage? So far, here's the plan...

Adrive (50GB on my e-mail) - backed up all my iTunes music and the movies we have purchased from iTunes; we've purchased movies from Amazon, but Amazon let's us re-download those any time (iTunes does not).
Box.com (50GB): am backing up our digital family photos from the past six years
Google Music (20,000 songs or approx. 100GB?): am backing up my iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other music files to this one location; I may then remove the backup on Adrive and use that space for something else.

The only real hiccup in this frenzy of online backing up... even the fastest Internet connections (like at my church) are generally only fast DOWNLOADING (we are about 10Mbps). But the UPLOAD speed is .6Mbps, and that's what is being used to send my files to the clouds. So backing up 30-50GB of information is a long process... I set it running overnight and pause it the next morning. I seem to remember that the Charlotte airport has 11+Mbps up AND down, so I may save my laptop music backup (the big one) until my next travel venture.

Anything you'd add? Please comment below!

consecration as distinctly holy

2011-11-13T18:44:00.001-05:00

The word that describes behavior that is distinct from the world around us for the sake of honoring God is “consecrated” (also "holy"). It means set apart, but we often think of that as separated AWAY from the world rather than distinct WITHIN it. But the special use for which God sets us apart is to be used.

From the beginning God set apart His people – by laws, by covenant and sign, by behavior. The purpose was not to shelter them away and keep them pure and aloof, but that they would be a witness to the surrounding world of the character and nature of God. In Christ, we continue to be set apart IN the world for God's glory (cf. 1 Peter 2:5-12).

Said another way, we are to be a reflection of the holiness of God. But God, as perfectly holy, does not hide away from humanity. Rather, in holiness God has come among us in Jesus Christ, to live and be one of us, but to do so with complete distinctness as the perfectly obedient one, to redeem and draw humanity unto Himself.

Whether we talk about consecrating gifts of money for the mission and work of this church or talk about consecrating our lives in service to God, we are talking about openly belonging to God for His public glory. So, the mission and ministry of the Church is not for ourselves, but for the world around us, to point to God. Our mission and ministry as Christians is not to get blessed by God, but to give ourselves in service to God for the blessing of others.

As Christians, we are God’s own possession, set apart as distinct for God’s public glory.

gspc kids have personality

2011-10-28T16:25:00.000-05:00

This was too good a picture not to put up! No shortage of personalities here. :) This was at our church family retreat to Fellowship Point, a presbytery property just north of Charlotte.

traveling musicians

2011-10-27T08:13:00.002-05:00

One exciting thing that has just happened this last week is that we have had the privilege to share of our musical bounty with another congregation in the presbytery. The organist/music director at Hickory Grove Presbyterian Church is leaving, and I offered my friend, Rev. Kate Murphy, that we might be able to loan them some musicians for the month of November while they searched for a new musician or interim musician. I am thrilled to share that Linda Jenkins agreed to volunteer as their organist and choir director for the month, and Chuck is also going to sing bass in the choir. I marvel at the riches God has drawn to Good Shepherd in arts and music and am excited that we can share those riches with others outside our walls. I look forward to hearing from the Jenkins and Pastor Kate how God blesses them and the congregation at Hickory Grove.

So, when you don't see Chuck and Linda in church during November, know that they are on ministry assignment serving the larger Kingdom of God!

What is God doing in and around you and how can YOU be a part?

neighborhood jazz with sister church

2011-10-22T18:08:00.001-05:00

Next weekend, our choir will join with that of Carmel Presbyterian for a jazz concert. But we are taking seriously what it means to get outside the walls, so we are performing outdoors in "Stumptown Park" in Matthews, NC, on October 30, at 3pm, . There was a great write-up in the Charlotte Observer here:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/18/2702828/free-jazz-concert-unites-2-churches.html

It included some great quotes:

The concert is a combined effort of the two churches' music ministries, led by Paul Reynolds, director of music ministries at Carmel and Cathy Youngblood, director of music ministries at Good Shepherd.

Youngblood says this event is a response to a new call for churches to balance the "come-and-see" attitude with the "go-and-tell" mindset. "Rather than only presenting the message of Christ through music in the church building and expecting others to come to us, we are heeding the call to go out into the community and meet people where they are," she says.

Performances will include a combined choir from both churches, a variety of jazz favorites performed by soprano Mindy Damon and old-time classics performed by The Rick Bean Jazz Trio.

Rick Bean, founding pianist of the trio, was a long-standing friend of the late Loonis McGlohon, former director of music at Carmel Presbyterian. Bean is now the president of the Loonis McGlohon Foundation, which supports events that promote ministry through jazz.

Youngblood says that jazz is an accessible means of expression and Stumptown Park, a fun place for families and friends to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon. She says, "We hope to give folks a relaxing evening of jazz - sacred and secular - as a bridge between community and church."

If you are in the area, come out and join us!

wee kirks

2011-10-21T11:06:00.002-05:00

This past week I have been at the Montreat Wee Kirk conference, a wonderful 32-year old conference for smaller membership congregations in the PCUSA. I have been privileged to serve as the conference worship leader and seminar leader for the past 9 years!

Growing up in a church of 3000+, I admit to grossly underestimating the TREASURE in the Kingdom that the small church can be when it sets its eyes on Jesus and follows in obedience to Word and Spirit. Certainly there are churches of all sizes that struggle with health, but size itself is no determiner of faithfulness or effectiveness in the Kingdom. Indeed one of our speakers, Sasan Tavassoli, said he was used to Iranian cell groups of 8-10, so he did not even recognize the distinction between 'big' and 'wee' churches.

I am reminded of our own commitment at Good Shepherd, from 7-8 years ago to be vigorously faithful in the "small things" God laid before us in our immediate neighborhood. Now, it seems clear that God is challenging us to continue outside our walls NEARBY - with tutoring, witnessing, friendships, bluegrass, book clubs, coat drives, relationships, and more; but also FURTHER OUT!

missional does as missional is

2011-07-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

Though I don't use the term "missional" much in everyday conversation (I've stuck with the lighthouse/searchlight metaphor in our context), I do use it in conversations with others beyond my local context.

But both in my own context and in conversations with people outside it, I realize that many of us continue to struggle with BEING or BECOMING missional in our identity. The default for American Christianity, even bombarded with missional teaching and resources, is to try to create one more new program - that is to focus on DOING "this missional stuff" and hope that makes us missional.

There is proverbial wisdom to "one is as one does" - (perhaps immortalized in the negative sense by Forrest Gump's "stupid is as stupid does"). Certainly if we repeat behavior, our identity is shaped and molded, whether for good or ill. But when several generations of "mission and outreach" in our churches has resulted in a small handful of go-getters doing hands-on mission and most of us simply paying others to do God's work, I wonder if "missional is as missional does" is going to work out.

I have been wrestling with flipping that around: missional does as missional is. As strong as the dynamic of behavior shaping identity is, the dynamic of behavior flowing out of identity is even stronger. And we find so much more energy and LIFE in the latter (again, for good or ill - and even as I type this I realize the far-reaching implications of this observation beyond the scope of the "missional" conversation... but that'll keep 'til another day).

The huge apparent challenge of primarily approaching missional BEING over DOING is that naming and re-shaping Christian identity so that it results in action seems (and is!) a humanly impossible task. But in the same way that it is God's job to save people, so it is the declared work of Christ (so says the scripture) to give us a new identity. My job as a pastor, and indeed our job as Christ-followers, is to declare what is already true in Christ.

Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost - to obediently serve the mission God gave him. As believers, our identity is found in Jesus Christ, and as Christ followers, we follow him into mission.

We can create "mission (or missional) programs" or send money for people to "do Christ's work," and it is possible that doing so may begin to inform us as to our Christian identity. But would it not be far more effective and LIFE-GIVING to root our missional activity in the missional identity we have in Jesus Christ?

Missional does as missional is. What would that look like in your context?

-----Additional Resources-----

Some narrative on how we've cultivated missional identity in my own context.

Preaching to cultivate and confirm missional identity (partial list):
God as Inviting Host (series)
How Can I Be a Part? (sermon and lay testimonies)
Sheep for the World (Pentecost sermon)
Discipleship – focusing outward on our neighbors (series)

Reposted and revised from May 2010

intentional residence communities: a new model for theological education

2011-07-02T07:02:00.000-05:00

I was in conversation with some seminary professor friends who were talking about a shift from what I experienced in the 90s - two required "field education" classes that included some supervision - to a more long-term pairing of seminary students with a local pastor. Rather than serving in a church for one semester or year to get a class credit, trying to match up a student with a church for the duration of seminary, to have not only a church "home" in the seminary context, but also a pastor/mentor for the duration.

I think this is a good direction for seminary education, as it not only grounds the education in the setting of ministry, but can provide an experienced practitioner of ministry as a mentor, coach, and guide, along with some hands-on experience of ministry.

But here's the thing: that's a great step, toward the old attractional model of church ministry happening in the church. I started pondering how I would want to train, equip, mentor a seminary student who chose Good Shepherd as a seminary church home and me as mentor/coach/trainer during that season of life.

Here's what I came up with, and am floating to a couple of seminary folks I know at different institutions.

INTENTIONAL RESIDENCE COMMUNITIES (IRC)

A New Model for Theological Training for Ministry

Envisioning new models for theological training and preparation for ministry in the 21st century, the IRC model builds on traditional theological education and newer paradigms of mentored ministry:

Theological Education: top-caliber academic training in the Reformed tradition
Mentored Ministry: direct participation and ministry in a local Presbyterian congregation, regular accountability and discipleship by a teaching or ruling elder of that congregation, and sustained fellowship and accountability to that local congregation; for the duration of the degree program

To those building blocks, the IRC model adds the following:

Intentional Residence Communities: combines the fellowship and encouragement of living with or near a group of seminary students and families with the real-world opportunity of living in a secular apartment or housing complex; the local residence ministry community will meet regularly for accountability, fellowship, and support as well as work with the local church pastor to develop and implement ministry and mission in the apartment or housing complex

To help flesh out what this model would look like, I created a sample application form for a student entering seminary, including the following narrative questions in addition to basic contact info. The seminary would use this form in conjunction with a corresponding church application form to help match students and congregations.

Student Application - narrative questions

Narrative Description of Background, Testimony, Sense of Call
Vision for Intentional Residence Ministry: How can you envision engaging in ministry in a housing complex? You don’t have to have all the answers – just brainstorm with us a bit!
Areas of Desired Ministry Experience: note that ministry opportunities will not be limited to those named; rather this will help place students in the optimum environment
Housing Needs: family size, # of bedrooms, budget for housing
Host Church Preference: please list in order after reviewing host church applications on file; if no order of preference, so note

And here is a sample church application, filled in with narrative as if I were answering...

Host Church/Pastor Application

Narrative Description of Church (denominational affiliation, size, location, demographic, mission, vision, etc…)

Good Shepherd is an evangelical and Reformed congregation of the PC(USA). It is located in the Old Providence neighborhood in South Charlotte. The congregation has an intentional and developed mission strategy to the approximately 2000 households in the Old Providence area, which include a surprisingly wide range of economic and racial diversity. In addition to the missional opportunity to love and witness to these neighbors, the session of Good Shepherd has identified several key mission opportunities in a local public elementary school, a medium-sized contemporary shopping complex, several group homes, and the Swan’s Run/Brighton Place housing complexes (see housing below). Mission partners in the area include a predominantly African-American PC(USA), Southern Baptist, United Methodist, and Moravian congregation. Good Shepherd has a unique and very intentional theology of worship and creative arts. We are a confessing church in the PC(USA), and the pastor is active in denominational renewal and witness as well as leadership in the local presbytery. Explore our website at www.gspc.net.

Pastor Narrative (describe training, mission/vision, availability, and anything else deemed pertinent to mentored ministry)

I am an alumnus of Davidson College (music composition), Gordon-Conwell (M.Div., pt. 1), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div., pt. 2), and Reformed Theological Seminary (D.Min. biblical theology of worship and music). I have been pastor of Good Shepherd since 2002, am married and have three daughters. I am a life-long musician and enjoy leading worship through music as well as preaching and pastoring. Since 2006, we have been actively engaged in a missional model of ministry in our local context. I blog and explain this in much greater detail at my “Lighthouse-Searchlight Church” blog at http://robertaustell.blogspot.com. I have also mentored seminary students most of the years I have been at Good Shepherd and enjoy those ministry relationships.

Ministry Experience Opportunities

Good Shepherd offers a broad range of ministry experiences for pastoral interns, including preaching, teaching, youth ministry, music/worship, drama and creative arts, missional development, discipleship, home and hospital visitation, and more. Interns will also be encouraged to identify and develop new ministries in areas of gifting and calling.

Description of Housing Available

Swan’s Run Apartments is an approximately 140-unit apartment complex immediately behind Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church. Rent is modest ($500-700) and housing configurations include duplexes, quad apartments, and a large multi-unit building. 1BR, 2BR, and 3BR units are available.

Number of Students Desired (min. 3; indicate any other parameters)

To launch the first intentional residence community at Good Shepherd, it is recommended that 3-4 family units seek housing at Swan’s Run Apartments. Once the program is up and running, as many as 6-8 family units might live at Swan’s Run and be engaged at Good Shepherd, but the intent would be to have families rotating in and out as they enter and exit the degree program rather than as one large block. Each family unit is invited to become an active part of the worshiping community at Good Shepherd and Pastor Austell will work with each student to match learning goals with ministry experiences on an individual basis. Each student will meet regularly with either Pastor Austell or one of the elders of the church.

If you've read this far, I would love to hear some feedback, either in the comments or at robert{at}gspc{dot}net.

welcome and overview page

2011-07-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the lighthouse/searchlight blog! This commentary site exists primarily to chronicle and resource the local efforts of one Presbyterian congregation to explore our twin calling of being a gathered and sent expression of the hope and light of Christ.

When people are new to a blog, they usually just pick up reading with new posts. It is my hope that new readers will connect to some of the archived material. This "highlight" page attempts to pull together and list some of my favorite posts and series of posts, as well as point to several additional areas of interest.

Lighthouse/Searchlight (missional)

Wednesday Night Experiment (series) - initial description and follow-up reports of our experiment of pushing the Wednesday night church meeting outside the walls into the neighborhood. Some exciting results!! Continue reading about year two HERE.
Missional Identity in the Small Church (series) - this series chronicles the visioning, communication, implementation, etc... of a missional identity at Good Shepherd. This material was compiled for a workshop I taught, but comes from an officer retreat in 2006. The initial link has links to the successive posts.
VBS on the Road - the story of taking our Vacation Bible School outside the walls
Searchlight-in-Training - a missional look at parenting my young daughter
More than Cookies - narrative of two memorable days in ministry that highlight our growing missional mindset along with the mess and the glory of being a lighthouse and searchlight church
Truth and Error (series) - study of truth and error in the local church from 2 Timothy 2
Frost Defines Missional (part 1, part 2, part 3) - blogged through Michael Frost's presentation on missional church at the 2007 Presbyterian Global Fellowship conference
The Talent Challenge - a real-life missional "parable of the Talents" exercise; two follow-up reports below
- Mission Benefit Concert - a $20 talent turned into a fabulous fund-raising concert for our missionaries in Spain; raised $1800!
- Family business in Nicaragua - a $20 talent sent to our missionaries in Nicaragua purchased equipment for start-up sewing classes

Worship and Music

Don't Waste Your Time - on the primacy of worship as the foundation for mission
God's Refrigerator Door - perspective over worship and worship styles
Facedown, pt. 2 - on the need for (and difficulty of) humility in worship leadership
How Do We Praise? - a look at our work as worship
Biblical Worship through Music (book) - my doctoral project on a biblical theology of worship, focusing on the use of music; includes specific field research in the Presbyterian Church (USA) setting; also on Amazon
The Breadth of Worship (book) - devotional book with study and application questions on the "worship words" of the Bible; great for small groups or personal devotions

Technology

Twitter and General Assembly (series) - this was written in advance of the 219th General Assembly in 2010; subsequently the GA wrote a social media usage policy and since then social media has developed even more; nonetheless, this is a helpful exploration of the potential role social media (and specifically Twitter) could play in such a gathering
Online Ministry Tech - survey of the online tools I use most in minsitry and mission, with ideas of how to use and apply them.
Website Outreach Philosophy - the missional vision behind our website design (note: we've since changed to a blog-based site, but the philosophy remains the same)

Denominational (PCUSA)

Searchlight Presbytery? - some ponderings on whether the presbytery can transform in some of the missional ways our local church has
Intentional Residence Communities - a new model for theological training for ministry
10A Presentation in the Presbytery of Charlotte - significant not only to understand my approach to the topic, but the interaction with my friend and colleague; note our introductions of each other and the following three inter-connected pieces:
- Kate's speech
- My speech
- The article in the paper by a local columnist in attendance as an elder commissioner
Deep(er) Thoughts - Presbytery Meeting - thoughts on friendships "across the aisle" and the need to speak truth in love in the fertile field of trust and hope; also what started in this article found significant expression a year or two later as described in the post above
Gracious Witness Resolution - the story of the overture I wrote in 2008 appealing to Presbyteries to create pastoral and grace-filled ways of responding to congregations seeking dismissal; the story in itself (also linked in the post) is interesting
Some Things are Bigger than GA / Ichabod and Scribbling on the Wall - if you are looking for my most direct opinion on the denomination and my role and calling in it, here they are; hopefully, these pieces explain both my disappointments and my deep calling and commitments

pray for the welfare of the city (jeremiah 29)

2011-05-30T05:48:00.000-05:00

To God's people in Exile, the Lord speaks challenging words through the prophet, Jeremiah:

“Seek the welfare of the city… and pray to the Lord on its behalf.” (Jeremiah 29:7)

This challenge connects to the covenant of old, in which God told Abraham He would bless him that Abraham and his children might be a blessing to the whole world. It does not matter that God’s people have been taken from Jerusalem; they are still able to fulfill their covenant purpose of being a covenant community of faith and blessing those among whom they lived.

There are several points about this challenge to “seek the welfare of the city” that I want to lift out. First is the meaning of the word translated here as “welfare” (or 'peace'). The underlying word here is shalom. Depending on context and shade of meaning, it can mean peace, well-being, completeness, wholeness, blessing, or as translated here, welfare. The use of shalom here stands in marked contrast to what the Jewish exiles seem to have lost. Taken from home, they felt lost, broken, incomplete, and cursed – anything but shalom. Yet God asks – even commands – that they pray on behalf of the city of Babylon for the very thing that they feel is missing. Can you imagine? I think some of you can, as you are identifying with the kind of loss the Exiles experienced.

“What about me, Lord? What about MY welfare?"

Interestingly, God says, “In the city’s welfare you will have welfare.” Pray for the shalom of this city and her people – the place where you are exiled – and as they experience my peace, healing, and wholeness, then YOU will experience my peace, healing, and wholeness.

“But Lord, I had those things back in Jerusalem. I just want to get home.” In this case, the Lord had them in Babylon for a reason, and peace was not to be found in returning to the place from which they had come. Peace and healing and wholeness and blessing was to be found in their praying and God’s providing shalom for the city of Babylon.

The New Testament talks about some teaching as milk and some as meat. Well this, I believe, is a thick bit of steak. The shalom that I long for – that I NEED, Lord –

...is not found in the place I came from,

...nor where I think I might go,

...but in obediently following the Lord to the place He leads.

Adapted from the full sermon here.

sinners, sinners everywhere

2011-05-10T22:49:00.001-05:00

I've been disappointed by some people. They didn't do what I wanted them to do; they didn't do what I thought God wanted them to do. They've heard the scriptures; they gather regularly in worship; they say they want to do the Lord's will. And bottom-line, I think they missed the mark.

I know that sounds judgmental. I don't mean it that way. It's more sadness mixed with frustration.

What am I supposed to do? Should I stop associating with them? Should I only get together with the ones who seem to "get it?" Should I pray for them to go away? Or more actively try to get them to go away? Should I confront them more forcefully? Should I try to convince them more winsomely? Should I be patient and continue to love them with consistency and grace?

What do you think?

Oh, did I mention that I love these people and I've been called to be their pastor? They are family to me.

Oh, and there are a lot of days I don't do what I think I should do or what I think God wants me to do... many days I miss the mark. So, yes, I do have patience with them, because I'm right there with them.

Oh sorry, did you think I was talking about church politics and voting and some presbytery out there somewhere? Maybe they were on my mind, too, but then they reminded me of my own congregation... the ones I love... the ones God has called me to pastor.

I guess I don't see the distinction. I am where God has called me to be.

who is my neighbor?

2011-05-02T14:26:00.001-05:00

My congregation has been stretching and growing as a “searchlight church” over the past 5-6 years. One of the key studies for us has been Jesus’ teachings on neighbors. More recently, I’ve been asking the key question, “What is God doing and how can we be a part?” This question assumes, of course, that God is already at work in the world around us and outside the walls of the church.

A year or more ago I met a literal neighbor, Wendy Smoliak. Wendy lives down the street from the church. My recollection is that she called asking about older adult ministries… but that conversation soon turned to the neighborhood. I found that she had a huge heart for the neighborhood – HER neighborhood and OUR neighborhood. She was involved in the homeowner’s association; she took food to sick people; she was aware of the needs around her. The Lord was already working in the Swan’s Run neighborhood with this sister in the faith. And when I shared with her about our deepening vision as a church, we hit it off immediately.

Wendy has connected us to needs in the neighborhood and has helped connect the neighborhood to us. Very recently, with her great encouragement and leadership, we invited our Swan’s Run neighbors to have a potluck at the church. We also invited several of the police officers who patrol our neighborhood. And a few church members came. I asked Wendy to describe a bit more and here’s what she wrote:

Potlucks: A Call to Community
Wendy Smoliak

I am the co-chair of our Neighborhood Watch Committee. The purpose of Neighborhood Watch is ‘neighbors watching out for neighbors’. The motto of Neighborhood Watch is that if you know who is suppose to be there then, you know who is suppose to not be there.

So for several years, I have gone about the business of getting to know my neighbors in several ways. Neighborhood Watch has sponsored an ice cream social in 90 degree weather; a pool party with hotdogs and chili; a Christmas event where decorations were hung; a garbage day where 4 tons of refuse was removed; a National Night Out event where neighbors walked the streets with a flashlight; a beautification day where neighbors planted perennials; and many neighborhood yard sales.

This last week, Neighborhood Watch did something different. We decided to sponsor a Potluck. We invited our neighbors and we invited the local police. Further, we had this event in our local church – just ½ block from our neighborhood. The church to which I belong.

At this potluck affair, Christ brought people out of their homes to meet their neighbors, Christ brought the local police, and lastly, Christ brought people to His church. Community at its finest.

In the end, only Christ knows what seeds were planted at this event. What seeds are you planting in your neighborhood?

He told then another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” ~Matthew 13:31-3

This is what I mean by “searchlight church” (with a little lighthouse thrown in there, too!). We have been blessed by Wendy and the new ways in which we are learning to be good neighbors.

the reach of love - good friday song

2011-04-21T14:14:00.002-05:00

For your Good Friday ponderings...

I wrote this song with my friend, Gerrit Dawson, a number of years ago for Good Friday.

The Reach of Love

Dawson/Austell - Holy Week, 1998

Savior slain, why were you rent by a spear?

"These wounds I got at the house of my friends."

As prophet told, look on him whom we pierced,

See the blood and water spilled at the end.

Water through the cruel channel of skin

Covers the earth, not with rage but with grace.

Your side the fountainhead, flowing again

The River of Life that cleanses our race.

Out of your wounds there flow dear gifts from above.

The blood and water show the full reach of Love.

The blood poured out in waste after you died

Fills the festive cup with love's gentle flood.

Babes at mother's breast, we drink from your side

The sweet forgiveness in water and blood.

Out of your wounds there flow dear gifts from above.

The blood and water show the full reach of Love.

Out of your wounds there flows the full reach of Love.

See also the sermon I preached with this song in 2002.

In case you are wondering, there is clapping at the end because this recording came from a "farewell concert" when I left my last call (as opposed to in the middle of a Good Friday service).

searchlight (missional) presbytery: focusing in

2011-04-13T20:32:00.002-05:00

In 2006, after the officer/staff retreat at Good Shepherd that marked the beginning of our lighthouse-searchlight vision, our leadership evaluated all of our ministry and missions through the very tight focus question.

For Good Shepherd, the focused question was: “How can EVERY ministry and mission of Good Shepherd “shine” as a LIGHTHOUSE and SEARCHLIGHT for Jesus Christ?” We then evaluated every program and ministry in light of that question, from missionary support to the church website to the use of buildings and rooms. We even created a rating system such that every activity and resource got a lighthouse rating and a searchlight rating of 0-3, for a total of up to six points.

The Council of the Presbytery of Charlotte is using a similar process right now to evaluate the effectiveness of the presbytery through a similar focal question. We are asking the council and committees of the presbytery to do a similar ministry audit of every ministry, mission, and resource around the focusing question:

How does each ministry, program, and resource strengthen the health, vitality and effectiveness of local Presbyterian congregations?

How does the presbytery quarterly publication...
How does the camp and conference ministry...
How does the Presbytery resource center...
How does our choice of office space....
Of staffing...
Of mission and justice programs...
And so on...

We are trying to take a fresh look at the work of our presbytery, through a missional lens defined by the ministries of local congregations. It is our hope that this will help us reprioritize, refocus, come together, and increase a sense of community calling to shared mission.

The Council has a level of energy and engagement I haven't seen in 8 years here. I'm encouraged and prayerful that we might be drawn together around this shared mission and focused calling.

July 2011 Update:

Each member of the council and staff has moved forward on the "ministry audit" and has evaluated (0-10, with comments) every ministry and activity of the presbytery according to the following three criteria. I'm compiling the results now to bring back to the council the first week of August.

Missional Effectiveness: how well does this program/resource strengthen a congregation’s local ministry?
Congregational Connectivity: how well does this program push resources down/out to local congregations?
Disciple-making: how well does this program make disciples (missional followers) for Jesus Christ?

See also the previous post on "missional presbytery"

searchlight (missional) presbytery?

2011-03-31T15:45:00.005-05:00

Original Post: November 11, 2010

Recently I have been pondering the role and function of the presbytery related to the local congregation. Let me start by saying that I highly value the presbytery, which is part of the polity and structure of the Presbyterian church. I think the presbytery can provide oversight, accountability, connectionalism, and community; and these are things I value.

Recently I was also struck by a potential analogy to the "searchlight church" theme of this blog. Analogies are not perfect, particularly because they are not comprehensive in describing things, but I think this comparison might point us in a helpful direction.

the presbytery is to the local congregation

the local congregation is to its neighborhood

Ponder that. I almost wrote "should be" but then realized the presbytery struggles at precisely the same point the local congregation struggles: gathering resources for internal ministry rather than focusing resources on external mission.

"Now wait, wait!" you say. Presbyteries are all about mission. They do collectively what individual congregations cannot. Yes, when they are working well, that is sometimes true. But often the message and experience of presbytery is:

send us your money to support our programs and missions
send us your people to fill our committees
give us your days to conduct the business of presbytery

There's nothing specifically wrong with any of those things, but I see such a close analogue to the local congregation strategies that have served us since the 1950s.

come and visit us!
we've built it so that they will come
give to the church
bring your friends and neighbors

What if the presbytery could harness some of the vision of a missional church? ... or in my choice of terms, become a "searchlight presbytery?"

So, just as we've tried to re-frame local church in terms of going where our neighbors are and asking what God is doing and how we can be a part, what if the presbytery started re-framing its role in terms of going where the congregations were and asking what God was doing there and how presbytery could equip, facilitate, encourage, empower, and be a part.

What would it look like (and what would my answer be?!) if my presbytery called and asked me what God was doing in and through my local congregation and how presbytery could encourage, equip, facilitate, or otherwise be a part of what is happening?

I wonder.

Update: March/April 2011

It turns out that I didn't have to wonder... I was asked to serve as the vice-chair of council for 2011 and the chair (Kate Murphy) and I brought these very questions to our council. Follow the link to see what is happening: http://robertaustell.blogspot.com/2011/04/searchlight-missional-presbytery.html

------------------------------------

Related Posts (03/31/11)

Related post on missional re-think in the Presbytery of Cincinnatti: http://gamc.pcusa.org/yearbook/march-28/

The Middle Governing Bodies Commission is seeking input on the role of GA, synods, and presbyteries around questions related to the topic of this post. Respond to one of their surveys here:

#mgbcomm survey...
for WHOLE CHURCH: http://www.pcusa.org/MGBChurchWideSurvey
for SESSIONS: http://www.pcusa.org/MGBSessionSurvey
for LEADERS: http://www.pcusa.org/MGBLeaderSurvey

can the ten plagues of exodus teach me anything?

2011-03-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

A Top-Ten List from the Plagues
Here is a summary list of themes and take-aways from our study of the miraculous signs in Exodus 7-11. They don't match up one-to-one with the ten plagues; rather, they are broad themes found in each of the signs.

#10 DRAMA: Miraculous Signs
#9 HOLINESS: A Holy People (whether they know it or not)
#8 AUTHORITY: The Absolute Authority of Yahweh
#7 IDOLATRY: Pharaoh’s control issues and the showdown
#6 MERCY: Even in the Midst of Judgment
#5 FAITHFULNESS: God Keeping Covenant and Achieving His Purpose
#4 NAMES: Especially God’s Name
#3 WITNESS: among the Nations
#2 WEAKNESS: God Uses the Weak to Accomplish His Purpose
#1 GOSPEL: a Demonstration of the Gospel

From the 03/20/11 sermon here - see link for full manuscript, audio, music, bulletin cover by one of our church children, and a skit used in conjunction with the sermon.

michael frost on 'greatness'

2011-03-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

We were challenged and stretched by studying and interacting with a Michael Frost video a few years ago (part 1, part 2, part 3). I just ran across this short clip by Frost which nails what we are trying to do and be in the Old Providence/Swan's Run neighborhoods of South Charlotte.

Michael Frost on "Who is the greatest?" from Parish Collective on Vimeo.

a different kind of ash wednesday service

2011-03-10T05:12:00.000-05:00

... for us, at least.

WE thought we'd try something different this year. I'm not talking about content-wise; we still focused on sin, our own mortality, and repentance. We still had the imposition of ashes. But here was the particular dynamic we had in view...

One of the exciting fruit of our searchlight vision (in general) and "Wednesday Night Experiment" (specifically) is a blessed pandemonium on Wednesday nights. Our pattern has been to draw all of the Wednesday night crowd in for the Ash Wednesday service. But now, rather than the group of 40-over-40 from several years ago (see "Blessed Pandemonium"), we had 100 or so folks, with 30 under 12, various reading/ADD/learning style challenges at the child to adult level, and an exciting number of "I've never been to church before" folks in attendance.

And we were going to work through a liturgy about sin, death, and repentance using the wide-ranging and weighty words of Psalm 44.

We recognized that so much of our worship is word-oriented (and Word oriented!), musical, and visual - and all delightfully so. But maybe something different tonight? Psalm 44 has a number of references to "hands" - and the series from Lent I (this Sunday) through Easter is called "I Will Stretch Out My Hand" in reference to God's statement in Exodus 7:2 to that effect. So, we decided to have a more kinesthetic learning-style service (yes, I remembered that word from developmental psyche back in college!!).

We used Psalm 44 as the structure for the whole service, and we used our hands (literally!) to understand and work through each part of it. Here are the basics, and I will link to the order of worship below. When I realized we'd be using our hands throughout, we did away with the bulletin and projected all the scripture and music on the screen.

Psalm 44:1-8   We opened with a Call to Worship and time of thanks and praise these verses, which celebrates God's faithfulness in times past. We saw a visual of a strong hand.

We sang "The Potter's Hand" which talks about God's molding, guiding hands (like a potter). :)

Psalm 44:9-14    We talked about anger and blaming God for our circumstances and read these verses together while tightly clenching our hands into fists and holding that through these "God, look what you have done to us" verses. I then spoke briefly about them, connecting them back to the anguish and frustration in Exodus 6 (last Sunday's text), then we let go with our hands.... (after 2-3 min of tight clenching, that's an interesting feeling!)

Psalm 44:17-19    The Psalm moves into more of a pleading tone, saying, "but we have not forgotten you (Lord)." We clasped our hands into a child-like prayer gesture and prayed these verses together. I then spoke briefly, asking whether Israel (and we) might have forgotten God, despite these words.

Psalm 44:20-22   We continued with "extended hands" (as if grasping for something), focusing on the words about "extending our hands to a strange god" - and I spoke briefly on sin and idolatries we sometimes reach for instead of God.

And with that move from anger to pleading to self-examination (which reminds me of the stages of grief!) led us into a prayer of confession. I had been looking for a time in which we could join hands. This didn't seem the obvious time, but we did and I reminded the congregation that though sin isolates, we are never alone - indeed, scripture reminds us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - and so we prayed a prayer of confession together - eyes open reading screen - and holding hands. Very interesting...

Psalm 44:23-24    These verses literally ask some questions of God - "Why do you sleep? Why do you hide your face?" - so we raised one hand like a child would at school if asking a question, and we read these verses together. I spoke briefly about how multiple times in Exodus 3-6 (the text we have been using in worship the past month) God's word to the people was, "I see you; I hear you; I remember you and the covenant; I will deliver you."

Psalm 44:25    I noted that this verse is the next to last in the Psalm and is where we end up without God intervening to save. "Our soul has sunk down into the dust; our body cleaves to the earth." And at that point we had the imposition of ashes.

Psalm 44:26    Then the Psalm ends with a plea for help and hope: "Rise up, be our help, and redeem us..." We read that, sang another song ("Give Us Clean Hands") - yes, another hand song. :)

The benediction was from Romans 8:35-39, which quotes Psalm 44, which we had just read: "For your sake we are being put to death... sheep to the slaughter," but which surrounds that with one of the most hope-filled declarations of the Gospel in scripture: "Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ..." I asked the congregation to hold out their hands in a receiving gesture as I spoke these words of blessing over them.

Did it "work?" Well, we focused on God's Word and the Spirit was present; this wasn't about a gimmick. But, I do think it was an effective way to enter into that Word. The chaperones for the kids we tutor and for the group home guys caught up with me after taking their folks home and said the conversation on the way home was significant. I asked my own 8, 10, and 12 year old what they thought - and they are usually pretty honest if they are bored - and they all really seemed to like and understand it. The gestures (clenched fist, etc...) seemed to help explain/experience some verses that probably would have been hard to process in a normal sermon-type delivery.

So, that's what happened. We won't be shaking fists every Sunday, but this definitely was something new and something to return to in different ways.

Here are the notes I was working from and what was projected on the screen (with lots of "handy" artwork by Kathy Larson). I can even send the PowerPoint slides if anyone is interested (just e-mail me at robert@gspc.net).

don't waste your time

2011-03-02T17:29:00.004-05:00

This is a re-post of an older article from 2007... I thought it worth elevating to draw us back to the primacy of worship. ~rma

In Mark 14, when the woman anointed Jesus with what translates into maybe $30,000 worth of perfume in today's dollars, the disciples laid into her about what a waste that was. She could have given the money to the poor! $30,000... talk about a waste! And Jesus told them to shut up and leave her be, for she had done a "beautiful thing" (NIV). It was an act of worship.

A missional church is predicated on
being a worshiping church.

Why do I assert that so diligently, seemingly against the current "missional" movement?

Worship? What about the poor? What about those who haven't heard the Good News? What about our mission and God's mission to the world? Aren't all those things really important?

Yes, they are. That's why Jesus put them together. What is the greatest commandment?

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. (cf. Mark 12:30-31)

There it is - Jesus didn't omit it - we are to love our neighbor. We are to feed the poor. We are to build houses for Habitat and support missionaries to those who haven't heard. We are to love our enemies and join in God's mission the world. But here's the point: those things don't matter if we don't love God with all we are and all we have.

You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who is more gung-ho about God's mission, whether that be ministries of mercy or sharing the Good News. But if I haven't made this clear, then hear it clearly now, as taught in this passage:

All the love in the world is wasted without first
loving the God who is the author and creator
of that world and of love itself.

Want to talk about waste? There's a statement to chew on.

What Jesus taught is that loving God with all we have and all we are cannot but result in love of neighbor. Jesus taught that a lot! But the opposite is not true. Love of neighbor does not automatically result in loving or even knowing God.

And this woman, probably Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha (cf. John 12), got it right.

That's why wherever the Gospel (the Good News) is proclaimed, what she did will be remembered. It is because what she did was worship God with all she was and all she had, with heart, soul, mind, and strength. And where the Gospel goes and people respond, they too will come to know what it means to worship and serve the Lord.

The prophet Isaiah said, "Seek the Lord while He may be found." (55:6) This blessed woman demonstrated both the wisdom and the beauty of doing just that.

Full Sermon HERE

mission setbacks - lessons from the king of egypt

2011-02-28T18:01:00.006-05:00

From last Sunday's sermon on Exodus 5:

What may be more common in our experience is what I would describe as “spiritual opposition.” Scripture points to one called the Accuser or Adversary, or Satan, as being like a lion prowling and waiting to devour. Satan is called the prince of the power of this world and actively works against God’s purposes. In many ways, Pharaoh reminds me of Satan, viewing himself as the king of this realm and actively opposed to God’s intrusion into it. Just as Satan is known to accuse believers falsely, Pharaoh accuses the Israelites of being lazy rather than faithful in wanting the time away to worship the Lord.

In this story, I think Pharaoh’s opposition most closely aligns with the spiritual opposition of Satan, but I want to mention one other spiritual obstacle that we also commonly face. That is ourselves. When we view ourselves as little kings and queens of our own realm, and come to see God’s Word or Will as inconvenient or contrary to our own plans, we set ourselves up to be Pharaoh, standing against God’s purpose in our life. It is entirely possible to be our own Pharaoh and our own worst enemy.

some reflections on the mgb commission

2011-02-24T08:43:00.001-05:00

If you are wondering, MGB what? The Middle Governing Bodies Commission is a group established by the 2010 General Assembly to study, evaluate, recommend, and even enact changes to the structure and purpose of our Presbyterian structure of presbyteries, synods, etc... This is a subject in which I am quite interested. I wrote about one such re-visioning of the presbytery in a post entitled "Searchlight (Missional) Presbytery?"

In "From the MGB Comm Observation Deck #3" - commission chair, Tod Bolsinger, writes the following:

Second, do we agree that the congregation IS the basic form of mission, and thereby the basic form of church? Do we agree that the congregation in its particular contexts is the foundational and primary place where the MISSION of GOD engages the need of the world? The congregation (and not the denomination nor the individual) is the foundational, first line engagement of God to the world.

I commented on Tod's blog post and wrote the following... would be interested in feedback or pushback from any readers of my blog.

So I'm tracking with what you have in this post, but find myself wanting a little more nuance on congregations being the basic unit of mission, without better describing the role of the individual. I agree that it is more inaccurate to say that either individual or higher governing body is the basic unit, but would like to see more integration of how the individual is called in and with the community.

I'll also give this more thought (as it's new to me) - but am thinking practically in terms of my own congregation. I think what I'm looking for is a recognition that each member is called to ministry and mission in the world, not disconnected from our local congregation, but as expressions of it. Even as a small congregation, we don't move in the world in a 200-person clump, but in ones and twos (and sometimes more)... perhaps the Pauline metaphor of the body would be helpful. Sometimes there is work that only a hand can do (don't want to try gardening with one's feet)... but the hand doesn't (or should not try to) operate in discontinuity from the body.

All that is to say that I'd look for a more precise way of saying "the basic unit of mission is the congregation"...

Maybe (and just thinking out loud here):
The basic unit of mission is the individual Christian, participating in and with the congregation as a local expression of the Church, related and accountable to other congregations through the service of the higher councils of the church.
I'd welcome feedback (or pushback)...

I would note that Tod offered some more nuance in the post; I'm just trying to enter into the conversation and push a little towards more clarification over the relationship and calling of the individual and the congregation.

blessed pandemonium

2011-02-17T07:36:00.002-05:00

Every Wednesday evening at 6:15, we gather in a circle for prayer before the potluck dinner...

I remember 4-5 years back: a group of 20 faithful gathered - that core group of (mostly) adults that dutifully (though also enthusiastically) shows up for just about anything. We'd pray, eat, enjoy the fellowship, and have our Bible study. It never got too big, but never too small. Kind of like Goldilocks and the three bears - it was "just right."

I was running late last night - they had to send someone back to get me. The kids were ready to eat and wanted Pastor Robert to pray. It had not been a stressful day, but it had been a long day, and I had crammed a lot in that last hour or two before dinner. I closed my office door behind me and came out into... pandemonium.

There must have been 40 kids - and I'm pretty sure I saw one of them pass a football through the fanciest part of the vestibule... the group home guys were running late... the kids we tutor before dinner were staying for the evening and their parents had come... the neighbors across the street had sent their kids, but then I was so thrilled when they came too... our missionary friends were home between trips to Florida, Budapest, and Greece... she was talking to me about an album she wants to record before they get back to the field... I saw at least five different people I had cried with the previous week and thought, "I know they are really struggling; how glad I am that they are willing to live out their struggles with the church family."

Noise, newness, babies, children, youth, limping, laughing, crying.... blessed pandemonium.

God is good!

And that was all before we left the building.... :)

I AM the light of the world;

You are the light of the world...

So let your light shine that all people might see me.

searchlight 2.0

2011-01-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

In February of 2010 I wrote the following in the church newsletter, trying to describe the outward turn in focus and vision that is starting to shape our life together at Good Shepherd:

The designation ”2.0” has been used to describe the move from linear progression to multiplied connection and inter-connection. If those words don’t make sense, think of the move from regular mail or e-mail to Facebook (where in a matter of hours new users can become “connected” with 30, 50, or 200 people from various times and places in their life). Likewise, our calling to worship and outreach is manifesting less in the traditional and “1.0” pastor --> member --> visitor model to what I’m seeing as “Searchlight 2.0” – Old Providence girl scouts are using our building and their parents who hear us playing music at the corner coffee shop tell their neighbors about this hospitable and neighborly church and someone two or three times removed from our direct “evangelism” is now visiting to see what God is doing in this place. Do you start to get a sense of what’s going on? Rather than instituting a program, we are becoming a “fragrance” pleasing to God in Old Providence, Swan’s Run, Brighton, O.P. Elementary, and the corner shops.

Now a year later, and with some hiccups, ups, and downs, I see how this outward focus is growing, stretching, and weaving into the life of our neighbors. The connections are multiplying. People are joining in singing and playing music at Caribou on Wednesday nights, where management could not be more supportive. In the past week, some nine non-GSPC folks have connected online (on meetup.com) to come in person to the Wednesday night book club meeting at another coffeeshop. The group home guys are starting back because two new people stepped up to meet with them. A major company has matched funds given through a non-member because of our White Gift appeal and given that to the Timothy Fund. The Wednesday night service group is suddenly bursting at the seams with ideas and opportunities, from tutoring to food for the homeless shelter to visitation to more.

God is doing something… a God-sized thing. If you are not yet plugged in, I urge you to do so. It’s easy, painless, and I would dare to say enjoyable! Come talk to me about how you might answer the key question:

What is God doing and how can I be a part?

the ten commandments - more than a list of rules

2011-01-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

From a sermon (02/28/10) on the Ten Commandments and from a forthcoming devotional study book on sin and redemption (e-mail or comment for more info).

I realize that most often we look at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) as a list and consider each one as a self-contained unit. But the Commandments function as a whole, as a legal and moral whole. Formally, they are presented as a covenant document. There are several covenants in the Bible, but at heart each is God graciously reaching out toward humanity and offering to intervene and help in the human condition. If you look at the Ten Commandments as a whole, you can see the way they describe an order to life – a pattern of living in obedience to and relationship with God. And it is that ordered life, which would also be understood in Scripture as a blessed life that is in view for all who would trust God.

A God-ordered Life

I-III. The first three commandments describe a God-ordered life with God alone as priority, vision, and worthy of worship, love, and service. They speak of God alone in the highest place, the place of worship, love, service, and obedience. Nothing is to take God’s place or even compete. It is the supreme and sole priority of God in our lives that orders all the rest of life. So these commandments speak to idolatry and worship, to obedience and disobedience, to service and to selfishness.

IV. The fourth commandment (Sabbath) describes a God-ordered life in terms of work, rest, and time. Often you will hear the commandments sub-divided into the first four about God and the last six about human relationship. But the Sabbath commandment bridges between. Most importantly, it speaks not just of one day in seven, but of all seven days. It marks out our time as all belonging to God, subject to the commandments already given. And part of ordering our life under God is to not to over- or under-prioritize work, rest, or the balance between the two. Issues of work, recreation, family time, personal time, exercise, health, rest, and worship are all addressed in this commandment. It is a prime example of how the Commandments bring order and structure to our view of time and life.

V. The fifth commandment (parents) describes a God-ordered life in terms of home and family. So submitting our lives to God’s leadership and worship not only affect our use of time, but also our relationships. The commandment to honor parents is more than respecting mom and dad. It requires something of children, but also of parents. It gets at all of family life, from respect to obedience to communication to how parents and children should relate throughout life.

VI-IX. The sixth through ninth commandments describe a God-ordered life in terms of our neighbors, not taking from them selfishly, but loving them selflessly. Murder, adultery, stealing, and lying all take from those around us. Their inherent selfishness breaks the first commandments and the community implications breech what Jesus will later call “love of neighbor.” In these commandments, we see that God’s design for humanity is not just individual and internal, but societal and missional. Indeed, you do see in the Ten Commandments what will be lifted up clearly in the New Testament, that the greatest commandments are love of God and love of neighbor.

X. The tenth commandment uniquely points towards a New Testament perspective, where we must even guard our interior thoughts, guarding against temptation and the sinful attitudes that lead to sinful actions. This aspect of the Ten Commandments is often overlooked; we think of the Ten as major crimes or sins of commission. But here we see that continued longing for what we don’t have is itself sin. Is this not Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden?

What God holds up to us in these Commandments is a picture of life ordered according to God’s wisdom, justice, and love. The Law may be compared to a parent’s rules for children. You may play in the yard; but not in the street. It is not only the rule, it offers safety, security, and in the extreme, even life over injury or death. So also, the Ten Commandments are not rules to hamper us, but rules to set us free. Keeping or breaking the Ten Commandments isn’t about salvation. Breaking them doesn’t take you out of consideration; keeping them doesn’t purchase you a ticket to Heaven. Rather, they form a description of what a God-ordered and blessed life looks like. To the extent that we experience that, we begin to get a sense of how good God’s Word and will are for us. To the extent that we fall short and live in disarray, we realize just what was lost in the Garden.

These are not rules by which we should measure and ask, “Am I good enough?” The answer to that question is that we are ALL dead in sin – dead in sin! Rather, the Ten Commandments are an example of God COMING AFTER US, to breathe life and hope into us – to offer us boundaries and a home and a place of safety in a fallen world where we are already at play in the street. God is already initiating His rescue plan. So our attentiveness to the Commandments at once shows us how lost we are and how God is already coming to find us through His Word.

God’s Law cannot save from death, but for those living in the ashes between Eden and the End, the Commandments offer a temporary shelter in the present world, with all the hope of a God who is coming to save us from death itself.

the breadth of worship - new devotional book release

2010-11-14T10:51:00.000-05:00

I am working on a series of short devotional books suitable for personal or small group study and discussion. The first in the series is on worship and is entitled, The Breadth of Worship. You can order copies from my Lulu Storefront, or if you are in Charlotte, I have a short run and can sell them to you at a discount and save shipping costs. The books sell for $8 locally (I'll discount bulk orders) and $8.95 + shipping online.

Chapters include:
Service as Worship [sample chapter] PDF
Obedience as Worship
Yielding as Worship
Loving God as Worship
Worship in Community
Worship in Humility
Worship as Praise
Worship as Participation

From the back cover:

The Breadth of Worship is an eight-part study on the biblical meaning and significance of worship in the life of the Christian and the church. Condensed from doctoral studies, then preached as eight sermons, this material has been compiled in a format that is accessible to the lay reader and organized as a devotional self-study on the vitally important topic of worship.

Chapters explore key worship principles and how we are to understand worship through service, obedience, yieldedness, love, community, humility, praise, and participation in Christ. There is also a resource section for further study.

the depth of worship - acoustic preview ep release

2010-11-13T20:59:00.007-05:00

During and since my sabbatical in 2009 I have been working on recording a worship CD of hymns and original songs. I hope to have this project completed by summer of 2011 (all that really remains is mastering and artwork). As a preview to this project, I have released an "acoustic preview EP" that features four hymns (with original choruses and arrangements) and one original song from the CD. All the mixes on the EP are guitar/vocal arrangements while the full CD will feature full-band arrangements. At this point, these CDs are only available locally at Good Shepherd, but I would willing to mail them if folks will cover the postage. The cost is $5 locally or $6.50 to package and mail. Please e-mail first and I'll provide details for ordering. Or, if you are in the Charlotte area, stop by Good Shepherd for your copy.

Here's one of the tracks, which was inspired by C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle. It is called "Home."

Home (2010) - Robert Austell

online ministry tech - google apps for organizations

2010-11-10T21:56:00.038-05:00

Google Apps and Products
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

Most people know Google for their search engine, but Google has a staggering array of programs and services. While there are some I probably would not have used as a standalone, the ability to login to all of them simultaneously with one account ID and password, the compatibility between them, and the fact that there is a free version of all the products (as far as I can tell) make Google products a significant resource for budget-conscious and feature-seeking churches and ministries.

Our church paid $20/month for our website and e-mail hosting, along with annual renewal fees of various kinds. And that was just for hosting and e-mail. We also had a mishmash of individual software packages to cover word processing, calendars, e-mail, and other productivity software. In the summer of 2010, I converted our hosting and e-mail to Google Apps with minimal difficulty and no ongoing cost other than a $7/year cost to maintain our personalized domain address (www.gspc.net). We could have used the addresses Google gave us and not even paid that, but I wanted to tie our various e-mails and websites together with that domain.

We use the following Google Apps – the “standard” version of Google Apps is free; a premium version offers more bells and whistles. Each of these features is also available as a standalone for any user without using Google Apps for organizations.

Gmail – looks and functions like personal Gmail, but our addresses end with our domain as they did previously (robert@gspc.net); the standard Google Apps Gmail allows 50 e-mail accounts for the organization and unlimited aliases for each one. So the following aliases also forward to my primary church e-mail address: pastor@gspc.net, robert.austell@gspc.net. We also converted our preschool to the same Google Apps account, so each of the 22 preschool teachers has an e-mail account that ends with gspc.net. Gmail syncs easily with mobile phones and is accessible from anywhere.

Google Calendar – the whole church staff has converted to Google calendar. We have set up multiple calendars (music, youth, general, outside usage, individual personal appointments, etc…) and each can be turned on or off. Calendars can also be “embedded” easily online. You can view some of the public church calendars and get a feel for how Google calendar viewing functions on our church website (see link below). Each person has their own calendar setup, so I view all the church calendars in addition to my wife’s calendar and some others. I can view my work and home schedule all at once. Google calendar also has event response and RSVP functions and shares a task list with Gmail (list is viewable in both places). It will send e-mail and text reminders and is printable.

http://gspccalendars.blogspot.com/

(note the different views and that this embedded online version is just for viewing; the calendar page a user would use has full screen view, offline capability, and other features). Click here to take a tour.

Google Docs: can replace Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) with free Google versions of these programs. Files are stored online (in addition to the choice to save locally) and can be shared in collaborative efforts. Click here to take a tour.

Google Sites: I have chosen to use Google’s blog program for our website instead, but Google sites has pre-formatted templates and tools for creating organizational (or personal) websites. See demo video or some sample site templates (classroom, club, or family website, for starters).

Google Groups: Groups enables one or more “managers” to communicate with and provide resources to a group of people who can subscribe and unsubscribe from the group. I manage several different groups. They enable me to send messages (e-mails) out to predefined groups and can be setup for group interaction and discussion. Click here to take the tour.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Google Apps or products, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - gmail

2010-11-09T21:51:00.001-05:00

Gmail
http://mail.google.com

I held out a long time from using Gmail. I had an account, for various reasons, but my main means of reading e-mail was Outlook or some other form of downloading e-mail to my local computer.

Gmail is e-mail “in the clouds,” meaning that it is stored online on the Google servers rather than on your local computer. I, along with my family and the church staff and preschool staff, are all on Gmail and loving it. There are a number of benefits and after several months of giving up local downloading of e-mail, I’m not sure I see any downside.

Benefits

1. Gmail currently gives me 7GB of space to hold my mail, and the amount is increasing slowly every day. One of the things that was really slowing down my local computer was that my mail file had grown to about 2GB and the computer was having a hard time loading and sorting through it. So, Gmail immediately gave me three times the space of mail that had accumulated over several years, allowed me to remove the 2GB archive from my local computer, and resulted in a faster computer.

2. Gmail will check multiple accounts – I have several e-mail addresses and rather than check them separately, I am able to funnel them all into the one Gmail account. I can sort them by original account if necessary (if later I need to separate church and home addresses), but Gmail handles them well. It even lets me reply from any one of them, so if someone e-mails me at my “home address” at windstream.net, my reply e-mail will come marked from that account as well.

3. Since Gmail is located “in the clouds” I can access it from any computer with my ID and password. Before, when I read an e-mail, it was downloaded and stored on my church computer. If I went home and wanted to see that e-mail, I’d have to come back to church. (Same with seeing old home mail while at work.) Now, I can read home or work or other e-mail any time from any computer.

4. Archiving: I was able to copy old, archived e-mail from my local computers to Gmail. Yes, I said computers, plural. I now have all the e-mail I have ever sent or received from any of my multiple accounts stored on Google’s servers. Seem scary – like I could lose it? I have become convinced that it is far more likely that my local computer will die and lose that information than Google’s multiple-duplicated system of servers.

5. Searching: Google is known for searching, and the way it handles e-mail is no exception. Just today, a church member asked about a detailed e-mail I sent him three years ago that had to do with our membership records. I typed his name and the word ‘membership’ into the search bar and about 2 seconds later, that e-mail appeared. And you can do incredibly complex and specific searches – things my old e-mail reader could never have done. Like, find an e-mail I sent within 60 days of June, 2005, that was sent to Fred, Tim, or Bob and contained the word “Presbyterian.” Still, probably only 2 seconds to find it.

6. What if the connection goes down? One of my anticipated downsides to online mail was wondering what I would do if the internet was down. I wouldn’t be able to search old mail; I wouldn’t be able to send or receive e-mail. Well, I realized that if the internet was down, I never could send or receive e-mail. And I found that Gmail had an “offline mode” – you can set it to make a copy of old e-mail (you choose the time period) and it keeps that synchronized so that even if you lose the connection you can view that old e-mail and write outgoing draft e-mails that will go out as soon as the connection returns. I keep my offline mode set to one week of old e-mail, figuring that would cover 95% of what I might want to look at if the internet goes down.

7. Gmail integrates other Google features, like calendar, task lists, chat, voice calling, video, and more. It has become my default “home” page when I am online because so much of what I do online can be accomplished from that page.

8. Junk mail filter: when we were using a regionally-hosted e-mail service, we tried a number of solutions to spam e-mail and none were completely satisfactory. Google has the best junk mail (spam) filter I have used, built in, with no tweaking necessary. The very few times I have had something legitimate show up in the junk mail folder, I just mark it as ‘not spam’ and that case never happens again. Likewise, if some pesky junk mail gets through, mark it as spam and that case never happens again. Having said that, I very rarely have to do even that.

9. Labels and filters: Gmail allows you to label and filter e-mail very effectively. I thought I would miss the way I had e-mail organized into folders in Outlook. But I have not really had to label mail because the search feature is so good. What I have settled on is using the filter to identify incoming mail from my other e-mail accounts and then label that e-mail in case I need to delete or move it as a group later. I also use the filter to label any e-mail notifications from Facebook so that I can call those up as a group later. Filters basically perform a search and labels mark the results – there are many possibilities there.

10. Contact/Address book: I also thought I would miss my old Outlook address book, but I was able to import it all into the Gmail contacts, and have found Gmail contacts to be much more flexible and usable. Plus, it is accessible anywhere instead of just residing on my church computer. Contacts allows groups and importing/exporting and can even tie in birthday and phone information into Google Calendar and Google Voice (phone).

TIP: a fairly common standard for a Gmail e-mail address is to use firstname.lastname at gmail. For me that looks like this: robert.austell@gmail.com. You can choose any name, but if people are trying to find you, that's a good standard to try.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Gmail (or another service), particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - google reader

2010-11-08T22:36:00.001-05:00

Google Reader
http://reader.google.com

Technically, Google Reader is an “RSS reader” or “feed reader.” To translate that, it is like your own personal assistant who will collect online content for you. Instead of you having to go TO a site to see if there is new content, it will gather into your reader new content as soon as it is posted.

It is like having an assistant who goes out every morning to buy your local paper, the New York Times, your favorite author’s personal musings, your pastor’s sermon, etc… and delivers them to your door in a nice chronological (or otherwise sorted) stack. You can mark each item of content read, save it for later, tag it to organize it, e-mail it, and otherwise organize and manage it. You can also later search (via Google) through anything you have previously gathered in your reader for that “I remember reading about that” salvage operation.

Most sites have an RSS feed, which is what is necessary for Google Reader to check that site for new content. So, if I find a site I like, I click the RSS icon (usually on the page somewhere or, in some browsers, in the address bar), and I never have to come back to the site again – Google Reader brings it to me. This is especially helpful for sites that don’t change content regularly. Instead of me making 5 trips to the site looking for content, new content comes to me the moment it is added.

Feeds in my personal Google Reader can be organized topically so I can just look at news, entertainment, or however else I have categorized content. Or, I can just read it all together. Graphics, audio, and video are included, so I can view it all right there in the window. You can even turn a group of your feeds (like your “national news feed”) into one feed to share with others. So recently, my student intern shared his batch of 20 or so “theology blogs” with me in a single feed I could check out.

If you like lists more than paragraphs, here’s most of what I just wrote in list form…

Why do I use Google Reader?

I no longer have to visit the website of every blog I read to check for new content; it is sent to me in Google Reader as soon as it is written - Google calls it a "personalized inbox for the entire web"
Each incoming post contains full graphics and audio (with pop-out option) along with one-click links to the original site and comments section.
Each incoming post contains (via the Reader) a one-click link to tag by keyword, forward to a friend by e-mail, share via your own collective RSS feed to others, and more; you can also categorize your various feeds (like church-related, politics, etc...) and view one category at a time (like if you are at General Assembly and only want to access your church-related feeds)
Since it's Google-based, you can access your reader from any computer or mobile phone browser anywhere you can access the Internet.
It keeps track of what you've read (nothing to click; it marks as read as you scroll past, with an option to "keep as unread") and what you haven't while saving all the content online for you to Google-search and find later (did that register?? - I can Google search all the blogs I've ever read in Google Reader!)
It's easy and straightforward to use and set up in any browser (see links below). If you use Firefox, there is an add-on that puts an "add to Google Reader" button in your address bar for any page that has an RSS feed (like this blog... click... now it's in Google Reader). IE8 has a built in reader, but after trying it for several months for my wife, she is also on Google Reader because of the ease of use and features.

How Do I Set it Up?

I'm not sure I can be any clearer than the instructions at the site here: www.google.com/reader
You'll need a Google account (but there's a button and instructions for that, too)
It's all free
Once it's set up, click "add subscription" to try adding an URL from within the Reader... like this one: http://robertaustell.blogspot.com - the really nice thing about Google Reader is that (unlike the built-in for IE8) you can just type in the website address and it will FIND the RSS feed... instead of having to know the usually more complicated feed address
Try adding my sermon blog to see how the audio player works! http://gspcsermons.blogspot.com
If you use Firefox, I believe the one-click "add subscription" is automatically activated (you may be given the option of choosing Google Reader as your default reader). It should be a little orange icon that appears in the far right of the address bar on any site having a RSS feed (you should see it on this site!)

Let me know what you think - I am confident that you will like it... and that you will get back the 20 min. of setting it up within a day or two of not having to visit sites.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Google Reader, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - twitter

2010-11-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

Twitter
http://twitter.com

An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies, too!)

This analogy may be frustratingly vague at first, but that is only because it is trying to describe a technology with which many are completely unfamiliar. Imagine explaining e-mail to someone who has never used a computer. It’s like that… In fact, trusting that many of you HAVE used a computer and e-mail, we’ll use that as a launching pad for the analogy.

Regular U.S. Mail is to E-mail

A Conversation is to Twitter

It used to be that you had to handwrite (or type) a letter, address it, stamp it, put it in the mailbox, and wait 2-6 days for it to be delivered to another person, depending on distance. E-mail allows for any computerized message or file to be sent instantly anywhere in the world with Internet, and to single or multiple recipients. To exchange a series of letters might take weeks, but with e-mail, one can exchange just about as many pieces of correspondence as needed, as long as both people have access to the computer.

A conversation is, at best, talking, listening, and responding to another person in such a way that relationship, community, and trust are fostered. While there are other ways of imparting information, a good conversation can be both effective and rewarding as a means of exchange of information. Conversely (at worst), a conversation can be one-sided, manipulated, overbearing, and break relationship, community, and trust. I will assume that most grasp the dynamics that effect a good, healthy conversation and those that do not. Twitter is conversation gone digital, at the speed of the Internet, and with the accessibility of a cell phone or PDA (Blackberry, iPhone). What makes for and results from good conversation OR bad conversation can thus be amplified and multiplied quickly and significantly with this new means of conversing.

As regards “twittering a meeting”

If you can imagine applications for a “good conversation” at a meeting, then multiply and magnify those scenarios and you’ll begin to grasp the significance of Twitter. Yes, there is a time to argue passionately; but what can be accomplished with winsome and persuasive conversation over a cup of coffee? What can an invitation to lunch conversation or a meaningful interaction with a table-full of colleagues accomplish? You can do so with 100 people with Twitter. Ever had an opportunity to have a private conversation with a political or theological “opponent?” You can do it in the middle of a crowd with Twitter.

Mis-use is just as powerful – you can ignore, misconstrue, bully, and make a fool of yourself on Twitter and it will be seen by thousands. But what may be the biggest mistake is to go to a meeting where thousands of people are having a conversation, and you are deaf and mute for lack of being “plugged in.”

WHAT is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. That simply means it allows you to publish information as short messages through a number of digital media. By its nature and usage it has a strong social element, inviting participants to share this information and filter it by topic, interest, relationship, or geography.

By its nature, the information shared can be fragmented, though sorting tools and focused attention can sort and connect the information in useful (sometimes novel) ways. Fair analog comparisons include:

Bulletin board: with a broad glance, one can see information shared from a number of people on a limited range of topics (e.g. job opportunities or goods for sale)
Small group discussion: Twitter expands the group dynamic to allow multiple people to “talk” and “listen” and “respond” almost simultaneously. Further, it expands the practical number of people who can be involved (potentially into the hundreds), while giving each person equal opportunity to be heard.
Informal conversation: for many regular Twitter users, the ongoing conversation with a community creates a sense of friendship and relationship; those who are simply trying to sell something or use the system stand out like a salesman at fellowship hour.

Said most simply, if one sees the importance of talking, listening, and responding, with a high value on relationships and community, Twitter provides a highly effective means to do so. Think of Twitter as a high-octane version of an ordinary conversation. If one communicates well with one person in the analogue world, there is potential to do so with 100 simultaneously through Twitter. (Conversely, if one doesn’t listen well or is simply trying to sell something, that trait will probably be amplified 100x through Twitter.)

Other Uses

I mentioned that Twitter involves "talking" and "listening." One of the most powerful features within Twitter is the practice of using a "hashtag" to label a Tweet (message). For example, instead of just saying, "We are having a BBQ Saturday at Good Shepherd," I might tweet: We are having a BBQ Saturday at Good Shepherd; all invited #southcharlotte #food. The search function on the Twitter site allows one to "listen" to the enormous public conversation and zero in on specific topics via hashtags. Search will also find any word in a tweet, but consistent use of hashtags allows folks to find "conversations" in which they are interested.

I have a specific example of this from my visit to the Montreat Wee Kirk Conference earlier this year. I was there to lead worship, music, and some seminars and tweeted about it, using the hashtag #montreat. Well many folks who pass through Montreat use that hashtag and searching it often lets you know what all is going on there (and who is there). I searched #montreat during the day on Tuesday and saw (unrelated to my conference) that one of my favorite Christian musicians was giving a concert that night at Montreat College on the other side of the lake. I was able to grab a friend and listen in for a bit in-between my own commitments.

Sometimes I label tweets about our church with #southcharlotte (the area of the city where our church is located). Sometimes I tweet about new posts on my blog and label with #missional or #pcusa to signal to others looking for those labels that I have posted some new thoughts.

HOW to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

1. Go to www.twitter.com – click “get started now” and fill in the info. Tip: choose a username that is how you want to be known: maybe not “angry_Presbyterian”

2. You will be directed to your twitter “home page” – there you will see an option to “find friends” – this will help you identify what people in your usual e-mail contacts are on Twitter.

3. At this point, you can view the stream of posts to your Twitter account on your home page. There are, however, other ways of accessing this information.

a. Mobile phone: on your computer, log in to www.twitter.com and click “settings” near the top right of the page. On the screen that opens, click “mobile” and follow directions to have all updates sent to your phone as a text message. **NOTE WELL: this may generate many text messages, so be mindful of costs if your cell plan charges you per text. You can turn Twitter notification on and off by texting ‘on’ or ‘off’ to 40404. TIP: Unless you find Twitter very helpful and want to follow it away from your computer, this probably isn’t an effective means of following the information.

b. Smart Phone or PDA: Blackberry, iPhone, and other smart phones may have dedicated “apps” for accessing Twitter. If you have one of these devices, you probably know what that means. If you don’t know what it means, you probably haven’t invested in one of these devices. Said another way, if you have one, you probably don’t need this tutorial. (But if you do and need help, let me know!)

c. Computer (free) program: this is what I would recommend to access the full potential of Twitter. There are several programs available for free download and installation. I am primarily familiar with “Tweetdeck” for Windows PC computers, but there are other options for PC or Mac. Tweetdeck and other programs don’t do anything you can’t do on the www.twitter.com website, but organize and present the information in a more concise and helpful way. Tweetdeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com/desktop/), for example allows you to view multiple columns of ‘tweets’ organized by list, search term, contact name, and numerous other filters.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Twitter, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - blogger

2010-11-06T09:55:00.002-05:00

Blogger
www.blogger.com

Blogger is Google’s blogging platform (program). A blog (short for “web log”) is formatted like a kind of online journal (in reverse chronological order – with newest post first). Early blogs simply ran down a page and were largely text based. More recently, blogs include rich graphics and multi-media with fixed links and more static information in sidebars or headers. All variations aside, the basic feature of a blog is regularly updated content (typically along some unifying theme). This site is a typical blog, with articles posted regularly (you can see the archives on the left-hind side of the page).

What else can be done with the blogging platform?

Several years ago, I moved our church website to a blog format. In some sense I used the blog to “fake” a traditional website. I put the fixed links in the top header and along the left side and reduced the stream of blog posts to one – basically whatever was most recent. I keep updated welcome and current news there. All the older blog posts still exist and I use the fixed links to access those. You can view this approach at www.gspc.net.

The immediate benefit for me was the ease of changing website content. The blog “editor” was much easier to use than changing content on the traditional website. And new content can be sent to the blog via e-mail. Blogger also came with numerous templates and I found one that matched the lighthouse theme that was prominent in our mission/vision at the time.

I also use a matching template on a different blog for my sermons and simply link between them in what I hope is a transparent way. You can access the sermon blog from the main church website, or directly at http://gspcsermons.blogspot.com. I also maintain a more traditional blog on the themes of worship and missional church at my “Lighthouse/Searchlight Church” Blog at http://robertaustell.blogspot.com. If you look on the church home page (www.gspc.net) you will see a number of other church ministry blogs, including Christian Education, Preschool, and Drama ministry. Each of the blogs links back to the main church site and allows staff and volunteers in those program areas to easily upload content.

An additional benefit of blogger over a traditional website (particularly three years ago) was a built in RSS feed. I write about that elsewhere in more detail, but specifically the RSS feed and several other “widgets” (small insertable features) allow people to “subscribe” to our blog content and have it delivered to them in various ways any time it changes. So, instead of my having to alert people when a new sermon goes up, all the subscribers (via RSS, Feedblitz, e-mail, etc…) receive a copy of the sermon as soon as it goes up.

There are more feature-rich blogging platforms now, most notably Wordpress (http://wordpress.org) and Posterous (www.posterous.com). I also use Posterous in conjunction with my blogs and church site, but have stuck with Blogger because of the extensive use and interoperability with other Google products we use. Wordpress has much to commend it and has a more elegant look and feature set, though both Blogger and Wordpress are constantly updating and adding to their “add-in” library.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Blogger (or another blogging platform), particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - posterous

2010-11-05T09:39:00.003-05:00

Posterous
http://posterous.com

Posterous is easy to use, free, and may be the best all-in-one way to share content widely in multiple forms (text, audio, video, graphics). Almost any content you e-mail or upload (including from your phone) to Posterous is formatted into a blog-style web page that Posterous is ready to share across multiple platforms at your command or automatically. You can create an account at the posterous.com page, or even easier, just send an e-mail (any content) to post@posterous.com and you will get a reply e-mail that leads you through setting up the account, initial post, and site.

Examples:

Good Shepherd’s creative arts director, Kathy Larson, runs a professional wedding photography business on the side. She gave me the PDF file and I e-mailed it with a short description to my personal Posterous site so she would have an address (http://robertaustell.posterous.com/kathy-larson-wedding-photography) to share with people. You will see those photos will display in a number of ways, created by the program Posterous uses to display PDFs. You will also see a “Tweet this” button underneath, which can be used to share the link with your friends through Twitter.

I wanted to advertise the upcoming release of a CD I recorded. I e-mailed the CD cover (graphic JPG), an audio file of one song (mp3), and some text in the body of the e-mail describing it (http://robertaustell.posterous.com/cd-art-and-one-cut). Again, Posterous can be set to manually or automatically then feed a link to that post to Facebook, Twitter, and other online social media.

I was at a conference and went to a concert by Keith and Kristyn Getty. I had my daughter’s iPod Nano with me and recorded some video of one song. Back in my room, I e-mailed that file and a short description to Posterous. You can see how it handled the video – the jerkiness is with me holding the Nano, not with Posterous (http://robertaustell.posterous.com/gettys-jamming).

While I have ended up posting sermon and service content on Blogger instead, here you can see what that might look like on Posterous (http://gspcsermons.posterous.com/elders-deacons-and-saints-various-texts). This post, also e-mailed to Posterous, included some brief text (sermon title and text), the audio of the sermon, and a PDF of the sermon manuscript. As with any Posterous post, the link could have been manually or automatically sent out to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Posterous, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - dropbox

2010-11-04T08:56:00.006-05:00

Dropbox
http://db.tt/PXQolXw

I have only started using Dropbox recently, but have quickly become a fan. It does for files what Gmail did for my e-mail. Once installed, it creates a Dropbox folder on your computer. Anything stored inside is duplicated “in the clouds” on the Dropbox servers. Clearly, this is one way to backup your files. As soon as you make a change, Dropbox updates the online version to match. But, it also keeps the last 30 days’ worth of files and changes you made. So, if you accidently delete a file or save over a needed previous version, you can find the older version in your online Dropbox archive.

But that’s just the start! The real benefit for me is for files that I need to work on at home and at church (or on the road). I used to get halfway through a sermon or project, then e-mail that file to myself at home, where I would work some more. Then, I’d send it back to work to finish or have there. Often I’d end up with multiple copies of the same file, some more complete than others. With your Dropbox account, you can have that Dropbox folder on all your computers. Then, anything inside it is duplicated and updated between all the folders. For a while I would just save partially completed projects into the Dropbox folder at church and it would be there for me at home. But more recently, I’ve just put all my working files in the Dropbox folder and just maintain a small “work only” and “home only” folder for files I don’t need to access both places. When I traveled to the mountains with my laptop, all my needed church files were there in the Dropbox folder.

I can also access these files from ANY computer by logging into my account on the Dropbox site. So, all the files I need are available to me anywhere there is an Internet connection!

There’s more! Inside the Dropbox folder there is also a “public” folder. Anything you put in the public folder is accessible (with the right web address) by other people. This is ideal for things like our church newsletter. Instead of e-mailing a 2MB PDF to our membership, I send a group e-mail (using Google Groups) and provide a link to the file. All I have to do to get the link is right-click on the file inside my public Dropbox folder and it copies it for me to paste (in an e-mail, on Facebook,e tc..).

You can also share individual folders or files with another Dropbox user. So, the church admin and I have a “church – shared files” folder that we share. She can keep the bulletin in there so we can both make changes. We keep other files that we both make changes to and access regularly, like the church directory and the membership records. More people could share the same folder – the clerk of session, the whole church staff, etc… Then any file put in that shared folder would appear on all their local computers. It’s kind of like having a big computer network, but it is not limited to an INTRAnet in the same location. And it saves e-mailing files back and forth for proofing and changing. The admin can just say, “bulletin is ready for you to proof in the shared folder” – then any change I make is to the one and only copy and the correction is immediate. Again, if we need to go back to an earlier version, Dropbox has copies of every change in the last 30 days!

There is a special photo folder that is like the public folder, but specifically designated for sharing photos. Put your photos there and you can easily share a link with friends and family. They don’t need Dropbox – the link will take them to an online slideshow or to the folder with the individual pictures.

The only limitation is size. The free version of Dropbox comes with 2GB of storage. You can pay for more or get more free space by referring friends. When they add sign up and add Dropbox to their computer, you get extra storage space. So, the link I’ve provided to Dropbox (http://db.tt/PXQolXw) is my referral code – hope you will check it out and help me get a little more storage space!

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Dropbox, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - youtube

2010-11-03T10:37:00.001-05:00

YouTube
www.youtube.com

YouTube is the most extensive video-hosting service on the Internet. You can upload your own videos (up to 15 minutes long) for free, and then share them with others. It also includes a comment feature for interacting with your audience, as well as tracking tools to see from whence your viewership comes.

Even if your intent is not to upload videos, YouTube is a rich educational resource (in addition to diversion and entertainment). You can find instruction on just about any subject. You can also find songs, movie clips, commentary, and all manner of other things (note: not all is edifying!).

YouTube also makes “embedding” your video easy. This means that video on YouTube (yours or someone else’s) is easy to include on a website, e-mail, or Facebook page. I've embedded a number of videos from my YouTube "channel" below.

Examples:

Our student pastor preached his first sermon on October 24. We normally make an audio recording of our services, but on this Sunday we had to evacuate the sanctuary for a small wiring “fire” (everything was fine). Greg carried on the service and sermon outside and a quick thinking staff member videotaped his sermon. I posted it to YouTube:

Related to the previous example, I normally put text and audio on our church sermon page, but since this is all we had, I “embedded” the video of Greg preaching, which his out of state parents enjoyed even more!

http://gspcsermons.blogspot.com/2010/10/christ-alone-hebrews-11-4.html

I was at the Montreat Wee Kirk (small church) conference, where my music director and I were leading worship and music. After rehearsing the conference choir with an original composition, I ran to get my camera and recorded a final run-through of the piece. That night I sent the video to YouTube and all those choir members (each one or two from different home congregations) had a link to show their church family what they had done while at the conference.

Every year our Wednesday night church group goes Christmas caroling in the church neighborhood. For the second year, we gathered at the end and recorded a “Video Christmas Greeting” that we put on YouTube. That allowed us to send an e-mail with the video greeting as well as to post it on Facebook. It wasn’t just something from the church office, but something each church member could share and pass on.

Each year on Good Friday, we host “Journey to the Cross.” This is a wonderful personal, spiritual experience where the participant wears headphones and walks through a number of stations rehearsing the last days of Jesus’ life. I narrated a script and provided background music for the CD to which the participant listens. In order to better promote and give people a sense of what the experience is like, we made a short testimonial video that we showed in church a few weeks prior to the event. We also have made it available on the website and Facebook.

Our church uses drama extensively in worship and outreach. We videotape the skits and plays and have uploaded some to YouTube for sharing. The following includes a short skit done at First Presbyterian, Kannapolis, for their “lay renewal weekend” and a clip from a full-length play from several years ago.

Our youth also take part, creating and producing videos to go along with sermon themes or other themes in the life of the church.

Sometimes we just take exceptional clips out of worship or from a church event and post it for sharing. Here is an a capella arrangement of a contemporary worship song that we arranged and sang in worship. Note that YouTube already comes with a number of ways to “share” via social media.

Some folks use YouTube to post regular video shorts (which can be one form of "video podcast"). One recent Presbyterian example of this is Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons, who is posting weekly on various topics relevant to the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. He also has a channel where you can find all his podcasts.

You will see below that the Presbytery of Charlotte is hosting a webinar on using YouTube as a tool for stewardship. I commend that to you. A friend of mine, Keith Hill, is doing this in his church - St. Giles Presbyterian, in Richmond, VA. Check out his channel and one of their videos, featuring an introduction by Pastor Keith and several member testimonies:

And just in case no one believes you about the alligator you saw next to your deck on vacation…

FYI to those in the Presbytery of Charlotte
The Presbytery of Charlotte will host a FREE Webinar entitled, “YouTube for Nonprofits: How to Use Video to Attract Donors” The event will be held Wednesday, November 10, 2010 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm in the Catawba Room at the Presbytery Office. The speaker is Allan Pressel, founder and CEO of Charity-Finders. The Webinar will examine YouTube and other online videos as effective ways to connect with donors, build awareness for specific causes, and to examine ways to raise more funds. Join us for a 60-minute webinar where you will discover:
Tools to create an effective YouTube video that grabs your donor's attention
Best practices to use video to tell your story and inspire your donors
YouTube channel essentials: Tools to edit, create and customize
Strategies to incorporate online video in your fundraising efforts
How nonprofits are using YouTube - What's working, what's not
Register for the Presbytery’s hosting by calling Sandy Randolph at 704-535-9999 ext 218 or e-mail at sandy.randolph@presbyofcharlotte.org Space is limited!

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Youtube, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - facebook

2010-11-02T10:07:00.001-05:00

Facebook
www.facebook.com

“Come on, everybody’s doing it!” - Do you get that feeling?

Yes, more and more people are using Facebook. Some are avoiding it because of privacy/security issues; many more use it and are blissfully ignorant of the privacy/security issues.

I whole-heartedly recommend judicious use of Facebook, including in the ministry context. But, one should be aware of the privacy and security risks, as well as the tools Facebook provides to guard privacy. But don't let those cautions scare you off - read through to the end for an easy way to dip your toe safely into the Facebook pool.

First, what is it?

Facebook is a means of sharing thoughts, photos, videos, and interests publicly. The whole point is to do so publicly, and the strength of Facebook is the astounding way it then makes connections and networks people together. Here’s how it works…

1. You determine your “friends” and your “networks.” Friends are individuals with whom you are willing to share some level of information. Networks are groups of people (schools, businesses, cities/towns) with whom you are willing to share some level of information. Note: the default level of sharing is everything with everyone, but you can really fine-tune the settings.

2. If you are setting up Facebook for the first time (see final paragraph first first-timers), this is an IDEAL time to label your friends into categories like school, church, relatives, neighbors, etc…, and what I call a “limited profile.” You can also go back and do this at any time, but it’s easiest to do as you accept friends. Then, under privacy settings you can decide what level of information each group can access. (See examples below for how this works out).

3. Now (and I’d say only now) you are ready to upload content. Facebook makes it easy to put a short paragraph, video, link, note, photo, etc… “on your wall” – think of this as the front page of the newspaper of you. What do you want to share with others (noting that you can make it so that some people can see everything and some people can only see some parts).

**Note that this is the logical order (to me) of how Facebook works. One of the unfortunate ways it works is that chronologically, it asks for your personal information FIRST, before you understand how it works. So, start cautiously; only provide information you don’t mind the whole world knowing (Do you want the whole world to have your home phone number? No, I don’t think so.) Then, as you gain understanding of how your information is shared, you can make the connections and set the boundaries you want. Note, too, that Facebook is notorious for “upgrading” and resetting your privacy settings, or adding a new feature with a default “open” privacy setting. But normally you will be notified when features are added – be sure to go through the privacy settings and you’ll be fine!

4. Once you have friends and content, Facebook is ready to do what it does best: passive and active networking.

Passive and Active Networking

Passive Networking: I post some content, like “our church is having a BBQ Saturday” on my wall. That information will then appear on the “news feed” (this is the main Facebook “home page”) for all my friends and those in my networks. If one of them takes note of it, they may see it and come, or even better ‘like’ it or comment on it. Their “liking” or commenting initiates two forms of active networking.

Active networking: I’ll start with the examples above. If Johnny Smith sees my BBQ information on his news feed and “likes” it, the fact of his liking it will then propagate out to all of his friends and networks, along with the fact of his liking it. Likewise, if he comments on the BBQ – “I’m coming!” then that comment will propagate out to all his friends and networks. I can start with active networking in a number of ways: creating an event where I invite my friends; posting a photo where I tag people with a Facebook account; and more. See the examples below.

Examples:

Event – When my church is going to have its Christmas play, I create a Facebook “event” for it. I can upload graphics (like a poster or flyer), event info, and more. And I can invite all my Facebook friends. I can also request a RSVP from them and be notified who is coming or not (or maybe), and each invitation includes a “share with my friends” feature so that each of the people I invited can then share with as many of their friends as they want, along with RSVP back to me. And so on. For our last play, I sent out about 95 Facebook invitations and within two days, there were over 500 invitations out because of this multiplication feature. And because of the RSVP feature, we hopefully wouldn’t be surprised with more than we could handle.

Photos – Facebook has a nice photo album feature. It is easy to upload digital photos from a computer, camera, or mobile phone. But the real genius of Facebook is then being able to “tag” photos. Again, note the passive and active feature. If I upload five pictures from the weekend youth event, those photos get posted on my wall and sent out to all my friends’ news feed. But I can also actively “tag” the people in each photo – Bill, Sam, Emma, David, and Marcia. Then, each picture I tagged appears on their personal wall/page and they see, “Hey – a picture of me!” That tagged picture then appears on the news feed of all their friends and networks. (You can probably see the upside and the downside of that!) Facebook does allow any user to “untag” themselves as well as to delete anything from their personal wall (removing it from friends’ news feed).

Videos – Facebook has similar video features to what is described under photos above. I took our Christmas Video Greeting and posted it on Facebook to send to everyone connected to our church.

Group Pages – in addition to personal Facebook pages, there are also group pages. For example, we have a general church Facebook page, a church youth page, and a drama page. Instead of having “friends,” people can choose to be a “fan” or member of a group. Then, anything posted on the groups wall or page will appear on the fan’s news feed. This is a good way to communicate within given program areas (like youth group, drama ministry, etc…). Recently, Facebook has enabled group chat, where several people can type at once and view each other’s messages in a “chat box.”

Public Church Group Page (no account needed)
Public Youth Group Page (no account needed)

Selective Posting – I probably do this more than most, but I make extensive use of the friend categories I have set up. After all, my neighbors probably don’t care about the intricacies of Presbyterian church dynamics, and my music/band connections don’t really need to see pictures of my daughter learning to ride her bike, though the neighbors and relatives might. My point is that for anything I post to my wall (again, my personal “newspaper of me”), I can designate precisely who I want to see it. So, using my friend categories, I can say about this picture of my daughter’s first missing tooth: “neighbors, relatives, church friends, and Claude” can see it. Or for my note reminding everyone of the surprise party for Jim: “Send to everyone except Jim.” The selective posting really is a powerful feature. You can also set up a default “who will see this” criteria. So when I was at the Presbyterian Church General Assembly meeting, posting some 15-20 times a day about denominational stuff, I just had it going to Presbyterian and church friends and not to all my neighbors, relatives, and college friends.

What do I want to share with people?

This is, perhaps, the key question for Facebook use. Many, many websites now have a “like” button so that you can automatically send a link to your Facebook wall. Watching a video on YouTube that you want to share? You don’t have to login to Facebook and copy the link – you just click the “like” button on that YouTube page. So put a Facebook like button on your regular website and you might just get the word out more widely if someone “likes” it!

A Final Word of Caution

One of the most annoying features (to me) on Facebook are all the posts that run down my news feed from friends playing games, taking quizzes, or doing this or that. My best advice, especially since MANY of those quizzes or tantalizing links are actually phishing for information or ready to hijack your account, is DON’T DO ANY OF THEM. Furthermore, take the time to click the little ‘x’ out to the right of any of these annoying items from your friends and click “hide Farmville” or “hide _____” and you will never have to see them again! Don’t hide your friend, just hide the quiz, poll, or game. And here’s the best tip – do not allow any link, game, quiz, or poll to access your Facebook account information. In order to do so, you have to let them. They will ask, and however much you want to see that “Unbelievable, shocking photo” – don’t do it. Just use Facebook for the amazing networking and connecting tool that it is, and avoid the trouble.

How to Get Started

If you aren't already on Facebook and want to try it out, don't start off with adding everyone in your address book (Facebook will suggest this, but you can skip it - there's actually a "skip" button). I would suggest signing up and just adding a few real life friends like your grown children or someone else who uses it. You will quickly get "friend requests" from people you know and don't know, but just leave those be for a few weeks. People will understand that you are new and if they ask, just tell them you are easing in slowly. With only 2-3 friends you can get the hang of it without the flood of information that comes from having more. When you are comfortable, add a few more. You'll know when you are ready and by that time you should have a nice list of accumulated friend requests to which you can respond. Give it a try with just a few - you can always delete the account and at least you'll know what everyone is talking about. And maybe, you'll find it to be a helpful tool for staying in touch and connecting with friends!

Feedback: please post in the comments about how you use Facebook, particularly in a church or ministry context!

online ministry tech - review

2010-11-01T22:02:00.010-05:00

Sometimes folks ask me what online tools I use for our church and my own ministry. In a series of forthcoming posts I will list and describe some of these. This will not be comprehensive, but is what I have found and use. Because of the size of our church (small) and finances (limited), I have opted for free tools when I can find them. Often there is some trade-off in terms of "slickness" with free tools, so that is something you'll have to weigh and judge for yourself. I do believe that, at least in ministry contexts, folks are less and less interested in slick and drawn to meaningful and authentic content. Slickness can produce a good first impression (or not!), but it is content and organization that will work better in subsequent visits and interaction. Anyway, we can discuss website and internet philosophy all day long... here's what I use and why.

Here are the planned posting dates and topics:

Facebook - 11/2
YouTube - 11/3
Dropbox - 11/4
Posterous - 11/5
Blogger - 11/6
Twitter - 11/7
Google Reader - 11/8
Gmail – 11/9
Google Apps and Products - 11/10

Update: Cloud Storage (Nov 2011)

I invite your comments and interaction - I'd love to see a sharing of ideas and applications through the comments!

WNE yr 2 - groups

2010-11-01T09:09:00.004-05:00

The first Wednesday I presented the 12 options, explained them, and asked people to write their top three on a slip of paper. On the second Wednesday we set up group meeting areas for the six most popular groups and let people gravitate where they wanted. We had directions like those I've posted for games, service, and headline news at each station.

As it has turned out, the groups that formed are as follows:

Basics of Faith group: meets at the church for visitors and newer Christians
Book Discussion group: chose "Same Kind of Different as Me" for their first book
Service group: has already written notes to our shut-ins and college students and visited one of our shut-ins; has plans to put up flyers in the neighborhood for "Helping Hands" handyman services.
Live Music group: several of us play live bluegrass music at the coffeeshop on the corner, and usually have several others come to chat. This format really does a good job of inviting interaction with the patrons.
Movies/Headline News: the same set of folks were kind of split between these two topics and have been a little hit or miss in attendance. I'm still waiting to see if the group solidifies or not.

I'll keep you posted on how things go!

[Update: February, 2011]

6. Group Home Guys: the small group with guys across the street has resumed. They come over for dinner with their house manager and mix and mingle with us, then several church volunteers lead them in a small group study and prayer.
7. Tutoring: some kids from down the street come before dinner and meet one on one with several church members (including one 5th grader!), who work on homework, reading, and other school assignments. The kids have been staying for dinner and the children's programming, and their parents have come along a couple of times as well. We are trying to recruit some more church volunteers so we can expand to some other children the elementary school counselor has indentified along with one of our chief school volunteers.

WNE yr 2 - games

2010-10-30T09:03:00.006-05:00

In this post and the previous two, I've shared the explanation/sample for three of the potential groups; in the next post I'll share a list of the actual groups that have formed.

Games

Feel free to discuss and modify the approach, but here’s one suggested approach which you can try out as a group tonight. Before you are done, try to agree about what you will bring (in terms of games/supplies) next week and where you’ll go.

1. TONIGHT: if you have enough people, have two people play some or all of a game of chess. Then do the same with Scrabble (with different people). Try to do all this in 20-30 min., even if you can’t finish the games.

2. Discuss the dynamics:

What did it feel like to watch the games?
Was it interesting? Dull?
How would it be any different if you were in a more public place like Caribou or Starbucks?
What differences are there between these two games (chess and Scrabble)?
Are there other games that might be more effective at inviting interaction?

3. Discuss potential “goals” of the game time:

Is it fun for you?
Does it invite observation?
Does it invite outside participation?
Does it invite conversation? With players? With other church “watchers”?

4. Discuss the best arrangement of people playing vs. watching and length of game, with your goals in mind.

5. Are there creative variations on a basic game you might explore? For example hosting a “tournament” after a few weeks? A “how to play this game” demonstration? Any other ideas?

6. Finally, see if you can decide where you want to meet next week and following; commit to timeliness in starting and finishing (esp. for choir members and parents who need to be back AT 8pm).

WNE yr 2 - service

2010-10-29T08:56:00.006-05:00

In this post and the next one, I'd like to share the explanation/sample for three of the potential groups, then I'll share a final post listing the actual groups that have formed.

Service

Feel free to discuss and modify the approach, but here’s one suggested approach which you can try out as a group tonight. Before you are done, try to agree about what you will bring (in terms of supplies) next week and what you’ll do.

1. Brainstorm (and write down) some potential service projects your group could do, noting the size of the group. Keep in mind the following variations:

Spending the hour on Wednesday night “prepping” and then one or more delivering the next day/days. (ex: group making a meal in the kitchen and then one or two delivering afterward or the next day)
Each person prepping prior to Wednesday and then the group “delivering” on Wed pm. (ex: gifts/cards for the church staff, then placing them Wed pm)
An “all-in-one” project – something you could do on Wednesday night that is self-contained (ex: visiting a shut-in)

2. Given the makeup of your group, are there certain projects to which your gifts/interests lend themselves?

Cooking?
Cleaning?
Visiting?
Writing?
Tutoring?
Etc…

3. Are there creative variations you might explore?

Sharing stories with the congregation or beyond? A blog or Facebook page?
Engaging the congregation in your projects or similar ones?
“Bigger” projects around the holidays?

4. Finally, see if you can decide where you want to start next week; commit to timeliness in starting and finishing (esp. for choir members and parents who need to be done AT 8pm).

WNE yr 2 - headline news

2010-10-28T08:50:00.004-05:00

In this post and the next two, I'd like to share the explanation/sample for three of the potential groups, then I'll share a final post listing the actual groups that have formed.

Headline News

Feel free to discuss and modify the approach, but here’s one suggestion which you can try out as a group tonight. Before you are done, try to agree about what you will bring (in terms of newspapers) next week and where you’d like to go.

1. Prep (normally before you come): look through the paper and bring one or two stories you think would be good discussion pieces. For tonight, split up the local and national paper sections among your group and have each one look for one potential discussion piece.

2. Suggested ‘filters’ for helping choose a piece:

Choose a political piece, but don’t focus on your politics; discuss the role faith does or doesn’t play or bring to bear on the story.
Choose an entertainment piece to focus on values, culture, or influence
Choose a community piece to discuss the role our church or Christians could play in interacting with the need or situation
Choose a national headline as a prayer topic and discuss ways the group will commit to pray over the next week

3. Figure out a system for what to discuss:

10 min. per headline
Draw from a hat and discuss until you’re “done”; draw another if needed
Pick a person to bring two (or however many fits your pace and time) any given week
Etc…

4. Consider additional ways to interact with the news:

Identify an ongoing prayer need from the news and create a scrapbook/journal and add clippings to update the situation and topic; do this individually or as a group
Start a blog or Facebook group around what you are doing

5. Be aware of politics and other divisive dynamics; our goal is to see how our faith intersects our culture, not pick fights with each other over political and other viewpoints. If you find that you have widely divergent viewpoints on a matter, consider making it a matter of prayer for a few weeks in preparation for discussion.

6. Finally, see if you can decide where you want to meet next week and following; commit to timeliness in starting and finishing (esp. for choir members and parents who need to be back AT 8pm).

WNE yr 2

2010-10-27T20:46:00.004-05:00

Last Fall (2009), I wrote about our Wednesday Night Experiment. I wrote:

So, on Wednesday nights, instead of traditional church Bible study in the building and on the grounds, we are taking it to the streets. We are going to take a simple program - conversations with each other about where we see God in our lives during the week, and rather than meet IN the church building, we are going to disperse in 3s and 4s into public gathering places in the neighborhood. We are not going to evangelize per se, but to simply go where people are and be who we are - at Caribou, at the pizza parlor, walking on the sidewalk, at the public library. My prayer is that God will open doors for us to meet our neighbors. It's definitely experimental; I'll let you know how it goes!

In my view, the experiment was a great success with many wonderful surprises (live music, group home ministry, housing project neighbors, prayer needs at the bookstore). Amazing what can happen when we venture outside of the church walls with the eyes and ears of faith! It wasn't just going to those places though, because we get coffee and drive through the neighborhood all the time. It was making the intentional connection between the two worlds of church and life that we so often keep separated.

This Fall (2010), we are doing something similar. We still have several groups going out from the church, but we've tweaked the content a little bit. Last year all of the groups were given the same set of discussion questions, based on the previous Sunday's sermon. This year, we had an organizational night and suggested about 12 potential topics or activities and let people gravitate toward ones in which they were interested, while bearing in mind that these would be suited for public settings.

Some of these topics/activities included:

1. Sermon discussion (like last year)
2. Book discussion
3. Movie discussion
4. Headline news discussion
5. Service/hands-on group
6. Games group
7. Prayer/Accountability group
8. Scripture study
9. Prayer walks
10. Video interviews/documentary
11. Live Music
12. Basics of Faith (to be held at church for visitors or newer Christians)

In the next few posts I'll share some more detail on several of the topics or activities as well as to which groups people gravitated.

We are about a month into this year's "experiment" and my preliminary observations are that there is more interest because of the variety of topics, but less interaction with our neighbors. The simplicity of last year's content only required minimal focus on faith (but in a good way), leaving ample attention and opportunity for interaction. I'm hoping that we will work our way back to that once the groups settle into the new content.

holy friendships, pt. 2

2010-10-10T15:35:00.003-05:00

Is God Talking to Me?
Reflections on Nathan and David in 2 Samuel 12

What do I take away from this story?

I read a pretty thorough description of God’s story of creation, sin, consequence, and redemption, both in story form with the poor man and the lamb, and in David’s life as God redeemed him from his own self-destruction.

I recognize that it is not enough to know the story at arm’s-length. Just as God used Nathan to say “You are the man!” to David, God would have me recognize that I am the man! Likewise, if you miss this, you’ve missed the point of this text. You are the man; you are the woman; you are the boy; you are the girl.

God created you for goodness, for obedience, for a relationship with Him. You and I and every other human in history has messed up God’s creation like a three year old kicking over the tower of blocks I carefully built. But we cannot destroy God’s creation, just mess it up. God’s gracious invitation through Jesus Christ is to hear His Word and Spirit, and in our conviction that we (I!) have sinned, turn back to God with a broken and contrite heart and say, “Help me!” And God will rebuild our lives and give us life with Him.

That’s the promise; that’s the Good News. That’s the Word of hope that folks need to hear when they are turned or turning away from God. A friend who will speak that Word of hope – that’s a friend worth having and that’s a friend worth being. Amen.

holy friendships, pt. 1

2010-10-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

There are two kinds of people in the world.

There are those who are turned or turning toward God and there are those who are turned or turning away from God.

When Jesus commanded us to love God with all we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves, he (among other things) enjoined us to holy friendships. That is, to friendships that weren't about "what I can get out of it" or even "what the other can get out of it" but "what God would do in our neighbor's life."

Barnabas was a good friend. In Acts 11 we read that the Jerusalem apostles sent him to Antioch, where a number of Greeks had believed when they heard the story of Jesus. Greeks! Not God's covenant people, but Greeks! So Barnabas went. And he demonstrated what holy friendship looks like toward those who are turned or turning toward God.

He saw the evidence of God's grace and he REJOICED. He was thrilled to see non-Jews believing in the covenant God through Jesus Christ. It didn't matter that it was "out of the box" or a little alien or a lot different than how things had been done. He was full of joy because it's what God was doing.

He ENCOURAGED these Greek believers, wisely exhorting them to hold fast to this exciting and young faith. He shows us that "running the race" is not a solo endeavor, but more like soccer, working as a team with the goal being Christ.

When God brought "success" in Antioch, he didn't set credit himself, but went to invite Paul to join him, adding Paul's gifts and strength to his own. He PUT GOD'S PLAN FIRST, even over personal ambition. And he and Paul were COMMITTED and PERSEVERING, staying for a year to teach the new converts in Antioch.

These character traits, flowing out of the Holy Spirit living in us, are all ways that we can spur one another on towards Jesus.

When others are turned or turning towards Jesus, a holy friendship like that of Barnabas can bring others to a closer relationship and obedience to Christ. That is true friendship.

[Next: holy friendship towards those turned or turning away from God...]

spend yourself for your neighborhood

2010-10-01T10:03:00.001-05:00

I knew I liked this guy (James Kim)... :)

Want Revival? Spend Yourself for Your Neighborhood

Jesus loves our cities.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

This is true not only for church going people, but for all people. We all know that. But what does this truth mean? Here's what I believe:

If we want to see our churches thrive and get healthy, our churches have to spend itself for our cities. The revitalization of our churches is directly related to the revitalization of our neighborhoods that our churches find themselves in. If the good news of Jesus Christ doesn't make a difference to our neighbors then what use is the church to a world who doesn't know and doesn't care about Jesus?

There is something wrong with churches that find themselves growing in numbers and dollars while their neighborhoods are declining and suffering.

Jesus impacts the world. And the way Jesus impacts the world is through the body of Christ - the church of Jesus Christ.

Do you want a revival in your church? Start investing and loving your neighborhood with the love of Jesus Christ!

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life not only for church going folks, but for the world!

Check out James' blog: PRAXIS - God Revolution

silence

2010-09-27T22:38:00.001-05:00

some say silence is golden

but rarely is it worn with

a gentle and precious sincerity

rather it is wielded as a shield

even a sword, and then

it is shown tarnished, not golden

even tho' it come from a friend

Robert Austell, 2007.

rant about worship songs

2010-08-31T19:30:00.000-05:00

Excellent, if sharp and pointy, post about worship music... do read thoroughly and leave a comment!

HT: Rant About Worship Songs by Jeremy Pierce

Here are some of the things I really hate in a worship song.

1. Too simplistic, banal, lacking in depth, shallow, doctrineless: Consider that one that just talks about unity among brothers that only mentions God in passing at the very end.

2. It’s so repetitive. I mean, come on, how many times can you repeat “His steadfast love endures forever” before you start thinking the song is going to go on forever? Examples: here and here

3. For some songs, the focus is too much on instruments, and the sheer volume leads to its seeming more like a performance than worship and prevents quiet contemplation.

4. There might be too much emphasis on too intimate a relationship with God, using first-person singular pronouns like “me” and “I” or second-person pronouns like “you” instead of words like “we” and “God”. This fosters a spirit of individualism, and it generates an atmosphere of religious euphoria rather than actual worship of God. Worship should be about God, not about us. Or what about the ones that use physical language to describe God and our relationship with him? Can you really stomach the idea of tasting God?

5. Some songs have way too many words for anyone to learn.

6. It patterns its worship on experiences that not everyone in the congregation will be able to identify with. If you’re not in the frame of mind or don’t have the emotional state in question (e.g. a desperate longing for God. Then what are you doing lying and singing it? Worship leaders who encourage that sort of thing are making their congregations sing falsehoods.

7. Then there’s that song with the line asking God not to take the Holy Spirit away, as if God would ever do that to a genuine believer.

8. Then there’s that song that basically says nothing except expressing negative emotions.

At this point I’m so outraged that people would pass this sort of thing off as worship that I’m almost inclined to give in to the people who think we shouldn’t sing anything but the psalms. Oh, wait…

truth and error 12: enemy clarification, v. 26b

2010-08-21T06:25:00.003-05:00

I left off the very last part of verse 26 in order to speak to it as its own topic. Paul finishes the description of the hopeful outcome of a repentant heart led to God’s truth with this additional phrase:

… [that they might] escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:26b)

Paul observes here what he does in Ephesians 6:12… that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but is part of a larger spiritual battle between God and His enemy, Satan. While other human beings can and do hold opinions and beliefs that are contrary to God’s Word, it is not enough to simply think of truth and error in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys.” Satan is the “Father of Lies” (John 8:44) and would deceive human beings any time and any place he can.

That recognition coupled with the qualities Paul describes here should cause a follower of Jesus not to see others as enemies, but as fellow human beings in need of God’s redemption and truth. Even conflicts of truth and error, which lead us so easily into quarrels, then become for us another mission field, a place to be salt and light, as carriers of the winsome and inviting Good News of Jesus Christ. This connection between truth, error, and mission, also provides some depth of understanding to what Jesus meant when he charged us to “love our enemies” (Matthew 5:44ff).

Summing Up

This passage (2 Timothy 2:14-26) is rich. It is a challenge to all who would be followers of Jesus in a culture and setting where the Father of Lies would deceive and distract many from the Truth. Diligently study your Bible; guard your behavior and turn away from an immature and shallow faith toward a mature faith imprinted with the character of Jesus Christ. Let this faith be evident in word and deed, as even the confrontation of untruth becomes an opportunity to be salt and light for Jesus Christ.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

1 - intro and core doctrine, 2 timothy 2.14-26
2 - word-wrangling, v. 14
3 - study, v. 15
4 - a local challenge, vv. 16-18
5 - church pictures, vv. 19-21
6 - empty talk, vv. 16-18
7 - immaturity and distraction, v. 22
8 - false teaching, v. 23
9 - kind to all, v. 24
10 - able to teach, patient, gentle, vv. 24-25
11 - gracious hope, vv. 25b-26a
12 - enemy clarification, v. 26b

truth and error 11: gracious hope, vv. 25b-26a

2010-08-20T06:30:00.001-05:00

Paul holds out this gracious hope in the rest of these two verses:

… perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses… ~2 Timothy 2:25b-26a

God’s grace and His ability to transform the heart, mind, and soul of a person extends far beyond anything we can imagine. The hardest heart, the most stubborn spirit, the most entrenched position – it can all be changed if God is involved. This isn’t to say that my persuasive words will change someone, but that I do not want to find myself working counter to what God would do.

It’s interesting also to note that what happens in this hopeful scenario is not that my opponent would become convinced of the truth, but that my opponent would be repentant. That is, the one to whom I am being kind, truthful, and patient, would turn toward God in faith. It is that broken and repentant heart that then leads someone to know God’s truth.

I see this scenario played out and subverted all the time, from the embattled positions held in our local presbytery to my years in youth ministry to my own parenting. Attacking an opponent, even if we are “in the right” usually just pushes them further from you and from the truth. Cultivating kindness and patience in a relationship opens hearts to hear the truth and change.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 10: able to teach, patient, gentle, vv. 24-25

2010-08-19T06:25:00.002-05:00

24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth… (2 Timothy 2:24-25)

A second quality of a follower of Christ is the ability to teach. This need not be a Sunday school teacher for a class of 20, but lines up with v. 15 from two weeks ago. We need to be able to handle God’s Word accurately. A Christian should neither be ignorant of Scripture nor mis-handle it from lack of study. This is a re-iteration of the plea for regular study to train your mind, heart, and spirit so that God’s Word and will shapes your life, your speech, and your choices.

A third quality of one who would serve the Lord is that he or she is “patient when wronged.” This is getting into “turn the other cheek” territory and is evidence of some Christian maturity and what the Bible calls “fruit” of God’s Spirit. Again, this is set in the context of the internal church conflict in the Ephesian church, but it has broad application. A follower of Jesus starts to look like Jesus. One of the results of diligently studying the Bible and obeying God is that we start growing up spiritually and otherwise. Remember last week? Staying immature in faith is something to avoid. We are to grow; patience is a sign of maturing in faith, even in the face of being wronged.

The fourth quality of one who follows Jesus – a “vessel of honor” – really takes the first three qualities, combines them together, and puts them into action. When confronted with error, we are to correct that error with gentleness and the truth. This is kindness lived out in our speech. This is “able to teach” in the most applicable kind of way – that we aren’t just imparting knowledge, but leading people to God’s truth. This is “patience when wronged” because one of the hardest times to be patience is when one is verbally or otherwise opposing you. It is Christian maturity and the presence of Jesus that enables one to correct gently and not retaliate against angry words with angry words.

It would be enough that we are simply to reflect the character of Jesus in our speech and behavior, but Paul goes on to give an additional and important reason for exhibiting these qualities in our lives.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 9: kind to all, v. 24

2010-08-18T06:25:00.002-05:00

24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged… (2 Timothy 2:24)

Having given three warnings or dangers to avoid in the previous verses, Paul now gives four qualities which characterize “vessels of honor” – those seeking to follow Jesus Christ and be approved by God. These qualities are set against the example of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and the damage being caused within the church as they use words like swords to harm and cut up the body of Christ.

First, the Lord’s bond-servant must be “kind to all.” There is the same danger here as with “meekness” – confusing kindness (or meekness) with being a kind of human doormat… getting pushed around by the bullies and never standing up for anything. But this is set precisely in a passage all about standing up for truth! The whole point is about HOW one stands up for truth. Do you do so by arguing, quarreling, lashing out angrily in truth? If you’ve ever wielded the truth in this way, you may have seen how ineffective it seems to be. I’m specifically tying this to the “word-wrangling” which means “to wield words as swords.” Truth and God’s word is indeed like a sharp blade, but more like that of a surgeon’s knife than a thug’s weapon. It only confuses and masks truth to wield it in anger. Here Paul is repeating his admonition from Ephesians 4:15 to “speak the truth in love.”

To illustrate the difference simply, consider the difference between me coming up to you and saying, “You’re wrong, you unthinking idiot” and “You’re wrong, friend.” Magnify those examples by mannerism, posture, tone, and attitude, and you can so deafen people with your posture that they will be incapable of hearing the truth, no matter how truthful it is. Contrast that with kindness, which opens the other’s ears, fosters trust and maintains relationship.

Paul’s advice here goes beyond confrontations about church teachings. It’s good advice for any conflict or confrontation you face. We’ll explore three more qualities in the next post.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 8: false teaching, v. 23

2010-08-17T06:25:00.001-05:00

Finally Paul describes a third danger that can keep us as serving as “vessels of honor”: false teaching…

23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. (2 Timothy 2:23)

From “word wrangling” to “idle chatter” to “spreading like gangrene” to several uses of “quarrel,” it is clear that Paul sees great danger in what was going on in Ephesus. It’s not just the false teaching in and of itself, that can lead one astray; it is also the arguing and fighting that can disrupt and damage a church community.

One of the real dangers I recognize is that we get so focused on righting the wrongs or fleeing the people with whom we disagree that we fail to focus on the primary and first order ministry and mission God has put before us as a church. We must try to find a godly priority and balance.

Paul advocates a grounding in God’s Word, which will help us avoid the quarreling that is primarily a fight between two people’s opinions. To return to scripture as the arbiter of truth is to seek God’s Word and will over and above our own. That grounding in God’s Word will also help us grow spiritually such that we can turn away from immature and ungodly behaviors and inclinations and be transformed by the power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives.

Paul is not done, though. Having warned against quarreling, he goes on to describe a means of engaging, confronting, and correcting those in error. His goal is not the purification of the Church, but the correction and redemption of people, outside and inside the human construct of the church. He also points ultimately to Satan as the source of this discord.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 7: immaturity and distraction, v. 22

2010-08-16T06:25:00.002-05:00

22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

A second danger can keep us as serving as “vessels of honor” is distraction because of immaturity. Our pew-Bibles translate this verse “flee from youthful lusts.” Your first thought at hearing that probably is a warning against sexual immorality, and certainly that is part of the danger here. But, the original words are broader than that, meaning “youthful passions” or “distractions of the young.” This is a broad challenge to grow up in Christ. The breadth of this can be seen in the contrast with what follows. In the place of these youthful distractions, we are to “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.” And we are to look for examples, mentors, and fellowship with “those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

This language is chosen, in part, because Timothy is so young. He may well have been an older teenager or in his early 20s. Elsewhere Paul encourages him to not let people look down on him because of his youthfulness. Here, Paul cautions him against the kinds of things that can distract a young person (or an immature believer of any age!): “Don’t get sidetracked by these men who are stirring up the church – I know you’d love a good fight – but keep pursuing godly character and draw to you those who are calling on the Lord from a pure heart.”

This is a very timely word for congregations as they ponder their ongoing role in the larger denominational context. This passage is such a helpful guide in recognizing both the calling and the dangers as one ultimately pursues faithful and obedient service to God.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 6: empty talk, vv. 16-18

2010-08-14T06:24:00.002-05:00

16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:16-18)

The first danger that can keep us as serving as “vessels of honor” is “empty talk” or “worldly and empty chatter.” In verse 16, we read that we should avoid this kind of talk, because it has at least three negative results. It will “lead to further ungodliness” (v. 16); it will “spread like gangrene” (v. 17); and it will “upset the faith of some” (v. 18).

A faithful Christian should speak truth with substance. This is one of the results of studying scripture. When our minds are soaked in scripture, it is far easier not to be characterized by “worldly and empty chatter.” Unfortunately, it is not simply a matter of braving the “worldly chatter” out there – but it is a danger within the church as well. We’ve seen that Paul cites a local example of men (Hymenaeus and Philetus) speculating and teaching about the resurrection in a way that did not accord with scripture. Their words evidently were wreaking havoc within the church and upsetting the faith of some believers.

Paul’s advice to Timothy and to us: avoid this kind of talk, whether it’s inside the church or outside. Let your words be full of truth and substance, bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Don’t engage in the chatter or add to it. Guarding the tongue is the best defense; grounding in the Bible is the best offense.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 5: church pictures, vv. 19-21

2010-08-12T20:17:00.001-05:00

Paul says several important things about the earthly church in v. 19…

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” (2 Timothy 2:19)

First, the mixture and impurity – of right teaching and wrong teaching, the pure and the impure, the wheat and the chaff – does not threaten the foundation of the Church that God has established in Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus said that on the foundation rock of His name, even the gates of Hell would not stand against this Church. Secondly, that foundation is sealed with the affirmation that God is not confused by the mixture and impurity. God knows who are His; God can see the human heart; God is not fooled by words, arguments, or anything else. Nor, as one Presbyterian pastor commentator said of our own mixed, wheat-and-chaff denomination, is God surprised or somehow sucker-punched by the things we do.

Paul goes on to explore the nature of the mixed and impure earthly church, offering his own analogy for it in v. 20…

Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. (2 Timothy 2:20)

He compares the earthly church (particularly the Ephesian situation where Timothy is pastor) to a large house, which has gold and silver vessels, which are lasting and serve a lasting purpose, and earthenware vessels, which have a temporary and limited purpose. The language of “vessels” is interesting, for it is the same word used elsewhere in Paul’s writings to describe human beings, created for God’s purpose and glory:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves… (2 Corinthians 4:7)

It is the power of God, poured into us “vessels” through His Holy Spirit, which transforms us from clay pots into the “gold and silver vessels” of v. 20. Like a household, Paul analogizes, the church contains those who know and trust in Jesus Christ, are filled with His glory and Spirit, and serve the honorable purposes of God through “every good work.” The church also contains those who are “in the right house” but who do not know Christ or serve him – and are vessels of dishonor.

And yet, Paul is not ready to consign anyone living to be “gold” or “earthenware” as he did in hindsight with Moses and Pharaoh in Romans 9. While Paul would uphold God’s sovereignty and perfect knowledge and will, all we can measure and know while we live is our own response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ. So, Paul holds out hope for Timothy and others to repent and change and prove themselves vessels useful to the Lord. So he can write in v. 21…

If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

Look to your own life. Clean up your act. How do you do that? It is through conviction, repentance (turning to God in humility), receiving God’s gracious forgiveness, and responding to God’s invitation to serve Him.

And we will see at the end of this passage (in vv. 24-26) that Paul holds out hope, even for those who currently seem to be showing themselves to be vessels of dishonor.

What remains, though, in the verses for today, are some practical warnings against the kind of dangers that can distract a Christian from God’s calling and purpose. There are (at least) three dangers that can keep us from serving as “vessels of honor.”

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 4: a local challenge, vv. 16-18

2010-08-12T06:25:00.004-05:00

16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:16-18)

Paul is writing Timothy to prepare and equip him to lead the local church in ministry and mission. There are challenges and dangers all around – sometimes from without and sometimes from within. Here Paul describes a challenging situation with two men in the local church community where Timothy was pastoring.

I mentioned this situation last week, when we looked at the phrase “wrangling with words” in v. 14. That phrase literally means “to fight with words as with swords” and I noted that the false teaching about the resurrection was wounding and carving up the local body where Timothy served. That led to Paul’s charge to study and apply God’s Word carefully and accurately.

Note that these men were not outside the church, where there were also plenty of dangers and pitfalls for the mission-minded Christian. The surrounding culture of 1st century Greco-Roman culture was as over-sexed and appetite-centered as anything you could find today. But this passage reminds us that the church itself has never been pure and perfect on this earth. Because it is full of human beings, it is a mixture of “wheat and tares” (to use Jesus’ analogy). And Paul gives his own analogy for it in vv. 19-21. We’ll look at that in the next post.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 3: study, v. 15

2010-08-11T06:25:00.002-05:00

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

How shall I be “diligent to present [myself] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed?” How do I focus on the foundational truths and not get distracted or re-directed by word-battles? It is by “accurately handling the word of truth.”

Do you hear what is being said? These scriptures, this collection of words, are the “word of truth.” It is not wishy-washy or vacillating, or subject to bending to my own interpretation. Rather, it is God’s Word and God is Truth.

This verse also makes clear that human interpretation is involved, for it is we imperfect human beings who “handle” this Word in preaching, teaching, reading, and study. There is such a thing as “accurate” interpretation, so also “inaccurate” interpretation. To find God’s truth, though, we do not look within, to personal definitions, feelings, or even experience. Rather, we learn how to read, study, and apply scripture with consistency with itself.

Handling scripture accurately is not easy or obvious, but neither is it mysterious and out of reach. There are portions that speak clearly to the youngest child or simplest mind, and there are parts that will challenge the greatest intellect. It helps to come to scripture with an open mind and heart, but God’s Word can also penetrate the hardest heart. I would say, however, that to accurately handle God’s Word, one must trust in Jesus Christ – that is, be a Christian. For it is Christ himself to whom the Scripture witnesses. To read them apart from Jesus makes no sense at all.

In light of that, I would appeal to you to ground your children’s vocabulary and thoughts in the solid Word of God. And the need is no less for youth and adults.

In my own church Sunday school, worship, and Wednesday night studies offer a regular opportunity for study. And there are more opportunities above and beyond those – for prayer, study, service, and fellowship. But that grounding in God’s Word is crucial to a healthy faith. And, as the rest of verse 15 explains, that grounding in God’s Word also forms us into approved workers or servants of God.

God is on the move. If we ask the questions, “What is God doing and how can I be a part of it?” then we are asking to be used by God as a “worker.” That’s what is in view here. This is not an appeal to hole one’s self away from the world and study ancient manuscripts as the world passes by any more than the realization from Hebrews 11 that earth is not our home means we aren’t active, faithful disciples here and now. Rather, this passage describes the kind of men, women, and young people God delights to use in His mission to the world – those who are rooted in Scripture, committed to hearing, studying, and applying it.

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 2: word-wrangling, v. 14

2010-08-09T17:05:00.001-05:00

14 Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. (2 Timothy 2:14)

What is “word-wrangling?” Some examples from Timothy and Titus show the church arguing about genealogies and the meaning of minute points of the Law, while missing the opportunity to display charity and love one another. It appears, in this context, that word-wrangling had even displaced or replaced a foundational belief in the resurrection.

I believe this practice is one of the pressing issues of our day. Perhaps the most glaring example in recent history is a former President saying “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” while apparently dodging the moral elephant in the room. But one need not point the finger at so prominent a public figure. At every college and university in the country, and perhaps even amidst the high schools on down to elementary schools, the basic meaning of words is being challenged as never before. Distorting the technical philosophical approach of deconstructing a text, amateur deconstructionists simply vacate important words (even ‘is’!) of meaning and fill in the blank as they see fit. In many ways, we have become the masters of word-wrangling.

If the finger is still pointing too far away, let me come closer to home. Committed Christians can often find themselves nit-picking so much over words and concepts that they miss the forest – hours and hours wrangling over finer and finer sub-points of theology and missing what God is doing and inviting us to do all around us.

There is some balance, of course. It is important to study and understand words, particularly in God’s Word. But we must not miss the really foundational teachings of scripture chasing after secondary things. And verse 14 is talking about more than distraction; it is talking about fighting over such things. The word, “wrangling,” literally means “to fight with words as with a sword.”

Part of the real difficulty is also that, to some degree, we all have bought into the cultural assumption of personal interpretation. If you’re smart, you’ve learned to discover what another person means by a word – you can’t take it for granted any more.

Does that seem far-fetched? Consider our denomination. In denominational circles, I can no longer presume a common understanding of “gospel” or “evangelism” or “justice.” It is necessary to spell everything out with great specificity in order to be precise. With deeply held convictions tied to these words, we are at the point of wrangling over words.

So what to do? I don’t want to spend my days defining words with excruciating specificity, particularly when they are words that have been so consistently used by the Church. And what assurance do I have that my definitions are any more or less valid than the next person? The next verse points us in the direction we need to go…

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

truth and error 1: intro and core doctrine, 2 timothy 2.14-26

2010-08-07T15:01:00.007-05:00

Truth and error are sometimes not easily discerned. This is one of the early lessons of childhood – children who are warned not to talk to strangers go ahead, explaining that “he was really nice.” Later along, we may hear the crowd of peers saying one thing, but sheer numbers do not create truth. We come to realize that our own feelings may mislead us, and wolves continue to dress in sheep’s clothing. What once seemed black and white only seems to come now in shades of gray.

In a world where truth is an elusive thing, how does one find it? How does one guard against untruth? If we are really going to be salt and light in a dark world, how will we do so without being swept away? In this series of blog posts, I will be exploring 2 Timothy 2:14-26, a text rich in answers to these questions and more.

14 Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” 20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. ~2 Timothy 2:14-26

Before we focus on verses 14-15, we are first pointed elsewhere. Verse 14 begins, “Remind them of these things…” Well, we’ve got to know what “these things” are! The preceding verses (in 2 Timothy) provide a clearer picture of what is at stake.

11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

It IS a trustworthy statement – but why was it being made? It was being made because there were those who were denying the resurrection. This was a bottom-line, essential, and core doctrine of the Christian faith. To deny the resurrection was to deny Jesus himself. Added to this reminder in verse 14 was the charge not to “wrangle about words.”

Posts in this "Truth and Error" series:

Band Camp, Banjoes, Bluegrass, and Jesus

2010-08-03T07:28:00.007-05:00

I got back a week ago from Camp Bluegrass with my brother. It was something he first mentioned 2-3 years ago and it sounded like the perfect opportunity to spend some good one-on-one time with him, commuting 30 min. each way daily while staying at his house in Lubbock, TX.

So he went as a beginner banjo player and I took my mandolin, thinking I could experience the most musical growth on it (and boy did I!). That's all background to the story I want to share...

On the opening morning, the whole camp gathered (about 200 people) to meet the instructors. There were about 20 instructors on the various instruments (guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, fiddle, dobro, vocalists). After being introduced by name, they were introduced musically. They all played unamplified and, as is the custom with bluegrass music, took turns improvising.

Several things struck me during this 10 minute "introduction."

While the auditorium was AMAZINGLY equipped for amplification of this style of music, they played down on the floor (unamplified), which meant that when one of them soloed, the other 19 instruments played amazingly softly in order that each might be heard. And each, in turn, was heard clear as crystal.
I am fairly confident that the piece was unrehearsed, though it was familiar to each of them. They just soloed in the order of the 20-person line they formed across the stage, and the handoffs were SEAMLESS. As each neared the end of their improvisation, they "set up" the next, who often picked up a riff or sound from the one before and wove it into their own improvised solo. And each nodded and honored their 'neighbor' (and even left space for the applause of the one who went before).
There was very little ego up front, though these were world-class musicians. This was borne out in class, when these virtuosos would patiently meet each of us at our level and help us grow. These soloists weren't trying to upstage their neighbors, but build on, add to, support, and interact with what each had brought.

As the week progressed, I came to appreciate bluegrass as a particularly humble and communal musical art-form. While one can get written music, most tunes and chords and licks are learned from the community, around the circle or in friendly and willing collaboration off to the side. The whole culture of bluegrass is family and friends sitting around swapping stories, tunes, lyrics, and encouragement - and is one of participation WITH rather than attention TO a performer.

Musically, all that was fascinating, compelling, and inviting - and plenty to marvel about, but I could not help but see and hear and share in all that as a Christian and as a pastor and think this is what the church should be like, from the humility to the participation to the invitation to the fellowship, with the Good News as our song.

Sound like a church you'd want to be a part of? I sure would.

following aslan

2010-07-12T19:24:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite passages from Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. Aslan (if you don't know) is the Christ-figure in the story. I read this account on a blog today (used in another context altogether) and it struck me so powerfully in the context of having returned from the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly. Out of character (I usually over-explain analogies), I'll just let the story speak for itself.

“Look! Look! Look!” cried Lucy.

“Where? What?” everyone asked.

“The Lion,” said Lucy. “Aslan himself. Didn’t you see?” Her face had changed completely and her eyes shone.

“Do you really mean—?” began Peter.

“Where did you think you saw him?” asked Susan.

“Don’t talk like a grown-up,” said Lucy, stamping her foot. “I didn’t think I saw him. I saw him.”

“Where, Lu?” asked Peter.

“Right up there between those mountain ashes. No, this side of the gorge. And up, not down. Just the opposite of the way you want to go. And he wanted us to go where he was—up there.”

“How do you know that was what he wanted?” asked Edmund.

“He—I—I just know,” said Lucy, “by his face.”

...

Lucy woke out of the deepest sleep you can imagine, with the feeling that the voice she liked best in the world had been calling her name.

...

“Lucy,” he said, “we must not be here for long. You have work in hand, and much time has been lost today.”

“Yes, wasn’t it a shame?” said Lucy. “I saw you all right. They wouldn’t believe me. They’re all so—”

From somewhere deep inside Aslan’s body there came the faintest suggestion of a growl.

“I’m sorry,” said Lucy, who understood some of his moods. “I didn’t mean to start slanging the others. But it wasn’t my fault anyway, was it?”

The Lion looked straight into her eyes.

“Oh, Aslan,” said Lucy. “You don’t mean it was? How could I—I couldn’t have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don’t look at me like that … oh will, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn’t have been alone I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?”

Aslan said nothing.

“You mean,” said Lucy rather faintly, “that it would have turned out all right—somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?”

“To know what would have happened, child?” said Aslan. “No. Nobody is ever told that.”

“Oh dear,” said Lucy.

“But anyone can find out what will happen.” said Aslan. “If you go back to the others now, and wake them up, and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must get up at once and follow me—what will happen? There is only one way of finding out.”

Hmm... just notice Aslan's invitation... can't be too coincidental that I've just started a series called "Follow Me" - looking at the invitations of Jesus. Wake up, church; wake up!

welcome and GAhelp

2010-06-15T09:28:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my lighthouse/searchlight blog! This commentary site exists primarily to chronicle and resource the local efforts of one Presbyterian congregation to explore our twin calling of being a gathered and sent expression of the hope and light of Christ. Links on the left sidebar flesh out these ideas more completely.

As a congregation within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) we also worship and work in a larger denominational context. From time to time we this site also comments upon life in the PCUSA. As the biennial General Assembly draws near (July, 2010), commentary will focus in this direction, but we invite readers to explore the full range of resources, perhaps starting with lighthouse/searchlight definitions and blog highlights in the left-hand menu. Please also visit the church and sermon websites!

For General Assembly this year, I have created a "help site" described below. If you are interested in the PCUSA or its General Assembly, I invite you to explore the help site in full, as well as any commentary offered here on this commentary site. The help site is:

www.GAhelp.net (or just GAhelp.net)

Here's the explanatory letter I've sent out to a number of people:

Having served as a commissioner to GA in 2008, I realized that one of the greatest challenges commissioners face is not theological disunity, but technological challenges and information overload. I witnessed many, many votes and decisions rush by while almost all the commissioners around me were trying to locate what we were talking about.

I have created the help site in an effort to simplify the information gathering process, drawing from a broad range of theological perspectives to get all the information on the table in a way that commissioners and the wider church can comprehend, follow, and evaluate. I believe the site will continue to be a resource for commissioners (and others) as they return from GA to interpret and share resources with presbyteries, sessions, and congregations back home.

I believe the site speaks for itself, and hope you will take just a few moments to survey what is offered. If you find it of value, I hope you will share it widely with enthusiasm.

In God's grace,

Robert Austell
Pastor, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church - Charlotte, NC
Chair, Ecclesiastical Affairs/Bills and Overtures - Presbytery of Charlotte, 2003-2008
Commissioner to the 218th General Assembly, 2008
Moderator - Presbytery of Charlotte, 2009
www.GAhelp.net robert@gahelp.net

mission(al) as worship

2010-05-11T07:53:00.001-05:00

I have written before (HERE and HERE) about an apparent tension between worship and mission. And I still clearly remember a passionate "discussion" with one of my dear friends on whether worship or mission was more primary to our purpose and calling as Christians (I argued at the time for worship).

I have intuitively clung to both as significantly important to our purpose and calling, but the present sermon series has helped clarify for me the connection (and perhaps unity) between the two activities.

As Jesus responds in Luke 15 to the grumbling of the religious sort over his association with the non-religious sort, he tells three "lost" stories. We rightly focus on God's seeking of the lost (missional!), which is the "hook" of each story, but I (at least) have failed to really absorb the "punchline" of each story, which is God's profound joy and rejoicing over those who are found. Sunday's Luke 15 sermon HERE.

We believe that God created us to share in the joy of a "this is good!" creation. We confess it as our chief end, and we see the lead characters in each of the parables in Luke 15 calling together friends and family to celebrate when the lost are found. To participate in God's missional activity is to share in God's joy - and that is worship! It is not the full extent of our worship, but it joins our sent-ness to our coming together and it draws a vital life-line between our love of God and our love of neighbor.

Just some Monday morning ponderings.... :)

missional does as missional is

2010-05-04T08:49:00.000-05:00

grace so big

2010-04-28T11:22:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite writer/bloggers, Jon Acuff, wrote a challenging post on grace on his site. Jon is hilariously funny as a friendly and comedic critic of evangelical Christianity. From time to time, he sneaks in a serious piece and I've found him to be piercingly honest, gracious, and Christ-filled. This is one such piece:

"Fearing We'll Out-Sin Grace"

I commented on his post:

I think we grow into (or shy away from) a deep understanding of grace.

There is grace we don't dare believe in.

There is grace we portion out and 'deal' for.

There is grace that we cut down to size (like you describe so well here).

There is grace that we take advantage of.

There is grace that is too big for us to possibly believe in.

There is grace that we brush up against like a toddler and the ocean, and every once a long while we glimpse the radically not-to-scale relationship of our sin and God's grace and are simply leveled by it... no words, no "how can I work this to my advantage," no fear of using it up. Just profound awe and wonder.

It is my own longing, as well as my prayer for others, that we have the opportunity to brush up against grace so big as this.

how to use twitter? - step by step guide (pt. 4 of 4)

2010-04-28T09:41:00.001-05:00

In this series of posts I am focusing on the use of Twitter at the General Assembly. Accordingly, the explanations and applications I offer are not exhaustive, but directed toward that end. The series is in four parts:

1. An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies too!)
2. What is Twitter? - an introduction
3. Why Use Twitter? - 9 potential uses at GA
4. How to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

HOW to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

1. Go to www.twitter.com – click “get started now” and fill in the info. Tip: choose a username that how you want to be known: maybe not “angry_Presbyterian”

2. You will be directed to your twitter “home page” – there you will see an option to “find friends” – this will help you identify what people in your usual e-mail contacts are on Twitter. Ordinarily, that would be a good starting place, but for purposes of General Assembly Twitter connecting we’re going to suggest something different:

a. Go here: http://twitter.com/breyeschow/ga219 - this is a list Bruce Reyes Chow has compiled and is maintaining of all people who will be using twitter at General Assembly.

b. Click “follow” – this will cause everything the people on that list post to appear on your home page. (In fact, you can now go back to your home page – log in to www.twitter.com and click “home” near top right of page or type www.twitter.com/__________ (fill in the username you created) to get to your home page. Now you should see posts from all your friends (which at this point will include Bruce’s ga219 list). These posts may have little to do with GA at this point, but will increasingly be relevant the closer we get to GA.

3. At this point, you can view the stream of posts to your Twitter account on your home page. There are, however, other ways of accessing this information.

a. Mobile phone: log in to www.twitter.com and click “settings” near the top right of the page. On the screen that opens, click “mobile” and follow directions to have all updates sent to your phone as a text message. **NOTE WELL: this may generate many text messages, so be mindful of costs if your cell plan charges you per text. You can turn Twitter notification on and off by texting ‘on’ or ‘off’ to 40404. TIP: Unless you find Twitter very helpful and want to follow it away from your computer, this probably isn’t an effective means of following the information.

b. Smart Phone or PDA: Blackberry, iPhone, and other smart phones may have dedicated “apps” for accessing Twitter. If you have one of these devices, you probably know what that means. If you don’t know what it means, you probably haven’t invested in one of these devices. Said another way, if you have one, you probably don’t need this tutorial. (But if you do and need help, let me know!)

c. Computer (free) program: this is what I would recommend to access the full potential of Twitter. There are several programs available for free download and installation. I am primarily familiar with “Tweetdeck” for Windows PC computers, but there are other options for PC or Mac. Tweetdeck and other programs don’t do anything you can’t do on the www.twitter.com website, but organize and present the information in a more concise and helpful way. Tweetdeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com/desktop/), for example allows you to view multiple columns of ‘tweets’ organized by list, search term, contact name, and numerous other filters. On my laptop, for example, I am set up to simultaneously view tweets in the following columns:
Bruce’s GA219 list
all posts tagged with #GA219
a small group of Presbyterian friends whose posts I monitor (about 10 people)
all posts hash-tagged with #pc-biz OR #GAC OR #OGA (hash-tagging is a way of marking and sorting posts by topic)

**If you can't get set up with these instructions, please feel free to contact me at robert@gahelp.net and I'll try to respond to specific questions.

why use twitter? - 8 potential uses at GA (pt. 3 of 4)

2010-04-26T13:30:00.013-05:00

1. An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies too!)
2. What is Twitter? - an introduction
3. Why Use Twitter? - 8 potential uses at GA
4. How to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

WHY use Twitter? - 8 potential uses at General Assembly

Close to 1000 Presbyterians (and a couple hundred people going to GA219) are already on Twitter, commenting and looking ahead to GA. Ok, fine, what are the real world (and specifically General Assembly) applications for this digital means of conversation? In no specific order…

1. Breaking news with live coverage: multiple, live notices of events AS they happen
News will break at GA and across the country instantly with Twitter. While news sources can offer more well thought out reflection overnight, it will be those on Twitter who get the word out and have the first word. With the amplification of that word through Facebook and blogs, news will disperse very, very quickly. Further, while there is the 140 character limit on a single tweet, people will respond and have short conversations that can quickly add up to quite a bit of content, especially with many people involved.
2. Group commentary on a shared event
There will be a constant stream of commentary/conversation on everything happening at GA, from plenary to committee to hallway conversations. I think there are multiple implications for that commentary stream being public and real-time.
The best analogy I could give to this effect would be to huddle ten people together in the back of a room at a GA event on TV and have them all talk at the same time about what they see going on… except they are actually dispersed throughout the room, can all hear each other while they are “talking”… and instead of ten people, it’s 100 or more. The effect is fascinating and an exciting, dynamic conversation. Waiting for the analysis to come the next morning will be like a parent shouting instructions to a teenager flying by at 60 mph in a convertible with friends.
3. Direct communication with specific group
Whether set up ahead of time (or on the fly), one could send one text message through twitter and it would go publicly or (I think) privately to a preset list, like “Charlotte presbytery commissioners” or “Christian educators.”
4. Feedback, invited and otherwise
Prominent publications or events like GA lunches will get Twitter feedback whether they ask for it or not. This can be a good way to generate “buzz” though it is nearly impossible to manage – you get what you get. In many cases, those using Twitter will be alerted to a given article or event first by the online feedback, then trace it back to the original article or event.
5. Research
Want to check a quick Book of Order reference and you don't have yours with you?… put the word out.*
6. Polling
While I don’t think this will happen officially alongside advisory votes, I think it will happen informally and have at least as profound an impact on commissioner voting. It will be interesting to see what guidelines OGA gives commissioners with regard to looking for public opinion prior to voting.*
Moderator and my own technological Obi-Wan, Bruce Reyes-Chow has the definitive lists of Presbyterians and GA219 participants who are signed on to Twitter; his lists are currently public and accessible by anyone.
7. Marketing and Sales (esp. information in the case of GA): viral effect
Check out the newest article in the Layman here: http://bit.ly/cmhrhT
“Get your free rainbow scarf; stop by the MLP booth.” Etc…
8. “Tweet-Up” and make new friends
Presbyterian Outlook lunch today; come to _____ to hear about today’s issues.
“Anyone who wants to meet for dinner and talk about _______, meet at Red Lobster at 7pm tonight.”

*The Stated Clerk's office is providing instruction and guidelines for commissioners on the appropriate use of social media during the Assembly - found on PC-Biz under the 'Resource' tab: open PDF HERE and duplicated on the GA219 website HERE. In some circumstances, it would not be advised (or even possible) to seek this kind of information from "outside."

what is twitter? - an introduction (pt. 2 of 4)

2010-04-25T16:00:00.009-05:00

1. Twitter: An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies too!)
2. What is Twitter? - an introduction
3. Why Use Twitter? - 8 potential uses at GA
4. How to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

WHAT is Twitter? - An Introduction (pt. 2 of 4)

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. That simply means it allows you to publish information as short messages through a number of digital media. By its nature and usage it has a strong social element, inviting participants to share this information and filter it by topic, interest, relationship, or geography.

By its nature, the information shared can be fragmented, though sorting tools and focused attention can sort and connect the information in useful (sometimes novel) ways. Fair analog comparisons include:

Bulletin board: with a broad glance, one can see information shared from a number of people on a limited range of topics (e.g. job opportunities or goods for sale)
Small group discussion: Twitter expands the group dynamic to allow multiple people to “talk” and “listen” and “respond” almost simultaneously. Further, it expands the practical number of people who can be involved (potentially into the hundreds), while giving each person equal opportunity to be heard.
Informal conversation: for many regular Twitter users, the ongoing conversation with a community creates a sense of friendship and relationship; those who are simply trying to sell something or use the system stand out like a salesman at fellowship hour.

Said most simply, if one sees the importance at General Assembly of talking, listening, and responding, with a high value on relationships and community, Twitter provides a highly effective means to do so. Think of Twitter as a high-octane version of an ordinary conversation. If one communicates well with one person in the analogue world, there is potential to do so with 100 simultaneously through Twitter. (Conversely, if one doesn’t listen well or is simply trying to sell something, that trait will probably be amplified 100x through Twitter.)

twitter: an analogy for the non-technical (pt. 1 of 4)

2010-04-21T14:52:00.013-05:00

1. Twitter: An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies too!)
2. What is Twitter? - an introduction
3. Why Use Twitter? - 8 potential uses at GA
4. How to Use Twitter? - step by step guide to getting started

An Analogy for the Non-Technical (and maybe for techies, too!)
(pt. 1 of 4)

This analogy may be frustratingly vague at first, but that is only because it is trying to describe a technology with which many are completely unfamiliar. Imagine explaining e-mail to someone who has never used a computer. It’s like that… In fact, trusting that many of you HAVE used a computer and e-mail, we’ll use that as a launching pad for the analogy.

Regular U.S. Mail is to E-mail
as
A Conversation is to Twitter

It used to be that you had to handwrite (or type) a letter, address it, stamp it, put it in the mailbox, and wait 2-6 days for it to be delivered to another person, depending on distance. E-mail allows for any computerized message or file to be sent instantly anywhere in the world with Internet, and to single or multiple recipients. To exchange a series of letters might take weeks, but with e-mail, one can exchange just about as many pieces of correspondence as needed, as long as both people have access to the computer.

A conversation is, at best, talking, listening, and responding to another person in such a way that relationship, community, and trust are fostered. While there are other ways of imparting information, a good conversation can be both effective and rewarding as a means of exchange of information. Conversely (at worst), a conversation can be one-sided, manipulated, overbearing, and break relationship, community, and trust. I will assume that most of you grasp the dynamics that effect a good, healthy conversation and those that do not. Twitter is conversation gone digital, at the speed of the Internet, and with the accessibility of a cell phone or PDA (Blackberry, iPhone). What makes for and results from good conversation OR bad conversation can thus be amplified and multiplied quickly and significantly with this new means of conversing.

As regards General Assembly…

If you can imagine applications for a “good conversation” at General Assembly, then multiply and magnify those scenarios and you’ll begin to grasp the significance of Twitter. Yes, there is a time to argue passionately at a microphone. But what can be accomplished with winsome and persuasive conversation over a cup of coffee? What can an invitation to lunch conversation or a meaningful interaction with a table-full of colleagues accomplish? You can do so with 100 people with Twitter. Ever had an opportunity to have a private conversation with a political or theological “opponent?” You can do it in the middle of a crowd and even in the middle of a vote with Twitter.

Mis-use is just as powerful – you can ignore, misconstrue, bully, and make a fool of yourself on Twitter and it will be seen by thousands. But what may be the biggest mistake is to go to an Assembly where thousands of people are having a conversation, and you are deaf and mute for lack of being “plugged in.”

Some examples…

Let's say I'm in committee and wish I could have a one minute conversation with Gradye Parsons, Tom Hay (Dir. of Operations at GA), Bruce Reyes-Chow, or one of the special interest groups... easily done.

Don't believe me? Bruce RC will respond to a Twitter post directed to him, on ANY topic, usually within 10 minutes, and that's if he's NOT paying attention. Now those folks will be busy come Assembly time, but they are not the only ones on – there is a growing list of people who will be using Twitter at the General Assembly (look HERE for starters). Any commissioner... anyone jumping into the #GA219* twitter feed will immediately be in conversation with a growing group of people talking at and about General Assembly.

Let's say I'm in a room of people and don't see anyone I know - a simple twitter on my location and perspective might quickly identify friends in the room and open up a conversation with them (for that matter might also identify 'opponents' and open up a conversation with them!). Want to know more? More coming on what this thing called “Twitter” is and how to use it…

*#GA219 (the abbreviation for General Assembly 2010)

missional fruit

2010-03-29T22:13:00.000-05:00

Missional fruit are signs that we are participating in what God is doing. I don't share these things to brag on our church or say "look at us,' but to say "look at God!" About 4 years ago the Session made the intentional decision to become a "lighthouse/searchlight" church. That is not a program, but an identity. And embracing and "living into" that identity has been a slow process. But it's happening. Two Sundays ago I saw this missional identity fleshed out in two memorable ways.

Girl Scout Sunday

Three years ago a new family in the church approached the Session about starting a Girl Scout "Daisy" troop (ages 4-5 or thereabouts). We thought this was a great idea and offered them space. About half the girls were from the church and half were from the neighborhood (from the apartments and housing project down the street).

Two years ago, when a neighborhood clubhouse (Windyrush) burned down, we offered our church for several club events. One of the displaced groups was an older girl scout group (teenagers), and we offered them space to meet. We were asked in 2009 to have our first "Girl Scout Sunday," which was an amazing, chaotic, and glorious event. I wrote about HERE.

This year we were approached by another group wanting to start a Daisy troop ("our" Daisies were now Brownies, two years later). So, we have three troops presently meeting, and the 2010 Girl Scout Sunday was another amazing, chaotic, and glorious event. Girl Scouts served as ushers, lay readers, and several church girl scouts performed a memorable skit with their mothers. Over 20 girls and families came between the three troops, resulting in larger attendance than we have on Easter and Christmas (we used ALL the chairs we had).

Maddie Shuler CD Release Concert

That same night, Maddie Shuler held her debut CD release concert at the Evening Muse in the NODA arts district of Charlotte. The club was packed to overflowing (125+) and I was privileged to play keyboard in her band. Her concert was wonderful and exciting on so many levels, but not the least of which was her sharing her faith - and struggles - in a public venue far outside the walls of any traditional church. While much of the crowd were church family, there were a significant number of folks present who just like to hear new music or who perhaps read about her in the Charlotte Examiner - a local online paper featuring smaller acts and new talent. The reporter/photographer, Monty Chandler, did a great promo piece before the concert, and an even more glowing and encouraging piece afterwards. I've written about Maddie before, as an example of using one's talents to honor God outside the church walls. Few have Maddie's musical gifts, but we ALL can use our talents for God's glory in the world. We explored that some in 2009 with the "talent challenge" - and continue to stretch and grow in this direction.

Oh yes - if you don't have Maddie's CD yet, you can find it on iTunes or Amazon for download - just search for her name. Or, if you can come by to pick it up, you can get an actual CD from the church.

the blessing and challenge of the commandments

2010-03-13T10:03:00.003-05:00

The Commandments (and God’s Word in general) hold both challenge and blessing for those who attend to them in faith. At once they convict us of the reality of the human condition – that we fall short and are cursed for spiritual death; at the same time God has blessed us with a Word that offers us temporary shelter and an eternal hope that He will intervene and give us life.

What does one do with this teaching on the Commandments? Broadly, the application is two-fold, growing out of two significant realizations about the human condition: we are challenged and we are blessed.

We are challenged to not give in to easy self-righteousness, displacing our need for a holy God to intervene and save. To respond to this challenge produces a profound and genuine humility.

There is also blessing: we are blessed to have some living words of hope spoken into our death camp – words which offer us order and blessing in this, our temporary home; and words which hold out a picture and a hope of new life with the one and only Lord of all. To receive this blessing produces a profound and genuine joy.

God’s Word… food for the soul… humility and joy… challenge and blessing.

More here:

Sermon on the Commandments (Exodus 20)
Sermon on the Commandments (Matthew 5)

For those living in the ashes between Eden and the End, the Ten Commandments offer a temporary shelter in the present world, with all the hope of a God who is coming to save us from death itself.

on the value of vision and persevering prayer

2010-02-28T21:29:00.001-05:00

I have written recently about a developing missional identity seen in "missional fruit." I compared our developing missional identity to a developing person and see us in a kind of pre-pubescent or early adolescent stage in our missional development.

...growing in fits and starts, with some awkwardness, but also with some glimmers of real maturity, purpose and calling that make the angels sing.

One of the very hopeful and encouraging fruits of our developing missional identity has been the relationships and ministry with the guys from the group home across the street from the church.

Naming years ago... I remember naming the group home as a mission field back in 2006, when our officers first had a retreat around the lighthouse-searchlight themes. We named several other mission fields in the near-neighborhood and have kept naming them and keeping them before us ever since, even though we connected with some immediately, others years later, and some we still haven't.

Praying for an open door... With several of the mission opportunities being rather non-traditional (shopping center ministry? ministry to group home residents??) we prayed for an open door, for God to not only make our next steps evident, but to prepare the way for us. One seemingly miraculous open door was one of our church youth being paired with one of the guys from the home at a camp in Western Carolina. What were the chances? Then hit it off and boy was I surprised to hear that Cory's "buddy" lived right across the street from the church. Apparently Cory told Josh I was okay, because Josh came over to see me shortly after that.

Responding to the open door... In the case of the group home guys, they came to us (not just Josh, but all). I don't think this was an accident. After all, we had been praying for them for two years before that. It may be that was the necessary timing to prepare US to be good neighbors. I remember them first coming to an outdoor concert we had on the church grounds. Then it was another year before Josh, Mark, Jason, and the other guys started coming over.

Awkwardness/mess... I've preached and blogged about the "messiness" of really embracing a missional identity. And the guys from across the street have brought a glorious kind of awkwardness and mess. And yet it so clearly portrays to me the Kingdom of God.

Persevering in prayer... And so I am reminded of the importance of persevering in prayer. Not just with the kind of "persistent widow" mentality, but because God uses such prayer to teach us patience, and perhaps even prepares us for the answer when we might not have been ready for an immediate answer.

Physical growth from childhood into maturity is slow, sometimes almost unnoticeable and sometimes in quick spurts. I am realizing a missional identity forms in a similar way, sometimes in small almost unnoticeable ways and other times with awkward leaps. What thrills me is realizing that not only has God been faithful to grow our missional identity; but also that God is not finished with us yet!

deep(er) thoughts - confirmation

2010-02-19T09:43:00.006-05:00

ash wednesday worship

2010-02-17T23:26:00.005-05:00

Tonight we had the Ash Wednesday service. I've done the service ever since I came to Good Shepherd. It's always meaningful (if a bit somber), but this year things were noticeably different. I attribute much of this to the Wednesday night experiment. We've been reaching out and you can tell a difference.

There are toddlers and elementary age children running everywhere. There are middle school kids from the section 8 housing coming for tutoring (seems like more each week). The teenagers are bringing more and more friends from outside the church (ok, mostly to date them, but nonetheless). The group home guys from across the street are regulars. And we've picked up some new adults as participants and members.

So stir six months of that in a pot and you will start to get a picture of tonight's "somber, reflective service on mortality and sin." For one, I decided not to have a lot of contemplative silence and prayer like I have in the past. That just wouldn't fly with so many children. I decided to sing a lot and explain a lot.

The enthusiasm and participation of the group home guys was something else. Two of these young men, in particular, just sang their guts out. And just because I got to the end of a song didn't mean they did - they would just keep singing extemporaneously until one of their house-mates shushed them. I will admit that having the two most passionate singers on the second row made it hard for me to hear myself and concentrate, but it was worth it. I thought, "How much like the Kingdom of God is this?!" These beautiful and sweet men - kind of like young boys stuck in men's bodies, sang praise with as much heart as I've ever heard from anyone. It was hard not to be inspired. After one song ("Come Thou Fount") one of these guys just let out a big "Woo!" - I can't think of a better "Amen" to what the Spirit was doing tonight.

The open prayer time ranged from short sentence prayers to a mom's heartfelt prayer for her son to a wide-ranging prayer by one of the group home guys, who prayed like he sang, with nothing held back.

Billy Howell, a young man who has grown up in our church wrote a song about being broken and sent it to me this morning... I decided to ask him to sing it while I was putting ashes on the congregation and it was perfect. He has struggled with so much - it moved me deeply to hear him leading us in worship and contemplation of our own brokenness and finitude by means of his own creative burst.

And finally, I'm not about the numbers, but it was packed! I don't think we've ever had more than 30-40 for Ash Wednesday. We normally sit on one-half of the sanctuary since so few are there. Well, they started on one side, filled it up, and spilled into the other - I'd guess well over 100 there.

As I stood to give the benediction and we sang the last line (of v. 2) of "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" ... pure, warm and changeless be, a living fire... I observed that we had book-ended the service talking about "fire" (first from Revelation, being 'hot' with fire, not lukewarm; and ending with the hymn above. Yet in the midst of this we were recognizing that we were like the ash - made from dust and destined for dust apart from God's intervention. Our only hope for life, for fire, was through hope in the resurrection in Jesus Christ. So, I put ashes on the foreheads of kids as young as 4 and some people in their 80s and reminded them:

God formed you from dust and to dust you shall return. Put your hope in God, for resurrection through Jesus Christ.

May you know the living fire of Christ, rising out of this ashen life. Amen.

deep(er) thoughts - the languages of love

2010-02-16T11:31:00.010-05:00

deep(er) thoughts - presbytery meeting

2010-02-16T11:03:00.004-05:00

Some days I have more deep thoughts than others... and a full weekend prompted reflection on a number of things.

The weekend (incl. Monday): confirmation retreat, Valentine's Day guest sermon on "The Five Love Languages," and a presbytery meeting.

Here are the thoughts on the presbytery meeting - briefly and in a bloggy nutshell.

Presbytery of Charlotte Meeting: Feb. 15, 2010

We were to meet last Saturday, but snow resulted in postponing until Monday. I officially finished serving as presbytery moderator in December 2009, but was filling in for new moderator, Jane Sumney Mullinax, who had to be out of town. Two standouts from the meeting were the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church (Pastor: Jeff Pinkston - new on twitter @preacherpink) and guest, Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA. Bruce had Q&A, preached, and led a workshop on social media. His broad theme was a challenge to "get out of the boat" of the way we've always done church and to step out in faith into new ways of being the church.

Later Monday night, he had some more Q&A at a reception for the younger pastors in the presbytery (woo! - they let me come!). One standout question (to me) was from the Rev. Kate Murphy, who asked what he thought a presbytery might look like that embraced this new way of being church together. His response is what I've come to identify as perhaps his strongest contribution to the church as moderator: the conviction that we best discern the mind of Christ and will of God together, which he notes is not the same as unity at any cost. Interestingly enough, my mind immediately went to Kate (who asked the question) and my experience of working on the Presbytery of Charlotte reconciliation policy with her. I think she and I experienced just what Bruce was talking about - we came to the table with radically different opinions and convictions, were able to forge a healthy and helpful policy, and left without having compromised or dropped core convictions. And in the process, we forged a friendship and a genuine respect for one another's faith and integrity. Even in conversation last night, Kate and I acknowledged that we may frequently line up at different microphones, but not as enemies, but as fellow believers who legitimately and earnestly desire the mind and heart of Christ.

Don't let that last sentence flit by undigested - it's the significant point here and one worth chewing on thoroughly.

This reality is what endears Bruce to me, gives me hope for a future with my local colleagues in ministry, and makes me long for the opportunity to explore deep theological division with friends among whom there is a deepening reservoir of trust that we won't run screaming from the room or turn and lash out in anger. While I do not lessen or turn in any way from the importance of truth, I am more and more convinced of the need to speak truth in love, which is to say, in the fertile field of trust and hope.

PS - I am encouraged to see more and more presbyteries picking up the language and approach of the commissioner's resolution I wrote which resulted in GA action 04-28 (2008) in creating gracious and pastoral local policies like this one in the Presbytery of San Francisco.

con ed clips - reflection on contemporized hymns

2010-02-01T16:49:00.009-05:00

I recently attended the Calvin Symposium on Christian Worship. One of the seminars included Dan Schutte, the writer of "Here I Am, Lord." In the course of the seminar he was asked about writing new music to old hymn texts and, despite having just shared a piece where he did that, he urged caution in using antiquated language.

Another conference attendee, Zac Hicks, blogged about this question:

I’ve noticed that when I’ve slammed KJV-song after KJV-song upon a congregation, it’s a bit overwhelming and they eventually seem to shut down because it’s too hard to keep the brain processors firing on such a high level.

He goes on to explain the value to judiciously using antiquated text, while not wearing people out on it.

Christians need to remember that the Church universal is not only the Church across space but the church across time. When we engage in older texts, we join hands with the saints of old, singing the songs they sang.

Christians need to perpetually challenge the “dumbing down” of cultural standards. God calls us to integrity and beauty. There is a strong pull in culture to slide off the hill of high standards, and that includes linguistic standards. In an age when English-speakers are losing the breadth of the English language, it’s worth gently challenging culture to think differently.

I agree with Zac and encourage use of ancient texts, but not not an exclusive diet of ancient or modern language, as people begin to choke after too much of the same.

Having said that, one additional way (besides only contemporizing the music) to employ ancient hymns is to modernize the language. This can be dicey, and I wouldn't do so with creeds or prayers shared around the church. But, selectively and carefully with hymn texts, I think it can be done well.

Here's one example of how I've done that with a classic hymn, "And Can it Be." Further, I not only contemporize the accompaniment, but also simplified the melody somewhat, which is quite difficult with successive arpeggios for the voice. See the text comparison below, followed by a rough mix recording of my arrangement from the forthcoming Depth of Worship CD. You'll note that I was turning six lines into four short lines... some phrases were left out; some compacted. Never fear; we still sing the traditional hymn too!

And Can It Be? | How Can it Be?
Charles Wesley, 1753. Arr. Robert Austell, 1995.

And can it be that I should gain | How can it be that I would take
An int'rest in the Savior's blood? | Interest in Jesus' death?
Died he for me, who caused his pain? | Even when he died for me -
For me, who him to death pursued? | The one who put him there to die

Amazing love! how can it be | Amazing love, how can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me | That you, my God, would die for me!

[verse not in my presby or Baptist hymnal...]
'Tis mystery all! Th'Immortal dies! | Who would have thought that God could die?
Who can explore His strange design? | Who could even understand?
In vain the first born seraph tries | Even the angels shook their heads
To sound the depths of love divine! | No one could ever comprehend.

Amazing love! how can it be | Amazing love, how can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me | That you, my God, would die for me!

He left his Father's throne above | When Jesus left Heaven above
So free, so infinite his grace! Emptied Himself of all but love | A free and boundless gift of love
...and bled for Adam's helpless race | Given to us, a helpless race
'Tis mercy all, immense and free | -----
For, O my God, it found out me. | Searching me out so I could see God's face.

[combines parts of vv. 3-4]
v. 4 No condemnation now I dread: | Never will I now fear to die
v. 4 Jesus, and all in Him, is mine! | Jesus and life with him are mine
v. 3 Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound... | ------
my chains fell off, my heart was free | Free from those chains I stand released
----- | Amazed by this love God's given to me.

Amazing love! how can it be | Amazing love, how can it be

That Thou, my God shouldst die for me | That you, my God, would die for me!

Rough mix from the upcoming "Depth of Worship" CD (2010)

con ed clips - kristyn and keith getty

2010-01-29T22:39:00.001-05:00

I am attending a continuing education event in Grand Rapids, MI, entitled the Calvin Symposium on Christian Worship. On the first day I was here I went to a seminar and then a vesper service led by Kristyn and Keith Getty, Irish composers and worship leaders. Here are some clips of their wonderful music.

Seminar - "Behold the Lamb (Communion Song)" - verse three

Vespers - "Kingdom of the Lord" - I'm unsure of the title... just got that from the lyrics. They were trying to do a sound check before the service and asked if we minded if they played something Irish. No, we didn't mind at all!

Vespers - "In Christ Alone" - perhaps the piece they are best known for... you'll have to turn your volume down - the congregation sang thunderously.

Vespers - Jamming. After the service was over they waited a good long while then launched into this spontaneously. I missed the first part getting back up to the front to get a good view, but what I got was still plenty good!

*These were filmed on my daughter's iPod nano. So yes, I was on the front row in every case. There is no zoom feature. :) I tried to look like I wasn't stalking them.

con ed clips - jeremy begbie

2010-01-29T21:06:00.009-05:00

{UPDATE: I added two clips from Saturday morning}

I am attending a continuing education event in Grand Rapids, MI, entitled the Calvin Symposium on Christian Worship. One of the speakers was Dr. Jeremy Begbie, formerly a professor at Cambridge and now teaching at Duke Divinity School in the area of theology and the arts. I heard him some 10-12 years ago at my church in Lenoir and was thrilled to hear him again at the symposium.

He spoke Friday morning on the structure and nature of music as a metaphor for understanding God's revelation and redemptive history. Sometimes it makes sense in the moment; sometimes not. But there is always hope, for there are larger over-arching stories and a grand meta-narrative arching over all time and creation.

In this first clip, Begbie is speaking (sorry, very short clip) of the power of music to shape, move, and change us (and that before even considering words!). Likewise, God's Word and Spirit re-time and re-shape us.

The next clip is Jeremy playing a Schumann piano piece to illustrate all that he lectured about. There is no explanation in the clip - it's just a beautiful and poignant performance of this piece.

This is a clip of Jeremy's Saturday morning lecture, which was on our future being brought into our present through the work of the Holy Spirit. This clip is a segment about Jesus Christ as our "worship leader" - perfectly and eternally presenting redeemed humanity in his person before the throne of God. We (and our earthly worship) are united to Christ and that Heavenly worship through the work of the Holy Spirit. This also has the memorable line, "I wish for once there was a worship band with one ugly person... so I could relate."

Jeremy ended the Saturday presentation with an exceptional performance of a Bach violin piece arranged for piano. The performance is supposed to illustrate a number of the musical-themes-as-theological-metaphor of the two days of lecture. It also stands on its own as a memorable piano performance.

And yes, I sat VERY close to him. :)

waiting...

2010-01-18T17:53:00.005-05:00

Some times I make a good decision because I know what I'm doing.

Other times I kind of stumble into it. But I suppose one form of wisdom is at least recognizing the latter situation when it is happening.

I would have liked to start 2010 with a grand new vision for the new year. I would have loved to blog on Jan. 1 and layout personal or ministry goals, but I had nothin'. Nor has it come. Folks would ask me what exiting plans I had for the new year and I would just answer with an impressive, "Ummmm...."

Now here's the bit of wisdom I've kind of backed into. There's a part of me that wanted to "whomp up" such plans (to quote an old friend). Frankly, I was just too exhausted after a glorious Advent/Christmas and a week of family gatherings around my uncle's death. And what I have stumbled into is the biblical principle of waiting on the Lord.

Ideally, I would have done this out of wisdom or maturity on my part, but I'll take what I can get, even accidental godliness! :)

And what has happened in these three weeks of kind of laying low and listening quietly?

God has brought several new people into my life and the life of my congregation. These are folks with a keen and special calling to missional ministry. Through various means and people, they have connected with me and our congregation because of the kind of lighthouse/searchlight ministry we've been doing. I also got to see several of our elders plug into a presbytery-wide training event and share what we've been doing in that context.

All that has been encouraging and also reminded me that I do not bear sole responsibility for "firing the lighthouse." In fact, as I reflect on the metaphor and the calling, I realize that one real point of growth will be when others in the church not only understand but initiate lighthouse/searchlight ministry on their own. Sometimes - like now - I think the only way to give space to that kind of growth is to wait on the Lord.

So, intentional or not, I'm trying to pay attention as I go, to what God has already spoken in His Word:

The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:22–26)

blog highlights

2009-12-31T16:43:00.001-05:00

When people are new to a blog, they usually just pick up reading with new posts. But it is my hope that new readers will connect to some of the archived material. I am posting this as an end-of-2009 marker of what has gone before. This "highlight" page attempts to pull together and list some of my favorite posts and series of posts.

Favorite single posts, missional:

God's Refrigerator Door - perspective over worship and worship styles

Don't Waste Your Time - on the primacy of worship as the foundation for mission

Website Outreach Philosophy - the missional vision behind our website design (note: since this post, we have moved to a new site, but the philosophy and major "sections" of the site are the same)

VBS on the Road - story of taking our Vacation Bible School outside the walls

Searchlight-in-Training - a missional look at parenting my young daughter

More than Cookies - narrative of two memorable days in ministry that highlight our growing missional mindset along with the mess and the "glory" of being a lighthouse and searchlight church

Significant single posts, denominational:

God on the Move - description of how God used one small-church pastor commissioner to "move" the 2008 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Ichabod or Scribbling on the Wall - one description of my calling to serve in the Presbyterian Church (USA); for those who are struggling...

Favorite series:

Frost Defines Missional - part 1, part 2, part 3 - blogged through Michael Frost's presentation on missional church at the 2007 PGF conference

Missional Identity in the Small Church - this is a seven-part series chronicling the visioning, communication, implementation, etc... of a missional identity at Good Shepherd. This material was compiled for a workshop I taught, but comes from an officer retreat in 2006. This initial link has links to the successive posts.

The Talent Challenge - a real-life missional "parable of the Talents" exercise I gave the congregation while I was on Sabbatical. Links below are to two follow-up reports.
Mission Benefit Concert - a $20 talent turned into a fabulous fund-raising concert for our missionaries in Spain; raised $1800!
Family Business in Nicaragua - a $20 talent sent to our missionaries in Nicaragua purchased equipment for a start-up sewing classes
Sabbatical - I wrote a summary of what I learned each week of a twelve-week sabbatical; some wonderful lessons.
week 12 - re-entry
week 11 - with a little help from my friends
week 10 - final push
week 9 - retreating... in a good way
week 8 - ripening
week 7 - vacation time
week 6 - halfway jitters
week 5 - mixing it up
week 4 - music and reflection
week 3c - Young Life, Nicaragua
week 3b - YWAM School of the Bible
week 3a - living with missionaries
week 2 - maddie's EP
week 1 - come thou fount

Wednesdays Night Experiment - initial description and follow-up reports of our "Wednesday night experiment" of pushing the Wednesday night church meeting outside the walls into the neighborhood. Some exciting results!

of the father's love begotten - christmas eve 2009

2009-12-24T12:38:00.000-05:00

Blessed Christmas Eve to you!

This is a rough studio mix of my arrangement of "Of the Father's Love" from the forthcoming The Depth of Worship CD. Marvelous words to ponder in this time of awaiting the celebration of Christ's birth!

Of the Father's love begotten, ere the worlds began to be
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

Love shines with glory, shines with light
Has pierced the sin-dark shroud of night
O come you lost, who long for home
Obey the Son, the faithful One,
Begotten of the Father's love.

O ye heights of heav'n adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Power, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King.
Let no tongue on earth be silent
Evey voice in concert ring, evermore and evermore!

Love shines with glory, shines with light
Has pierced the sin-dark shroud of night
O come you lost, who long for home
Obey the Son, the faithful One,
Begotten of the Father's love.

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee
Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving and unwearied praises be.
Honor, glory, and dominion
And eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

Love shines with glory, shines with light
Has pierced the sin-dark shroud of night
O come you lost, who long for home
Obey the Son, the faithful One,
Begotten of the Father's love.

Text by Aurelius C. Prudentius, 4th century; translated by John M. Neale and Henry W. Baker. Verse melody is 13th century plainsong (DIVINUM MYSTERIUM); arrangement and chorus by Robert Austell, 1999/2009.

how can this be?

2009-12-14T06:02:00.003-05:00

Some ponderings on Luke 1:34-38, the virgin birth, miracles, and God...

How can this be?

Simply dealing with the declaration of truth (v. 37) is so hard. It requires such faith! God says it is so; the Bible says it is so; the Bible is from God. So much there to take on faith. Better to have some kind of sign.

Yes, a big sign (v. 36), that’s what I need… something unmistakable. But that’s so subjective. Maybe an older woman who never could have a baby COULD have a baby. Is that really a miracle? Jesus did miracles as a sign of who he was and where he came from, but it can be easy to write many of them off. Maybe a sign won’t do it. Better to have more specific proof.

Yes, proof, that’s what I need (v. 35). I need God to spell out what He wants and how it’s going to happen. Who should I marry? Where should I work? What should I do next? Some kind of angelic, personal text messaging – like a magic 8 ball. Funny that I might trust a magic 8 ball more than God’s Word… hmmm. We do so like specifics. And better yet, scientific proof – regarding creation, dinosaurs, miracles, even God’s existence. That’d do it. Except science is only good for what is natural, not what is supernatural. You can’t dissect a miracle. You can’t reduce God to a program or an experiment or a set of rules – that’s too small for a real God.

I’m not trying to layout some sort of intellectual trap. You know what? I get it. I understand just how hard it is to believe in, much less trust in God. My brain is not wired for the humanities; it is wired for math, programming, and science. But I see how unsatisfying the proof I would demand would be and is. It’s like telling your spouse you will only love them if they document where they are every hour of the day, whom they speak to, and what their intentions are. That doesn’t result in love, though it might satisfy curiosity. Love comes from trust extended – a kind of faith given and received. Likewise, requiring God to document His miraculous and infinite plans to our satisfaction may increasingly satisfy our curiosity, but is self-defeating in terms of faith, trust, and love. While Mary likely did not think in those terms, she heard the angel’s answer and trusted in God’s Word (v. 38). She did not latch on to the specific explanation or the miraculous sign, but responded in faith to the declaration of truth that God could accomplish His Word in her life.

From the Advent sermon: "Nothing Will be Impossible With God" (Luke 1:34-38)

worship practices survey

2009-12-12T09:46:00.007-05:00

One component of my D.Min. degree was a field study related to the topic of my project. I chose to survey fellow pastors and musicians in my presbytery regarding worship practices and planning, as described below. I share the description and conclusion of that study below, with a link to the full report for those interested in the data and more detail. For anyone involved in the planning or implementation of worship, I think this study would be helpful for self-analysis and growth.
=============

DESIGN

The questionnaire, "Worship Philosophy and Planning," was mailed with a cover letter to 134 churches in the Presbytery of Charlotte, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in May of 2007. Most of the questionnaires were returned within six to eight weeks. These churches were selected because the Presbytery of Charlotte is an easily identifiable and reachable audience and the likelihood of response was high.

The Presbytery of Charlotte is the fourth largest presbytery in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with 134 churches, approximately 291 ministers, and approximately 41,000 members. It serves seven counties in and around Charlotte, NC: Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Richmond, Stanly, and Union. Of note, it also has the largest population of predominantly African-American Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches in the denomination.

The target interviewees were senior pastors and musicians. Duplicate surveys were sent to each church, with one addressed to the pastor and one to the music director. The questionnaire was designed to collect basic church information, measure actual patterns of worship planning and practice, and collective subjective responses defining "worship philosophy."

The first part of the questionnaire (questions 1-7) collected basic information, including number and times of worship services, number attending, and a description of worship style. For the latter, four choices were offered: "traditional," "contemporary," "blended," and "other." Data was also collected regarding church membership (active roll), age of church, tenure of person being surveyed, and hours worked. Responses to membership were verified against Presbytery records. Pastors were asked about the degree of musical training. Musicians were asked about the degree of their musical and theological/biblical training.

The second part of the questionnaire (questions 8-15) dealt with worship planning. This part included questions about personnel, frequency, duration, and lead time of their worship planning. One question asked about the pastor’s sermon preparation habits, how far in advance it happened and what tools were used to select the sermon text. There was also a question about worship planning tools, from hymnals to computer software, with several common options listed and room for more to be added. Next the questionnaire sought to measure the frequency with which music is used in different liturgical locations in the worship service. For example, is music ever used for the "Confession of Sin" or for the "Assurance of Pardon?" Space was provided for a "short description of… worship planning time" in a more narrative form. Finally, a list of potential motivations for selecting hymns or songs was provided, with a five degree scale offered to measure degree of influence. Two "other" choices were also provided. The purpose of this question was to gain some sense of factors guiding music selection.

The third part of the questionnaire (questions 16-18) addressed worship philosophy. This section was purely subjective and narrative, asking for a definition/purpose of worship and an evaluation of whether worship practice matched this ideal. A final question asked if there were any areas where change was desirable.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

By way of final remarks on the field research, I would thank the pastors and musicians who responded so quickly and helpfully on the surveys. I am a member of the Presbytery of Charlotte and these churches and pastors are dear to me. I am also passionate about worship and am responsible for the worship life of the presbytery as chair of the Ecclesiastical Affairs committee. The responses have, for the most part, born out some of the presuppositions of early chapters. These presuppositions included the thought that churches are struggling with worship, facing challenges of cultural change, staff conflict, shrinking membership, and lack of teaching about what worship is.

I was encouraged by the degree of thoughtfulness and planning evidenced by some and discouraged by the carelessness and procrastination shown by others. I feel for musicians who are hamstrung by pastors who either will not plan ahead, will not communicate well, or who otherwise hinder these servants of the Lord.

I was surprised at how many pastors had musical training or experience and at how few musicians had biblical or theological training. I was also surprised by the range of qualifications for the musicians, from virtually none to multiple degrees, including several with doctorates. In the musician responses, a staggering number of instruments were listed under proficiencies. I wonder if local churches are hearing accordion, flute, trombone, autoharp, dulcimer, and percussion from these musicians.

I was pleased to discover some of the resources used by the predominantly African-American churches for worship in a blended, Gospel style. I plan to find my own copy of The African-American Heritage Hymnal.

Finally, I was encouraged to find out how many churches are actually using newer styles and forms of music in worship. What could not be ascertained through this survey was to what degree services really were "blended" or if that word was used to describe minimal use of contemporary music. But, it is the direction of this project to argue that style is not the primary consideration. If the Church can be directed to the true and humble worship of God, style will find its appropriate place.

Link to Field Study Document (pdf): bit.ly/8yX9dz
Interested in the whole book?

balloon helps dream take flight - leigh wiley jenkins

2009-11-04T16:03:00.007-05:00

From an article to Disney employees on 10/20/2009...

If there's one thing Guest Relations Hostess Leigh Wiley has learned in her two years working at Magic Kingdom Park, it's that a simple act of kindness can often make a dream come true.

This Guest Relations Hostess act of kindness was small, but mighty.

Just recently, the Chandler family from Okeechobee, Fla., wrote a letter describing how Leigh made their day.

"All my 15 year-old wanted during our trip to [Disney's] Ft. Wilderness [Resort & Campground] was a balloon from the Magic Kingdom [Park]. We visited the [Guest Relations] area, but did not have the money to enter. I explained my daughter's wishes to the [Guest Relations Hostess] Leigh, and she said, 'This is where dreams come true.' Leigh asked us to wait a minute and she returned with the Mickey Mouse balloon. I will never forget the look in my daughter's eyes! You would have thought I bought her a Porsche! I want to thank the exceptional customer service your agent Leigh displayed. She is a true asset to your Company! Keep up the good work of making dreams come true!"

Leigh's leader, Attractions Guest Service Manager Sean Cernetic, was not surprised by the Guest letter. "Leigh is an amazing Cast Member," Sean said. "She's always smiling and has a real passion for the Guest experience."

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I won't comment much... is there something the Church could learn from Leigh and Disney? Often it's not the grand presentation or big sermon that makes a difference, but the small gestures that reveal the grace and presence of Christ... "small, but mighty."

Seems like something I heard in a sermon once from another member of the Wiley family. To them with ears to hear! :)