The first place I go with people when starting to talk about ministry is to the incarnation. All ministry is going to where people are, emptying ourselves, investing in relationship, loving, being. I’m always looking for new ways that ministries and churches are being incarnational in their approaches to ministry.
I recently had the opportunity to be in Manchester, Connecticut and had a great conversation with Wayne Keller who is a pastor and also a division director for Marketplace Chaplains USA. They supply chaplains to businesses across the USA. How’s it work? Basically a business contacts them about providing a chaplain for their employees. They find a pastor in the area who can spend a few hours a week at this place of business. His/her job is solely to build relationships and be available if someone there wants to talk, pray, etc. For those of us with youth ministry background its the Young Life model applied to businesses. I love this idea! They are incredibly sensitive to not be agressive about sharing their faith, preaching, praying out loud and singing Carman songs.
A few things are particularly fascinating to me about this:
1) According to Wayne, while most of the businesses that called them when they started were those with Christian owners, the momentum is shifting away from that. Most of their new business friends are non-churched owners who are looking for ways to invest in their employees as whole people, beyond just health care and a paycheck. The realization of business owners that they can invest in people in this way is great! It also makes me realize that while the initial rush of people into churches post-911 (particularly in the East where the attacks were closest) , starved for some kind of a spiritual answer, for some way to process, has subsided, it is still there lingering under the surface.
2) I think this is a great model for pastors to enter the work place as people who care and are interested in relationships. What an open door to new relationships! I wonder if some people I know might be interested in this kind of minsitry (whether formally through this organization or not). I see this as a great way to “go”.
I just finished up at Tim Keel’s Intuitive Leadership Conference here in KC. It was phenomenal. God has truly gifted Tim with the poetic ability to put words to the things we are experiencing and feeling. The conference is a follow up/supplement to Tim’s book which I highly recommend.
Here’s a summary:
(more…)
Last weekend I was back home in Flint, Michigan for another Discipleship Summit. I took my youngest son, Isaiah with me. Of course we spent a lot of time with my family. Isaiah had a great time being the only cousin/grandson from out of town for the weekend.
I got to spend some time with my brother, Kevin. He and the youth ministry that he is a part of had just completed the 30-hour famine. They had a great time serving, learning and raising funds for a great project in North Malawi. The group set a goal for funds to be raised and my brother promised that if they made their goal he would be dying his hair the color of their choosing. I called the Tuesday before I came and the report came back that it did not look good for the group to meet its goal. The hair seemed safe. In fact even after the initial count of funds the goal seemed quite out of reach. But, in a some what miraculous turn of events the money poured in and the hair had to be changed.
Thankfully I was on the scene to record my brother’s turn from brown hair to green. While I am both proud of my brother and a tad incredulous that this happened, I can’t help but applaud his commitment to teenagers, to the gospel and to being a part of making a difference in this needy area in Africa. It made me
wonder what I’d be willing to change or give up for the sake of the gospel. Thanks Kevin for modeling a passion for change (in more ways than one)!
I mentioned in the midst of this process that Kevin could just keep with the theme of change and go just a few blocks down and get a tattoo as well. He responded that would have to be another fund-raiser. I’m putting in the first $10.00.
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Just ran into an interesting article about truth on TechCrunch, an online magazine about the technology industry. There is an ongoing debate as to the effectiveness and truth of Wikipedia. Truth, in all her beauty, has appeared again center stage as people argue over who she really is and who should be in control of naming something true or not.
It’s fascinating to me that in this age of post-modernity where people have claimed for years that truth is defined by community, that this issue has arisen at this time in this way. The quote of the article comes towards the end in the writers assessment of this debate…
“But the truth is that Truth itself is always evolving, even the experts’ notion of it.”
Two main things stick out to me here…
1) It is becoming apparent that even in an era where the community that you are with sets the parameters for what is true and what isn’t, there are people within your community that have more of a say or are more of an expert. Which makes me wonder how we talk about and live out Scripture, God and, yes here’s the word, truth? What metaphors continue to be helpful and which seem to fall away? (i.e. truth is like a building with foundation, truth is like a web where part can be destroyed but it doesn’t wreck the whole web, etc.)
2) What is the role of truth in our faith communities? How do we view it? If this debate was on the Bible instead of Wikipedia, which side would we fall on? Which side would YOU fall on?
I’m heading back home from a trip to Connecticut and New York. I Saturday night and today (Sunday) with Richard Griffiths and his band of “Misfits” at Bronx Bethany Nazarene. They were great hosts to me and extended the best hospitality to me. As always, I had a great time just talking youth ministry with Richie. He is an amazingly naturally great youth pastor. He organically knows many things that took me years to figure out. He is great at branding his ministry which is hyper important (and effective) in his context, has a growing concept of ministering to systems (and not just kids), and is a master at knowing the right question to ask to people at the right time. It was evident that God’s Spirit is at work in Richie, his church and his ministry.
I had the privilege of doing the teaching time during their youth service on Saturday night. I taught from the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19. I talked about what it meant to be a tax collector in that time and part of the reason that Zaccheus was in a tree and not just butting to the head of the crowd. Then I talked about Jesus and kingdom that he was bringing, a kingdom that bursts through barriers that are created for us and that we create, to love us and welcome us.
This morning I got to worship with them. Although I had to duck out after over 2 hours of service to catch my flight, I enjoyed it very much (sorry Rev. Benji, nothing personal on your preaching). It was impressive to me the intentionality they had in discipling people, educating them in theology and doctrine and prayer. These things came up in every kind of conversation there, informal and formal. Clearly Rev. Dr. Vassel is busy!
Saturday morning was a Discipleship summit in Rockville, CT. We had a great time in our youth leaders workshop talking about the struggles and victories in discipling students today. It was refreshing to hear people’s passion for connecting with students in relationships and integrating them into the whole of the church. Praise God for people who truly care for students!!
While I have to honestly say that I’m pretty sick of travel, this was a great trip! I was so encouraged by my time with people!
