For Your Prayers...

My dear friend Molly and husband Matt have been in my thoughts and prayers a lot of late. Matt received word a little while back that he would be re-deployed to Iraq. That re-deployment begins this week.
It's times like these when I feel helpless...there's nothing I can do to stop him from going over there...the government has sent him the papers...he's on his way. Oh, how I wish I could pick up the Bat phone and call in help...but instead, will call upon those who pray to join me...
I ask for your prayers for Matt, and all who serve...and prayers for Molly, and all who love those who serve... And pray that come November, our nation can make a choice that will help us resolve this issue of war...Godspeed, Matt. Thanks.

Label-less

Last night I met with an amazing young couple who are in the process of becoming married. I had a great time talking with them-- getting to know about their backgrounds, how they met, etc. But more importantly, I was intrigued by the discussion we had about Church in Southern California. One grew up United Methodist, the other, Roman Catholic. Both place great value in finding a church community that they both feel comfortable in, and sense they can grow spiritually. My church is the closest thing they've found in their year-long search.
Both hail from other parts of the country where Church is more a part of life. One said, "We're used to being in larger churches. Every church, except the Catholic Church out here is small." "And old," the other commented.
It became clear the more we talked that the Church denominational label or brand was not that important to them. As the groom said, "We're all Christians. It's about sensing God and growing." They are in their twenties and a part of growing movement of folks in the U.S. according to an LA TIMES article, based on a Pew Study, that says people really don't care that much about denominational labels anymore. In fact, those labels don't seem to help much at all.
I know there are plenty of people in the UMC who'd like to think that our brand label is enticing to people. I'm sure it is to some, but to newer folks, not so much.
So it goes back to a question of ecclesiology-- are we helping ourselves or hurting ourselves when we focus so much on the denomination, the Annual Conference over the local church and the small groups happening therein?
As we think about the future of the Church, this is an important thing for us to wrestle with-- especially for Conference and denominational leaders who keep hammering us about pushing our label...maybe in this one case, a "designer label" really isn't that sexy....
What do you think?

Tagged

So my buddy Andy B. tagged me with this meme.

Here are the rules:

1 - Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (Just grab one, no cheating!)
2 - Find Page 123.
3 - Find the first 5 sentences.
4 - Post the next 3 sentences.
5 - Tag 5 people, who will post theirs in the comment section.

From "The New Chrstians" by Tony Jones:
"The hand gropes for an invisible lever; it waves slightly, and the fingers twitch. The hand is connected--by an arm that needs to be propped up by the other arm after fifteen minutes-- to a body that leans forward in its chair. Atop that body is a Brain full of Bible trivia and minutiae."

Though it does not ask for it...I want to share the next few sentences to help contextualize this:
"That Brain is most often connected to a mouth,, and the mouth longs to speak.
When I point to the hand, the Brain unlooses the tongue. 'Earlier you referred to a woman pastor that you work with. Isn't the Bible clear that women are not meant to be pastors?'"

I tag Molly, David, Karen, Clergyfreak, and anyone else who wants to play!

Where to Begin?

Yesterday I got to be a part of an interesting conversation about leadership and leadership training for folks in my annual conference. Without going into a lot of detail, the group gathered was there to help our new director of leadership begin to think about ways to offer training, support, and networking for pastors and laity in our area.
As I sat on a small group team talking about possible continuing education offerings, a couple of things struck me. One was a comment about how there are a large group of pastors who don't know where to look to get the kind of training they need to grow in their leadership. Now, I'm someone who loves to learn and am very committed to continually finding ways to grow and learn. So I know that there are plenty of ways to look for these kinds of opportunities. All day I was dumbfounded by that statement. Really, it just feels like a cop-out or a definite sign that these folks are not in ministry because they want to give their all. (Our system has not held us accountable, so it has perpetuated this behavior and attitude.) So one of the things we were taxed to do is to think about what sort of offerings we would need to have for those folks...
And then there is another level-- trying to find ways to offer courses, seminars, and other learning experiences for people who are stuck in the past and scared of the present. How can we offer things that will encourage pastors and laity to look in the world beyond the building and want to engage the people on our doorstep?
What sorts of courses do you think would be helpful? What suggestions would you make?

The Next Big Thing....

I've got a smartphone and this won't work with mine.....Certain to be the envy of other mainline Christians....Thanks to RevGals, all my United Methodist friends can be super-cool and download this.

Celebrity...

This topic has come up on a variety of occasions lately. A youth director from another church in the area was telling me that she polled her youth about what they want to be when they grow up. The kids overwhelmingly said, "Celebrities." She pushed them-- actors, pro athletes, politicians? No, celebrities like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richey. They want to be celebrities for the sake of being a celebrity.
And then I was talking to a friend who shared with me that she had a conversation with a pastor who informed her his way of growing his new church was to turn himself into a celebrity pastor. (How does one do that, I muse?) I wondered aloud if there was something you could get at the neighborhood Christian bookstore that, when taken twice daily with a meal, would turn you into a celebrity pastor.
And then in Kansas City, I had the chance to spend time with a couple of celebrity pastors and be at the church of another. For all the hype they receive, the ones we met were incredibly down-to-earth. And yet, at the same time, driven. I was thankful the celebrity status had not gone to their heads.
But it made me think...
There are some pastors out there who think the only way they are ever going to be validated is to become a celebrity pastor. There are some who can only look to celebrity pastors for inspiration. There are some who resent celebrity pastors because they do seem to get treated a little differently than the rest (for UMs, I'll talk specifically about this soon when I address itinerancy...).
What's become apparent to me is that our society has made it bad to be yourself. And that's precisely what I experienced of these celebrity pastors-- they were authentically themselves. It made me sad to think that folks might be chasing something they already have-- a createdness that could in fact be the difference they need as a spiritual leader.
While cliche, it is true in my book....celebrity is overrated....

Back from the Midwest....

Sorry it has taken me so long to share about my quick, exciting trip to Kansas City last week. I came down with a terrible cold. (And, since I'm the giving kind, promptly shared the cold with my husband!) So we're both recovering slowly from it...
Lovett set up a great, busy itinerary for us. We had the chance to visit a diverse group of churches in the greater Kansas City area and learned a lot about each community of faith. We began, after having lunch at a prominent BBQ joint in the city, at St. James UMC. St. James is a vibrant congregation in the inner city of Kansas City pastored by Emmanuel Cleaver, who is also a congressman. We met with staff and the District Superintendent and learned about how they lead a church while their pastor works half time on Capitol Hill.
We were then off to meet with Tim Keel. Tim started a church called Jacob's Well. I felt at home in conversation with Tim and in this church. It is an emergent style church, but what felt comfortable to me was their desire to live the way of Jesus as a rule of life-- it is the central core of everything they do. And you can tell. One of my colleagues said later, "Man, Tim kind of scared me, he was a lot like Jesus." There's a guy embodying his faith and living it out in community. We ended the day enjoying a meal with the homeless and learning about Revolution, a church intentional about living out the gospel in the urban context. The leadership really inspired many of the fellows for their conviction to care for the poor and neglected.

The next day we spent at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Church of the Resurrection in United Methodist circles is known as the "church that could." It is at 15,000+ members and talking about building the third phase of their facility to accommodate more folks in worship. They are clear about who they are and what they are about-- and everything about it (and it is a BIG facility) reflects beautifully and efficiently their mission, vision and values. The staff, especially the young adult staff, were so gracious to us and spent a lot of time sharing what they could. (Andrew, if you read this, please thank the others!)

And, our time with Adam Hamilton, lead pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, was helpful. Adam is in the picture with us fellows to the right (thanks to Ann Michel!). Ann and Lovett are also in the picture with us. (Adam is seated in the center).
Our final day we spent meeting with faculty at St. Paul School of Theology and for most, heading home. I got to enjoy a special treat since I had an eight hour wait to get to my plane (which was late!). I spent time with fellow blogger and all-around good guy Andy Bryan. Andy is a pastor in North Kansas City. We met at an event a few years back in Washington, D.C., when they were schooling us young ones on how the General Board of Church and Society works.
In Andy I find a kindred spirit in ministry, so getting to see his church and spend time enjoying lunch and conversation was a gift. Here's a shot of Andy and me. Thanks again, Andy for the hospitality!
I'll blog about some specific things that came up over the week once I've recovered a bit more....what I will say is, the people are super nice, there's a wonderful evangelical drive among the people of Kansas City I appreciate and learned from, and no matter what-- 10 degrees is TEN degrees!!! I was super glad to come back to SoCal and 54!!!