Community

Saturday we went to a hotdog roast over an open fire. Friday a lady in our church decided to have this cook out. She called everyone in the church and invited them. You can do that when you have a small church but still it was more than 20 phone calls I'm sure. So a bunch of people got together and we had a good time. It was a great example of community. Believers should get together outside of church sponsored activities and do life together.

So I've been more intentional lately at connecting with people. I know I need friends inside and outside of full time ministry. So through e-mail, phone calls, golf and going out to eat I am being intentional about relationships. I need to model what I teach. And I am trying to do just that.

Lucky Me!

We had an interesting time last week. We were on "vacation" for 10 days. It wasn't the most relaxing time but still nice to be away for a while. I was able to get some perspective. One thing that I was reminded of again and again was how beautiful my wife is! I love her so much and I got to see her all dressed up. Of course I had to buy her new shoes and a new dress for it to happen but it was worth it. I like to give her nice things and I am not able to do it very often because of financial constraints. But I like to spoil her if I can and the wedding we went to was a great opportunity. God provided for us. It was a formal wedding and I haven't seen Rebekah that dressed up since our wedding day. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Here is a picture although the lighting isn't great you can get at least an idea.

Rethinking church

We just returned from being out of town for 10 days. We are in the middle of some difficult times financially both personally and in the church I pastor. We aren't growing as fast as I would like either. So my natural tendency when something is too hard for me is usually to look for a way out of it. I know that this isn't good so I fight this inclination with prayer. But I really want to be in God's will so I have been praying about whether I should go or stay. There is a lot more to the conversation but maybe another time... At any rate I know in my heart that this is where God wants me to be. So it is time to roll up the sleeves and work harder.

At the same time I am weary of doing church the same way. There have been quite a few Sunday mornings when I have felt like the worship service was just me going through the motions of worship without really engaging God or leading the people. With the exception of the preaching I often don't enjoy church all that much. So I have begun to rethink the way we do church. How can we have an authentic gathering in the presence of God? What is it that we hope happens on a Sunday morning? There are a lot of questions. So I am going to examine the scriptures, examine what God is saying to my heart and listen to what other people have to say. Most important I want to discover what people in my community and my generation are thinking.

Yesterday I came across this article by this house church guy http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1255I am interested to hear what anyone else has to say about his "imagined interview" with some dim bulb stereotype church goer. I find a lot to disagree with him. I do think that there is a place for house church type of groups. In our church they are small groups. And we will be developing these more. But the article ticked me off and then I started thinking.

I know that I am called by God to be a vocational pastor. Meaning I believe God wants me to make my living preaching and teaching the pastor. I believe this to be biblical. So this is a starting place. I know at least this much, I am to be a pastor and preaching and teaching are an important part of who I am and how I serve God. So what's next?