Intentional Plans

This week has been a whirlwind of activity. Yesterday, I perused a stack of resumes for a office position we're hoping to fill in the coming 2 weeks. Today, I spent the whole day--locked in a room full of white boards, coffee, and ministry staff--drafting next year's intentional plan. It was productive and helpful. It was also profoundly draining.

The learning curve in this new role is steep. But I can actually feel the prayers of the people. It's a wild ride and I have a sense that it's just beginning.

It's fun being the interim lead pastor but my favorite role is that of husband and dad. After all, there are fewer conversations involving white boards and I can wear my pajamas and not get weird looks.

Submission

I'm only three days into my new ministry role and I'm starting to wonder why church leadership looks a lot more like a wrestling match (where the goal is forcing others into submission) rather than the stuff Jesus talked about (for example, loving God and loving our neighbours)?

I don't think we should stop using the discipline of submission. Maybe we need to start practicing it on ourselves instead of forcing it on others.

This evening I read the chapter on submission out of Richard Foster's classic book, Celebration of Discipline. Here's what Foster says about leadership and authority, "The most radical social teaching of Jesus was his total reversal of the contemporary notion of greatness. Leadership is found in becoming the servant of all. Power is discovered in submission."

I wish I could lead more like Jesus and less like the guy on the mat.

Thoughts on mentoring

Right now, part of my calling is to mentor emerging leaders.

It seems strange since I always assumed that offering guidance to younger people would come when I was much older, at least after I turned thirty-five.

Instead, I've been watching a few twenty-somethings hovering around wondering if I might be able to invest a bit of my life in them.

It's part of the reason why I love teaching at the college. It's also part of the reason Erika and I are looking for new ways to get a little closer to some post-adolescents, especially those who are sensing God's call toward pastoral ministry.

So, whether formally or informally, I'm committed to enter the life chaos of those Jesus followers, especially twenty-somethings, who are walking the road toward Christian maturity.

Lesson #3

Erika and I are sharing "Ten lessons in ten years" with the 55+ group at our church tomorrow.

We'll be telling stories from the first decade of our life together.

Here's #3:

Don't wait for the perfect time. The first few verses of Ecclesiastes 11 talk about not waiting until the right circumstances before planting, reaping or taking risks. There will never be a perfect time. You will never have enough money. Your ducks will never align themselves or stay ordered in the row of your choice. So, take risks. Be crazy. Take a road you've never travelled. Eat another cinnamon bun even when you feel full.

Forget that last one.

Staff turnovers aren't like apple turnovers.

It feels like our church is losing staff members at a record rate.

Four pastors/directors (plus another one this June) and two support staff in three years. They've either stepped down or moved on to something else.

I find it hard to say good-bye to people who have mentored, supported, and shared the same wild path of ministry with me.

Yet in the midst of our transition folks have been asking our staff how we're feeling. Here's what I think: we're reeling. Not because the load is heavy (which it is) or because we're lacking vital skills and gifts to pastor our church (which we're not). It's because we have to say good-bye so often.

There is a bright side: people are stepping up to serve and work alongside us without expectation of payment; our staff team is having fun playing to our strengths; and we're working and praying together in a spirit of unity.

I just can't help but wonder something: did my coming have anything to do with the staff goings? Weird coincidence or am I missing something?

The Shack, eh?

An older, church-going friend of mine has been bugging me to get my hands on a copy of The Shack for months. So, I finally set some time aside and read it this week.

Although I would have taken a slightly different angle, William Young illuminated some of life's greatest mysteries--from horrendous human loss to God's Trinitarian relationship.

It was great.

Want to know my favorite part?

It's Jesus' response to Mack's query about why he doesn't command the two foot long trout to bite his hook or jump in the boat:

Jesus says, "But what would be the fun in that, eh?" (p. 177).

The Shack confirms it; Jesus speaks Canadian.

Church History vs. NHL Hockey

Bad news.

My Christian Worship through the Centuries class was supposed to spend Friday morning at Christ the Saviour Antiochian Orthodox church in Waterloo. The priest was going to spend some time filling us in about the liturgy and worship practices of the ancient Eastern church.

Unfortunately, the he landed some last minute hockey tickets for him and his kids to a Thursday night Sens game.

We'll try again next week.