Truth and Love

Baby Diet for Daddy

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:41:00 +0000

The last two years have not been kind to me in the weight department. I finished up my masters degree in 2010, which meant long hours of sitting on my butt in front of a computer or reading a book. In 2011, I neglected my own health on several levels while dealing with the death of my parents.

But it's a new year, and there's a reason to smile again...

My wife and I are expecting our first child in July! The loss of both of my parents, especially the sudden cardiac-related death of my dad, has me on high alert. I want to be healthy. I want to live as long as possible to experience the joys of being a father, and someday, a grandfather. I want to be around long enough to grow old and wrinkly with the love of my life. This renewed sense of my own mortality is one of the primary things pushing me to lose weight, get fit, and stay healthy.

So my wife and I have entered into a little competition of sorts. I'm to shed a pound for every one she gains during the next 6 months of pregnancy. The total should be somewhere between 25-30 pounds, putting me at a goal weight around 165-170. I haven't weighed 170 pounds or less since around my sophomore year of high school. Add to it the fact that my wife is eating ice cream for two every night, and you see what a struggle this might be.

Pray for me. :)

For those interested, I'm heavily leaning on livestrong.com "MyPlate" feature to track calories and exercise. Unlike many diet plans such as Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, it's completely free (at least the basic versions are, which is good enough to get the job done). I've got it set to lose about a pound and a half a week, and so far, I'm ahead of the curve.

Praying With A Covered Head

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:42:00 +0000

We gathered outside the dining hall around noon, the smell of fresh baked pizza overwhelming our minds and stomachs. There are a lot of things that make a summer youth camp a "good" camp, but certainly high on the list is whether or not the food is edible. This year, the food is exceptional! Never in my life had I been to a camp where the volunteer kitchen staff turned out so much food from scratch. Add to that the fact that it's pizza day, and every 13 year old boy is going nuts (including the 13-year old boy inside this 27 year old man). But before we could head in to devour the teen delicacy, a prayer was needed. And it was my turn to utter the blessing into the megaphone.

All it took were the magic words "Let us pray," and the ball caps disappeared.

It was an odd thing to watch, three little words stimulating such a Pavlovian response from the male campers. Hats with the familiar green "O" on the front, a few well-worn Beaver caps, and even a Cubs lid -- all were quickly removed for prayer. The expectation had been set and the teens were following through. Those who didn't got a little reinforcement for their lack of conditioning -- "Take your hats off boys. We're prayin'."

There was only one problem: my hat didn't budge, something that was noticed and later brought to my attention by more than one of the campers. Mike, the youth pastor, the lead prayer, had disrespected God by forgetting (maybe even refusing?) to remove his Ohio State cap. The boys wanted to know why. My answer at the time wasn't complete or memorable, but it was a question a long time in the making. It's probably better I didn't fully answer their question -- some questions are best turned back to the questioner -- and it wasn't the time or the place to make a fuss.

So why didn't I remove my hat? There's an obscure passage in 1 Corinthians 11:4-7 that is often cited as Scriptural support for the practice. Paul says that a man who prays or prophesies with his "head covered" dishonors his "head." But if we're going to take this verse and apply it to the wearing of hats, then we should really instruct all of our boys to take off their caps and pass it to the girls standing next to them, for the verse goes on to say that if a woman prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, she dishonors her head. So to recap, from a literal reading of 1 Corinthians, we should instruct all men to never wear hats, and all women to always wear hats. Because Paul also instructs us to "pray without ceasing." You never know when God might catch us with our hat on.

Bible quotations aside, the ritual of removing our hats when we pray is more likely tied to cultural customs of showing respect. We're told to remove our hats when we enter a building, when we eat at the dinner table, and when we stand during the National Anthem. All of these are American customs of showing respect. In that line of thought, I completely understand why we would tell our men to remove their caps when praying -- "You're talking to God son, show some respect!" (Of course, this still doesn't address why we don't tell women the same thing, but that's for another blog)

But I fear the meaning gets lost in translation. And more than teaching our teens how to show respect, I fear that we are using the resources of Christianity for socialization more than theologization. This happens whenever and wherever Christianity is used, either consciously or unconsciously, as a tool to advance socially acceptable behavior, regardless how or if the behavior ties in to the story of Christ or the ethic of loving God and neighbor. In this approach, Jesus is not the end, but a means to an end, a means to raising up the next generation of "good little boys and girls." This happens in youth ministries when we allow our mission to be subtly defined as "keeping kids out of trouble," which to the parents is often interpreted as "helping me keep my boy from drinking and my little girl from getting pregnant." Keeping kids out of trouble is a worthwhile pursuit, but it's not the pursuit. There were a lot of "respectful" people who wanted nothing to do with Jesus. There still are.

We often fall prey to a cultured understanding of Christianity, an understanding that welcomes Christianity as a nice addition to the hopes and goals of the education system, the health professionals, and the local law enforcement. But what if God wants to do more in someone's life than transform them into a respectful, conservative, law-abiding citizen? What if He wants to completely revolutionize the way they see the world, and that revolution will at times contradict and prod the cultural understandings of "niceness?"

Jesus didn't call a bunch of men to follow Him so he could turn them into upstanding 1st century Palestinian citizens. I wonder how long it was until the disciples realized they should put on a kippah in Jesus' presence. In Judaism, putting on a head covering is a sign of respect. Confused? Me too.

Joe Nelms: The NASCAR Pastor

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:56:00 +0000

...in Jesus' name, boogity boogity boogity, Amen!

And with that phrase, the legacy of Darrell Waltrip found it's way into Pastor Joe Nelms' prayer.

But not before Dodge, Toyota, Ford, Sunoco, or Goodyear. In a ripoff of Talladega Nights, the Baptist pastor thanked God for those major NASCAR sponsors earlier in his invocation, right alongside his "smokin' hot wife" Lisa and his two children Eli and Emma ("the Little E's).

Reactions to the Ricky Bobby imitation have varied. Many Christians were delighted just to see a believer portrayed in a positive light for a change. More than a few youtube videos have labeled Nelm's words "The Best Prayer Ever." But others found the prayer to be over-the-top, or worst yet, blasphemous. GetReligion columnist Sarah Pulliam Bailey finds it quite humorous that people seem to be struggling identifying pastors as people who can have fun. Maybe she's right -- maybe it's high time that pastors take a joke and learn to tell a few in the process. But I'm not so sure Joe Nelms intended to tell a joke. Was this an invocation, or a standup routine? Your reaction to the prayer is largely dependent on your answer to that question, and whether or not you judge Nelms motives to be gospel-centered. (Of course, we don't have access to his motives, so anything we muster is just a subjective guess.)

To be honest, I'm just confused.

Why exactly do we pray before NASCAR events (or before any sporting event for that matter?) What is the purpose of having an invocation on raceday? And what does such a prayer hope to accomplish?

It seems as if Pastor Joe Nelm's aim was to use his invocation as an opportunity to show the world, as Bailey put it, that pastors (and by extension, Christians) can have "a little fun." By channeling a popular Will Ferrell movie and displaying his vast knowledge of racing sponsors and vendors, the Tennessean pastor legitimizes Christians as people who aren't afraid to laugh and enjoy a good race. And after all, as Nelms quoted, the Bible does in fact say to "give thanks in all things," though I've always thought the "things" the writer was referring to there were circumstances, not stuff or activities.

But rather than legitimizing pastors to the surrounding culture, I fear that acts like praying at NASCAR events show pastors to be more irrelevant than ever. As Eugene Peterson writes:

"One of the indiginities to which pastors are routinely subjected to is to be approached, as a group of people are gathering for a meeting or a meal, with the request, 'Reverend, get things started for us with a little prayer will ya?' It would be wonderful if we would counter by bellowing William McNamara's fantasized response: 'I will not! There are no little prayers!'...By uttering a prayer to 'get things started' we legitimize and bless a thin and callow secularism -- everyone is now free to go his or her own way without thinking about God any more." (Peterson, Working the Angles, 46-47)

How can the Church be taken seriously when we use invocations -- the act of "calling on" God -- for the purpose of kicking off a fun event in good spirits?

When asked to give an invocation in this manner, be it praying at a race or at the election of a public official, I'm afraid we are accepting a post-Christian culture's understanding of the work of the pastor. Which is tempting, because we pastors want to be liked, we want to be "relevant," we want to be seen as socially adept. But being a chaplain to the culture leaves little room for being a prophet or a revolutionary agent in the Kingdom of God. "It's hard to maintain a self-concept as a revolutionary when everyone treats us with the same affability they give the grocer" (Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor, 30) In my opinion, Pastor Nelms falls into the trap and gives in to the demand to sprinkle a little holy water on the culture's good intentions.

To me, the fact that the NASCAR prayer has been considered as one of "the best prayers ever" just goes to show that most of us Christians have really no idea what we are doing or Who we are invoking when we pray. And I fear that our accommodation to the culture is actually having the opposite effect we had hoped for -- rather than showing that we "belong", we are proving we shouldn't be taken all that seriously. Do we have any idea the dynamite we are playing with?

"On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does not one believe a word of it?...It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets." (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, 52)

Of course, there are many more questions to ask and issues to ponder with Nelms' prayer. Should prayer be advertisement? CNN reports that though an endorsement deal wasn't his aim, the pastor isn't opposed to it. And how much did the press coverage and notoriety he received from a similar prayer he gave at a race in April effect his approach to this prayer? Was this sincere, or a youtube stunt? Though we may never know the answers to these questions, the fact that we are even asking them shows what has become of prayer --and the pastor--in the 21st century.

Reflection on The Gathering 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:47:00 +0000

Up until now, I've largely kept my posts on The Gathering to the notes I managed to type up while listening to the main rally speakers. But if for no one else but myself, I'd like to go further and reflect a bit on my experience in Jacksonville. Were there some themes that emerged? Can it be said that there was a general attitude that pervaded The Gathering? What will I "take away" from the week?

First, let me just say that I was incredibly grateful to just be there, especially with my wife. There were some other youth pastors there, as well as other miscellaneous staffers, but in a down economy it's likely that most churches elected to fund their senior pastor's way this year and left the staff pastors to find their own way. Without the help of the Kern Family Foundation (who also paid for my MDiv) and a gracious LBA, I would not have been able to make the trip, and certainly not with my wife. Perhaps this overwhelming sense of gratefulness makes me bias towards the whole experience, preferring to see the good wherever it is found.

(A more "glass is half-empty" perspective on the Gathering can be found in Ken Schenck's post. Keith Drury has also summarized his thoughts on the event here.)

#1 -- Hope

There seemed to be a general attitude of hope that pervaded The Gathering. I counted approximately 4 times where the "optimism of grace" the Wesleyan Church claims in its doctrine was quoted or alluded to. There was a hopeful expectation that the Church of Christ is moving forward, and more specifically, the Wesleyan Church.

The song of the week for me was Hosanna led by Paul Baloche (who was just phenomenal at leading!). Lyrics such as "hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You" and "in Your kingdom, broken lives are made new" captured what seemed to be the ethos of the event.

#2 -- Diversity

The organizers of The Gathering made an intentional effort to highlight ministries happening through and among minorities. One rally was kicked off with Tu Gracia es Sufficiente ("Your Grace is Enough"), led by a bi-lingual worship team. Perhaps the most engaging speaker of the entire event was a black woman (Brenda Salter McNeil). And though not as intentional, during a call for church planting funds, Troy Evans, a black man and former gang member who pastors a hip-hop church in Grand Rapids took the mic.

But even though racial diversity took center-stage (quite literally at times), no one in the Wesleyan Church should be fooled into thinking that diveristy is becoming a majority trend. I doubt the diversity in our denomination is as widespread as the conference made it seem. The vast majority of the audience of pastors and spouses was middle class and white. However, it might be true that diversity is flourishing more than I realize, but that the people and faces who best represent that movement were unable to make it to Jacksonville (which wouldn't be a shocker considering the price tag)

#3 -- Restructuring/Influence

Perhaps as continuation of the rumblings heard at the last General Conference, it seemed to me that there is still a large contingent of folks who feel the denomination needs restructuring to empower local churches even more than they already are. I say it that way because compared to a lot of denominations (except the "non-denominational" denominations), I think the Wesleyan Church encourages autonomy and is more bent towards empowering local leadership than most. In a lot of ways, we started as a bottom-up movement and still are. But I heard several conversations -- particularly among younger pastors and church planters -- who feel that we need to flatten the structure even more.

But of those who complained, I felt like they were doing so, not to be a pain in the neck of the denomination, but because they really want the Wesleyan Church to have a Christ-like influence in the world. And they want to make sure that their concerns are being heard and that they have a seat at the table as the denomination tries to move forward (this was particularly a concern for younger pastors).

Overall, I was highly blessed to be a part of The Gathering. It was so great to reconnect with some old friends of Indiana Wesleyan and to just spend a few days in worship with 1,800 other ministers of the gospel.

Live at The Gathering 5

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Thursday Night Rally

Mark Batterson

(Lead Pastor of National Community Church)

**70% of NCC is twentysomething singles who work on Capital Hill…the church meets in coffee shops, movie theatres, etc…**

- Weird moment at coffee house church – Wolf Blitzer is ordering a drink, and Mark looks over, and Wolf is on the TV.

- “If there were departments in the kingdom of God, we [NCC] would want to work in ‘Research and Development’.”

- We’re absolutely orthodox in theology, but we’re a little unorthodox in praxis.

“We take constants for granted, and we have to be careful because no one is more constant than God.”

Matthew 10 = “The Original Commission”…Jesus’ locker-room talk before the big game. Especially pertinent to us as disciples in today’s world.

10:1—Regardless of your ecclesiology or your church governance system [Batterson doesn’t know the Discipline and doesn’t care], you were not elected by a board, or placed by a supervisor; you were called by Jesus Christ.

- You don’t preach because you have to – because you are on the calendar – you preach because you have to – because you have something shut up in your bones you’ve been called to share.

- Mark shares the experience of the first time he ever got paid to preach. Before that, he had no clue what an “honorarium” was. We need to be reminded of WHY we preach…WHY we got into this business.

Scientists tell us that over time, most people move from being predominantly right- brained to being left-brained. We start out primarily creative and imaginative and then move on to logic and reason.

- The danger of the church and for pastors is that we get stuck there. We get to the point where we are doing ministry out of memory rather than imagination.

- There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet!

Matt. 10:16 – Batterson: “Wow, four animals in one verse.” haha

- Everyone of the disciples except John meet martyrdom, and according to legend, John survived an insane attempt on his life (boiling water).

- Is there an element of danger in your ministry? Are you bored with what you are doing?

- Shrewd as a snake = a mind sensitized to God and to the surrounding culture. “It’s not ok to get A’s in biblical exegesis, and F’s in cultural exegesis.”

- Innocent as a dove = When Mark was 22, his goal was to pastor a church of 1,000. And he now confesses that he did it for the wrong reasons, and a result, forfeited 90% of the blessings that came with success.

Live at The Gathering 4

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Putting aside the philosophical debate on the value of judgments based on experience, I've always believed that the best argument for women in ministry is not found in exegesis, but in personally hearing and watching a woman who has been clearly anointed by the spirit of God. The crowd of The Gathering was treated to such an experience when Brenda Salter McNeil took the microphone Thursday morning.

__________________

Thursday Morning Rally- “Stronger Influence”

Brenda Salter McNeil

(evangelist, pastor, and reconciliation scholar)

Esther 4:12-14

“Who, Me?: A Call to Stronger Influence for Such a Time as This”

Debate between born leader vs. nurtured leader – probably a combination

Law #19 of John Maxwell’s “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” is the “law of timing”

- Many of us were in the right place at the right time…a time and place requiring leadership, and we stepped up to the plate.

- Martin Luther King Jr. is an example of someone pushed forward by the law of timing…and so is Esther.

Those of us who feel like we’ve had too much drama or damage in our life to be leaders in the kingdom of God ought to take a hard look at Esther’s lot – parents are evidently dead, being raised by her uncle, a woman in a man’s world, etc… HOPE

- “I’m glad that the Bible doesn’t give us the whole story of why Esther’s in the place she is…because some things just ain’t none of our business!” haha

- Esther’s not interested in social change, she’s not trying to transform her city…she’s just hoping for ”normal.” She isn’t paying attention to the political climate of the day when the king ropes her into his beauty contest. But the law of timing…

**Sidenote: We never know when our ability to speak more than one language will save our lives or the lives of our children or children’s children. America is the only country in the world where its citizens rarely speak more than one language. Most countries are multi-lingual, not just bi-lingual.**

Mordecai is confusing to McNeil. “The same guy who says assimilate [told Esther not to let anyone know she was a Jew] is the one guy who won’t do it [won’t bow to Haman].”

- Moredecai is trying to get someone’s attention in the palace/church, to get someone to step out of the holy huddle, and pay attention to what is going on out here.

- McNeil somewhat supports the sentiment of Keith Loy from last night: The church is the hope of the world. But, she somewhat contradicts it. She notes that Mordecai doesn’t say: “If you won’t rise up and do it, no one else will.” Instead, he says, “If you don’t rise up, God will use someone else to deliver the Jews. God will move on.” The question is, will you be a part of it?

-We take our experience with one person and turn it into a label for everyone who looks like them: All immigrants are illegals…all black people are thugs…all young people are punks, etc.

-“I’ve come to this conference to challenge The Wesleyan Church to be what it is. Who, me? Yes you!

Live at The Gathering 3

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Keith Loy, lead pastor of the highly creative Celebrate Community Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was the main session speaker on Wednesday night. Though I had heard of Keith and the Celebrate community, I had never witnesses his passion for the gospel firsthand. I'll admit that I shed tears two separate times this evening, once during Rev. Loy's pressing about whether or not pastor's really love their people, and once during a video of one of Celebrate's baptismal services. Powerful, powerful stuff!

In my opinion, Keith delivered what will probably be remembers as the line of the entire conference: "When we start protecting what we like, we stop pursuing what God loves."

_____________

Keith Loy

(Wed. night rally)

The Church is the hope of the world; It has its cracks, it has its faults, but there is no backup plan.

Need a worship leader? Maybe you should stop looking at the local college and check out the guy bagging your groceries. “Everything you need, God has already given to your church.”

Matthew 9:35-38

Jesus SAW people

-We walk by people every day who are begging to be noticed – 40% of Americans experience intense loneliness every day (Gallup)

-We are supposed to be the light of the world…light begins with SIGHT.

Jesus had COMPASSION

-Questions: “Pastors, do you really like your people?”…“Do they know it?”

-It has to be personal.

-We don’t save anyone. Our job is to create atmospheres where God can.

Jesus met their NEEDS

-The only church I know is the church I’ve known. What could the church be if I got out of God’s way? When we start protecting what we like, we stop pursuing what He loves: people.

-“Well that won’t work in my church”…. First, it’s not your church. Second, it might work in His.

Live at The Gathering 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Notes from the Wedensday afternoon session I attended featuring author and pastor Gordon MacDonald. I loved his candor -- check out what he had to say about the intellectual disciplines and what the average pastor is reading these days. And the way that he was able to blend insights from positive psychology with theological reflection was brilliant. Enjoy:

__________________

Session 2: “The Resilient Pastor” w/ Gordon MacDonald

-Based on his book “A Resilient Life”

3 Themes that keep coming back around in Gordon’s life:

(1) Relationships – What difference does it make in people’s relationships when Christianity is present?

(2) Influence –

(3) The Interior Life – What goes on inside a person that causes what you see outside a person?

a. Plagued with the idea that he was less spiritual than he ought to be, and that one day, people will find out.

Early years of Gordon’s ministry seemed to be highly successful. But inside, things were falling apart – too spread out with speaking engagements, unanswered questions surrounding tough funerals, etc.. It wasn’t until his wife said “You know, you haven’t spent much time with your kids lately” that he broke down in tears.

When you are young and full of energy, and can preach a decent sermon without much effort, you can get away with a lot. But there will be a day of reckoning.

Chart on screen = two patterns of ministry: (#1) start strong, plateau, then decline [vs] (#2) start slow, builds momentum, and ascends.

· Gordon has reached the conviction that our best ministry, our best work, should be in our 60’s and 70’s.

· But most people leave ministry before they get there.

o Too focused on outer world, and not enough focus on inner world.

· Quotes from Jean Vanier and Henri Nouwen – “What are the spiritual resources for leaders?”…”What allows them to teach, counsel, and celebrate with a continuing sense of wonder, joy, gratitude, and praise?”

Focus on “resiliency” comes from positive psychology – what makes well people “well?” (rather than “what makes sick people sick?”

Four Components of Resilient Persons:

(1) An energizing story – a memory which powerfully shapes the present

(2) A converted imagination – which helps us project ourselves into the future

(3) Critical initiatives – the discipline to do and complete something despite hesitancy or apathy.

(4) Intentional community

Why did Israel struggle so much against Moses and God in the desert? They were still operating under the psychology of slavery (memory, imagination, initiative, and community). They left Egypt, but Egypt hadn’t left them.

· Much of the Old Testament is about refreshing the people of Israel’s story, about renewing their imagination, about regaining their initiative, and about rebuilding their community.

How Resilient People “Repair Yesterday” / “Clean up their stories”

-They name the “blocks” and “breakthroughs” in their lives

-They forgive – they search out who must be given grace

-They repent – they own up to what they are responsible for

-They are gracious – they thank those who should be (even if they don’t think so)

-They learn – they don’t let an event go by without asking, “what does this mean”

· Reflection = wisdom.

-They steward – Once they’ve gained wisdom, and cleaned up their story, they use it to serve others

Converted Imagination/Character

Gordon no longer believes that conversion is a one-time event that you continually point back to for energy. He has come to the conclusion that he should be “converted” every morning, just like he renews his love for his wife of 50 years every day. He also asks God to update his call on a frequent basis.

· Though I agree with MacDonald, I appreciate how he avoids making his “progressive conversion” idea a normative statement. He is just speaking from experience and what he is discovering at this point in his life. It allows those in the room who may hold a more “one-time event” view of conversion (for lack of a better descriptor) to stay with him and hear him.

Gordon sat down when he was 48 years old and made a list of all the older people in his life. He realized that of the many names, only 4 were people he would want to spend recreational time with. Most were cynical, bitter, and uncreative. And he set out to be like the other 4 for the second half of his life.

Critical Initiatives

He worked hard to ask what kind of core disciplines every person serious about being a Christian should engage in? Ignore more than one of them, and you will wake up one day and realize there are gaping holes in your armor:

-Physical …as important to Gordon as ever – pastors must be leaders in this area!)

-Intellectual …stop memorizing answers and start asking hard questions)

· He’s appalled at what the average evangelical pastor and is reading these days. The bestseller list is full of trash.

-Emotional

-Relational

-Moral

-Ego …Gordon’s wife is his VP of “ego containment”…every failed king in the OT)

-Giftedness (God is disappointed in those who coast in their gifts)

-Financial …stay out of debt but live inside the financial borders of your people

-Organizational

-Spiritual reflection

Intentional Community

The “Jesus and me” spirituality lacks historical/theological credibility.

No longer considers his wife his “best friend” – she’s his wife. Men need eachother.

The average pastor hits his/her tenure in a church (5, 8, 10 years) and move son to the next one. When they do, anyone close to being called a “friend” starts to turn their affections to the next pastor down the line.

Key questions: Who is really there for you? Who mentors you (“a baseline of wisdom”)? Who makes you aspire to be better? Who challenges you to think? Who cheers your dreams? Who cares enough to rebuke you? Who is merciful to you when you fail (a trademark of the Christian movement)? Who shares the load is pressurized moments without being asked? Who brings fun and laughter into your life? Who gives you perspective when you are dispirited? Who listens? Who inspires you to seek faithfully after God?

Gordon has a close friendship with Tony Compolo. When they get together, they grab a table for the whole day at a restaurant, promise a big tip, and just go at it.

· “And if any of you know Tony, you know that he does 90% of the talking”

“Many times, the people who make us think the most are non-Christians.”

Live From The Gathering 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:27:00 +0000

Thanks to an incredibly generous grant from the Kern Family Foundation, and the blessing of the people of Mountain View Church, my wife and I are at The Gathering in not-so-sunny Jacksonville, Florida. It's a conference designed for the revitalization and equipping of Wesleyan pastors and their spouses. And it's been a blast so far! It's been amazing to reconnect with some old friends from college, as well as my colleagues from the IA-MN district.

I told a few people that I would take notes of any sessions I was a part of and would post them as they came in. So without further ado, here are my notes from a session on "Effective Pastoral Staffs" with several leaders from Kentwood Community Church:

______________

The Gathering

2011 Theme: “Stronger Together”

Session 1: Effective Pastoral Staffs w/ Kyle Ray (Lead), Jerry DeRuiter (Executive), Linda Jenson (Care and Counseling) – Kentwood Community Church

· 10 pastors, support staff, and daycare staff = 66 staff members at KCC

· Staff led church (vs. “elder led church) – the board governs, the pastors lead, and the church ministers.

WHAT EFFECTIVE STAFFS KNOW:

(1) Their God-given mission and vision (Prov. 29:18)

-KCC’s mission = “Reaching Out, Raising up”. KCC’s Vision = “Real People, Real Love, Real Life”

-Strategic planning @ KCC includes lead team (which represent staff areas), the board, and congregation members.

(2) That connectedness leads to fruitfulness (John 15)

-Results matter; connectedness matters more

-Churches (and staff) should be held accountable for their fruit

(3) The needs of their surrounding community.

-Schools, police, residential, business, government, and other churches. Police chaplaincy = a great “in.” [KCC has 2 staff that do this]

- The whole “If your church closed or left town, would anyone in the neighborhood miss you?” idea– Focus on community transformation—Spread your pastors out in the community – police chaplains, school campus ministries, detention centers, neighborhood watches, etc…

-Call town hall meetings in various neighborhoods.

(4) It’s not all about the pastors (Eph. 4) – 1,000 volunteers/week at KCC

(5) The health of their local church body

-KCC uses National Church Development surveys and Reveal {Willow}

(6) Their strengths

(7) Their weaknesses

(8) Their areas of opportunity

-Opportunities to equip, empower, mentor, etc…

-Array of ways to personally touch congregants…prayer cards, “back door touches” [4-week = “we miss you” and 12-week = “why have you left?”]

-Track through contact cards, giving, and kids ministry

(9) The threats to their team

-Staff turnover

-Congregation feels underutilized (“They don’t need us”)

-Complacency – the biggest enemy to urgency. (“Things are going well…I’m getting paid well…I’m just going to coast”)

WHAT EFFECTIVE STAFFS DO:

(1) Embody the mission and vision personally

-Evangelism, discipleship, tithing, etc… MODEL!

(2) Strategic planning

-Prayer, goals and objectives (S.M.A.R.T), operational plan, align ministries, staff, and volunteers to enact plan.

(3) Communicate, communicate, communicate!

-Internally and externally (helps with “silo mentality”)

-Resolve conflict w/ biblical communication principles (Matt. 18:15-17)

-Don’t let Facebook beat you to the punch – communicate early and often

(4) Have fun – periodic retreats, staff celebrations, “FedEx days” (see Daniel Pink’s book Drive)

(5) Get the right people, in the right seats (until recently KCC almost exclusively hired from within)

(6) Share Ideas

(7) Pursue educational opportunities

(8) Develop lay leaders

(9) Worship together…pray together...be together

SELECTING AND ORIENTING NEW STAFF:

-KCC is now broadening their net…they used to just train, hire, and promote from within.

-On-boarding process – recruitment, interview, new staff “orientation” – very specific and scheduled. [Kyle Ray has an engineering background, and his wife works in HR at GE = flow charts!]

-30-60-90 day review process.

-Define “success” for the new staff member – what’s a “win?”

-Be intentional about spreading the word and posting new staff openings where you are more likely to get the results you need

-If you want to be multi-ethnic, posting job openings with Wesleyan.org and the Willow Creek Association is probably not going to get it done.

** Evangelism is the #1 Priority of KCC, not “being multi-ethnic”…but if you are prioritizing evangelism, and you exist within a multi-ethnic community, being a multi-ethnic congregation should be a natural fruit of your labor.” **

3 Most Important Lessons Learned Leading a Staff (Kyle):

(1) Be Transparent

(2) Communicate

(3) Clarify the vision

** KCC Staff Meetings – chapel every Thursday, extended staff meeting once a month after chapel (led by executive pastor)

Mountain View Church, Post-Tornado

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:53:00 +0000

Flat Church 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:01:00 +0000

If you are confused what these are, see my last post here. The short explanation is that these are quotes pulled from Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat that points to things that I believe the Church needs to either embrace or counteract to be the most effective Church in the 21st century (We could certainly argue how to define "most effective" in terms of the Church, but that's for another post). The driving question is "What does it mean to be the Church in a flat world?"
On with the quotes...
-------------------------------------------
-"Right around the year 2000 we enetered a whole new era: Globalization 3.0...while the dynamic force in Globalization 1.0 was countries globalizing and the dynamic force in Globalization 2.0 was companies globalizing, the dynamic force in Globalization 3.0 -- the force that give it its unique character -- is the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally." (10)..."Because it is flattening and shrinking the world, Globalization 3.0 is going to be more and mor edriven not only be individuals but also by a much more diverse, non-Western, non-white, group of individuals." (11)

-"If you are American, you better be good at the touchy-feely service stuff, because anything that can be digitized can be outsourced to either the smartest or the cheapest producer, or both...everyone has to focus on what exactly in their value-add...you cannot export a haircut." (15)

"When you have these standardized work flow tools, so does everyone else. You still have to have a unique product or service to offer...a unique way to apply information technologies to your core value proposition, whatever it is." (90-91)
"Once a standard takes hold, people start to focus on the quality of what they are doing as opposed to how they are doing it...they got busy on the real value add which was coming up with the most useful and nifty software applications to enhance collaboration, innovation, and creativity." (84)

-[Speaking on the work ethic of India's growing middle-class] "The idea is to constantly learn. You are always taking an examination. There is no end in learning...There is no real end to what can be done by whom." (38)

-"CBS...couldn't keep up with an army of dedicated fact-checkers. The speed and openness of the medium is something that runs rings around the old process...blogs have given the people a chance to stop yelling at their TV and have a say in the process." (47)

"The splintering of media makes for a lot of incoherence or selective cognition, but it also decentralizes power and provides a better guarantee that the complete truth is out there...somewhere...in pieces." (47)

-"The era of top-down politics -- where campaigns, institutions, and journalism were cloistered communities powered by hard to amass capital -- is over. Something wilder, more engaging and infinitely more satisfying to individual participants is arising alongside the old older." (47-48)

"More than ever, we can all now be producers, not just consumers." (95)

-"It takes people a long time to change their habits and learn a new technology. But people did it very quickly, and ten years later there were eight hundred million people on the Internet. The reason? People will change their habits quickly when they have a strong reason to do so, and peope have an innate urge to connect with other people." (69)

-"The world's biggest computer company (IBM) decided that its engineers could not best the work of an ad hoc open-source collection of geeks, so they threw out their own technology and decided to go with the geeks!...IBM was saying that this new model for software development was trustworthy and valuable, so let's invest in it and get rid of the one that we are trying to make on our own, which isn't as good." (103)

"The old model is winner take all: I wrote it, I won it -- the standard software license model. The only way to compete against that...is to all become winners."

-"The next generation is growing up online...More than 2 million children aged 6-17 have their own web site...Twenty-nine percent of kids in grades K-3 have their own email address...The future is in their hands, though the rest of us will be taken along for the ride...[they have] the power to become video and music producers, not just passive listeners and viewers. (119)

"...uploading responds to a very deep human longing for individuals to participate and make their voices heard...Companies that design their software, their systems, their Web sites, and their encyclopedias to encourage participation will be the ones that draw the most users." (125)

Post-Seminary Life and The Flat Church

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:21:00 +0000

With seminary in the rear view mirror, I sat around and relaxed...for a total of two days. "Taking it easy" isn't exactly a strength of mine. Not only did seminary make me more Type-A than I ever thought I could be, it also pushed my insatiable thirst for collecting knowledge into overdrive (this is where Learner and Input come together on my Strengths Finder results to form a ridiculous concoction). Since my wife and I are doing more traveling this summer than we probably have in the three years of our marriage combined, it's been a great summer of reading.

On the way to and from Oregon, I stored away info from a highly-valuable book called Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers by Chap Clark. If you want to know why many teens are struggling with depression, sexual promiscuity, stress, drugs, etc. this needs to be on your shelf. The basic answer Clark gives is that American culture has systematically abandoned the responsibility of developing teenagers in any real sense. The world our teens are growing up in is largely a product of adult imagination, and is therefore set up very well for adults and not so much their children. It's very in-your-face, but I think it's pretty spot on. It's the kind of book I needed to be reading before accepting the job as youth pastor at Mountain View Church (see how I just stuck that in?).

When I finished my last page of Hurt before boarding my flight to come home, I stopped in a Powell's at the airport in Seattle and picked up Thomas Friedman's bestseller The World is Flat. I was going to need something to read the following week's trip to San Diego. Little did I know that I would pick a book that would also get me through late July's trip to Boise. Despite the subtitle, the book is anything but "brief," but it is the one work on the history of globalization and its impact on both Western and Eastern civilization that can't afford to be left on the shelf. The changes in the last 20 years brought about by the convergence of the personal computer, the abundance of fiber-optic cable on the cheap, and the growing accessibility of the internet are just mind boggling. Most people that I've talked to that have read Friedman's work are economists, entrepreneurs, or software engineers. But I can't help but read the book as a pastor-theologian (another side-effect of seminary).

All over its pages, I found quotes in The World is Flat that made me think one of two things: (1) This is something the church is going to have to push against, or (2) This is something the church is going to have to embrace. In the next few posts,, I'll be blogging those quotes, sometimes adding commentary, other times allowing the ideas to stand on their own. But the question always in the background is this: What does it mean to be the Church in a "flat" world? If you're after the same thing I'm after and don't have the time to read through 600-plus pages, reading these quotes mights be the next best thing.

Sacramentalism and The Wesleyan Church

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:58:00 +0000

The following is an excerpt from my "credo" paper from Systematic Theology III here at Bethel Seminary. I would love to hear some feedback, especially from my Wesleyan brothers and sisters. Why is it that I hear so little about the sacraments in our churches? Granted, it was recommended at last General Conference that the Eucharist be celebrated on a more regular basis (monthly). But I wonder if the theological understanding to support such a move exists on the ground level. Even more troubling to me is the lack of baptisms happening in our local churches. Are we downplaying the significance of baptism? Has it become an optional part of our soteriology? What are the consequences of such move?

______________________________________________

Currently serving as a pastor in Northeast Minneapolis with the Wesleyan Church (and likely continuing to do so after I graduate), I couldn't help but see how some of my theological beliefs seem to rub against the grain of my own denomination. Simply by using the word "sacrament" instead of "ordinance" reveals an incarnational understanding of the Lord's Supper and baptism that many people in other denominations would not share. I understand these two acts as "means of grace" – physical, earthly actions that God uses to communicate His grace to us in a profound and mysterious way. They are potential avenues, or channels, of revelation and empowerment. With this, I couldn't agree more. However, in practice, most Wesleyan churches do very little to emphasize the sacraments. The church where I currently serve only celebrates the Eucharist once every quarter of the calendar year. After speaking with friends in other Wesleyan churches, it seems that this is the usual practice for most of our churches. Either the Lord's Supper is not being understood on a more theological level in the trenches, or the holiness of the event is being needlessly "protected" by practicing it infrequently.[1]

And baptism appears to be viewed in a similar light. In 2009, over 23,000 persons were "saved" in connection with the ministries of the American wing of the Wesleyan Church. As great as this is, only 7,797 of those 23,000 were baptized.[2] That is a little under 30% of the reported converts. The same report that provides these numbers shows that this trend has been steady for at least the last decade.[3] If baptism is the act where disciples of Jesus declare their allegiance to God, and subsequently join the mission of the Church (which is the mission of God), baptism cannot be an "add-on." Baptism and Communion is not something we choose to do, but something we have been given and commanded to do. In my ministry, I will push hard to celebrate the Eucharist often and make sure that baptism is on the front burner in any conversation about what it means to become a Christian. When we do these acts, God acts. They are central to our mission as the people of God in the world.
______________________________________________

[1] One pastor I expressed my concern to said: "We don't want to do it too often or it will lose its special meaning. It will become routine. So we do it quarterly to protect its significance." But I ask, if it is truly a means of grace, is such "protection" needed? In fact, wouldn't we want to practice it as often as we could? John Wesley responded in a similar fashion to such protests.

[2] The Wesleyan Church, "2010 State of the Church," p. 3. Accessed at www.wesleyan.org

[3] Ibid., 5.

iTerror

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:19:00 +0000

The newest invention of the Western juggernaut Apple is made at the expense of our Eastern brothers and sisters.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/concern-over-human-cost-overshadows-ipad-launch-1983888.html

Don't worry though, Apple's presence in China provides thousands of jobs that would otherwise go missing. The workers who make our $500 iPads even earn a whopping 50 cents an hour.

As Kester Brewin writes:

Apple’s taxonomy has been based on the compounding of ‘i’ with it’s devices: iMac, iPod, iPhone… It’s mission is to fuse the self with its technologies, but appears to have ignored the tragic by-product of that fusion: machines that make the Western self more productive are produced by Eastern selves that are treated as machines, and cheap ones at that.

William Willimon's First Sermon

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Westminster John Knox Press will soon be publishing a collection of sermons from one of my favorite pastors/theologians/Methodists/writers -- The "peculiar prophet," and Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the UMC, William H. Willimon. I have been steadily working my way through his Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry over the past few months (thank you Bob and Pat Kern for the gift!) and I will certainly be picking up this volume of sermons.

Over at his blog, Willimon has been posting sermons from the past 40 years that coordinate with where many of the pastors under his care currently find themselves. He posted "Lucky To Be Here," his final sermon at Duke Chapel as he was on his way out of Durham, as a resource to pastors saying goodbye to their present congregations in the weeks ahead. But as I face the prospect of entering full time ministry for the first time, I found Willimon's "First Sermon" to be exactly what I needed to read this morning. While I find it hard to believe that this is really his first sermon at his first church, I wouldn't put it past him. I had the privilege of meeting the Bishop at the Kern Senior Retreat in Wisconsin a few months ago, and the guy is flat out gutsy/ornery.

A powerful excerpt:

Here I am and there you are and you are wondering – will he take time for me? Will he listen to my story? Will be care that I’ve got problems? And will his ministry be adequate to meet my needs?

And here I am wondering – will I have time for all of them? Will they take time to know me as a person, or will they only know me as “The Preacher”? Will my talents be adequate to their need?

In other words, here I am – wondering, if I’m honest “are they good enough, kind enough, enlightened enough for me?” Will they receive my offbeat way with sermons? Will they pay me enough so that next year I can go to Annual Conference and look good enough to all my fellow preachers so I can say, “Look how I turned around things at Trinity?”
And there you are wondering – can he fix my marriage? Can he make my children behave? Can he keep me interested on a Sunday in a sermon? Can he attract more young couples to our church? Will he embarrass us in town?

Go to his blog to read the rest. If you are leaving or going (or even staying), you will be inspired.

Viral Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:36:00 +0000

The Englewood Review (Twitter = @ERBks ) is giving away 2 copies of JR Woodward’s book VIRAL HOPE: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and Everything in Between).
Enter the contest, and read a great review, here: http://ow.ly/1Fj4G.

Not only do I think the book will be* a great read for those interested in how the hope of the gospel is being spread in the 21st century, but I think it will* inspire those of us in ministry to reimagine how we can embody that hope.

*Will-be = a hope-filled future tense. I haven't read it yet, but if I win the contest, I'll be sure to post a review.

Yoder Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:21:00 +0000

As a fan of much of John Howard Yoder’s work, I was ecstatic to see Body Politics[1] on the reading list of my Systematic III class this quarter. Though I am familiar with his work in social ethics (especially Christian pacifism),[2] I had yet to encounter Yoder’s ecclesiology as directly as it is presented in Body Politics. Particularly helpful for me was his discussion on the “sacraments” of the Church and how this connects to the wider realm of Christian living in the midst of a non-Christian world. Yoder introduces the book with his belief that the Church, rather than being “political” or “apolitical,” is a politic. The Church has its own way of doing things, its own unique way of being a polis that makes decisions, assigns roles, and exercises power. “The difference between the church and state or between a faithful church and an unfaithful church is not that one is political and the other not, but that they are political in different ways.”[3] These “different ways” make up the content of Body Politics: (1) Binding and Loosing, (2) Eucharist, (3) Baptism, (4) Multiplicity of Charismata, and (5) The Open Meeting. But as the reader will find out, these ways are not entirely different from the ways of the world.

Of all the practices that Yoder discusses, “binding and loosing” is probably the most foreign to me. When I first saw the title header, I assumed Yoder was referring to Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18:

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

And Yoder is referring to this teaching of Jesus, but not in the way that I have typically heard it explained. Though it has always been somewhat of an enigma to me, I have primarily understood this passage of Scripture to refer to some mysterious process whereby Jesus’ power to “bind” demons and “loose” the sick was transferred to his disciples. Yoder, however, sets the passage in the context of communal discernment and forgiveness, which was much more helpful to me than my previous interpretation. Yoder also introduces his understanding of “sacrament:” a human activity, where at the same time God is “acting in, with, and under” that activity.[4] The “binding and loosing” of the believing human community is said to be the activity of God. When we forgive, God forgives. This is an idea that Yoder carries throughout the book, seeing all five practices as sacramental acts, “human actions in which God is active.”[5]

Yoder is at his best when setting his view of “sacrament” side by side with the historic record. Though some have ditched the term altogether in favor of “ordinance,” Yoder believes the word “sacrament” can continue to be useful to the Church if the mechanical and mystical understandings of the term are debunked.[6] His “sacramental realism” was really enlightening for me and gives me some new language to play around with in determining my own view of the various avenues God uses to communicate Himself (as well as the various avenues the Church uses to communicate God to the world). I largely agree with his assertion that the act of baptism itself is the formation of a new people and needs no further symbolic explanation. This is not an esoteric act that needs demystifying. Yet at the same time, we live in a word-oriented society. I wonder how practices like baptism and Eucharist would be interpreted by the community at large without some sense of “explanation.” Is Yoder borrowing here from Orthodox theology, namely the idea that the symbol (or icon) embodies the meaning itself? How does such a view play out in a world and church largely illiterate in reading symbols? Maybe I am diving too far into what Yoder is trying to say here. At any rate, though his understanding is probably different than my denominations (which primarily sees baptism as an “outward act” of an “inward reality” with a little grace sprinkled in), I have come to personally adopt a more Anabaptist understanding of baptism, and in that, agree with Yoder’s “new humanity” hermeneutic.[7]

The most confusing idea in the book is how these distinct practices of the church relate to the practices of the world at large. How “universal” is binding and loosing, eucharist, baptism, multiplicity of gifts, and open meeting? On the one hand, I agree with Yoder that in these practices, “the church models for the world what both are called to be and to do.”[8] Likely following his study with Barth, Yoder rejects any idea that the “natural” order of the world is the way things are supposed to be.[9] The transforming message of the church is not rooted in creation or in Enlightenment philosophy but in the New Testament and the redemptive and re-creative work of Christ.[10] The call of the church is to exist in such a way that “it is not an exaggeration to call [the church] a ‘new world’ or a ‘new humanity.’”[11] A challenging call indeed!

But on the other hand, Yoder wants to hold out the possibility that there is something analogous about these distinct practices that extends beyond the community of Christ. For instance, the peaceful and egalitarian vision of baptism “is possible for all because it has already been celebrated in Christian baptism by some...”[12] Though all five practices Yoder outlines are empowered and derived from the work of Jesus Christ, “one can extrapolate each of them into a secular or a pluralistic frame of reference.”[13] I just do not understand this line of reasoning and feel like Yoder is making a logical jump that he never fully explains. The closest he comes is on page 69, where he writes that “in the age of Jesus the Messiah, the healing resources of his ministry can by the nature of things reach farther than the knowledge of his name...”[14] But this is not explored much further and seems to conflict with the idea that “Christian discipleship is derived from faith in Christ; it is therefore not something we could transpose without ‘mediation’ or ‘translation’ to the social structures not derived from that faith.”[15]

As different as some of my ecclesiology might be from Yoder (particularly his all-encompassing anti-hierarchical hermeneutic[16]), there was much to be gained from Body Politics for my own context. His understanding of the church as the world on the way to renewal and an instrument of that very renewal was extremely persuasive and powerful! The resurgence of Anabaptist thought (of which Yoder should be thanked) has been a valuable influence on my understanding of the “Christ and Culture” question. In my own context, “Christ transforms culture” has typically been the choice, but it is often set up as the antithesis to “Christ again culture.” Yoder reminds us that this is a false choice, that “a church that is not ‘against the world’ in fundamental ways has nothing worth saying to and for the world.”[17] I do not have to make a choice between being “against” or being “for” the world. It is because the church is for the world that it is against the less-than-real beliefs and practices of the world. It is because the church envisions reality more in line with what is and will be that it must remain prophetic, but it does so as an actor in the world’s midst, not as a sideline critic. And the practices of binding and loosing, eucharist, baptism, multiplicity of gifts, and open meeting are more than counter-cultural symbols – they are resources for the wider world.[18]

[1] John Howard Yoder, Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World (Herald Press: Scottdale, PA, 1992).

[2] Principally through The Politics of Jesus (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1972) and The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel (Notre Dame Press: Notre Dame, 1984).

[3] Yoder, Body Politics, ix.

[4] Ibid., 1.

[5] Ibid., 72-73.

[6] Ibid., 32-33, 44.

[7] Prior to this book, I thought that a sacramental-Anabaptist was an oxymoron. I knew that Hauerwas and others have called themselves “high-church Anabaptists,” but only in a tongue and cheek kind of way, considering sacramentalism and Anabaptism haven’t always been friends. How does Yoder compare and contrast to historical Anabaptism on this? When Menno Simons like ‘sacramental realism’?

[8] Ibid., 13.

[9] Ibid., 27 for example.

[10] Ibid., 40.

[11] Ibid., 37.

[12] Ibid., 42.

[13] Ibid., 44.

[14] Ibid., 69, emphasis mine.

[15] Ibid., 74, emphasis mine.

[16] Since when is Japan known as a country run on “open dialogue?” (p. 78) And how are rabbis not considered “religious specialists” in any way? (p. 56)

[17] Ibid., 78.

[18] Perhaps the question is whether or not the Christian community even practices “before a watching world” in the 21^st century. Is the world watching the Church anymore, particularly in the West? How does a post-Christian context interact with Yoder’s ideas? It certainly wouldn’t change the fact that Church is still to practice this peculiar form of “politics” (in fact, it might make the Church’s witness all the more powerful), but one would think it would change the rules of the game in terms of the translatability of these practices into the culture at large.

Social Justice and Labelism

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:23:00 +0000

Glenn Beck and Jim Wallis have been engaged in a media throw down over the term "social justice." I must say that I have been very impressed with the demeanor Wallis has carried throughout what can hardly be called a "debate" (there really hasn't been much substantial dialogue). Though I've become less enamored with Sojourners in the last few years, Wallis has clearly come off as the more respectable man in this brouhaha. If you have no idea what I am talking about, Christianity Today has a decent write-up. You know you're nuts when you make Al Mohler look sensible (yes, I'm staring at you Glenn).

What Beck is engaging in, good friend and former professor Ken Schenck (now Dean of Wesleyan Seminary at IWU) has called "labelism: the tendency to skew diverse particular ideas, events, people, and so forth by grouping them under overly generalized labels in the service of argument." Ken breaks down the many logical fallacies involved in such a move and suggests its our inability to cognitively deal with complexity that forces us to participate in labelism.

In an earlier but surely connected post, Ken lays out a few examples of what the Bible says concerning social justice and urges readers to "never confuse political conservatism with Christian conservatism! They overlap at some points... and at others diverge wildly." The comments section is worth a read as well, where Craig Moore (a regular commenter and UMC pastor) challenges Christians to be socially just without becoming "Marxist." Though I think channeling the name of Marx in these discussions can easily qualify as the labelism Schenck rejects, Moore's concern is legitimate.

the Living Room Update

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:58:00 +0000

It has been awhile since I have written anything about a project I launched back in August called the Living Room. Looking back on that post, I mentioned that I felt God was going to do something significant with this endeavor, but didn't know what it would be. Well, my fancy idea of having multiple gatherings meeting at the same time throughout the Twin Cities has yet to see the light of day, but that is just fine. God has been working his beautiful truth into the lives of the 8 or 9 people who have been faithfully gathering together these past 7 months. Our dialogue has gotten richer and our openness to sharing our lives with one another has slowly been building.

So what do we dialogue about? All kinds of stuff. The group was established around the idea of seeking the abundant life of John 10:10 with other people; to hear from other people's experiences and thoughts and to learn from them, with the goal of arriving at the fullness of life that Jesus offers. With that goal in mind, we have recently been discussing a model of spiritual transformation that is put forth by Leron Shults and Steven Sandage in Transforming Spirituality: Integrating Theology and Psychology. They present a rather abstract model of "seeking" and "dwelling" and propose that maximum spiritual transformation is found in the balancing of the two. Last week, we spent quite a bit of time defining "seeking" and "dwelling" as well as sharing our own experiences of both. This week, we tackle the implications of sociologist Robert Wuthnow's research. Shults and Sandage agree with Wuthnow that "the landscape of spirituality in America has been profoundly transformed since the 1950's. The essence of this cultural transformation is a shift from spiritualities of dwelling to spiritualities of seeking" (p. 185).

This is not your typical small-group, church ed. curriculum to be sure. But I think it is very valuable to the goals of the Living Room. Here is what this looks like in action:

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

The
Living Room

March 28, 2010

"A Faith of Seeking and Dwelling, Pt. 2"

SELF– answer in solitude (6-8 minutes)

-Take a few minutes to get your whole self together, to make sure you are completely present to the evening's activities. Ask God to open your mind, heart, and ears to what the Spirit wants to do with this time. And ask God how you might be used tonight to help the transformation of the other group members. Listen.

NEIGHBOR --answer with one other person (12-15 minutes)

-Last week, we explored both the benefits and dangers of a spirituality of "seeking" and "dwelling":

Dwelling = relating to God in ways that are familiar, comfortable, and safe. It involves being connected to a faith community (Waite Park) and rooted in a tradition (Wesleyan/ Protestant). Dwelling provides a sense of stability for our walk with God, but w/out some form of seeking, it can lead to complacency, apathy, and general spiritual dissatisfaction.

Seeking= relating to God in ways that are foreign. Seekers often detach from previously accepted traditions and communities and ask tough questions of their faith. Seeking helps us explore new experiences and become more comfortable with difference and ambiguity, but w/out some form of dwelling, seeking can lead to loneliness, wandering, and non-commitment.

-Though last week we said that these two modes of spirituality must co-exist in our lives, recent studies show that since the 1950's, Americans have become more and more "seeking" oriented.

Discuss together whether or not you find this to be true with the people you encounter.
What do you think is pushing us this direction?

COMMUNITY– answer with the entire gathering (25-30 minutes)

(1) Is it true? Do we see the "seeker" mentality in the people around us? Examples.

(2) What is pushing us this direction? Why has "dwelling" become unpopular and even difficult for some people?

(3) What does this mean for how we do church? How is Waite Park set up to engage this trend?

Ageless Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:02:00 +0000

At David and Keith Drury's recommendation, the Wesleyan Publishing House generously provided me with a pdf copy of their new book Ageless Faith: A Conversations between Generations about Church.

The book describes itself as "a discussion between a boomer in his sixties (Keith) and a member of the younger generation in his thirties (David)." Keith's task is to represent the older generation—boomers and those above. David represents the emerging generations, those in their twenties and thirties. The authors say in the intro that the book is "Wesleyan," but everyone is invited to look over the shoulders of two Wesleyan pastors and see what might be gleaned for their context. In reality, I'm not sure what makes the book all that Wesleyan other than the fact that it's written by two Wesleyans. If you are coming to the book outside that tradition, I don't think you will have a problem benefiting from the main point of the book – that generations usually have good reasons for why they disagree, and that we should listen to one another's reasons.

One thing I opened the book looking for was some sort of qualitative statement. And I got it earlier. "As an older person, you might identify more with David's position at times, and younger folk will sometimes find themselves more in line with Keith's positions. No generalization can represent all the people of a generation." Put another way, David writes that he has "stopped assuming generational tastes." His church's most traditional service in the sanctuary is actually the most multi-generational, and the liturgical service in a small chapel has no seniors at all and is made up mostly of college students and young adults (p. 18). Of course, the dialogue between Keith and David is full of generalizations. Without any stereotyping, communication would be difficult and the book would be boring. But the authors offer this clarification to disengage your defense system a bit. And for the most part, it worked on me.

Using the chapter on "Race" as a sample, here is my take on the basic outline of how the dialogue flows between the father and son duo:

David – Younger generations seem to care more about racism than the older generation

Keith – Our denomination was founded as an abolitionist movement!

David – Uh, Dad. We're talking about your generation, remember? Not 1843

Keith – Ok, you nailed me. We did go AWOL during the civil rights movement. But there were a few us fighting it out. Every generation picks and chooses which sins to condemn the loudest. Most generations miss their own.

David – We should do a joint confession and learn from each other's mistakes.

Keith – Great idea!

Chapter 11 on "Intergenerational Dialogue" is probably the best in the book, and the only one you really "need" to read to get the benefits of the book if you are in a hurry. The other chapters just apply chapter 11's main thoughts to particular issues in today's church (worship, soteriology, community life, etc...) In chapter 11, the two authors agree to not pigeon hole the other generation and to reflect on how their beliefs and values can be expressed without causing harm to the other generation. David admits that the younger generation needs to respect the revolutionary changes their older peers instituted and Keith writes that the older generation needs to listen to the desires of the younger members of the church. In a nutshell, the two generations need to learn from one another and understand where the other is coming from. This is the strongest chapter in the book, in my opinion.

But there were some major drawbacks to Ageless Faith. Too many times, Keith would defend his generation against the charges of his younger son, only to admit that David had something on him. I think he gave in a little too easy to David (and I am a part of David's generation. Well...I think I am anyway.). When Keith did go more on the offensive, he usually drew proof for his argument from historical examples that took place prior to the generation in question. Time and time again, Keith's main argument is "Don't judge my generation by what we did in the 80's, look back several decades before that!" But this is a book supposedly about the preferences of his generation, not his parents'. And the 80's were the heyday of his generation. That was when Keith's generation started coming into power in the church. Continually looking back to the glory days of holiness revivalism adds nothing to the dialogue.

As hard as I am on Keith on this point, I give the authors credit for not editing that part of the conversation out. It gives the book a realistic feel at times. Kind of like a "blooper" reel. But these moments of authenticity are rare. There is something about the "dialogue" of Ageless Faith that doesn't feel real. The responses to one another are way too polished for me. I appreciate their irenic spirit and their vision into the generational differences they present, but the aesthetics of the book leave a lot to be desired. The dialogical approach is an intriguing one; I just don't think it was pulled of as well as it could have been. I'm not sure if this is just a difference in taste between myself and the authors, or if the editors/publishers smoothed the text over a bit too much. Regardless, I would prefer the conversation to have been a bit more conversational and a little less contrived. The book is like a studio album, and I'm more of a live performance kind of guy.

But pick up a copy for yourself, read it, and then come back to this blog to tell me how wrong I am.

Wesley Seminary Article

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Since last summer, I have been working on an article with Dr. Chris Armstrong for In-Trust Magazine, a publication that targets trustees and administrators of theological education.
The article chronicles The Wesleyan Church's launching of its first denominational seminary, Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University, even in the midst of economic downturn and a historical ambivalence in regards to theological education (only 15% of current Wesleyan pastors have seminary degrees).

Without a doubt, the best part of the process was the one-on-one time with denominational leaders and pedagogical masterminds. Many thanks to President Henry Smith,Vice President Duane Schmidt, Dean Ken Shenck, CFO Duane Kilty, Professor Russ Gunsalus, and General Superintendent Jo Anne Lyon.

An online copy of the article can be accessed here: "Launching in Tough Times"

The Gospel of Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:51:00 +0000

Could it be that there is a fairly orthodox Christian (and no, we are not going to use this post to argue what that means) writing op-ed pieces for the NY Times these days? Why haven't I heard of this guy? Time to Google "Ross Douthat."

If Wikipedia can be trusted -- and I am one of the minority that actually thinks a lot (not all) of what is on Wikipedia can be -- it appears that Douthat grew up Pentecostal and later converted with the rest of his family to Catholicism. An ex-pentecostal, Harvard grad? You have my attention NY Times.

Full disclosure, I have not yet personally witnessed the mega-expensive Avatar. I will likely wait until it is on Netflix, to be watched at a time when my wife is out of town or has something better to do with 162 minutes of her life. But my brother-in-law recently took in this movie to end all movies, and gave me his semi-professional review via text message:

"Avatar is the best movie i have ever experienced with mi own two eyes. I am in awe of what i just witnessed."

Until some publishing company offers enough dough for a more well-known personality to pen their version of "The Gospel According to Avatar" (remember, Neo is the Christ), my in-law's opinion combined with Ross Douthat's review of the $350 million film will have to do.

Does Avatar help spread the "good news" of pantheism? I would love to hear some feedback on this from someone who, unlike me, has spent their money to go see the movie.

Merry Christmas from Bethel

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Tell me, who would not want to go to a seminary where the Admissions staff came up with this?

http://cas.bethel.edu/admissions/christmas/2009i

If you are looking for a place to get a solid theological education for a price that is hard to beat, check out Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN.

(This shameless plug was brought to you by a third year MDiv student at the aforementioned seminary)

Reflections on the Levitical Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Structure of the Challenge
It would be nearly impossible for a 21st century North American to observe all the laws given by God to the people of Israel in the book of Leviticus [not that it hasn’t been tried]. The laws are so specific and full of contextual conditions that I do not share with the original audience. So I chose to structure my “30 Day Levitical Challenge” by choosing to observe practices that fall in line with Dr. Peter Vogt’s understanding of the “major concerns” of the Law: (1) Seriousness of sin, (2) Purity, (3) Holiness, and (4) Sacredness of time. If the purpose of the Law was to reveal to Israel and the surrounding peoples the best way to live out the call to be in relationship with God, I was going to attempt to mimic that special calling in each of those four areas.

To get a handle on the seriousness of sin, I elected to keep an electronic journal, detailing all the sins that I committed during the 30 day time period. Some sins were more readily apparent than others and would make the list rather easily. Other sins were brought to my attention only in retrospect and were added to the journal after the Spirit (and/or another human being) brought them to my attention. Whether intentional or unintentional, I tried to update the journal whenever sin found its way into my attitudes, thoughts, and actions.

In reading through Leviticus, it became obvious to me that many of the so-called “purity” laws given by Yahweh to his people were not arbitrary. Obeying many of these laws would lead to a healthier lifestyle. So to capture the Levitical concern for purity, I decided to forgo the eating of “fast food” for 30 days. This would also require sacrifice on my part (another “theme: of Leviticus) – I eat fast food as much as the next overweight American. But rather than simply avoiding McDonald’s or Taco Bell, I defined “fast food” as any item designed for ready availability, use, or consumption with little consideration given to quality or significance (Webster). For 30 days, I vowed to not only stop eating Big Macs, but to stop eating anything without first giving thought as to its quality and impact on my health and the health of my neighbor.

Holiness can be construed both as a concept of inner righteousness and as an outer witness. I chose to focus on the latter, hoping my other vows would foster the former. Though I really wanted to give it a try, I couldn’t find a realistic way to not wear clothes made of two different kinds of material (Lev. 19:19). Instead, I chose to follow Leviticus 19:27: “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard” (NIV). Growing out some facial hair for 30 days may not seem like that big of a commitment, but I will try to detail below how this simple act resulted in opportunities to “witness.”

To honor the concept of sacred time, I chose to take up the ancient spiritual discipline of fixed-hour prayer. I chose to not be dogmatic about the exact time of prayer and considered my day a success if I set aside time to pray morning, afternoon, and night. However, the ideal was to engage in prayer for the 30 days, praying on my knees at 8:00am, 1:00am, and 9pm. For the content of my prayers, I followed Phyllis Tickle’s manual, The Divine Hours (an online version can be found at http://www.explorefaith.org/prayer/prayer/fixed/index.php). The purpose of the discipline is to “redeem” the hours by focusing on the sacred at regular intervals throughout the day and to do so in participation with the worldwide community of God.

Impact of the Challenge
The challenge started off fairly well. I was full of excitement to pursue a few new avenues to foster my knowledge and love of God. I was really looking forward to seeing how God was going to use these 30 days in my life. The easiest of all the new disciplines was of course not shaving. Other than a bit of itchiness here and there, that was the easiest part of the challenge. But I must confess that I began to struggle with the challenge after only a week and a half or so. Prayer time began to be something to just check off a list. There were some days where I neglected to pray at all (and therefore, I had to add that sin to my journal). Not consuming fast food was easy when I was all by myself and trying to make the decision of what I would eat that day for lunch. But it became much harder when out with friends. Some could care less about my “class project,” as one person called it. Others were never let in on it because I relished their ignorance – I felt less compelled to follow through on not eating a burger when they had no clue that I was not to be eating a burger.

But God used the 30 days to reveal several things to me despite my lack of commitment and obedience. And perhaps that is the first thing; that God can work with and communicate through my imperfection. The exercise was spiritually beneficial despite my deficiencies. The second insight the challenge fostered was in its ability to reveal just how easy it is to slip into a legalistic mindset when attempted to keep Torah. This was demonstrated to me when one of the men of our church came up to me and asked me about my beard. He wanted to know why I hadn’t shaved. When I explained to him that I was trying to live out Leviticus 19:27, he said to me: “Well, it looks like you have at least trimmed your neck in the last few days. You should probably go back and read that passage and rightly divide the Word. I’m pretty sure it includes your neck.” Like many rabbis of Jesus’ day, this man had already begun to “build a fence” of secondary laws around the original Law.

The keeping of the sin journal had a profound impact on my relationship with God. I have grown up in churches associated with the Holiness Movement. We stress purity and sanctification; sometimes to the point where we can trick ourselves into thinking we are blameless. Being forced to record my sins of commission as well as omission was a really good reminder that I haven’t “arrived.” There are always areas in my life where the lordship of Christ could be more realized. But the exercise also had the opposite effect. Keeping track of my sins shows me that I am not an absolute sinner. I have days where I in fact do not sin in “thought, word, and deed.” The 30 day challenge reminded me of the seriousness of my sin, while also inspiring me to live a life victorious over those sins instead of just assuming that sin is somehow a normal part of the Christian life.

The various reactions I got from others was probably the most rewarding part of the experience. I already mentioned the elder from my church above. But most people were less concerned with the details of my particular 30 day vow than they were perplexed as to why I would want to do something like this to begin with. Of course, I explained to them that “want” had nothing to do with it – I had a grade in an Old Testament class to protect. But I also engaged in dialogue with many of these people about the validity of Torah for Christians. Some of these conversations even went as far as to discuss the usefulness of the entire Old Testament for Christian living. Questions about how we are to be holy (both inwardly and outwardly) and how we are to live out our special identity as the people of God took center stage in settings that would typically not cater to such conversation. Even a few of my non-Christian friends got in on the challenge, wanting to know more details about the actual book of Leviticus and how it fits in with the rest of Scripture. So just participating in the 30 days offered me chances to glorify God in ways that I normally am not presented with.

Legacy of the Challenge
As a result of these 30 days, I think God is inviting me to specifically focus more on how I use my time. This is my second attempt to practice fixed- hour prayer, and unlike the first go around, I am hoping to continue the discipline this time. But God also revealed to me how I can get down on myself when I fail at a particular spiritual discipline or in a certain area in my walk with Him. God showed me how self-defeating it is to get so frustrated when I don’t do something absolutely perfect that I give up on it all together.. I know this probably wasn’t the desired outcome Dr. Vogt had in mind for the challenge, but God really used the 30 days to confront some areas in my life where I have let “the perfect become the enemy of the good.” So even if I miss a session here or there, I am going to keep plugging away at Tickle’s Hours.
In terms of the class itself, I do not even know where to begin. It is hard for me to separate what God is inviting me into and what I am running towards on my own invitation. Time and time again in this class, God has whispered to me “Do you trust me?” More specifically, “Do you trust that you have in Scripture what I want you to have?” and “Do you trust that I speak through that book...yes, even those texts?” God has used this class to reveal to me how often I am too quick to judge the biblical text and too slow to listen. Since arriving at Bethel, my hermeneutic has undergone some serious renovation. This class added to that bigger project. I honestly cannot even put my finger on anything more specific than just saying that God is calling me to rethink and reread the text in a way that more readily leads to honoring His intention for it, rather than my own.

Gettin' Levitical

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cline) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:51:00 +0000

As part of an Old Testament course at Bethel Seminary, I will be embarking on a 30 day journey of living out Leviticus. There is a lot of flexibility in how it is done, and as a Christian, I will be keeping Torah in light of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection (so no animal sacrifices or stoning cheating wives).

The idea comes from Daniel Harrell's article in Christianity Today, "The Levitical Challenge."

Anyone out there every attempted something similar? What lessons did you learn along the way? How did God shape you?

And of course, if there is a knowledgeable Jew out there who would like to help a fairly ignorant Christian, now would be a great time for you to leave some comments on this blog. How does Torah function now a days for the Jewish community? Any tips on observing the Law?