So what happens when you can’t write?

Writer’s block stinks without a doubt. A few months ago a friend asked what I do when my writer’s block is acting up. Here are my tips:

1. Vary the order: make up an outline of the things you can think of to say. After that, put it in a better order and fill in the gaps.
2. Talk to yourself: I used to keep a stuffed animal next to my computer. When you can’t make the words come out your fingers, talk to the bear.
3. Take a walk: not everybody can do this, but getting away from the problem can really help.
4. Switch projects: come back to it later when you’re better equipped to work on it.
5. Drink more coffee!

What do you do to deal with writer’s block?

I’ve customized the Hybrid WordPress theme with the Outline child theme, which offers great typography. I’m pretty happy with the results – and best of all, with WordPress Jetpack and some other modifications, I cut my plugin count significantly. That means a faster website for everyone.

Stay tuned – there is more coming in the next few days!

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1. Tweaked SimplyVic Theme
2. Liturgical WordPress, part deux
3. Viola! New Theme!

Sounds like something a law abiding citizen would support, right? Wrong.

SOPA is written so broadly that it gives the government overreaching power to control the internet. Without a court order, internet companies can be required to monitor your web surfing and block content deemed to be infringing copyright. Say goodbye to privacy.

SOPA offers no protection to companies like YouTube, Google, Facebook, and more, which currently are protected by “safe harbor” provisions in copyright law. Right now, if infringing video is found on YouTube, the rights holder can ask YouTube to take down that video and they have a certain amount of time to comply. With SOPA, the *entire website* could be taken down without giving them a chance to comply. Did someone post a video with a copyrighted song playing on the TV in the background? Under SOPA, not just that video, but the entire website could be forced off the government without a court order.

Imagine a tool like this used as a pretense to silence political opponents. A site torn down by SOPA might be offline for months while the procedure for reinstatement is followed.

With SOPA, the United States will enter an infamous club of nations: like China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba, we will be censoring the internet. Say goodbye to the First Amendment. The US Government will have the power to take any site off the internet without due process.

In protest against SOPA, thousands of websites including Wikipedia will go offline on January 18th to show what a censored internet will be like. Mine will be among them.

Please take action against SOPA and contact your congressmen: Visit AmericanCensorship.org.

You may also enjoy:

1. Happy Internet Evangelism Day!
2. Save Internet Radio
3. Rural church internet

1. Support for the ups and downs of ministry. Go and buy The Pastor: A Memoir, by Eugene Peterson.
2. Learn how to play again. Go hang out with your pre-school kids during Sunday School.
3. Prayer. Send an email to five friends who might agree to support you with daily prayer. (Bonus tip: your cluster could be part of this!)
4. Coaching / Mentoring / Accountibility. Think of three people who could help you, and then actually call them.
5. Text Study. If you’re too physically isolated for a regular Lutheran text study, start an ecumenical text study.

What else do you need right now for your ministry? Or, if you’re not a pastor, what do you need for your ministry in daily life?

You may also enjoy:

1. An Unexpected Call to Ministry
2. Ministry Timesaver: Text Messages for Hospital Calls
3. ELCA and the Ministry of Connectedness

Oh, by the way, did I mention that the ELCA Worshipping Community of Holdrege has a new website?

And, by the way, there’s a new community and children’s event getting started on October 12. It’s called Grace Place, and it represents a partnership between the ELCA community in Holdrege and St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church. We’ll start with a community meal at 5:30pm and then our children’s program will kick off at 6:30pm with a gathering and music. Then our classes will break off for individualized instruction, and come back together for a closing in the sanctuary. We’re done at 8:00pm each Wednesday night.

Music, skits, fun, and Scripture – what could be better? I’ll tell you: robots are involved. That’s all I’m going to say. Robots.

Grace Place has a website too: GracePlaceHoldrege.com

Finally, remember to like the ELCA Worshipping Community of Holdrege, NE and Grace Place, Holdrege on Facebook.

More coming soon…

You may also enjoy:

1. Quick, blog something!
2. Introduction to Congregational Website Study
3. ELCA Congregational Email Turnaround

This week, five regular people became intrepid adventurers, preparing to listen to the community. They’ll be contacting all kinds of people across the area -

• People who don’t belong to a church, and people who do,
• People who don’t look like us, and people who do,
• People who disagree with us, and people who agree,

Why are we listening? We are convinced that God is already at work in our community, and we want to get on board! And that doesn’t always look like a church program. Until you listen to the people, it’s difficult to move ahead with God’s mission.

So if you get a call from one of our Listeners – whether you’re a member of our congregation, a member someplace else, or not a churchgoer – we hope you’ll agree to spend a few minutes. It’s really important. And please pray for the success of our work together.

You may also enjoy:

1. Called to Holdrege, Nebraska!
2. Four 2009 Sermons Available for Listening

I heard on the ELCA Clergy Facebook group that some people were having trouble getting the Augsburg Fortress Little Red Appointment book to work on Google Calendar. Here are some instructions I hope will help:

1. Visit the Little Red Book page and download the file for Google Calendar. This will put a “.csv” file on your computer in your Downloads folder.
2. Sign in to Google Calendar. Under “My Calendars” in the left hand column, click “Add.” Name the calendar “Little Red Book” or something similar.
3. Under “Other Calendars” in the left hand column, click “Add,” then choose “Import Calendar.” Browse to the saved “.csv” file in your Downloads folder. (For the upcoming year, the file is called “Year_B_2012.csv”)
4. Back in the important window, change “Calendar:” to “Little Red Book” and click Import.
5. If it works, you’ll soon get a message like “Successfully imported 253 events.”
6. Navigate in Google Calendar to the first Sunday in Advent (November 2011) and make sure that “Little Red Book” is selected in under “My Calendars.” You should see entries for each Sunday, plus commemoration days and other goodies.

You may also enjoy:

1. Migrating from Dreamhost email to Google Apps
2. Testing out Google Maps API
3. Luke 3.1-6 Google Earth Fly-Through

I was standing in line at the Phelps County Fair waiting to get some BBQ sandwiches. When one couple standing nearby learned that I was the pastor of the new ELCA Lutheran church in Holdrege, NE, they had a few things to say to me. You see, they had been connected to the ELCA at one time, and they were still receiving a publication from the Nebraska Synod, Your Nebraska Lutheran. They said things like, “Did we pay for that?” and “I don’t know why they bother with things like that!” Frankly, they didn’t see any value in that kind of relationship.

So, why do we pay for that? Why bother?

In this day and age, denominations seem to be unimportant. People are more interested in being generally Christian than having a tie to a faith tradition — if they’re interested at all. Church budgets are shrinking in many places. Channeling millions of dollars to a Synod and Churchwide organization doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense in the current economy, either.

So why bother?

Our denomination provides a ministry of connectedness to the wider church. Through the Nebraska Synod, we are linked with hundreds of congregations around the state. Through the ELCA, we are linked with more than ten thousand. Through the ELCA’s ecumenical partnerships, we have friends and resources around the world — as well as several churches in our community.

With that connectedness comes resources, ideas, and accountability. There are people outside our community who expect something from us – people who are praying for us, supporting us, and walking with us as we reach out to our community in mission. It’s not just about what we get – if that’s the only cost we count, that’s selfishness and idolatry. (Luke 12:34)

Jesus taught that institutions and buildings don’t matter – people do. (Matthew 24:1ff; Mark 13:1–2)

The church is about relationships and the kingdom of God. We are many members with diverse gifts in diverse places, with wide-ranging concerns for our local community and the well-being of people around the world. (1 Corinthians 12) Having strong connections in the church makes that work.

(BTW, the BBQ was AWESOME!, even if the sauciness (pun intended) I got in line wasn’t.)

You may also enjoy:

1. 5 Ideas for Boosting Your Ministry
2. Synodical Assignment: Nebraska
3. Called to Holdrege, Nebraska!

Not bad for two years old, huh? I want to unpack that a bit for the missional church:

Sing: the missional church sings songs of joy and sorrow. It gets down in the mucky-muck((A technical term, of course.)) of life and participates in daily life. Such a church doesn’t ignore what’s happening around it or become bound up in tradition-for-tradition’s-sake. A missional church is grounded in the community. At the same time, a missional church seeks to sing God’s song over the community, so that hearts are transformed and lives are changed. Note that little of this actually has to do with music, worship style. (John 15:19)

Pray: a missional church doesn’t seek its own way in the world. Instead, it’s passionately committed to knowing and following the Holy Spirit’s guidance. God has a mission – and we want to get on board. This change in attitude makes a missional church (Galatians 3:26)

Work: a missional church serves its community. It’s life comes from Christ, who identified with those who were counted last, least, and lost. It follows Jesus in hanging out with “tax collectors and sinners.” It’s not big or flashy; it’s attractive because it’s different. The people are apostles – literally, “sent ones.” (Matthew 9:10–11 and many other references)

Of course, there is more to a missional perspective on church. But I like church as the people with whom we “sing and pray and work.”

You may also enjoy:

1. 2 min Intro to the Missional Church
2. Launching the Holdrege Listening Campaign
3. Missional Congregations