AC 2009

In just one more day the North Carolina Annual Conference will begin.  This year has its issues.  First the regionalization of the United States under the amendments to the Constitution.  Second, this year I'm an elder and seeking God's voice.  Too often, I've seen & heard people go to the microphones for the express desire to hear their voices and wisdom.  Both tend to be overrated.  Third, Adam Hamilton will be speaking on leadership Friday afternoon & evening.  Fourth, visiting with old friends.  

In addition, I'm trying to get ready to move.  A little behind, but working to make it.  Don't really have a choice, have to be out by June 23rd.  

Off to the races we go.

Turning the Corner

     It's June 5th and in less than 17 days I will be in a new church.  The last few weeks have been filled.  Tying ministries down for my successors to grab on and begin to own.  Yes, I have successors--my responsibilities have been split between two individuals--Contemporary Worship to one & Youth to another.  Youth has been handed off and the new Youth Director has hit the ground running.  Praise the Lord!  Thursday, I spent considerable time with my successor as Associate Pastor.  She is excited and I'm looking forward to her taking the reigns on June 23rd.  

     I understand more the "in between times" we preach about as I'm between ministries.  Yet Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I had my first dream about my new church.  I don't remember anything of the dream other than it involved my new church.  (Yes, I have dreams & nightmares about my present church--God still uses dreams to speak).  

     So I'm trying extra hard to begin to respond to the Holy Spirit's leading on Pine Valley.  My prayer time is beginning to be shaped by praying for the leaders and more than that praying that I will seek God's will rather than implementing my plans.  

     As such, I hope to begin using this blog to pour out my thoughts as I seek God's mind for His church.  

     I'm given to believe that all new appointments come with thorny questions.  I expect no difference in this new appointment.  I'll see how the questions come up and more importantly how they are resolved.  

    Let the journey begin.

5 minutes before Midnight

Tuesday morning, I blogged about getting the call from the appointive cabinet.  It's now Friday morning and I've not received the call.  What happened?  I don't know.  All day Monday and Tuesday, I fretted about "getting the call."  Going to bed on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I came to the realization, "so what?"  I can't do anything to change when the call comes.  So I am reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew--"Do not worry...indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things [food, clothing, etc--my emphasis].  But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  

I look upon the scenario of the call not coming to the fabled "five minutes before midnight" premise (see this article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock).  So I sit at the five minute mark waiting.  In the meantime, I've gone back to doing everything else I'm supposed to do.  As people have asked me, "Do you know?"  My reply is "No, I don't.  However, I know where I'll be until June 23.  That's the emphasis of my priorities."  

Prayer:  Almighty God, you know our needs even before we ask.  Grant to all the pastors waiting for the call.  Strengthen them to remember your call proceeds that placed by the appointed cabinet.  In Jesus' name.  Amen."  

Countdown

It's after 1 am on Tuesday morning.  Sometime today or possibly tomorrow, I get that phone call.  All itinerating Methodist clergy get the call.  It goes something like this, "The cabinet has met and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit have discerned you are to serve '_______' UMC."   I've received two of those calls so far in my ministry.  The first to my student appointment.  The second to my appointment as the associate pastor at St Paul UMC.  Now four years later, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I move.  

I'm excited by the new that approaches.  I'm terrified by the unknown that accompanies the new.  I'm sadden by the closure that comes with moving.  Many people both in the church and the community have woven their lives into the fabric of my life.  Sadly, part of the reality of itinerancy is the the unraveling that occurs.  

In addition, I wonder about my colleagues that are moving.  I know that God is in their moves as much as mine.  However, do they or I when we are told that "______" UMC is receiving us realize that itinerancy is about service not fulfillment.  That salary raises or decreases are not really the benchmarks of our ministry.  Instead, its about bearing fruit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to receive a church with with an increase, however, I realize that my sanctification needs to mature because I may not receive an increase.  For too long, we pastors have come to an expectation that our financial fruit must grow while we as a denomination have allowed the Church to diminish.  

At the end of the day, it's about the call.  Not from the DS, but from God.  Itinerancy is a reminder that we like our Savior have been called to serve and if necessary to lay our lives down for others.

Prayer:  My Lord, let me keep my eyes upon your eyes.  For in them, I see the reflection of the call to ministry in your Church.  Amen.

More than attendance

    In the UMC, when I began a journey toward eldership in 1999, it seemed that guaranteed appointments were the swamp pit of mediocrity for the church.  Where's the incentive to excel for God when you are able to give just a little to receive so much.  Pastors seemed to have the motive that without a moral failing, I have a life-time job and a guaranteed salary with benefits.  As a result, we act as risk avoiders rather than risk takers.  

   One reading of the Acts of the Apostles should convince us that the early Christians were about taking risks not avoiding them.   Here's an blog that might remind us of the Entrepreneural Apostle--Paul and us today:  http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/entrepreneurship/.
   Here's to a new year in which we work in the power of the Holy Spirit to reap success for the Kingdom.

Reminder of the Call

   January 1, 2009 is an anniversary.  You see, on December 31st 1998, I went to bed with a prayer that God would make himself real to me.  The next morning, I awoke to what I have described as the scene in the Wizard of OZ, when Dorothy opens the door from her house to OZ.  It was the movement from black and white to color.  That morning, I awoke to God's technicolor in my life.        Ten years later, my life is very different because of that prayer.  I'm ordained and I'm serving under appointment in the North Carolina Annual Conference.   What a difference a decade makes.     

    My prayer today is that God will make himself real again.  To open doors I didn't expect.  To visit the equivalence of OZ.  To meet the people like the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion again.  Actually, they all exist in our churches.  Would that we as pastors be willing to share the journey with them to the Emerald City.  Isn't that the call of pastors, living in communities that seek God.  

   My prayer during 2009 is that all pastors, myself included, live into God's reality not their own.  God's plans are better than ours any day!

Betwixt & Between

    So New Year is almost upon us--at least the secular new year. New Year in the Church began at Advent. What New Year resolutions will you make? What habits will you change this year?
   We live betwixt and between the Advents of Christ. Which are we closer to--the first or the second? Depending on your doctrine, it could be the second.
   For me, I'm living in a betwixt and between time.  I know I will move in June (yes, we Methodists like our summer trips to be across the conference to somewhere new).  I'm engaged in my ministry, but I don't look to start things as much as prepare things for new leadership.  Everyone wants to know where I'm going.  Speculation is a worthless commodity.  I've come to realize that I want certain things in the next appointment, but I'm reminded by the Holy Spirit of the Wesleyan Covenant prayer:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

Perhaps the New Years Resolution is to pray the prayer in earnest and live the prayer faithfully.

Happy New Year