Experiences In Christian Living and Leadership

I am closing down this blog so I invite you to check out my new blog at http://thoughtfulbeliever.wordpress.com . Access to this blog will end on Sunday, August 7, 2011.

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure-which is: Try to please everybody." - Herbert Bayard Swope

The Great Debate

 
Over the last few years, I have been hearing an ongoing discussion within the church concerning the head and the heart of faith.  Another way of putting it is the discussion between the emotions of faith and the knowledge of faith.  Growing up in and becoming a leader within a denomination that has always emphasized the importance of education and knowledge, I have tended to navigate in that direction.  However, over the last few years, I have been more interested in the value of an emotion-filled faith. 

When I look back at my own faith journey, I consistently see the role that passion and emotion have played in my spiritual growth.  Like many individuals, I can identify different points where I was on the mountain top and the feelings associated with those experiences.  I can also point to times when emotions and passion have fueled my journey even though a specific mountain-top experience was not present.  However, I believe that often I was trained to temper that passion and those emotions to ensure that I remained in the "decently and in order" class. 

I can also identify many meaningful experiences that were centered on theological discussions and study.  Seminary was one, but not the only such experience in my life.  There is little question in my mind that I grew through these more "heady" events and that my faith took another step on the journey.

I think that like all aspects of the Lord's creation, there is value in balance.  I do not view this as a one or the other situation.  Both the passionate/emotional approach and the theological/knowledge approach bring many positives to our faith journeys.  It is in that emotional approach that I believe we experience the Lord with a deep connection.  As the emotions of our spirits encounter the power of THE Spirit, we connect in a very meaningful and lasting way.  In the knowledge approach we come to understand what drives our emotions when we encounter the Lord and the true depth of those encounters.

I would propose that as leaders in the church, we need to work towards a balance in this area and end the debating.  Individuals on both sides of the debate will have a level of uncomfortableness for a period of time but I believe it is worth it. 

Give me your input.

Also, I recommend hearing the voice of another individual on this matter by going to the following blogpost:  www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/brown-where-the-edges-meet

May 2010 Message posted

Check out my May 2010 message.  Look at the menu on the left side of my blog and click on the link.

New Section on My Blog

Check out the new section that I added to my blog.  On the right hand side, find the section that says "Interesting Articles".  I will be adding to this list as I run across articles that others have written and I find interesting.

Church on the Internet

Here is an interesting article about two churches that are using Facebook to host worship services.  What does this mean for the church?  What are the pros and cons?  Would love to hear your input.

Now There's Church on Facebook

April Message posted

Check out the April message.

http://transformer1.typepad.com/experiences_in_church_tra/april-2010-message.html.html

Making Space for Prayer

At this week's evening study, we discussed prayer.  We viewed a clip from the website, recycleyourfaith.com.  In the clip Tim talks about prayer and his changing understanding of prayer.  He poses a question based on a Kierkegaard quote that indicates prayer influences the one doing the praying more than it influences God.  That was an awesome starting point as the group discussed our understanding of prayer.

During the discussion we explored what it meant to hear God as part of prayer.  I began to ponder how we go about hearing God and where the voice of God can be found.  I feel that a struggle that I have in my prayer discipline is providing the space to hear God.  Tim talked about praying with his feet, moving about his neighborhood as he prayed.  I wonder how many times I fail to hear God's voice in the most unexpected places. 

Sharing with the group, I talked about how maybe the Lord's voice could be found while reading the newspaper, or in a conversation with someone, or in what I view in the world around me.  These are not my conventional understandings of how to hear the voice.  I have always thought that it required me to be silent and contemplative, two traits I am not extremely good at.

How do you make space to hear God in prayer?  What are your understandings of prayer?

No Lone Ranger

This week has given me many reminders of the importance of teams in the church.  I have some amazingly awesome teams that work with me in ministry.  Each member of the various teams bring different skill sets and passions.  The combination of the skill sets and passions create wonderful ministry dynamics.  It enriches the ministry in valuable ways.

The other important dynamic about teams is that as one of the church leaders, it helps keep me in check when I get a "Lone Ranger" mentality.  Sometimes it is easy for church leaders to perceive that they must do it all.  They may claim that they hate being the only one that does anything in the ministry but in a strange way they prefer to operate in that fashion.

The concept of a team approach to ministry is not new.  In fact, Jesus instituted it when he first sent the disciples on projects.  He did not send them out individually but in teams of two.  This approach is valuable because not one of us has all the gifts, abilities, or ideas.  The Lord tends to like to work with groups in community and that seems to be the most effective.

So let's continue building those teams and let our coach, the Lord, direct our game plan!

A New Beginning

 
Alright, I readily admit that I have been a bad blogger for quite a few months.  Life has just seemed to be a bit out of control and for some reason blogging has fallen in the list of things that I can put off.  However, since we are approaching spring (at least I sure hope we are) and since spring is a season when new life sprouts up all around us, I am going to try to breath new life into my blog. 

As I approach a time of new beginnings, I have some new ideas on how I might approach blogging.  I have some new topics that I want to explore.  So I ask that you be patient as I spread some new wings. 

I also want to request that if you read my blog, please post comments.  I would love to see this blog be much more interactive.  Also, if you have specific topics that you would like me to address, feel free to give suggestions.

I look forward to rebirth to my blogging life.  Come join with me on this journey!!!