I finally bit the bullet (not really sure what that means) and set up my own blog install hosted by the good people at Loud Sign. I think I’ve successfully imported all my own posts, though I think I’ve lost some of the comments. Theoretically I have all my posts from 2003 to date.
I have completed my second to last seminary course. Yeah for me! So good to have that over and done with. It was a good course, excellent in many ways, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn and explore, but mainly, I’m just happy to be done. I noted, probably 6-7 weeks ago, that the weekly homework assignments (which I fell behind on) felt like low-level, constant stress. It produced non insignificant amounts of anxiety. I’m very glad that is over.
Now that that course is behind me I’m looking forward to what is next. I’m very excited about the next – and LAST – class I’ll be taking at Fuller. The course is ML500 Teamwork and Leadership with Shelley Trebesch. I’m headed to Pasadena for two weeks in January for the course. Looking forward to hanging out with some of our Pasadena friends and being on campus for my last class will be wonderful. I’m bummed, however, that I’ll be there sans family. And I know they are bummed too.
Between now and when I head West I’m pondering what is on my plate. This Fall my focus was mainly split between my seminary course and campus ministry at NKU. Of course, that doesn’t include the day-to-day life management of our family and myself. It has been a good, but full, semester. Now that the semester has come to a close and Christmas shopping is almost done, I’m taking stock of things both big and small. No big revelations or realizations. Just life. Very blessed to be surrounded by those who love and care for me. Incredibly grateful for an opportunity to begin and experiment with a new ministry at NKU. Excited for this new year ahead of us…. new baby, new gardens, and many new adventures.
I am realizing that I am overwhelmed by the administrative demands of ministry and our household. Not sure what to do about it, but it just is. I’m hoping that this new year brings some systemic changes that make for easier management (not of people, but stuff, money, etc…). I’ve never felt like I’ve needed an Administrative Assistant, but right now I really wish I had one.
I’m at the Kentucky Conference of United Methodist Church HQ for an all day meeting of Bishop’s Task Force on Campus Ministry.
We’re talking about Vision, Successes, Challenges, and Recommendations.
As United Methodists we live by the Book of Discipline, the governing document of the denomination. There is a section (about 6 pages worth) on campus/collegiate/higher education ministry. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to do this, but I’m posting a PDF of this section. There is a lot there, so I doubt any/many of you will read this whole document, but if you get a chance to skim it – I would love to know your thoughts, impressions, and reactions.
Notes:
I wrote this in 1999 as part of the Servant Leadership School process. Very interesting to look back at looking back. My life through the lens of a younger me. I wonder what the younger me would make of the current me. Would I be surprised? Or am I all too predictable in my maturations and consternations? Here it is, unedited:
In a sense my spiritual journey began with my dad’s father. He was a Red Bird Mission Pastor/Educator and my earliest ideas of ministry and service come from time spent with my grandparents in the eastern mountains of Kentucky. I can’t remember a sermon my Grandfather preached or a specific conversation about faith, religion, Jesus, or the like, but I sensed love for others and their needs that only Christ could give.
My parents as well modeled a quiet blend of service, leadership, tradition, and faith that continues to intrigue me. My mother and father served in a multitude of ways at the Paris, KY First UM church at which we were members. They were anything but expressive about their faith, but I will never forget the hours spent at the church cleaning, painting, teaching, helping….. well, just serving.
I suppose something must have stuck because my mom writes in June of 1980, when I was four, “He asked me how he could get to heaven. I told him to say Jesus come into my heart and forgive me of all the bad things I did, he did and gave his life to Jesus”.
My teenage years were an interesting time of struggling and not even knowing it. I think I fit the proverbial mold of a “sophomore” a wise fool. Prior to my freshman year of high school I attended a Christian music concert and made a more conscious to follow Christ and be more bold about my faith. I became deeply involved with my church youth group, district youth events, and especially church camp. I believe it was the relationships and experiences I had a camp that began to shape the identity I was forming of myself. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away and decide that my faith in Christ made me, in some way, better than others in my school. Looking back I see the trap of legalism and pride in which I was stuck.
During my 4.5 years at Asbury College God began to do some renovations in my life. Through friends, professors, counselors, and chapel speakers God was churning my life to a point of brokenness and openness to His Grace and peace such that I had never experienced. By the time I graduated I felt I could truly say that I knew Him in a personal and intimate way. I felt His call to come to Hamilton First to serve as Christian Education and Youth Director and I have felt nothing but confirmation of that call since I’ve been here (even when I feel like I want to quit). I sense He is now preparing me to continue my service here and begin to consider what will lay ahead in the future for ministry and family.
JW’s two points of tension with the established church:
JW’s ideal church
Actual models of church in JW’s day
JW’s solution for the church
Question: Was it inevitable that the Ecclesiolae would leave the Ecclesia and become their own Ecclesia?
Characteristics of the Church
Theology of Pastoral Care (or Theology of the Christian Life)
I suppose with a title like that you’d assume this was some profound spiritual or theological pondering on the meaning of the incarnation and God’s missional call to incarnate in our contexts and locale.
Nope.
I can’t sleep. It is 3:46 AM. I think it is a combination of acid reflux and Christmas excitement. And before you feel sorry for me, I have slept – from 8:00 – Midnight. Lately, when I put the kids to bed I fall asleep too then get up at midnight (which is nice because I get to welcome Sarah home from work). Usually I am up for an hour or 2 and then go back to sleep. Not tonight.
This is all exacerbated by a general feeling of malaise. Not sure I can pinpoint it… and I haven’t even been able to articulate it this much for months. I think it is a combination of starting a new job/ministry venture (www.nkuwf.org), lack of exercise, and lack of personal spiritual discipline. Let me be clear, the new gig is great. It feels like a great fit for my call and gifting. It really is nice being back in the United Methodist Church orbit again – something of a homecoming.
And at the same time, I’m basically starting from scratch at NKU. It is a lot like church planting. A lot. This is good and exactly was I was hoping for and expecting…. but it is still hard and tiring. It feels a lot like driving in a new city without a map. If I’m honest, I’ve been in a funk about it the last couple months. It is hard to know where to start, what works, what doesn’t work but we should do anyway, what patterns are we initiating that will form the DNA of this ministry, what bad habits are we starting (and how do we recognize them before they turn cancerous!), who do I spend most of my time with, etc….? We’re truly starting with a blank slate – no structures, buildings, programs, and very few people. Every student I’ve met with this past semester (and there were many) is interested in what we are doing, they would like to be involved, but it seems like life gets in the way more often than not. I don’t think I’ve ever met a busier group of students!
I need to reflect more on all this…. I think I’ve even been afraid of reflecting or lamenting. I think I’ve lived under the weight of (and myth of) if I’m starting something I need to be enthusiastic and positive at all times! That is categorically dumb. I need to fess up. Maybe, just maybe, that’s what the incarnation is about…
Timothy’s awake. Gotta go.
These guys rock! They are amazing composters and processors of food and bio waste. They live in what started as a worm composting bin (but the maggots ate them out of house and home).
By the way, these guys are Black Soldier Fly maggots (learn more here). They are safe, disease-free, super-eaters (see this site – http://www.thebiopod.com/). Oh, and our diapers (the wet ones, not the poopy ones) are compostable (made by Nature Babycare, we love them and we’ve never had a blowout or leak!).
I’m in wont of reflection. But it just isn’t happening. Start the new gig at NKU doing campus ministry 2 weeks ago. I’m in my 3rd week now and it is going very well, but like all transitions it is a process. I’m adjusting to the new schedule, the new tasks, the new “figuring out the the tasks”, a new computer, new phone, new commute, new relationships, etc….
Like I said, it is good. Just a process.
But what I’m really missing is reflection. I feel like I’m constantly juggling and adjusting. Always thinking through what I should/could/might do next. I know this will pass in time, routines and habits will be established, but for now it is not only draining (and not really that bad) but it is sapping me of the emotional energy to reflect.
These few minutes at 9:42 PM after I’ve gotten the kids in bed are about it and I’m forcing myself to do it now.
So, just what am I doing in this new job of mine? Well, good question. I’m getting to know the campus, the culture, the atmosphere of NKU. I’m attempting to enter into relationships (or attend to the ones I already have) with NKU and UMC folk. I’m working on designing and building a NKUWF(.org) website and get biz cards printed. Those are the main things at present. Events, programs, bible studies, service projects, worship experiences, etc… those may come in time, but I’m intentionally not putting my energies there. I need to enter into this community (NKU) as a good missionary – listening, ear to the ground, prayerfully, contemplatively listening. I need to truly hear people and structures and systems and cultures.
We will build in time. I do deeply believe that there is a Kingdom movement at work on campus. A Mission that God has called us to. I sense a budding insurrection of sacrificial love and service. I pray, God, help us to attend to that!
My prayer is that God’s Kingdom would come to NKU as it is in heaven. I keep coming back to this and I truly believe it is as simple and as profound as that.
Come Holy Spirit, Come.
Come Blessed Jesus, Come.
Come Dear Father, Come.
Bring it.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Thy Will be Done.
in me.
in us.
on campus.
is this thing on?
