Christ Community Fellowship

These first couple of weeks have been intense, busy, exciting, and at points overwhelming. Upon arriving at Christ Community, I spent the first week in nearly non-stop meetings as I met with all the ministry leaders at the church and learned about policies, procedures, philosophies of ministry, etc. Following this week of orientation, I launched into a week of VBS here at the Leawood Campus. After completing VBS, the following week was spent in preparation to preach at the Leawood campus. So that is what the first three weeks have looked like so far. Let me give some highlights from those times.

The greatest highlight from the first week is a tie between a conversation with Tom Nelson, the senior pastor, about his vision for pastoral ministry and the time we as staff spent praying for the people in the congregation. Both of these times were extremely significant as glimpses into the heart of what being a pastor is really all about. Another highlight that first week was serving communion.

Highlights during the second week, the week of VBS at Leawood included sing and playing games with kids. However, it was teaching the Bible and sharing the gospel with my small group of 4th grade boys each day that week that brought me the most joy.

The highlight the third week was certainly having the opportunity to preach in both services at the Leawood Campus. My message prep was long and at times very difficult. I felt a lot of pressure to do really well since this was my first impression with most of the congregation. I spent a lot time in prayer and in study and in practicing the message too. Sunday went very well, and I have receive much affirmation and encouragement from the elders, staff, and congregants.

The biggest challenge so far has been learning to rest and manage my time. I'm growing in this but I'm still trying find a good rhythm here at Christ Community. Thankfully, the staff and other fellows have been very helpful in helping determine was is reasonable and expected in terms of hours and effort.

That's all for now. More soon.

American Idols Sings . . . 'Shout to the Lord'?

I'm not an American Idol fan. In fact, I've never even seen an entire episode, but tonight after dinner some guys were here at the apartment, and the first part of the show came on as I was finishing in the dishes. I watched as the host recapped the previous evening's program: "Idol Gives Back." This was a charity program to raise funds for world relief work. Fair enough. If singing celebrities can incite fans to give 60 million plus dollars for world relief projects, praise be to God! But then something strange happened--they did--praise God, that is. The "final eight" Idol contestants sang "Shout the Lord." It was one of the most surreal moments I've seen on television. Eight aspiring pop singers with a black gospel choir singing one the most popular American evangelical worship songs on national television. I don't really have a category for that.

I tried to compute the cultural hermeneutical relationships and pastoral care implications ("there are probably a lot of people who are going to need counseling after watching that," I thought to myself). However, at the end of the day I think I am just stunned at how post-Christian our society has become in some spheres and yet how so many elements of a sort of "folk" or "cultural" Christianity remain. You can't pray in school and the Pledge of Allegiance probably shouldn't mention God, but don't worry the secularists have not yet won the day. God, or at least his cultural effigy, is alive and well on the set of American Idol.

Neither Poverty or Riches

I just got back from chapel here at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where today Dr. Craig Blomberg spoke about the importance of generous giving even as a seminary student. His message challenged me to consider how I could increase my financial generosity even as a student, and when I returned from chapel to check my e-mail, as if on queue, I had an e-mail from Avant, a missions sending organization, challenging people to consider increasing their giving to missionaries they support because of the of the weakening dollar.

Since the dollar has been dropping in value against the pound and the euro, the money that supporters send to missionaries in Europe and the UK no longer goes as far as it used. For those of us who support missionaries, this is something to consider. We ourselves are facing economic down turn in the United States; however, St. Paul is quick to remind us that the Macedonian Christians generously supported their brothers and sisters in Christ at Jerusalem even though they were facing hardship themselves (2 Cor 8:1ff). Consider the work of those who are spreading the gospel and give to them generously.

New Balance LOVE/Hate Anthem

New Balance LOVE/Hate Rain

It is hard to beat a good run even in the rain . . . i've never come back from a run and regretted it. i heart running.

New Balance LOVE/Hate Bench

These commercials are right on!

2008 Albert Cardinal Meyer Lecture Series

The Theological Contribution of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

The 2008 Meyer Lecture Series will examine the work of Avery Cardinal Dulles.

Cardinal Dulles is one of the most important theologians alive today. His long career as an author and professor has produced twenty three books and over seven hundred and fifty articles covering a broad range of topics.

Those topics will be organized under two broad heading and treated in two keynote lectures.

Keynote Lectures:
Fr. Aiden Nichols, O.P. will examine Cardinal Dulles’ contribution to the understanding of the Church ad intra.
Fr. Paul McPartlan will explore Dulles’ insights about the Church ad extra.

Last spring I attended these lectures when N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durum spoke. The format was quite good and the event was well planned. I think this would be an interesting exploration of Roman Catholic ecclesiasology.

Here is this the link for more info.