If you sprinkle...

(I hope the reader (use of the singular is intentional) will forgive a PG-13 digression from the recent run on Pastor Search Committee information.)

The past several weeks, the bathroom that each of the three kids share has smelled. It’s smelled like a men’s locker room. Actually it’s smelled more like a men’s restroom. Specifically, it’s smelled of urine. With a large crack running down the side of the toilet,Kadie and I resigned ourselves to getting a plumber to come out and repair the crack before the raw smell drives the kids crazy.

With that background, Scooter came to me a few days ago and said “Dad, Squealer tinkled on the bathroom seat. You should talk to him about it.”

I sat there silently for a moment and digested this information. Then I somewhat sheepishly replied (with hands held out in supplication):

“Scooter, who among us can possibly cast the first stone at that transgression? I mean, to expect any male in general and a five year old boy in particular to carefully raise the seat every time he...” But she quickly interrupted.

“No, Dad, you don’t understand. He had the seat up! “

My mind turned slowly as I processed this new information. It did not compute, so I inquired further. “But Scooter, how could he urinate on the bathroom seat if it’s up?”

“Dad, he peed on the bottom of the upraised seat!!!”

We were both a little surprised that she used the term “pee”. She’s normally sensitive to the appropriateness of her language. In her defense, however, her brother pushed her over the edge in this instance.

A quick conversation with Squealer revealed the truth of his big sister’s outburst. He had been raising the lid of the toilet, then urinating in a slow circle around its underside, like a meticulous firefighter extinguishing a ring of fire from the circus.

After an extensive conversation, he’s resolved not to repeat the behavior.

Mealtime Interview

As a significant part of our process, the interview over a meal was a necessary evil. It’s natural I suppose, to get to know someone over a shared meal, but in most cases it was painfully formal. In fact, with every candidate except the one we selected, the meeting felt more like an interview than a meal. We would talk with the candidate about the recently observed service and then ask a variety of questions that would tell us about the candidate.

We decided against scripting out questions in advance. We felt that it would be too artificial to try to go through and select certain questions that each of us would ask. This meal was the first opportunity for anyone on the committee (outside of myself) to talk to the potential candidate.

A couple of thoughts:

• As I’ve mentioned before, we decided that every meal we would have a female member of the committee present. This decision invariably helped us afterwards when we discussed how the interview went.
  
• Candidates should always have questions for the committee. It indicates a lack of preparation at best, or a desire to accept any job opening that comes along at worse, when the candidate asks no questions. The candidate we eventually recommended to the church asked some very pointed and difficult questions, which was refreshing.
  
• One candidate had a detailed five step plan that God revealed to him that he was going to implement at Lakeview Baptist. I certainly endorse pastoral leadership and think that the pastor has the key leadership role in setting the vision for the church, but we were surprised that he had such a detailed view when he knew nothing about our church.
  
• We gained a lot of information simply by observing the candidate interact with his wife. We requested that (when possible) the pastor’s wife come to lunch with us. We weren’t so much interested in observing her (I am partial to the demands on the pastor’s wife) but we could more easily see how the candidate treated his wife. This was an area of critical importance to us. One candidate tensed up whenever his wife answered questions and he was clearly worried about what she might have to say. The candidate we eventually called was easy and relaxed as his wife asked us questions or answered questions of our own.
  
• We were also big fans of the waiter test. We watched closely to see how the candidate interacted with the wait staff at the restaurant. (Obviously, I have a soft spot for the wait staff!)
  
• The candidate we selected brought his kids (ages 5 and 2) to part of the meal. I would recommend against that, though in his case the kids were well behaved and didn’t detract from the atmosphere of the interview. But as a rule, I'd recommend getting a sitter (I know I did with MY kids).

Having his kids present certainly didn’t hurt his case when a random couple in the restaurant came up and complimented the candidate in front of us and said “What a fine family!” After the couple left we sat there in stunned silence. Then the candidate turned to us with a grin on his face and said “You have no idea how hard it was to plant that couple in this restaurant before we all got here…”

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"It's Not a Competition"

Longtime readers may recall that one of my favorite theologians is N. T. Wright. I mentioned hearing him address the annual SBL meeting in San Diego last November.

Oddly enough, he turned up a few nights ago on the Colbert Report. The thought of Steve Colbert interviewing Bishop N.T. Wright seems about as likely as Woody Allen interviewing Billy Graham!! But it made for a interesting conversation nonetheless. Although you do have to wade through a heavy layer of Colbertian snark, it’s still worth it. The topic is heaven and the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Enjoy!





(What?! You mean you didn’t know that Woody Allen DID interview Billy Graham?)

Checking References

We consulted the references for all of the candidates with whom we made contact. Most candidates included three references, but some did not. From those we secured at least three references. We then divided up the references and had the committee members contact them. At times, some of the committee members knew one of the references and would speak with them. But in most cases, these reference checks formed the first impression of the candidate by the individual committee members. In our case, they were extremely important.
In almost every instance, contacting the references proved to be the most valuable part of the search process.

It provided us much needed perspective on the situation of the pastoral candidate and was illuminating on various occasions. The reference could generally speak on subjects that the candidate was less inclined to speak upon. The references could address any trouble at the church, or trouble in home life that the candidate might not have shared. Conversely, they could point to accomplishments or some other type of acclaim that the candidate might possess but not feel free to share.

We asked each reference the following four questions:

1. In what capacity have you known the candidate? This gave us a context for the information that we would be receiving. For example, in one instance all of the references were friends or other pastors. None of the references had ever heard the candidate preach before.

2. How would you evaluate his giftedness as a pastor, and in your estimation, what are his strengths and weaknesses? As might be expected, most all of the references were positive and offered numerous examples of strengths. Weaknesses were more difficult to ferret out. Some simply said “I can think of no weaknesses” which means that the reference was either disingenuous (unlikely) or didn’t know the candidate particularly well (more likely). One reference said that the candidate’s only weakness was that he cheered for the college football team of a neighboring state!

But some weaknesses were helpful. One reference said of a candidate that he struggled with feeling despondent and depressed with some regularity. Another reference shared that the pastor’s son had been involved in some illegal activities.

3. Is there any reason we should not call this person to be our pastor? We went fishing with this question, thinking that perhaps some reference might mention a deep secret that would preclude a candidate from the office of pastor. We gained no secret knowledge. The answer in every case was “Nope.”

4. Could you please give us another name that we can discuss this candidate with? We decided to ask for a “one off” reference. This allowed us to speak with people who knew the candidate, but not be limited to references that the candidate alone had chosen. The idea was that this would permit us to speak with someone else who knows the candidate well, but is not necessarily of the candidate’s choosing. I recommend using this question as it put us in contact with someone who usually felt more free to discuss the candidate.

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Initial Contact

What we did after we received the resumes:


When we looked over the resumes, there were a few instances where we clearly knew that the person wouldn’t be a good fit at Lakeview. We set those resumes aside. In one case an individual was retired and in his seventies. His cover letter gave no rationale for why he was considering leaving retirement. In another case, a candidate shared a bit too much personal history (in spectacular detail) in his cover letter that led us to question his judgment. (TMI as Scooter would say).


In another instance, one of the committee members had very close knowledge of the candidate and, after sharing this knowledge with the committee, we rejected the candidate.


And we had a few letters that were clearly sent out to each and every church this individual found out about (one applicant sent the wrong church's name in the cover letter while another applied for a position we weren't search for: Director of Missions). But about 95% of the resumes we received we contacted.


Since we desired to standardize the process as much as possible, we made the decision that as Chairman of the Committee, I would contact each of the candidates for a brief phone interview. In the initial call, I would ask each candidate the following questions:

1. "Are you interested in our committee considering you for this position?" We asked this question (obviously) in order to gauge their interest. In several cases, where one of our church members had recommended them or where we received what turned out to be an older resume, their answer was a brief "Nope." In some cases they asked several questions about Lakeview before they answered. (We took a dim view of that response). But by and large, the answer was "Yes."

2. The second question I asked was "Tell me about yourself." (OK, technically not a question;)We had a couple of motives here. The first, and most obvious, was to learn a little bit more about the candidate. But we also left the question fairly open ended so that they could answer however they pleased. Most told their testimonies. Some answers were short, and some long. One thing we began to take note of was whether or not they mentioned their families. Some would answer for several minutes and shared a great deal of pride in their current location of ministry, but would only mention their family when prompted. Overall, our committee responded more favorably toward the candidate who clearly prioritized family over ministry.

3. Our third question was "Why do you feel that God may be moving you to another place of ministry at this time in your life?" This question was a (not so?) subtle way of trying to determine if there were any negative factors going on at their current place of ministry that might have been a factor in their decision to move on. We did have some negative things come up, but most of them were explained to our satisfaction by the candidate. It was always better for negative situations to be brought up by the candidate rather than for them to come up when we discussed the candidate with their references.

4. Our final question was "What does it mean to be Baptist?" Of our initial questions, this was the only one that touched on the issue of theology. We wanted to give them an opportunity to talk about what was important to them. In retrospect, this was probably the least helpful of the initial questions as almost every candidate gave some variation on the answers of Believer's Baptist and Inerrancy of the Bible.

Next: How we dealt with references...

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The Mechanics of the Search: Gathering Resumes

***Please note that we developed these processes over a few months. My assumption is that we relied on God for guidance through all of this. So understand that when I say something like “We did this and this” I am assuming that the readers will understand that we actively sought out God’s direction before we engaged in any particular task.***



We contacted the two large SBC seminaries in the deep south (SWBTS and NOBTS) as well as the various state conventions surrounding our area. We received by far the most resumes from our local association and received numerous names from church members as well. In a few cases, we received resumes directly from pastors. And lastly we personally solicited some from individuals known by the committee.


Most helpful were the resumes passed on to us by our associational office. I spent a fair amount of time with our Director of Missions and found him to be very helpful throughout this process. Whenever he sent me a resume, I could contact him and request additional information (off the record) and he never failed to give me additional context for the candidate.

We didn’t receive that many names from church members, just a handful. We repeatedly encouraged the church members to submit names, another attempt to keep them involved in the process. We contacted each of the suggested names and received resumes from maybe 1/3 of them.


We also made contact with several ministers in the area that the various committee members personally knew and thought would be a good fit at Lakeview. In most cases, they believed that God was calling them to remain in their current position of ministry. A variation on this practice led us to our new pastor. I contacted a mentor who works in our state office and he knew of a strong candidate that he recommended to us.

We had a few pastors send their resumes directly to us and generally took a dim view of that practice. Pastoral resume etiquette indicates that you get a friend, or D.O.M. to submit the resume on your behalf, along with a cover letter of support.

One of the grossest violations of common resume etiquette (in my opinion) was an application we received from a pastor after we had contacted him as a reference on another candidate!! While he spoke to us about another candidate, he asked us a few questions about our church and then later decided to submit his own resume. I disagreed with this practice, though not all on the committee agreed. Some on the committee saw no problem with this behavior.

But they were wrong.

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A Few Minutes Well Spent

Last night Scooter, Skeeter and I were watching an old movie that I recorded recently. It was the first time that they had ever seen Harvey, the movie starring Jimmy Stewart and a six foot rabbit. One of the best highlights of recent memory was spending about ten minutes working with Skeeter on her Jimmy Stewart impression.

Enjoy the clip

The Search Process as a Whole

I think the biggest surprise in the search process was how God used it to change me. The search process was (like any good road trip movie) far more about the journey than the destination. Our search accomplished a few things:

1. I suppose the most obvious is that we got a new pastor. Not to ruin the suspense but the search did come to completion.

2. We got to know one another as a committee very well. When we began meeting last July, our normal custom was to meet on Wednesday evenings after choir practice and Bible study starting at 7:30. We tried to be done by 10:00, but most of the time we went to 10:30 or even 11:00. Out of the nine committee members, I knew about three of them well. The others I really didn’t know at all. But we know each other very well now! During these hours together we spent a great deal of time learning about each other, sometimes intentionally (through ice breakers), but mostly unintentionally as we discussed various issues facing the church. My hope is that this close fellowship will strengthen the church in the months and years ahead.

3. As a committee we learned a lot about our church. I heard stories from older members of the committee that predated my arrival at Lakeview. Since our meetings were always in confidence, there was a freedom about sharing the frustrations and joys we had experienced individually as they related to choices and decisions that the church leadership had made on previous occasions.

4. Personally I had my faith stretched on several occasions. My faith (like the rest of me) has as tendency to get a bit flabby when underused. This year as a whole has been challenging, but particularly the last few weeks. As the search come to a conclusion, there were numerous moving parts that our committee had to deal with.

5. I feel like we were sitting on the front row watching God at work. Many things occurred that demonstrated to the committee that God was working through this challenging process.

In the next few posts, I will detail the mechanics of the search and share our experiences (and our screw-ups!) during the process.

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A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (V)

The evening after my presentation I had a conversation with Matthew, a student in my night class. Matthew is an excellent student who has displayed an intense interest in various bible classes I’ve taught over the last few years including two Bible classes (Pentateuch and the Gospels) and one theology (the Problem of Evil).

And he is also gay.

He was president of the Gay/Straight group last year and attended my presentation earlier in the day. Because of our past relationship, I wanted his honest opinion.

Matthew sighed and said that he was disappointed to hear my views. “But, you might as well think homosexuality is sinful, everyone else does” he said with some exasperation. I pointed out to him that I think homosexual acts are sinful, not homosexuality itself. His shrug indicated that he saw my response as a distinction without a difference.

Matthew continued wearily: “You may not believe this Dr. Taran, but I’m a Christian. I don’t believe that God would condemn someone for the way He had made them.” I felt that my role was to listen, and not debate, so I said nothing.

“Remember my friend Nathan?” I nodded. A week before, Matthew told me privately that he was going to miss a few class periods because a good friend of his, Nathan, was dying of HIV. Matthew had sworn to Nathan years before, when he was first diagnosed, that he wouldn’t let Nathan die alone. So Matthew went up to the nursing home for a few days until Nathan died.

“Nathan grew up in a fundamentalist church. And when he came out of the closet in high school, some of the people in that church said some pretty hate filled things to him. But over the last few years of our friendship, I shared with Nathan that there were some good, loving Christians out in the world. Just because he had encountered some vicious people who claimed the name of Christ, doesn’t mean that Jesus was that way.”

“Dr. Taran, because of my witness to Nathan, he came to know the Lord. I firmly believed that he died a Christian.” I shared with Matthew that I certainly hoped that was the case and then we were quiet. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see you later." and Matthew left the classroom.

So where does that leave me? Essentially where I started, but with perhaps more understanding of the outlook of certain homosexuals. I still think that homosexual actions are sinful, but as I told the group, we are all sinners. A person practicing homosexual activity can be a Believer just as an adulterer, glutton or liar can.

But God calls each of us to change….and that includes me. And I believe I’ve changed somewhat through this process. The title of this series has been (in addition to being cribbed from a Derek Webb song about torture) a reminder that we are called to go and be among the sinners, even when it involves overcoming a fear of how a group might treat us. Even when sharing the gospel in hostile settings, “the love of Christ compels us.” That is an ideal to live up to, and one I'm pretty miserable at following.

(With school beginning again tomorrow, I anticipate more time to finish out the extended series on our Pastor Search Committee. We'll see!)

Tornado

Friends,

Kadie and I have been on vacation (and will be throughout this next week) so I've been away from internet access. I was stunned to find out that the tornadoes that hit Colorado this last week struck the area around Cornerstone Baptist Church in Windsor. Cornerstone's pastor is Dave Samples, an occasional commentator on this blog. Please keep him and Cornerstone Baptist in your prayers as they minister to a reeling community. I enclose a recent email he sent out:

Dear Friends,

The days have been moving very quickly as our church and our community digs out from the rubble left by the tornado. Words just can’t express the level of destruction that our community has survived. The fact that the largest amount of destruction happened within a few blocks of our church has given all of us at Cornerstone a great ministry of care.

Cleanup of the Cornerstone campus began Saturday morning at about 10:00 once we were given permission to return to the property. Access was limited and controlled by the National Guard but I believe that everyone who attempted to reach the church on Saturday morning was allowed in. The work went quickly with the Colorado Disaster Relief Team being the first on the scene. They did some clean up of the parking lot area including the removal of a light pole that had fallen in the middle of the parking lot. The Disaster Relief Team left our facility and made their first stop at the home of one of our neighbors who happen to be elderly. The older couple was attempting to clean the debris from their yard and they were extremely grateful to the have the help of the team. The Team has chainsaws and was able to take out some trees and moved a great deal of debris very quickly. As the Disaster Relief Team moved out…our guys and girls from Cornerstone moved in and spent the day cleaning and making temporary repairs to our property. We are thankful to Excel Energy who stopped by and turned on our electricity on Saturday afternoon. We are also grateful to the “CO CAT” Company who assisted us in boarding up and tarping the places where the roof was missing. They did a lot of work absolutely free of charge. Someone was set up by McDonald’s giving away free lumber which we used to board up windows. I don’t even know who that was but—we are thankful. As the church building was being repaired, others were moving out into the community helping with cleanup and tree removal. Several chaplains from our church as well as the disaster relief team were walking the community and meeting needs. It’s interesting that within the past year at least five of our members have undergone disaster relief training with our state convention. It’s amazing how God has prepared us for this event.

Our property is the center of the disaster relief and clean up effort. We have fire, police, medical, and a Salvation Army feeding unit all working from our church. This is giving our church great exposure in terms of meeting needs and reaching our community. It’s rare to see any news about the Windsor tornado without seeing a shot of our church building. Fox 31 carried a feature on our Sunday morning worship service this evening. Worship went well today with 249 worshippers. The testimonies were very moving in each service. God is truly doing a work in us and through us.

One of the needs that have been identified is for childcare while parents are cleaning and repairing. Liz Simper is working to put something together to meet this need. Contact her if you would like to help.

My apologies to those of you who have yet to get a return email or phone call. I have much to do in the way replying to communication. It’s amazing how much accumulates when you don’t have electricity.

Blessings upon you!

Pastor Dave

(Taran: Pray for the church and her pastor. Pray that God's grace will be channeled through their efforts. Look for updates at Dave's blog.)

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (IV)

Several questions were generated by my review:

Why are Southern Baptists in particular so anti-homosexual in their views?

Several students asked me about what I thought of the Bishops Spong and Robinson.

The faculty advisor of the group asked me why homosexuality is considered a worse sin than adultery. “Jesus teaches that divorce is equivalent to adultery and we have many people who attend church that are divorced. Why are homosexuals treated differently?”

Some questions about how homosexuality is treated in the Bible.

Providing an odd ending to the meeting was a young man, who had never before attended this group. (He rminded me of Elihu). He said “All of you are missing the key question in this discussion: What about Jesus? You have all missed this point!” The faculty advisor replied “Those are your questions, but not the ones we are discussing today.”

I then told him that this setting was not the proper venue for a theological discussion just as one would not go to an accounting club meeting and ask everyone to talk about the exclusivity of salvation in Christ. He then turned to (on?) me and said “You’ve been doing nothing but dancing with words throughout this meeting. You are dancing around the most important issue of all!”

I replied “I am greatly insulted that you say I’m doing nothing but dancing with words. I carefully chose the words I’ve used and I am offended that you would characterize my discussion as dancing.

Mostly because I told you earlier that I’m Southern Baptist and I do not dance.”

Tomorrow, a final post script on the discussion.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (III)

(Sorry for the delay. I shouldn’t start a series during finals week and right as our pastor search nears its completion).

After my review of UnChristian (see here and here) I addressed the Gay/Straight group with some suggestions for how Homosexuals and Evangelicals could move forward:

First, both sides need to recognize that there is a wide range of response to homosexuals in the Christian community. At one extreme are those who both welcome and affirm homosexual behavior (certain mainline denominations, certain individual churches). At the other extreme are those churches who neither welcome, nor affirm (numerous fundamentalist churches who set aside the sin of homosexual acts as particularly heinous).

So there is not one set response of the church to these issues. A more helpful approach is one that welcomes all to worship and bible study, but does not affirm all expressions of sexuality. Indeed, I think that the response most closely aligning with Scripture is to welcome all homosexuals, as we welcome all adulturers, drunkards, gluttons, liars, ones who lust and ones who are consumed with pride. We welcome them all, but affirm none of these individual sins.

Our stance should be welcoming, but not affirming. (Completely cribbed from Stanley Grenz’s excellent work by that same name).

A second suggestion is that homosexuals and evangelicals can dialogue on these issues. But only if we offer one another honest dialogue. Platitudes merely mask over the genuine differences between these two groups. As I told them, “I need to be able to tell you unashamedly that homosexual actions are described as sinful by the Bible and are therefore immoral. And you need to be able to tell me just as honestly that you consider my perspective to be bigoted and also immoral.”

As Christians, we must lovingly and honestly share the full measure of the gospel with others.

A third suggestion is that homosexuals and Evangelicals need to avoid stereotyping one another. There is a great quote in UnChristian by a Christian who is talking to an angry homosexual. This man had been deeply wounded by past actions of the church. He talkes about the anti-homosexual hatred that flows from the mouths of some so-called Christians. Finally the Christian said “Let’s make a deal. You don’t assume that all evangelicals think like Pat Robertson and I won’t assume that all homosexuals are pedophiles.”

Stereotyping reduces people to caricatures and objectifies them. As soon as we stereotype people, they can become objects instead of creatures made in the image of God.

Lastly, we can work together in some areas of common ministry. The evangelical church, by and large, has done a miserable job of ministering to AIDS patients. We can work with those suffering from HIV. We can also work to end non-religious workplace discrimination against all people, including gays.

Note that on other issues (e.g. same sex marriage, advocating homosexuality in public schools) we agree to disagree and may even work against one another in certain instances.

5. Lastly I shared with them that people don’t go to hell because they are homosexuals. Everyone sins and that no one goes to hell because of what they do or who they are. People go to hell only because of what they do with Jesus.

Following these points, we had a discussion that led in some interesting directions. I’ll summarize it tomorrow.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (II)

With the words of Bartolot ringing in my ears, I accepted the invitation and addressed the Gay/Straight group this last Tuesday. I started off with a brief review of the book, UnChristian. (For background on the book and a formal review, see Benjie here and here.) I started off by sharing with them that I normally don’t speak about my own personal faith on campus and briefly explained why. Several of the group (about 20 students and faculty) had taken my courses before and I asked them to confirm that I normally don’t speak of such things. I then identified myself as a Baptist and an evangelical (not in a political sense, but in the Bebbington sense).

UnChristian is not an earth-shattering work. It is a fairly straightforward book, including numerous anecdotes, that provides a context for how outsiders view the evangelical subculture. I shared with the group that there are six areas where Kinnemann takes us evangelicals to task. One of these views that Outsiders (nonChristians) have is that they believe that Christians are anti-homosexual. Kinnamann then produces evidence to support this viewpoint (directly quoted from UnChristian) :

1. Born-again Christians are more likely to disapprove of homosexuality than divorce. The vast majority of Christians say that homosexuality should not be considered a legitimate lifestyle and strongly reject church-sanctioned weddings for same-sex unions. However, a minority of born-again believers (39 percent) embrace Jesus's teaching that divorce is a sin except in cases of adultery (see Matt. 5:32). Even among evangelicals, just three out of five describe
divorce as a sin, well below their opposition to gay marriage.

2. Most born-again Christians have a hard time knowing how they
should respond to the lifestyles of homosexuals as well as how to respond to the political efforts of gay and lesbian activists. For instance, many believers advocate legal restrictions on homosexual behavior. A majority of born-again Christians, including more than four out of five evangelicals, say that homosexual relations between two consenting adults should be illegal.'

3. Millions of Americans, including two out of every five churchgoers, say that school boards ought to have the right to fire teachers who are known homosexuals. Of course the issues are complicated, but Christians are fueling the idea that gays and lesbians should not be allowed to work in public schools.

4. Many Christians continue to be very skeptical about donating to HIV/AIDS causes, even overseas, despite Christians' generosity in many other arenas. In one poll we found that just 14 percent of born-again Christians say they would be highly motivated to help HIV/AIDS orphans overseas. In another study we discovered that two out of every five born-again Christians, including the same proportion of evangelicals, admitted they have more sympathy for people who have cancer than they do for people with HIV/AIDS. In probing people’s attitudes, we find this perspective typically springs from the idea that the disease is deserved. They believe God is punishing these people—or that their decisions and lifestyle deserve this outcome.

As you will see, our criticism of gays and lesbians is not only ineffective, but also it repels many 16 to 30 year olds. As one survey respondent put it, "I cannot imagine Jesus actually treating gays and lesbians like Christians do today." (end quote)

I then offered a few criticisms of the book. First, I think Kinnaman needs to address the fact that many in the evangelical church are uninterested in being popular. He understands that, but I think he could’ve headed off that particular criticism by addressing it in the book. UnChristian isn’t trying to make the case that the church should be concerned about its popularity, but I am concerned that some will dismiss its criticisms by simply calling it Emergent and focused only on worldly popularity.

Second, although the book is addressed to Christians, he doesn’t illustrate what we can do to directly engage these perceptions. I then turned to my own suggestions for how Evangelicals and Homosexuals could talk to one another.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (I)

**Note, I'm tired of thinking about PSC stuff right now, so the next few posts will cover an experience I had this week***

Last year I was asked to speak at a Gay and Lesbian support group on campus. The faculty advisor is an agnostic, but understands the importance of faith in the lives of people (particularly in our section of the South). The topic she asked me to address was what the Bible teaches about homosexual acts After much prayer and no small degree of anguish I accepted, knowing that my views would run counter to those of the members of the group as well as the advisor. But the students were respectful and though some (obviously) challenged my readings of the texts, the conversation was quite courteous.

A couple of months ago she asked me to come back and give a book review of a recent Barna book called UnChristian (a book that Benjie is also currently working through). This book presents research showing what outsiders (nonbelievers) think of evangelical Christianity. One chapter of the book shows that outsiders perceive Christians as being fundamentally anti-homosexual. Because of this perspective, the faculty advisor asked me to come by and review the work.

With everything else on my plate, I was less that receptive to going back. Last year’s presentation required a lot of preparation and mental energy that I wasn’t sure I would have. Some friends at church advised against going telling me “It is a set up, a trap!” But after much prayer and thinking about how to respond, it was my brother Bartolo who crystallized it for me. He asked me a simple question “Would Jesus go to their meeting?”

Without hesitation I knew the answer, he would. And if he would, then I obviously would need to do so.

I hate it when Bartolo gives me sound advice...(at least it doesn't happen too often ;)

Pastor Search Committee Update

Recent busy times at Lakeview have had a direct correlation with my lack of blogging lately. Things have heated up on the pastor search front. In the last few weeks we have visited a candidate’s home church, invited him up for an intense theological interview, and then (last night) voted as a committee to recommend him to the church this coming Sunday.

We now are moving on to the next phase of the search: negotiating a salary, presenting a compensation package to the church, and explaining to the church why we are recommending a pastor who is a good thirty years younger than his predecessor.

I’ll blog on each of these items in the coming days.

Exciting times...

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Tenure at SWBTS????

While reading through this recent Baptist Press article on the recent meeting of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's Board of Trustees, I came across this nugget:

Trustees approved the tenure of Ian Jones, assistant dean in the school of educational ministries' division of psychology and counseling and director of the Baptist Marriage and Family Counseling Center. This represents the first tenure approved since Patterson became president in 2003.

While I've only briefly mentioned a tenure situation at SWBTS before, this news is stunning. No tenure at all granted in five years? Either no one has come up for tenure, many people have been denied tenure, or (most likely) there was a high turnover rate right when Patterson was elected president and only now have people put in enough time to qualify for tenure.

But it still seems a little lean.

A Quiet Passing...

I doubt that anyone who wanders by Coffespoons has ever heard the name Roy Melugin. He passed away last week at the age of 70 after an extended battle with cancer. He was a long time Old Testament professor at Austin (Presbyterian) College and spent his retirement years as a professor at Texas Christian University.

Roy was a world class scholar on the book of Isaiah. Isaiah scholarship over the last 150 years assumed that there were multiple writers, writing in different geographical and temporal contexts. They argued that Isaiah 1-39 addressed a very different historical setting than did chapters 40-66. Dr. Melugin was ardent in his view that this was mistaken. He explored the various connections between these two sections and argued that Isaiah is a single literary piece.

If he was theologically conservative, he was unashamedly liberal on social issues. He marched for racial justice in the 1960’s and was informed by the prophets as he consistently spoke out against the widespread injustices of our world today.

But none of that directly affected me. In 2001, I attended the regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature for the first time as a faculty member. I also presented my first paper to the conference. Dr. Melugin came to the session and heard my stuttering, sweaty, angst-ridden presentation. After it reached its miserable conclusion, he came up and made a few very charitable comments. I was stunned that this gifted academic would be so gracious as to offer me praise and encouragement after my first paper.

Later that evening as I arrived on my floor of the hotel, I stepped out of an elevator as he was stepping in. I quickly thanked him again and awkwardly said something to the effect that “If you ever see me make some mistake around this conference or commit some breech of academic etiquette, please let me know.”

The doors of the elevator began to shut, and in my mind’s eye I can still see his thin, wiry arm snake out to prevent the elevator doors from closing. He looked me in the eye, through his thick owlishly-round spectacles and said to me sternly. “I will Taran, I will. But remember, we are now colleagues and I will expect that you will do the same for me.”

That thought has remained with me until this day. Because as I transition (be it in the church, work, or personal worlds) from the stage in my life when I am the awkward newcomer to when I am the veteran expert, I hope that I will be as gracious, considerate and compassionate to those who come after me.

May he be received into God’s eternal rest.

War and Wiring...

The Pastor Search Committee continues to work quietly in the background, like a box fan whose hum has faded into the general noise of a busy room. Because we’ve been talking to several pastors I’ve been a little reticent to post much on our work. Last week we completed our lengthy look at the Baptist Faith and Message and I think that the committee found it very valuable. The section that generated the most heated discussion (ironically) was the section on peacemaking. We almost came to blows over the appropriate role of non-violence. (Reminding me of course of this clip from Dr. Strangelove). Our church has been unquestionably supportive of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, understandably so since we have several members and even more relatives of church members fighting overseas. But we had some conversations as we looked at several texts about what Jesus had to say regarding peace. Now I’m giving some thought to what we will do next to generate discussion at the beginning of our meetings.

One other thought has been on my mind a lot. I’ve detailed the history of our church and its previous pastor in several posts. Once characteristic of our church that causes me some concern is that our congregation is very willing to be led. Following the pastor is wired into our DNA. More than anything else, that thought has been weighing on my mind and in my prayers as we talk to these various pastors. I’m concerned that we will bring someone in who will repeat the autocratic mistakes of past leadership.

Of course we try to ferret out their views on church polity that out as we talk to them, but most people can talk a good game. They all say some version of “I will work through the existing committee structure of the church.” But at times you wonder.

(Back to main Pastor Search Committee Menu)

How to Sabotage Your Church

Bob Perry is the President of the Organizational Health Associates with extensive experience troubleshooting congregational conflict. Perry, in the vein of the Screwtape Letters (except without all the demons), wrote a recent article called “How to Sabotage Your Church” In this article, he offers advice in how to disrupt the unity and cause division in your local church. He then offers some guidance for church leaders confronting these issues.

He writes that if you really want to sabotage your church, then do the following (I added the last two thoughts):

1. Threaten to leave the church. (the spoiled brat syndrome).

2. Threaten to withhold your offerings. (Using stewardship to manipulate others)

3. Create unhealthy triangles. Involve third parties in your conflicts with others. When you have a conflict with another, instead of continuing to work on the problem, recruit allies and marshal your forces to destroy the other.

4. Sow negativism – fostering a “here we go again” whenever problems or issues arise. Instead of keeping unhealthy criticism to oneself, you should make an effort to call others and share with them your negative attitude as well.

5. Become the “clearinghouse” for complaints. That is, become the one to whom people go to express their negativity, realizing that you will cultivate and encourage their negative spirit through listening to and affirming their views.

(I add two more)
6. Avoiding confrontation at all costs. Any problems will recede and finally go away if we simply ignore them and pretend that they don’t exist.

7. Centralize power in the hands of one. A sincere church leader will never misuse sole authority.

Other suggestions?

How I Spent My Spring Break

I spent it in bed and on the couch with a flu-like virus. Because fair reader, I don’t have the time, nor you the patience, for in depth reviews of the culture I’ve consumed over the last two weeks, I thought I’d share with you a brief summary and one thing I liked or disliked about each movie/book/TV show. Adding much richness to our movie watching experiences was the fact that DIRECT-TV offered free HBO/Cinemax for the weekend.

When one is both sick and tired of chicken noodle soup with saltines, what else is there to do but read, watch, and pray? Here’s how we spent some of our time…

Without further ado…

Two Books:
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness I already reviewed it here.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- written by the author of Krakatoa. He’s not really a historian, but Simon Winchester can spin a yarn. Just read the three page preface to the book and then decide not to read the rest. C’mon, I dare you. One of the interesting things about the book is it gives the history of the production of the Oxford English Dictionary, a mammoth undertaking that benefits us all even today.

Movies

Little Women (1994) This film was a hidden gem. I’d missed its theatrical release, but the cast overflows with fine actors from Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, and Susan Surandon to Christian Bale. A gripping story with much laughter and crying as we watched this one a couple of times (well, I watched it once. Kadie and the girls a few times). Kadie got this for Scooter’s Easter Basket.

Stuart Little A gift(?) for Squealer, I watched it for about 5 minutes before I could stand no more. I recall the book fondly as I read the masterpiece about childhood alienation.
Two things jumped out at me about the film: M. Night Shymalan wrote the thing and Hugh Laurie stars in it. But this film is a CGI mess. Almost the worst of the films we saw. Almost. Which brings us to…

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – Just a CGI disaster. Painful to watch and even more painful to try to discern a plot. Any goodwill built up for Robert Rodriguez in the great, I mean GREAT, family films of Spy Kids 1 and 2 is flushed away in this fluorescent colored dreck.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The girls saw it for the first time, only on the condition that they close their eyes when Jones tells Marion to do so during the death angel scene at the end. They absolutely loved it. I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to hear them burst out laughing when Indy shoots the swordsman after he performs a variety of impressive sword maneuvers.

Flicka – A girl and her horse movie. Perfectly acceptable. Better than expected Tim McGraw performance. Maybe Skeeter’s favorite movie.

Superman Returns – I had pretty low expectations for this one, but they’ve been exceeded. I loved the opening credits, which were identical to the 1978 credits. The actor has his Christopher Reeve impression working well, particularly his Clark Kent nebbishness. Kevin Spacey does his best to chew the scenery, but can’t get me to forget Gene Hackman. And I miss Ned Bettey’s unctuousness “Mistah Luthoh”. One marked improvement is Kate Bosworth over Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. Even as a nine year old, I recall thinking how the movie might have improved had the Lois Lane-Superman flight over Manhattan ended somewhat less romantically and more “tragically”.

(And speaking of rebooted franchises, how did I miss this?! Must not get hopes up…)


Hot Fuzz – Clearly the Belle of the Ball among these films. I had no expectations other than the fact that Roeper and the other guy liked the film and said it was funny. It is a modern British film and is therefore profanity laced and has a few cheesy slasher moments….but my-o-my I laughed at this tale of a tough London cop who ends up in a small town that sounds a lot like Lone Oak. But for a different view, see a recent post at Mr Ginger’s pad. Yhaarp.

The Miracle Maker – A required Easter viewing around our house. Still in my mind the best visual depiction of the life of Christ, bar none. And it’s Claymation!!!!!

The Blues Brothers – I hadn’t watched this in years and I didn’t watch all of it again either. Simply not that funny.

Idiocracy – Very disappointing film from Mike Judge of Office Space fame. The film posits an entertaining (and easily defensible) premise that our society is getting more and more stupid each passing generation. But it depicts this in an idiotic way. I could stand about 15 minutes of it.

Radio Days – I hadn’t seen this Woody Allen treasure in a decade, but it has that right combination of charm and whimsy that makes it delightful. It’s a grow up version of A Christmas Story as Allen waxes nostalgic on the role that the medium of radio played in New York life in the 1930’s and 40’s.

The Dark Crystal “That is one weird puppet movie” was Scooter’s comment after it was over. (This comment has now, in my mind, become one of the greatest lines in our family’s lore.) I’d forgotten a lot of it, but I agree with her sentiments. Kadie picked this DVD out for Skeeter’s Easter basket. Not sure that Jim Henson was smoking when he contrived this plot.


TV Series
John Adams (3 volumes) – A great show on HBO, with high production values. The book on which this is based (McCullough’s John Adams) is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. So I had high expectations and they were met. The high point of this series for me is that it accurately depicts the close love affair that John and his wife Abigail sustained for years often over great distances. Their personal letters may be the greatest romance literature in American history, simply a joy to read.


House (about 6 episodes) -- For another post

Returning to Reality

That was unpleasant.

Today was my first day back in the office after a vicious (and at times viscous) bout with a flu-like virus. I got sick last Tuesday (during Spring Break) and have spent more time indoors in the last week than I have in months. Coughing, congestion, mixed with a low grade fever and occasional nausea made this a Spring/Easter break to remember.

Of course it was passed around our family as well. Starting a few days ago we ended each day with our “Fever Contest” to see whose temperature was the highest. Each of us has had the same symptoms in lesser or greater degrees. The upside of our series of illnesses has been a lot of family time, many movies and books read. More about those in the coming days.

A Worthwhile Journey

Warning: High Geek level Alert (But, read to the bottom for a free book offer!)

A good part of my adolescent years were spent on distant shores. I traveled extensively throughout junior high and high school years. I enjoyed several of my trips and some of them...I've never quite been able to return from completely. One of my first trips abroad was spent treading after the dawn with the noble Reepicheep the courageous Peavensie brood and the mighty Aslan throughout Narnia. I journeyed alongside Frodo and Bilbo across the Shire. And I hid in awe from the great Druid Allanon in the land of Shannara. I too felt a sense of homesickness whenever I heard the words Caer Dallben in the land of Prydain. And for almost a decade I journeyed with King Trent and his friends throughout the world of Xanth.

So it was with a sense of excitement that I agreed to provide a blog review for Andrew Peterson’s new book On the Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness (Edge). Andrew Peterson (AP), as you may recall, is one of my favorite contemporary Christian artists. He’s in the mold of Rich Mullins and is one of the few artists whose CD’s I will purchase sight unseen unheard.

So when I first heard that AP was writing a novel, I was filled with some trepidation. I knew he could carry a tune, but could he carry a story?

I’m pleased to report that the answer is yes.

Edge spins the tale of a small family in a small village. Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby are the three youngest members of the Igby family who live with their Mom and Grandfather in the township of Glipwood in the land of Skree.

Glipwood had been, in a happier times, a gentle village along the coast of the Dark Sea of Darkness. But in recent decades, things had taken a more ominous turn. Coming across the Dark Sea, from the land of Dang, were hordes of Fangs, vicious lizard-like animals. They followed the bidding of Gnag the Nameless whose thirst for land and power are unquenchable.

After years of an uneasy occupation, the situation in Glipwood begins to change. The Igby children attract the unwelcome attention of the local Fang garrison. Edge then details a series of adventures as the three children (plus their relatives) try to stay alive in the midst of the ensuing calamities.

Three things I liked:

1) After a gradual start (and these narratives must always start slow) the novel flows well. The numerous brief chapters (51!) stretched across 284 pages make for a tightly paced novel that is ideal for the ten minute attention span of this YouTube generation. Or to a bed time story that (I suspect) was the genesis for this narrative.

2) The world is complete. Peterson has given much thought to the development of the backstory to the land of Skree. The work is filled with appendices, footnotes, and illustrations that guide the reader (often humorously) through the text. Since the subtitle for this work is The Wingfeather Saga Book One, I suspect that AP has only shared a bit of what he has up his sleeve.

3) The spiritual dimension is not overdone. One must indeed walk a fine line here, but the best Christian fantasy writers never preach or browbeat the reader. Aside from a few explicit references to a Maker and a brief myth of Dwayne and Gladys (Adam and Eve figures) the religious element is only hinted at. God is seen in this story, but never explicitly and never completely. (Of course, since this is exactly how God operates in our own lives, it is an excellent choice for an engaging narrative.)

Three things I didn’t like:

1) The evil is not terrifyingly portrayed. Ralph Wood, an English/Theology professor from Baylor is an expert in the works of the Catholic authors J.R.R. Tolkien and Flannery O’Conner. He has said that one reason why contemporary Christian writing is inferior to that of prior generations is because we no longer have the ability to adequately depict Evil. We have sentimentalized Evil. And if the danger and the evil is not severe and powerful enough, then the salvation (or euchatastrophe to use Tolkien's word) cannot be as powerfully seen. At their worst, the Fangs reminded me of the Sleestaks from the land of the Lost, or the Gorns from Star Trek. Dangerous enemies to be sure, but not terrifying.

2) The names were pretty simplistic. This is a hard criticism, but a necessary one. The author of a fantasy genre must use names that sound ancient and authentic, but may not actually be so. The Fangs of Dang, though alliterative, doesn’t pack enough punch. (By contrast, for example, the reader shudders when Gandolph first mentions the Mountains of Moria. And the informed reader might be aware that Moriah is intimately connected with the idea of sacrifice.

3) An inconsistent narrative tone. AP breaks up some of the tensions in the book by making references that are aimed at the teen level. He mentions the favorite meals of the Fangs are maggotloaf and booger gruel (for which he provides a recipe) and that the ratbadger’s greatest defense is its “eggish flatulence.” With numerous winks to the reader, AP breaks up any rising tension with these humorous asides. I suspect that the reason these are included is to hit a targeted tween/teen audience. But when the characters are in jeopardy, these silly asides serve to undercut the narrative tension. I must point out that these factors are what make this book so enjoyable to my 12 year old.

Overall, the likes outweigh the dislikes. Andrew Peterson demonstrates that his remarkable creative abilities transcend the musical and enters the narrative as well.

I’m glad I read On the Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness. Kadie and Scooter are also reading it. We’ve had a few enjoyable conversations about the book, and it is a rare thing for us to be reading the same works. It has brought us together for some fun conversations and introduced some inside jokes to our little family.



Now for the contest. One of the nicknames of my family (found above) was taken directly from one of the fantasy series I mentioned in my first paragraph. In the comment section below, the first reader who can tell me which nickname and which series the name appears, I will send a free copy of Andrew Peterson’s book On the Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness.

Land Shark

Like a round shark patiently gliding across the surface of our backyard lawn, our Christmas trampoline has now claimed a pair of victims.

Most of our wrestling matches have migrated out from the living room onto the trampoline and its benetted form. The bouncing/wrestling surface is surrounded by an eight foot high, eight pointed net (the kids refer to it as the Octagon) which keeps the activities inside, but injuries still abound.

I was the first to fall, both figuratively and literally. A few weeks ago I was practicing a flip. Although it maybe difficult to imagine my gyrating doughy physique (the first time Google’s ever encountered that particular phrase), Scooter and I are competing to see which one would be the first to complete a flip (the easy part) and then stick the landing (more difficult).

After completing another lazy rotation, Scooter offered some helpful advice. “Daddy, if you tuck your arms and legs, you’ll spin faster.” … What can I say, she was right. Unfortunately, I over rotated and slammed my face into the (padded) pole that supports the netting. The “net” effect is that it scrapped a layer of skin off my nose. (This picture was taken a few days later).


(Sorry for the sinister close up of the eyes.)

On Saturday, Skeeter, Squealer and I were jumping and I attempted to double bounce Skeeter, as I have done hundreds of times before. But this time, she rolled her little ankle and went down in a heap of agony. (Actually, because I double bounced her, she went up in a heap of agony. Then down.) Immediately her ankle began to swell and she now sports what looks like a half of a hard boiled egg attached to her ankle spur. A call to my sister-in-law, PTGirl…who’s a PT, and I got her an ankle brace and crutches.

Now Scooter, Kadie and Squealer are eyeing the trampoline with trepidation, knowing that they might be next…

My Quoteable Boss

This looks like it could be the work of Mr. Ginger. Much fun will be had at its location.

HT: Marty Duren

Fiat Lux (II)

Continuing our projects.

Dining Area Before

Dining Area After

Note how the day has turned into night. We had a couple of minor issues with this one that necessitated a trip back to Lowes. Specifically our predecessors had hacked out the hole in the ceiling with (apparently) a butter knife. The resulting hole was slightly larger than the base of the new light, so we had to purchase a (plain) medallion to cover the hole.

On a side note, I read somewhere that if you get electrocuted, you can't always break contact with the live wires. So I've asked Scooter to stand ready with a two by four in case I get electrocuted so she can whack me free of the current. So far, she's been a little disappointed at my safety record.

Again, I cannot stress how simple this is. We have a couple more lighting projects to complete, I'll post those if as they are completed.

Fiat Lux

Kadie and I are engaged in some low level home repair. We moved into our current home in 2001 and have, regrettably, done very little to keep it in proper shape. We suffer from the same excuses which no doubt afflict many of my readers, lack of time, lack of resources, other priorities.

But the real reason is more simple: we lack any sense of mechanical skill at all. I can do home repair work about as well as a fish can ride a bicycle. Whenever I estimate the cost and length of time for a home repair, Kadie alertly doubles both the cost and the time estimates and convinces me to call in a professional.

But our recent flirtation with moving has motivated us to spruce up our digs, or trick up the crib (“Daddy, whatever you do, never say that again” Scooter would say). So we’re starting with something easy. Since some of our light fixtures predate the Hoover administration, we’ve decided to replace some of them.

I know nothing about home repair in general, and less than nothing about electrical repair in particular. But I do know that electricity can kill you. Truth be told, I also recognize that there is a positive and negative charge (polarity?) and that you turn off the circuit breaker before you do anything. So those are the few things I do know about electricity.

But I have been told that replacing light fixtures is one of the easiest and fairly cheapest home repairs you can do. We tried, and it was pretty easy. Yes, you too can change out a light fixture. So I thought I’d brag inform my readers and post a few before and after pictures. So far, none of the pictures were taken in an emergency room .

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Larry Norman, Requiem in Pacem

Larry Norman, the dean of Contemporary Christian music passed away last week. Although never a huge Norman fan, I appreciate his ground breaking work. His influence would be hard to overestimate. You can draw a line of apostolic succession from Norman to the contemporary singers and songwriters whose artistic works fill our churches on most Sundays.

(I also learned from Norman that Christians don't always get along. He and Randy Stonehill had a tumultuous relationship. That fact is reflected in Stonehill's own eulogy for Norman here.)

There was a time in high school when I believed that his duet with Steve Camp “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music” represented the zenith on Christian rock. (And the zenith of Big Hair).

But for now, I’ll pass along two You Tubes. First, his haunting “I wish We’d All Been Ready” performed by DC Talk






Second, his acoustic version of WSTDHATGM





HT: Dave Samples

Too Close to Home...

Texas Monthly is a great magazine about the Lone Star state. Two recent cover stories hit a little close to home, however.

In July of last year they had a cover story on a nurse who (allegedly) killed several patients in a small Texas hospital.

Last week, the March issue of 2008 arrived and the cover story? An article on a Baptist minister (who spent some time in Waco?!) who (allegedly) killed his wife.

Kadie (a nurse) and I (an alleged Baptist Minister) might each be sleeping with one open eye tonight.

(I have no idea how to tag this entry by the way.)

House Fever

Kadie and I almost bought a house yesterday. Well, to be more precise, we almost bid on a house yesterday. We found out about a house that was going up for auction with an opening bid of $50,000.00. We looked at the house and there were many things nice about it. It is 5,100 square feet, a veritable mansion. It’s in a great school district, in a fast growing area of town where property values are expected to continue to skyrocket. With Scooter reaching her teen years in a few months, she will be receiving her own room as we turn the original den area of our house into a fourth “bedroom.” But a real bedroom would be better (her new room is separated form the kitchen by only a flimsy folding door) so we were open to the idea of moving into a larger house.

But there were some problems with this house. First, since its going to auction, the previous owners obviously didn’t have the money to keep it up. It has been unoccupied for four of the previous six years. It needs new carpet and a lot of superficial (though not structural) work. In addition, it is a good 20 to 30 minutes from our places of work, unlike the 2 or 3 minute commute that we have now. The cost in gas and time boggles the mind. In addition, the home has 3 A/C units, all of which will likely need to be replaced soon (about 20K right there).

But, in what covers a multitude of superficial sins, it is large (cue the Olive Oyl song from Popeye). It would give the kids (not to mention the parents) plenty of room.

After some thought and prayer, we elected not even to bid on the house for a couple of reasons:

Given our pretty conservative financial sensibilities and the general slowdown in the housing market, the idea of floating two house notes while our current home sells is terrifying.

I am a home repair incompetent. We’d only be able to afford the house if we did much of the repair work ourselves. But given my own lack of ability in this area, we shouldn’t count on it.

So we decided to stay where we are and save money toward a remodel of our kitchen, and then our bedroom. We’ll save up the money over time and pay for it in cash. We also decided to try out a few small projects (tiling our utility room, changing out several light fixtures, etc) to develop some basic home repair skills.

(And in a final note, we had decided to bid no more than $80,000 for the house. I found out this morning that the final bid was $236,000).

The Why Behind the Tradition

I've noticed an interesting dynamic at work at my home church, Lakeview. I suspect it plays out in most other churches as well. As I’ve outlined before, I had a mixed experience with our previous pastor. Although he was more autocratic than I am comfortable with, he was benevolent in how he exercised his authority.

Over the thirteen years he was pastor, the church took on his image. One example is how he emphasized the importance of love and reaching out to all people regardless of race or socio-economic status. The church has embraced that mind set, a mind set that it definitely didn’t have before his arriva l. But it is fascinating to see how the church has continued on in his absence.

After six months in which one staff member and two members of the congregation shared the pulpit (not at the same time), we called an interim pastor to the church. He is in his seventies, but full of energy and with decades of pastoral experience. But most of all, he meets the most important rule for the interim pastor: Primum non Nocere.

After he arrived, he noticed something unusual. Our previous pastor didn’t like to pass offering plates. We’ve had offering boxes at each exit for as long as I’ve been a member. When the topic would come up, our pastor would quickly say “We thought about it carefully and made that decision so that we don’t interrupt the flow of the service.” Although there were some who disagreed with the practice, it was never a big enough issue to become divisive. Our new interim simply asked the deacons, the staff, and some of the church leaders is they wouldn’t mind passing the plates again (leaving the boxes at the entrances for those who preferred that method). He found that no one opposed the i dea of the offering plate.

So last Sunday, with little fanfare, he preached a sermon on tithing and we passed the plates. I heard no opposition or grumbling about the plates after the service and our tithe was over twice our normal average.

No real major point to this I suppose, except that as a church member, it would probably be a good iddea to revisit the "whys" of our church traditions. If we do something merely because we've always done it that way before, it should be revisited. I’m also intrigued by how willing a church is to follow their pastor, even when, at the end of the day, they aren’t particularly in agreement with him on an issue.

Random Drivel (II)

Random Drivel

Scooter had a test with over fifty questions on the anatomy of an earthworm. She made a 92, God bless her. But why do they spend so much time on it?

Squealer has picked up a new word and I must say I’m proud. He savors it, grinning right before he deploys it in a conversation. The word is “miscreant.” I think he picked it up from one of the Ice Age movies. It is one of the few critical words I allow him to use against others, because usually they have no idea what he’s talking about.

Skeeter has signed up for additional studying for her state mandated exams. (Curse them). In addition to her normal school work, she then studies specifically for this test from 3:00 to 5:00. Strangely, she’s enjoying it.

Scooter is now taller than some of the ladies in our (adult) Sunday school class. I keep wondering where this young woman has appeared from???

I preached a sermon a few Sunday nights ago in church. It was called “The Proper Care and Feeding of Your New Pastor.” I enjoyed it because it is precisely the kind of sermon a pastor cannot preach about themselves. (I shared with them a pastoral pet peeve. When your kid is selling candy or discount cards from school, don’t let them hit up the pastor. It puts the pastor in a position of either telling your kid no (and looking like a jerk) or saying yes and having every other kid come up to them as well.)

Our trampoline has been very enjoyable lately. Each day, we’ll spend thirty or forty minutes as a family jumping on it at the same time. The kids are spry and fearless. Squealer weighs around thirty-five pounds and, like a flea, can jump 70 times his own height. Scooter and I are competing to see who can be the first to turn a complete flip and stick the landing.

Kadie continues to amaze me. She’s about as non-confrontational as they come, but she’s been on Lakewood’s personnel committee dealing with a very difficult situation. She volunteered to accompany the committee chairman to confront the recalcitrant staff member. They did and it has been a positive experience for the church.

We are almost to the point of buying three gallons of milk every time we hit the store. We drink a gallon a day. The two girls drink the most, but at $5.00 a gallon, it is getting expensive. I am looking into the price of a good, mid-sized cow.

A Death

A colleague’s 30 year old daughter died this week and the funeral was this morning. During the process of grieving with a colleague in a loss of this magnitude, I was struck again with how unusual the pastoral ministry is. As a pastor, I grew accustomed to hospital visits and to spending time with grieving families during highly emotional situations. But most people aren’t experienced with these types of situations. For many, hospital visits and trips to the visitation time at the funeral home are necessarily awkward and simply to be endured. Although these times bring devastation into the lives of people, I think it is their rarity that causes people to respond in surprising ways.

Shortly after speaking to the colleague I was asked by another coworker “How did he sound?” I struggled for a moment before answering. I’m still not sure what answer they were looking for. Another colleague was angry because someone in the College of Business found out about her death before he did. “They are in a completely different college and I am in his own department. That’s not right!” I told him that shocking news like this can be difficult to direct.

I am convinced that one reason why people so often say the wrong things to those who are grieving is because there is no right thing to say. It is a reminder of the tremendous power that death holds over our society.

Most often, the best response is the response of Job’s friends when they first arrive on the scene of the mournful Job. “They sat with [Job] on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a wordto him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 3:13. Job’s friends take a lot of heat for their subsequent diatribes, but it was their silent suffering alongside Job that gave them credibility in his eyes for their later conversation. Sometimes silent presence can be a tremendous source of comfort.

Please pray for my colleague and his loss.

Some random thoughts on hiring...

Over the past four years I’ve been involved in a wide variety of job hires. Several of these have been at work and a few have been at church. We’ve conducted about six academic searches at work and I’ve been on music minister searches and now a pastoral search. In addition, I was on the search committee for our campus that brought us a new BCM director. Some random thoughts…

It is an awkward thing, these job interviews. You sit down for a few hours and try to project the candidate into a variety of situations. In addition, I have no idea what my other colleagues are thinking as we talk with them. I thought one interview with a pastoral candidate went well, but afterwards several committee members pointed out that he had his arms crossed the whole time and looked defensive.

One candidate for a Foreign Language position asked where the erotica section of our library was while on a campus tour. The librarian looked stunned only for a second, then chirpily informed the candidate where the section was. And no, I had no idea we even had an erotica section… (We didn’t hire her.)

When interviewing a music minister candidate, I asked him about the role of lament in worship, pointing out that there are more lament psalms than praise psalms in the Bible. I then asked “Do you ever incorporate public lament into the worship service?” He replied “I generally try to keep things a little more joyful.” (We called him)

While explaining to a candidate the lack of leadership in our department, I noted that we needed a hard worker. I said “We don’t have any up and coming leaders in the department. We really need some good worker bees. If you join our department, one day our established leaders will retire…” Without hesitation she added “Then when they retire, I’ll be the Queen Bee.” (We didn’t hire her).

When we interviewed a new BSU BCM director, I asked him what the biblical foundation of his job was. He replied that there really wasn’t one (an honest answer I appreciated) (We called him)

One of the standard destinations for job candidates is to meet with a few campus officials (our dean, the Provost, and the Chancellor). When I took a candidate for an art position to meet the Provost, the Provost made the comment that “We are a well managed institution.” The candidate replied “You must be very proud.” (We didn’t hire her).

Some suggestions for future job applicants:

1. Google yourself before you the interview. If there’s anything that will need to be explained to a committee, then disclose it yourself. Because the committee will be Googling you.

2. Trust the interview process. I think we set ourselves up for mutual dissatisfaction when we try to “game” the system and get a job based on telling the committee what we think they want to heart.

3. Make sure that you are applying for a job that you are genuinely interested in. We had a new hire who decided about 2 weeks in that he didn't like teaching. He resigned and we scrambled to cover four sections of his classes for almost an entire semester. Our Pastor Search Committee has also received letters applying for Director of Missions positions as well. Make sure that you are really interested in a job before you apply for it.

DeMarcus

His enormous, black hands began to tremble as he took out a pencil to write down my email address on a sheet of paper. We were in my office, sitting down across from each other with only my desk between us. DeMarcus had come down from our Hebrew class to follow up on a few questions he had asked in class. He’s a large man, about mid-thirties, who's led a difficult life. DeMarcus was involved in various criminal activities as a teenager before coming to faith in Christ.

He didn’t have the patience to excel in his college classes and ditched them for a career in construction. When the hurricanes came to the coast, he traveled throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama working hard. But he felt God calling him into the ministry and was now a pastor in a local African-American Baptist church.

DeMarcus is one of the top students in my class, but in my weaker moments he pushes my patience. Every teaching point I raise brings a question to his lips. He asks some questions that are at least tangentially relate to the topic at hand “Did the High Priest have a rope attached to him on Yom Kippur?” “”What does amen really mean?” “What’s the difference between seraphim and cherubim?” Other questions matter much less in our Hebrew class “Why do preachers raise their hand when they baptize someone?” “How often does the Bible say we should partake of the Lord’s Supper?” “Did Isaiah and Micah know each other?” I’ll patiently (and at times impatiently) explain that this class isn’t a at a seminary and we need to stick to the subject at hand (although when the subject involves Hebrew participles and construct nouns, I too am tempted to wander).

When he came into my office I took the opportunity to hear his story and find out a little about him. He explained to me why this class is important to him.

“You see Doc,” he began uncomfortably, “in the Baptist churches of my tradition there aren’t many of our pastors who have any education beyond High School. That’s one reason why I came back to finish up my degree. I study hard because I have to face the congregation. And every Sunday morning, when I’m standing in that pulpit, I have to get it right!”

His voice found new intensity at this last phrase. I told him I understood, and then he left the room.

I often wrestle with the fact that I’m not teaching at a Christian institution. I grow weary at times of keeping my light under a bushel. I suspect that often, I too pepper Him with many frivolous questions about my “secular” job and why I’m not working somewhere else.

But once in awhile Christ allows me to see a glimpse of Himself working through me. And that’s gratifying.