The Fence

I know you're here looking for some witty commentary on church life or Christian living or eschatological hermeneutics. No. Sorry. Not this week. I'm going with the mundane.

I have to build my son a fence. Not a treehouse. Not a custom tube amp. Nope. A fence. Why?

Because my son is getting a dog for his birthday, and before we get a dog we've committed to building a fence to contain said dog.

I'm sure that my wife will attest that I'm reasonably handy. I'm at the least handy enough to have a lot of cool ideas and designs about all kinds of home improvement projects that get started and occassionally even finished!

Anyway, I guess you could say that my son, unbeknownst to him, is relying on me to come through this time. So, here's to you, Jacob! I'm all in for three weeks worth of splinters, concrete, 4x4 posts, post hole diggers, black and blue thumbs, and most likely one ricketty but well conceived privacy fence to contain one man's best friend for one boy who is certainly worth the hastle.

Meanwhile, while I run off to Lowe's to buy things that might or might not help me construct the fence, you can take a glance at a very cute beagle pup that could very well look just like the one that will hopefully reside within the afformentioned fence...




Now if that pic doesn't get me some more readers I don't know what will!

Vision & Membership

Family Church has a vision. I hope that you all know that. I hope even more than you can tell me what that vision statement is. Can you? I say it every Sunday that I give the announcements. It's printed on all of our publications. It's all over the website.

Family Church. Helping people find their place in God's family.

This past Sunday night I taught the membership class called Starting Point. It was a great honor to be able to teach that course. For the past 8 years Pastor Brett had taught it as a way to connect to new attenders and potential members and share in detail and from the heart the vision, mission, and direction of Family Church. Inheriting that mantle, at least temporarily, is not something that I take lightly. Membership is very important to me.

I think that inherent in the term membership is the concept of ownership. In this season as much or more than any other, we have to realize that church isn't about one person. It's not about Pastor Brett's vision. It's not about Dr. Frisbie's or mine. It's not about the board's vision.

This is our church. It's your church. It is what we members, the staff, and the leaders make of it.

So, in the coming weeks we're going to start asking more of our members. We'll be praying more. We'll be fasting. We'll be reading and studying the Bible together more. We're all going to take ownership, at least I hope, of the spiritual health and direction of Family Church. Watch for ways that you can be involved. Listen to that small still voice in your head encouraging you to take a step forward and to embrace a new mantle of responsibility and depth of spiritual awareness.

We're on the verge of good things. I believe it. I'm excited about it. Together we can do great things. We can help a whole new group of people who walk through the doors of our church find their place in God's family just as we've found ours. That's a high calling. Perhaps the highest calling. How will you help fulfill it? Think about it!

The TRANSITION

When I first heard that Pastor Brett was leaving Family Church for Florida I went into temporary shock. I have read Nazarene Polity. I knew what this meant for me. I would resign as our policy dictates, and pray the Board and the new pastor decided to keep me (and the rest of the staff) on. There was little or no risk of us being let go, but it doesn't mean the process didn't create sleepless nights.

I've devoted 8 of the best years of my life to Family Church and while I could accept that God was moving Brett on to something new, I wasn't getting that same feeling in my spirit. In fact, I entered 2009 with a tremendous hope that we were on the verge of new and amazing things. I could feel it. I knew it. It was palpable, tangible. It was exciting.

When the call came, my hope was momentarily shattered. A phantom of uncertainty rose over everything that I did and thought. All the strategy, praying, and planning I had done seemed wasted now as we entered crisis management mode.

Could God bless us and take us deeper without a senior pastor? Could I still bring about positive change in the church while in the midst of a transition?

As a wannabe theologian, I turned first to the Bible. What I found was both surprising and yet comforting. Transition, change, is a primary theme of the New and Old Testament. It's central. God chooses His leader, directs His leader in how He is to lead His people. Then, just when things are getting interesting, he moves that leader on to something new.

Why?

That's the question that I think everyone in Family Church should ask themselves and God. Why does God move leaders just when things are getting good?

I don't have an answer for you. I can just tell you the result. Transition and change in leadership bring crisis. Crisis spurs action. Action results in ministry. Ministry produces life change.

I'm amazed at what I'm seeing in Family Church. For the past 3-4 years we've seen the cancer of complacency spring up in pockets throughout the congregation. As staff and leaders we sought to battle that not realizing that the cancer was covertly invading our own hearts.

In the last few weeks God has healed our congregation of that debilitating illness. The entire church has sprung to new life and a willingness connect and minister like we haven't seen in years. We've created new ministry teams. We've installed new ministry directors. We have ministries writing strategic plans for growth and outreach. It's a beautiful thing for an administrative pastor charged with keeping this church and staff moving forward in a time of transition.

Change is good. Why do we fear it? Why do we dread the unknown? Our God who changes not sure changes us a lot.

My hope and excitement for new ministry in 2009? It's back and it's stronger than ever. This is going to be a great year for Family Church.

What is "The Stomp Box"

What is "The Stomp Box"? It's a place where I'm going to write my thoughts, prayers, and ideas. There's something magical about taking an idea, a thought, or an insight and working it into an interesting, logical, and hopefully humorous string of words. I'm a creative writer. I have a novel that will hopefully reach publication soon (if the publishing company will get moving). Hopefully some of my writing ability will show itself here, and you'll get something slightly better than the average blog. Maybe not. That's for you to judge. Regardless, I'm glad that you're reading, and I hope to provide you with content that will at least make you think, and at most take a couple minutes out of your week.

Check back often! I'll try to blog once a week or more. Sometimes I might try video blogs just to mix things up.

If you are a FamilyChurch attender, please reply! I want to know that you're reading. I want to hear from you. We will also have more blogs coming up from other staff members, including David, Buddy, and Pastor Brett.