I am pulling my hair out

ok, so let me tell you a sad story.

A few years ago I wanted to know which UM churches grow by profession of faith (people recieving Jesus for the first time, not transfers). So I thought surely I could call the General Board of Discipleship of the Methodist church. Surely their evangelism wing would know. Alas. They did not know. I called a number of people, emailed others. The answer was finally to contact the General Council on Finance and Administration. Thes guys have all the info on every UM church. Theoretically, they could tell me which churches grow by profession of faith. When I called and asked if they could tell me, they laughed. I mean, really, who is going to sift through the reports of 43,000 churches? Maybe the evangelism team?

I got some anecdotal information from the Bishop who started the Foundation for Evangelism. No doubt we had to start a foundation for Evangelism because the evangelism people on the Discipleship Board ARE NOT DOING EVANGELISM.

Anyhoo, I am back at it. Looking for good Methodist resources that would help people on their journey to faith in Jesus, growing in grace, etc. Folks, the UM church does not have any resources for this. We could write it ourselves, and we may, but the Wesleyan Church and the Free Methodist Church have good resources, so we'll probably go to them.

Oh, and get this. I'm reading Sojourners, adn they have an ad for Adam Hamilton's new book. It's called Seeing Gray in a World of Black and Whites. I almost puked, crapped, and sneezed at the same time. I know for sure I found a hernia. Folks, it's true, the people will believe a big lie sooner than a small one. Do we really think this is a world of black and whites? My goodness, isn't the whole point of this so-called post-modernism that it's all good? And finally, Jesus is pretty black and white. He did not say, "I am sort of the way if you dig it, or if you grew up in a part of the world under the Christian hegemony, otherwise, let's talk and see if there's some congruence with what you believe...."

Following Jesus

So today we had a long meeting on discipleship. We have been thinking and trying ways to help people come into more meaningful discipleship/membership/baptism. We called together a group that has been talking about these things in individual ways. We were all already of one mind as far as looking for ways to bring people into the faith and help them grow into more and more Christ-likeness.

Well, it was all good stuff-- we had prepped in advance to talk about the Order of Salvation. So we were all talking some good stuff about Methodism, not what passes for church in Methodist churches. Anyway... in comes Savannah and Shelly, who we invited because Savannah is recommitting herself to faith and Shelly is seeking. They added this crucial dimension. One thing that has held us back is the feeling that we should not ask too much of members. But Savannah and Shelly said that faith in Jesus was too serious to take lightly.

The Church needs to roll that up and smoke it.

Last Thursday

Thursday nights are when we have dinner at my house. Some of us from the church get together, inviting folks from the neighborhood, getting to know each other. Leo spends the night because it’s easier to just leave from here in the morning, as we’re both going to the church. Or maybe it’s because we all sit around for a while before bed, sometimes talking, sometimes not.

Anyway, this past Thursday, Leo was out on the porch smoking, I was picking the banjo, and Ica was curled up next to me. It was a good, cool spring night. The boys were in bed, but not asleep, even though it was a little late. They were listening to the talk and music on the porch. I remember when I was a kid and there was a guest over. The adults would talk awhile after I went to bed, and there was such a sense of peace and security listening to voices—not making out words, just hearing voices.

Leo and the boys have a ritual. They call him “Cookie Monster.” He says, “Give me a cookie!” and they repeat it and laugh. Well, Leo heard a few little boy whispers in the room and he called out, “Give me a cookie!” The boys lost it, we could hear them guffawing from outside. Next morning, they couldn’t talk about anything else, and kept pestering Leo to say “Give me a cookie.” He was actually hoarse by the time we got to church…

Leo calls me, the boys and Jessica “The Wrecking Crew.” Now the boys have decided that we can’t be called the wrecking Crew unless Leo is with us. One of the boys said, “It’s like Leo is a part of our family.” Interesting, that. Leo told me that he only got to meet Melissa once, the one time she could come to the Rock. He said that he was touched immediately because she looked right at him and he could tell she accepted him. Makes sense that her boys would, too. If we are blessed to have faithful people in our lives, they will blaze a path for us—a path of the love Christ has for His people, and a path that is free of fear of death.

Yeeh

Well, there is so much to tell, because it has been fast and furious, so let me give you the basic update on life, the church, and ministry.

First, starting with the New Year, we made a pastoral change, bringing in Andres Doimeadios to be Hispanic Pastor. He is from Cuba, and the Christians there don’t mess around. Already we are seeing great growth. The evening service used to average around 40. Tonight we had over 70; about 4 weeks ago, 96. Andres also brings a lot of energy to the other areas of ministry; we don’t see ourselves as limited to various ethinic groups. So, while he is Hispanic pastor, he also works with us and leads with us in every other ministry area. One of the great gifts Andres brings is a desire to see the people of The Rock La Roca more connected one to another. Over the past few months, all of the people groups have had many chances to get together in more and more ways than before. Also, Andres is a United Methodist pastor; previously, there was not much connection with the broader Methodist structure, but now we are taking every opportunity of being involved with the many ministry and discipleship opportunities of the broader church.

Second, Roz is tearing it up in the church plant. The student is overtaking the master. He has me doing his evangelism work, whereas before, he did mine! Used to be, we’d drink some red bulls and hit the streets. Now Roz is down in Woodland, meeting people, witnessing, having dinners at his house, and adding more and people to his launch team. He has had two people accept Christ in the past 3 weeks. We baptized one of them last week, and he gave his testimony today. I can’t say how awesome it is that he is tearing it up like this. He has had a rough year, but God has worked it out for the good, in ways that would not have been possible had things stayed the way they were before. So even very difficult things get turned to good ends.

We baptized three people last week, one of them from the church plant. The other two come to us from our hospitality work in the community.

Our youth pastor, John Gallaher, has the toughest job in the Annual Conference. There are no conferences or resources for how to youth ministry in the 05. But John has dug in and stuck with it, taking on the difficult challenge I gave him: take the tough kids. The tendency (and desire of some who used to be in our church) was to push away the rough kids in the neighborhood. If you want to go to a quiet, well-behaved youth group where kids with stable families hang out, there are plenty of churches for you. But if you are a stressed out and freaked out kid, this is the only place for you. John said it best: “I didn’t think I was going to have to be a dad. It’s hard to figure out how to minister and be a hard-ass at the same time.”

Our children’s pastor, Melissa McDonald, has the hardest job in the Annual Conference. There are no conferences or resources for how to do children’s ministry in the 05. But Melissa has dug in and stuck with it, taking on the difficult challenge I gave her: recognize that our tough kids deserve ministry just because they are kids. We have no concern whatsoever of tying children’s ministry to the parents. We are glad for any contact we can get with the parents, but the kids are worthy of the love of Jesus and the ministry of the church whether we ever see their parents or not.

Some times when there is a lag in my postings, I don’t know what to say. There is all kinds of weirdness, sadness and funniness going on.

Having a good time, wish you were here.

oops

In trying to tidy up my blog, I deleted all my links, plus the new ones I wanted to put on... sorry...

A Girl Named "Ica"

Me and the boys are blessed by Jessica. I can only hope we are as good to her as she is to us. A few nights ago, Joe was crying; “I miss Mommy.” I thought, we’ll try to remember things about her. When I asked Joe what he remembered, he started crying again, saying, “I don’t remember anything.” He just knows absence. Melissa went into the hospital for the first time three years ago. It’s hard to believe; three years ago started a horrible journey. I just held him and then he said, “I want Ica.” There is something, finally, about a female presence. On some level, I was sad and happy; I want to be there for them, but I can only be Daddy. It was another moment where I realized Jessie will be the only mom Joe really knows. So he is already her baby.

John, on the other hand, has more issues. He has already has those hard moments where he feels trapped. If he loves Jessie, has he been unfaithful to his mom? If he wants to talk about his mom, does he lose something in his relationship with Jessie? She has been intentional about getting out pictures of Melissa and hearing stories. John just got up and asked what I was doing. He wanted me to write, “Ica-bear is sweet. She loves everyone very much. I think that’s it.”

The boys can’t wait for April 19. They keep asking when is it coming. They say it will be the day that Jessie has a sleep over. In their innocence, they wonder why she doesn’t spend the night. They say, “Leo gets to sleep on the couch, why can’t Jessie?” So they say we are going to have a sleep over. And indeed, we are. They have plans for all of us to watch a movie, eat popcorn and be in sleeping bags on the floor.

Random Notes

Lately, my blog entries are more random notes.

A few weeks ago, on a day it was sleeting, John decided he was going to run away. It was Saturday, Jessie was at the house. I packed John a bag and gave him a granola bar. He was going to Mammaw’s, he said. He was tired of Joe annoying him. So I sent him out the door. Jessie was a bit worried, wondering how I would let him go. He stood in the front yard, looking this way and that. Then he did something I did not expect. He really started leaving. So Jessie went behind him, hiding behind trees and fences, watching close as he crossed a few streets. Looking both ways. Good boy! I called Maggie and said John was running away. So she got some hot chocolate ready for him. He did not make it much past her house. Then on the way back, he spotted Jessie. They walked back and he told her he was coming back because he had not said goodbye to Joe Joe. Then he mentioned that I had told him a road a little further on was dangerous and he did not think the interstate was safe “for a little boy like me.”

My friend Clark had another pithy illustration. In relation to our friends who have gone on to be with the Lord, and in answer to the people who wonder not only how did they have such peace, but how do we who are left behind have such continued assurance and joy, he said: “if you know that at the end of the day there is a great meal, it doesn’t matter how bad the work sucks.”

Hi, my name is Roz, and I'm an evangelist...

Roz has been tearing it up in the church plant. He came in to church yesterday and I wondered why was there so much noise as he came in? It's because we really had not seen him much in the past two months as he has really moved hard-core into the work of the church plant. So when he came back we were all pumped. It's been a transition, from him working from here to now having his own place. He's been on an evangelism binge, and that's a great thing!