Blessed Rest
06/09/08, 01:36:45 pm, by Ben Y-DWhy have I not posted, you might ask? Quite simply; I haven’t had one moment of free times or more than two free brain cells to spark together since early April. In the past six weeks, Melissa and I have:
Traveled an additional 1000 miles every week (not including our regular commutes to school and church)
Become the pastors of the Good Shepherd UMC in Haverhill, MA
Traveled to General Conference (Texas) and the Exponential Conference (Florida)
Been approved by the District Committee on Ministry for local pastor’s status, pending licensing school
Completed school and gone through finals period
Packed and moved up to my parents in Amesbury, MA
Participated in the wedding of Matt and Farrah
Gone to local pastor’s school in East Ohio
Today is our first day off in six weeks and I am enjoying it! Haverhill, here we come!
Exponential Conference: Day Three (Exclamation Edition!)
04/25/08, 10:18:11 am, by Ben Y-D1)They respond to feedback!
The organizers of this conference are remarkably sensitive to feedback. When participants in one session commented that they didn’t see how the topic connected to church planting, the organizers held a question and answer section the next day to show how that session connected to church planting. I heard people say that last year’s conference was not nearly practical enough- this year it was amazingly practical; (e.g. team building, fund raising, casting a vision, etc.), almost always connecting directly to the church planting context.
2)I see United Methodists!
I am downright surprised at the number of United Methodists I’ve seen at this conference, most from the south, but even a contingent from New Jersey. I’ve made some valuable connections with other missional Methodists as well- it gives me hope for the future of our denomination!
3) It’s all about relationships!
This is one of the primary points that I’ve heard repeated again and again. Church planting is all about forming transformative relationships, regardless what type of model you choose: it’s how you do good fundraising, how you find allies in the communities, how you lead people into a transforming relationship with Jesus. Church planting only works if you genuinely love people.
4)Patriarchy! Patriarchy! Patriarchy!
However, by the time the conference was over, I was ready to go. While this group of people may “get it” in a lot of ways, they certainly are light years behind when it comes to their appreciation of the leadership gifts on women in the church. Rick Warren spoke last, always referring to pastors as he, talking about how they should appreciate their wives, and asking “the pastors and their wives” up to the front to be prayed over at the end of the service. Needless to say, Matt, Farrah, Melissa, and I did not go to the front.
Day Two Exponential Conference (Exclamation Edition!)
04/23/08, 07:51:29 pm, by Ben Y-DHere are my thoughts from day two of the conference.
1) Serve your community!
I heard a great talk this morning about externally focused churches, with Rick Rishaw of Lifebridge Church. Whenever they do a new church start, they spend 6-12 months in the area doing a needs assessment and doing community service before they start. They believe their mission isn’t just to grow their church, but also to transform their communities.
2) Alan Hirsch rocks! (Also known as: I met Alan Hirsch!)
If you haven’t read The Forgotten Ways, drop what you’re doing, pick up a copy, and drink the missional kool-aid. This guy is spectacular, and I can’t even begin to tabulate the insights that he gave us during his talk this morning. (e.g. The church has become unChristian in that it no longer resembles Jesus) Make sure to check out his website (www.theforgottenways.com). I also had a chance to chat with him for a bit- a very nice guy, and loves John Wesley…us Methodists have all the missional DNA we need in our history!
3) These people know their stuff!
I am consistently impressed by the overall quality of the speakers, session leaders, media presentations, etc. All of these people are competent (well, virtually all), many of them are downright brilliant. I doubt that my denomination, for all its resources, could pull something off of this quality.
Day 1 of Exponential '08 (Bulleted Version)
04/23/08, 08:52:14 am, by Melissa Y-D- I’m really interested in seeing how this missional-DNA-replication approach works in churches that operate from a contemporary framework. It seems as though there is an assumption that the church planters/pastors/people here all have church models that are multi-staff in that contemporary style. When Niel Cole who is from the organic church movement was on the panel discussion during the first plenary session, I kept thinking “one of these things is not like the other…one of these things just doesn’t belong” ala Sesame Street.
- Lots of these pastors seem to be in large churches, but perhaps that’s just an assumption on my part. Ed Stetzer did quote an interesting statistic: churches with congregations under 200 plant more churches than those with congregations over 1000. What can this mean for the United Methodist Churches in New England, since most of them are under 200? Wouldn’t it be great if our churches knew and understood that they don’t have to have lots of money and resources in order to plant new churches?
- Men. Thought there are lots of women present here, the church planting panel discussion during the opening plenary is all men. Even the clergy “spouses” track, each session is led by women with one discussion led by a married couple. I would have liked to see a few male figures leading the spouses track, and more women leadership up front. I actually peeked into the spouses track on the way to my multi-ethnic ministry track, and all women. Very disappointing.
- As Ben said, Andy Stanley is awesome. His vision stuff is what we should be getting in seminary. Vision statements that are more than one sentence long don’t stick and aren’t memorable. One of his points is “portable is memorable". He pointed out that no one knows what Hillary Clinton or John McCain’s vision is for America…but we all know what Barack Obama’s vision for America is (change). Similarly with the ONE campaign: to make poverty history. This is the vision that we want to bring into reality, that is a solution to a problem we perceive in the world.
- Worship…enh. The band is great, don’t get me wrong. But nothing beyond normal contemporary. It’s hard for me to worship when the songs are unfamiliar (I only knew one of them). Obvious use of Mediashout - which was really cool, and the production was done quite well. But I’m thinking…no wonder people perceive church planting as so difficult if this is the standard they want to reach week after week! And this was identified in the plenary session: the problem is that church becomes the Sunday event and not a body that multiplies.
- George Yancey’s stuff in my first track session was good. It was like a mix of Drew’s “Religion and the Social Process” course and the “Multicultural Evangelism” class I took. I think it was a good eye-opener for people here. I get the sense, though, that this is one of the smaller or the 7 tracks.
I’ll post my notes from the conference in a few days.
Blogging the Exponential Conference (in exclamation format!)
04/23/08, 07:20:33 am, by Ben Y-D1)So this is how the other half lives!
The conference is unbelievably professional- smoothly organized, beautiful graphics and logos, well done worship music and background. There’s a six month follow up program to help attendees implement what they’ve learned after the conference. This is how the pro’s do it- anyone who dismisses their work and wisdom needs to get their heads checked.
2)The United Methodist Church is positively prehistoric!
Assemblies of God- training reproducing church planters; Evangelical Free Church – pitching churches on becoming reproducing; Southern Baptists- wooing, training, equipping church planters; United Methodism?- Well, we just launched a blog…
3)It’s raining (white) men!
I’ve never seen more white men together in one place in my entire life- the leaders are almost all, (with a few exceptions) both white and male; as are the congregation’s attendees. It’s quite sad to realize how far most of these denominations still have to go.
4)Andy Stanley is awesome!
Andy Stanley gave a fantastic 45 minute talk in which he explained to people how to cast and communicate vision to a congregation. Here are the steps: say it simply, cast it convincingly, repeat it regularly, celebrate it consistently, demonstrate it personally and publicly. That sentence contained more leadership training than I probably got in all three years in seminary.
:: Next Page >>