Exiled Community

First off, we want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s. Abbie dressed up for the day in all red. She wears red a lot better than I do. I can’t stand wearing red. When I was in Little League, we had red uniforms that I dreaded wearing. Just a random thought.

I met this afternoon with our District Committee on Ministry (DCOM). This once a year meeting is part of the Candidacy Process to become ordained in the Methodist Church. The meeting went really well. They liked my written work and the sermon I turned in. This committe generally is very affirming as candidates pursue their calling to ministry. Once I am done with seminary, I will appear several times before the Board of Ordained Ministries (BOOM). They tend to be a little more critical and really turn the screws on theological and social issues. The make-up of that committee will largely determine how hard they are on candidates.

At this point in my candidacy process, I know I am called to ministry. I know I am supposed to be in seminary. What I don’t know is if I am to focus on youth/young adult ministry or go into the ‘whole church’ ministry of being a senior pastor/ordained elder. Honestly, I like the idea of becoming fully ordained as an elder. What scares me is being put in a small country church where I am unable to fully spread my wings and develop ministries that I am passionate about. That may be my biggest hang-up about this whole process (that and the fact that it will take me close to 7 years to become ordained.)

Overall, it was a good meeting. Now I have to get through the Comedy Club event and youth rally that I am running this weekend. Once I get through that, I will be able to focus more fully on family and school.

Evidently, there is close to a 50% chance that I might eat you if I was trapped or starving. I am not sure whether to be amused or alarmed. What are your chances?

48%

I was reading a ‘in the news’ piece in Relevant Magazine’s leaders guide that came in the mail this week. The piece indicated that new research from Time magazine found that social networking sites dominated the web traffic by college students. This should come as no surprise as one considers the myspace and facebook phenomenon. What surprised the researchers was that the visits to adult websites have fallen in large numbers. There has been a 33% decline over the last two years to adult websites in the 18-24 demographic. The conclusion by the researchers is that as online users get more interested in social networking, the less interested they are in pornography.

This makes sense to me in several ways.

1. Porn is a fantasy that can never deliver on what it promises. Sure, it’s on-demand and readily available, but the relational value of porn is one way. It’s literally skin deep, or paper thin. People go to porn for many reasons- one of them being to fill a void in their relationships, a desire to be wanted, etc. Yet porn cannot deliver in any real way because it is a lie.

2. People crave relationships. We want to be known. We want to be connected. Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook are aware of this. We live in a society that is increasingly isolated from one another. Social Networking sites give people the opportunity to feel connected, to know someone on some basic level. But I think they eventually leave us wanting more. Social Networking sites have helped me reconnect with a few friends from the past, but beyond that it tends to be a glorified messaging system.

The Bottom line is that we are designed for community. We are designed to love and be loved. We desire to share our dreams, passions, fears, and experiences with others. Porn can’t do that. Social Networking sites can begin the conversation- but let’s be honest, we desire something deeper than what we can acheive through Facebook or a blog.

It is cold outside this morning! It’s still cold outside. That often affects the turnout at church, but overall, it wasn’t a bad morning. The 9:30 service was packed in tight. Here’s a brief recap.

Music: I had no voice today. So the team basically led and I played guitar. We didn’t have our soundman, who is preparing for another surgery. All things considered, I thought it went well. Our closing worship was a time of response. The band did a great job of leading into God’s presence.

Sermon: I thought my sermon was a good balance of biblical passages and illustrations to open up the passages. I preached on slavery to sin and how Christ provides us a way out of slavery to sin. I probably could’ve done a little more with the end of the sermon. I rushed at the 11:00 service because my voice was quickly leaving me.

Response: As stated above, we had a good response time following the service. It was an opportunity to lay our sins down at the feet of Christ and experience freedom from the power of sin.
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As I write, the Chargers are up on the Patriots, but the Pats are picking up steam. Tonight is Fusion’s last night as a joint effort of middle school and high school students. Next week, we will split the groups. It exciting to be ready to split, but kinda scary at the same time. This could be a case of having to plough through in order to do what is best for the group.
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I’ve been thinking of a name for our 20’s-30’s ministry. I think what I’ve settled on is Emerge (or eMERGE). It gives the right perspective of emerging from high school and entering the next stages of life, relationships, and faith. I’ll probably create some sort of vision statement along these lines and begin looking for someone to craft a logo for the ministry. We will launch it in May/June as the college students return home for the long summer break.