This is my 3rd post in as many days.  After realizing starting a blog is easy, but posting daily is difficult I realized I had to get my rear in gear.  So I’ve been reading my blog roll every morning and then posting a summary of my thoughts about what I read.

Today I decided to make a switch in my reading material.  For a long time I’ve read Donald Miller’s blog because his book Blue Like Jazz was formative for me when I found it early in college.  However, the last two days he has posted on dating: one directed to women and one to men.  Throughout both post he does something I can’t stand, and spoke on behalf of women as if he was one.  The under and overtones of sexism were too much so I had to let him go.  (for comparison, here an article about sexuality I can stand)

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As you can see by our nearly month long hiatus Ashley and I have been insanely busy.  We had annual conference, found a job for Ashley, officiated a wedding in California, had family vacation in Colorado, said goodbye to all our friends in Illinois, moved to Kansas, and unpacked the huge amount of stuff we own.  It was a crazy month.  But this is a crazy month for a a lot of United Methodist.  Because this is the month that pastors take new appointments.  Within the United States the entire denomination has pastors taking new churches, moving into new homes, uprooting their families and taking on the task of building a life in a new place. [Read more →]

I started a blog series long ago about my wishes for the UMC.  Unfortunately, the whole series only a whopping 1 post, but behold here is the second addition.  My second wish is that the evaluation and compensation of clergy would be overhauled.  It is a three part wish: First, I wish that individual congregations would no longer pay clergy directly, but would pay into a conference wide salary fund to pay clergy from the conference level.  This would allow for a more equitable spread of clergy talent among small and large congregations and wealthy and low income areas.  Second, I wish the amount of compensation for pastors would be decided on a merit based evaluation that did not only focus on church growth and reputation, but included the pastors commitment and willingness to work with their congregations and took into account the context of their ministry.  And finally, I wish that pastors who have repeatedly destroyed churches and neglected conference responsibilities would be put on probation and eventually removed from their role as a UMC clergy person…… [Read more →]

Books of God or of Humans?

Today we are writing our final papers for a class focused on the Pastoral Epistles of the New Testament: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.

These texts are rather controversial; their authorship is debated, they contain some pretty harsh stuff about women, and they represent a shift in the New Testament from the early Church who believed that Christ would return in their lifetime to a church who began to set up hierarchy.  This shift started the desire to figure out how to be a religion for the long run in a society which wasn’t really for them…. [Read more →]

Yesterday in my preaching class a professor brought up a point which struck me in a new way.  We complimented a classmate for preaching in a way that showed her genuine maternal nature and he encouraged her not to loose that gift.  He pointed out that in the church we emasculate our male leadership and masculate our female leadership.  I had never thought of it this way, but I think he is right…. [Read more →]

As we start the Advent season I am drawn back to a less liturgical part of the year: Stewardship Season.  Yesterday, I read an article on the Kansas West Annual Conference’s website about new stewardship tactics.  The article talked about a book by Clif Christopher called Not Your Parents Offering Plate.  The thrust of the article is a call to think of the people in the pews as donors instead of members.

Members pay dues to organizations like country clubs for what they get in return. Donors give money to worthy causes.  “We don’t know how to compete,” Christopher said. “We still act like we’re the only burger joint in town. We’ve got to compete. That’s what we haven’t done.”

Christopher has some interesting points, and although I haven’t read the book (I ordered it today) here are my first impressions…. [Read more →]

This is the first entry of a series Ashley and I have been talking about for the holiday season.  Instead of a wish list for Santa we have a wish list for the United Methodist Church.  These are our hopes, dreams, and hopefully what we are working to form in the UMC.  While this is my first entry, I am not doing them in order of importance, rather their order is more indicative of what is on my mind for that given day.  With that said here we go……

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Change is hard… in fact, even though I am not supposed to use this word at youth group, change SUCKS.

In June next year, I am transitioning into a new role, new state and new life. When Adam and I graduate, we will move to Kansas and begin full-time ministry in the United Methodist Church. While I am excited to fully live into my calling to education, hospitality and social justice, I am extremely sad to be leaving the congregation and communities that I have been serving for what will be four years when I end my time in Illinois… [Read more →]

I have recently been mourning my coolness.   I realized that since becoming a pastor I am no longer cool.  The crime is that I really haven’t changed much.  But, whether I like it or not, the perception of me has definitely changed.  Since becoming a “pastor” the scariest thing about my life is meeting new peers, because inevitably the question comes up…..”what do you do?”……….

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