Slowly, I've begun to enjoy more and more the whole thing about preaching. This extends from the beginning in searching for a series to preach, breaking down the weekly topics and passages, the preparation and study that goes into each week, and then being able to share that with people who I hope can also find enjoyment in hearing what God has to say.
They say that when we present an informative speech of some kind, whether preaching, teaching, etc., it's like we spend time in a cave where we are studying all the creases, the edges, and the corners, learning about the cave and what it's about, and then taking a piece of that cave and showing it to people. The piece of the cave is supposed to give everyone an idea of what the entire cave is like. Like my cousin, Jon, said to me once, "why take one piece of the cave to the people, when I can just bring them to the cave itself?" I couldn't agree more. It's nice to bring one piece of what we study and try to get people to understand what the entirety is like; but what would really bring satisfaction is if we can use that piece to get people excited enough so that they go and visit the cave themselves.
This is really what I try to accomplish when I preach. I want to tell people to be excited about Jesus and who they are in him at the end of every message. Sometimes it's convicting, sometimes it's joyful. It's in my hopes that how I present the message brings a certain amount of sweetness that everyone can taste in their mouths, but wanting more. So it's a very neat science for me to determine what and how much I explain in each point of the message. I can't leave it so open that people are second guessing what I'm saying; but I also don't want to explain every detail too vividly. I think this is usually what I let go of and let the Spirit do the work. I trust that I put in the work, and whatever gets the peoples' ears to perk up is his work.
What I love even more about preaching is the retreat I get after it - the Sunday night. I do my best to keep Sunday nights to myself, because it allows me to come home to my haven and retreat from everything that happened during the week. Knowing that I've completed a cycle of the work, and that there are no pressures for me to wake up the next day, it brings an incredible peace to my mind and heart.
Spending so much time in the Word (or the cave, as I've illustrated earlier), it gets to a point where I think most of us need to sit back and let everything soak in before we continue further. Sunday night is that for me. I get to sit at home with as little disturbances as I allow, and just have everything sink in. I reflect, and I rest in God's peace. It's honestly one of the most comforting and theraputic things I've ever experienced. Even in the times where I feel like I preached a terrible sermon, being able to soak everything in and just relax is so refreshing.
Obviously, I'm not afforded a whole lot of time off anymore, and I think that's okay. This just makes me all the more thankful for the time that I do have off. Being able to come home, in a familiar place and surrounding, it's really quite heavenly. It's the feeling of stepping behind the curtain and "disappearing for a while" that I really find rewarding. As an introvert, I can indulge in this any day.
I love preaching, and the retreat after it may be as awesome as the preaching itself. This is my thanksgiving.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Muse About
Every now and then, I try to put myself in someone's shoes when they have to deal with me. It's funny because I don't know what people are like exactly when they think, but I like to imagine anyway.
Then, every so often I think about the education that I received. Technically, I graduated with a Bachelor of Theology, major in church ministries. When I really think about it, what does that even mean? Practically speaking, what does it mean for me to be identified with a BTh? I have no clue. When I left Ambrose, I didn't feel a whole BTh smarter than I was before I went in - that's for sure.
I continue and think about what my professors thought of me. Everyone knows that professors talk about their students to their faculty, but I don't know how much of me ever gets mentioned. I know from the chats I've had that I'm usually seen as a more timid and shy person, going about my own business quietly and never really getting too involved in class. But that's usually about it. I think it wasn't until after I took a preaching class and after I came back from my internship that my professors really started to get to know me. This is because there's no hiding from actual performance and evaluation of that performance.
To me, it makes sense that you don't really see much of me until it gets to the practical everyday life kind of environment that you can get a grasp of what I'm like around people. I've never been all that into formal schooling and education.
In some ways, I'm learning so much more now that I'm on my own than I ever would've learned in the classroom - this always seems to be the case, for some reason.
I can be preparing for a sermon or a study that requires me to read in depth into the bible; and often, I will read and discover things that make me think, "how did I not know this before?" Which, then, leads me to asking how or why my professors even passed me when my knowledge is so bad. Contrary to how I feel about schooling, I actually finished pretty well, relatively speaking. It still baffles me, though, to try to picture myself as my professor sitting there reading one of my papers.
How or why in the world do they pass me? I guess I say this because I still feel guilty that I didn't put in the best effort on my assignments and exams. So in some ways, I feel that I don't really deserve the grades that I get.
So I finally managed to look over some of my papers lately. Some of them are awfully written, and got a grade better than I would've given it.
However, I guess I do admit that if there is one trend in my papers that I do well on, it's that I seemed to manage a firm grasp on the centrality of the gospel's importance on our lives. Christ's work on the cross really was the climax of all existence. Really, the very reason anything happens is supposed to point to the cross. I understood, and continue to understand, that. I find that understanding the relevance, the centrality, and the importance of the gospel really isn't something any schooling can ever teach you; it's just something you have to realize on your own, with the help of others, and with the grace of God.
Maybe my professors saw that I grasped that, so they gave me credit. Who knows? I just like to muse about these things every once in a while.
Then, every so often I think about the education that I received. Technically, I graduated with a Bachelor of Theology, major in church ministries. When I really think about it, what does that even mean? Practically speaking, what does it mean for me to be identified with a BTh? I have no clue. When I left Ambrose, I didn't feel a whole BTh smarter than I was before I went in - that's for sure.
I continue and think about what my professors thought of me. Everyone knows that professors talk about their students to their faculty, but I don't know how much of me ever gets mentioned. I know from the chats I've had that I'm usually seen as a more timid and shy person, going about my own business quietly and never really getting too involved in class. But that's usually about it. I think it wasn't until after I took a preaching class and after I came back from my internship that my professors really started to get to know me. This is because there's no hiding from actual performance and evaluation of that performance.
To me, it makes sense that you don't really see much of me until it gets to the practical everyday life kind of environment that you can get a grasp of what I'm like around people. I've never been all that into formal schooling and education.
In some ways, I'm learning so much more now that I'm on my own than I ever would've learned in the classroom - this always seems to be the case, for some reason.
I can be preparing for a sermon or a study that requires me to read in depth into the bible; and often, I will read and discover things that make me think, "how did I not know this before?" Which, then, leads me to asking how or why my professors even passed me when my knowledge is so bad. Contrary to how I feel about schooling, I actually finished pretty well, relatively speaking. It still baffles me, though, to try to picture myself as my professor sitting there reading one of my papers.
How or why in the world do they pass me? I guess I say this because I still feel guilty that I didn't put in the best effort on my assignments and exams. So in some ways, I feel that I don't really deserve the grades that I get.
So I finally managed to look over some of my papers lately. Some of them are awfully written, and got a grade better than I would've given it.
However, I guess I do admit that if there is one trend in my papers that I do well on, it's that I seemed to manage a firm grasp on the centrality of the gospel's importance on our lives. Christ's work on the cross really was the climax of all existence. Really, the very reason anything happens is supposed to point to the cross. I understood, and continue to understand, that. I find that understanding the relevance, the centrality, and the importance of the gospel really isn't something any schooling can ever teach you; it's just something you have to realize on your own, with the help of others, and with the grace of God.
Maybe my professors saw that I grasped that, so they gave me credit. Who knows? I just like to muse about these things every once in a while.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Outlet For Outreach
At some point in my current tenure here at Newbern, I've realized ("accepted" might be the better word) that a whole lot of what I want to do has to be done by myself, or no one will really do it. You could say that it's a lesson in independency as a whole, but as far as my ministry goes, I'd say it holds most true.
It's been very interesting for me to try to get a feel for the temperature and climate of what this church is currently like. What I've observed over the first year is actually really intriguing to me and I'm actually quite fascinated by it. I think that if I described the nature of my church here to the average person, they'd potentially be turned off by the prospect of wanting to attend. It's interesting, really. You might say to me, "wow, where is your professional integrity in throwing your church under the bus like that on a personal blog?" Yeah, I'll probably admit that sometimes I'm too blunt and lack a bit of a filter - I'm still young and learning how to express myself appropriately.
What I'm really saying, though, is that I think with any church I'd ever work with, especially as a minister, I'd see all the holes that I'd want to fill up. If all I was focused on were the holes and flaws, then for sure you can question me in my integrity and reason for doing what I do. However, I don't really find myself doing that. When I'm analyzing, I'm really analyzing the people. If I see a certain part of the church a certain way, it's usually a result of and a cause of the people in the church.
So, because the church is composed of broken people, obviously there's going to be a lot of areas we'd want to address. I'm interested in transforming lives, not creating the best program in town.
Before I get too far off track, let me reel it back in.
One, I guess you could call it, obstacle that I've encountered so far is how to keep contact and reach the people in my church. In 2015, it seems the world revolves around and is hinged upon the use of social media. Companies have people hired as full-time staff strictly in charge of their social image and communications via social media.
Now, I'd signed up for Facebook in 2007 and got my Twitter handle in 2009, before they really became what they are now, but I guess I never realized how important they would be in ministry. It's so much easier to message someone on Facebook than it is to even text them nowadays. The chances are if I wanted people to know something, posting on Facebook will grant a higher chance of it being viewed than anything else.
I've only ever been a lurker on Facebook, rarely ever interacting with the posts I see when I scroll down the newsfeed. But I'm seeing now, after some brief experimenting, that if I pretty-up a Facebook post, it will attract more attention about maybe an announcement I want to make, or a gathering that I want to set up. It really baffles me.
Given who I am, you'd think I'd almost be an expert with this kind of stuff, but I'm really slow and behind. Several times in the past couple weeks I've even thought to myself, "man, I need to hire someone to take care of the media stuff for me." Obviously, I said it with tongue in cheek, but it's really indicative of what the best way to reach my congregation is. Everytime I open up the Facebook to post something or send a message, I almost feel bad like I'm wasting time or being unprofessional with what I'm doing. I'm just not used to it. When I first got Facebook, it was just a way for me to talk to my friends; none of this "social media" stuff was even existing yet.
I'm learning. Strange that you'd hear a 24 year old talking about struggling to keep up with technology, but I am. Ultimately, I want God to be the main attraction, but I almost feel that if I want to create avenues for people to get to that state, I have to go down this particular outlet for reaching people.
You could make a case for me just overreacting, but this stuff is a science! I swear! There is a best time to post, a best way to post; how many words, how many fonts, how many colors, click bait titles, etc. It's a science!
Please send help, I'm going crazy. Haha.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
My Victory
One of the biggest things I learned in school and in life is that everything is a process of getting to where we ought to be. As no one's perfect, we all have our flaws that we can choose to run away from, to embrace as part of who we are, or to correct it.
In this day and age, pretty much everywhere you go you'll hear people say that you should embrace who you are because it's what makes you unique, that you should love yourself and all the things that make up your personality and character. You get the whole tolerance message that tells you not to let anyone affect the way you feel about yourself just because of a certain make up of the way you are, and how we should be accepting of everyone as they are.
I mean, it all sounds pretty and seems like it's a good thing, but is it really? To be honest, it's probably the furthest thing from the truth, if you ask me. The whole spiel makes it seem too much like it's reached a conclusive state, completely negating the whole idea of a process. Telling someone that they shouldn't change who they are just because who they are is unique is so contradicting to what the Gospel teaches.
I'll expand.
I've had so many amazing people mentor me and speak into my life. One thing these mentors do for me is they keep me accountable by asking me about the sin in my life. Of course, I tell them what I struggle with and how I deal with them. Some of my sins would be behavioural, while others are very much part of what makes up my personality. The behavioural ones are easy to spot, but ones related to my character are harder to tackle. Every now and then, I'll get asked if I've experienced victory in conquering the sin. I never really enjoy answering this question because I never feel fully confident if I say yes. Maybe my faith is just weak, but what does it even mean to say that I've fully conquered a sin in my life? How can I say that I will never repeat that sin again if I can't see the future? As a bit of a clarification, though, I do believe that, by the grace of God, someone can be fully healed from a sin.
At this point in my life, my victory means a daily commitment to living a holy life according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are two things I'll mention. The first is that when we talk about overcoming sin, we focus on the act of overcoming the behaviour or sin so much that we forget why we're overcoming the sin in the first place. We want to be rid of sin in our lives because that's what God has commanded of us. However, that's only half of the reason. The other half is that we are to be like the person of Jesus. So the very reason we're ridding ourselves of sin is so that we can be like Christ. I think most of us have no idea just how profound it is to know that we are called to be like Christ. That is the second thing. The very reason we rid sin from our lives is so that we are conformed to the person of Jesus.
I mean, this is the very basis for our faith. We are on a journey of sanctification that requires us to trek daily on this journey to battle and wage war on the sin in our lives. We're living in a sinful world, and our destination is to be where Christ is. So if I've overcome sin, it's because I've made the commitment every day to follow the calling of Christ in my life. This means I'll be tempted day in and day out, and sometimes I will even fall, but my desire is obedience so that at the end of the day, Jesus can look at me and say, "well done, good and faithful servant." Wow.
This is what I think it means to be Christian.
So that's why I don't understand why so many people keep preaching the message that we don't need to change who we are because God loves us either way. Yeah, it's true God loves you as you are, but it doesn't mean he will accept all the sin that is in your life. I also make it my goal to love you and accept you as God does, but I'm not going to say that the way you are is fine, because it's not. I want for you to become like Christ as much as I want myself to be like him, so I'm always going to try to encourage people to strive to live in the light that Christ is. The amazing thing about our faith is that we don't have to change everything about us before coming to God; but rather, when we come before God as we are, his grace allows us to see what we are to become, and thus change ourselves into who he wants us to be. To be conformed to the image of Christ is the greatest thing that I could ever dream of achieving; and so because of that, I desire greatly to change everything that is not pleasing to God so that I can get closer to Jesus each and every day. That is my victory.
In this day and age, pretty much everywhere you go you'll hear people say that you should embrace who you are because it's what makes you unique, that you should love yourself and all the things that make up your personality and character. You get the whole tolerance message that tells you not to let anyone affect the way you feel about yourself just because of a certain make up of the way you are, and how we should be accepting of everyone as they are.
I mean, it all sounds pretty and seems like it's a good thing, but is it really? To be honest, it's probably the furthest thing from the truth, if you ask me. The whole spiel makes it seem too much like it's reached a conclusive state, completely negating the whole idea of a process. Telling someone that they shouldn't change who they are just because who they are is unique is so contradicting to what the Gospel teaches.
I'll expand.
I've had so many amazing people mentor me and speak into my life. One thing these mentors do for me is they keep me accountable by asking me about the sin in my life. Of course, I tell them what I struggle with and how I deal with them. Some of my sins would be behavioural, while others are very much part of what makes up my personality. The behavioural ones are easy to spot, but ones related to my character are harder to tackle. Every now and then, I'll get asked if I've experienced victory in conquering the sin. I never really enjoy answering this question because I never feel fully confident if I say yes. Maybe my faith is just weak, but what does it even mean to say that I've fully conquered a sin in my life? How can I say that I will never repeat that sin again if I can't see the future? As a bit of a clarification, though, I do believe that, by the grace of God, someone can be fully healed from a sin.
At this point in my life, my victory means a daily commitment to living a holy life according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are two things I'll mention. The first is that when we talk about overcoming sin, we focus on the act of overcoming the behaviour or sin so much that we forget why we're overcoming the sin in the first place. We want to be rid of sin in our lives because that's what God has commanded of us. However, that's only half of the reason. The other half is that we are to be like the person of Jesus. So the very reason we're ridding ourselves of sin is so that we can be like Christ. I think most of us have no idea just how profound it is to know that we are called to be like Christ. That is the second thing. The very reason we rid sin from our lives is so that we are conformed to the person of Jesus.
I mean, this is the very basis for our faith. We are on a journey of sanctification that requires us to trek daily on this journey to battle and wage war on the sin in our lives. We're living in a sinful world, and our destination is to be where Christ is. So if I've overcome sin, it's because I've made the commitment every day to follow the calling of Christ in my life. This means I'll be tempted day in and day out, and sometimes I will even fall, but my desire is obedience so that at the end of the day, Jesus can look at me and say, "well done, good and faithful servant." Wow.
This is what I think it means to be Christian.
So that's why I don't understand why so many people keep preaching the message that we don't need to change who we are because God loves us either way. Yeah, it's true God loves you as you are, but it doesn't mean he will accept all the sin that is in your life. I also make it my goal to love you and accept you as God does, but I'm not going to say that the way you are is fine, because it's not. I want for you to become like Christ as much as I want myself to be like him, so I'm always going to try to encourage people to strive to live in the light that Christ is. The amazing thing about our faith is that we don't have to change everything about us before coming to God; but rather, when we come before God as we are, his grace allows us to see what we are to become, and thus change ourselves into who he wants us to be. To be conformed to the image of Christ is the greatest thing that I could ever dream of achieving; and so because of that, I desire greatly to change everything that is not pleasing to God so that I can get closer to Jesus each and every day. That is my victory.
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