Which one is the minister? Which one is the missionary?
In a few days, two of my friends will be graduation from Southeastern, one from the college and one from the seminary.
One of the graduates plans to move (with his wife) to Switzerland to learn French, then to Africa. Once they reach Africa, they will work with an organization to help translate Scriptures into local languages and dialects.
The other graduate (with his wife) plans to move to Florida and look for a job teaching history in a local public high school.
So, which graduate is the minister? Which graduate is the missionary?
Answer: Both graduates (and their wives) are ministers, and both graduates (and their wives) are missionaries.
Camping Adventure
Last weekend, we camped with the church. We’ve done this several times before, and we’ve always had a great time with our friends… and usually met new friends as well.
This time, camping was an adventure.
We only camped Saturday night. We usually camp Friday and Saturday nights. But, the camp was full for Friday night. It actually worked out very well, so that wasn’t the adventure.
Also, more people than normal camped. Generally, a few families pitch their tents, and others join us during the day. This time, many more families than normal camped… and it was great! So, that wasn’t the adventure either.
It was hot. HOT! The temperature reached above 90 degrees Saturday afternoon. It was almost too hot for a camp fire Saturday night. But, we did have a camp fire… and s’mores… so that was not the adventure either.
It rained. It started raining just before 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning. But, it had rained on us before while camping, so that was not the adventure either.
Then…. around 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning… a thunderstorm passed over our campsite. Thunder… lightning… buckets and buckets of water… and we found out that our tent leaked. Well, leak is a nice way of saying that within a few minutes there was a river of water running beside me inside the tent.
Unfortunately, because of the water in our tent, we had to leave the campsite around 2:00 (along with the five kids we were responsible for). But, we returned the next morning. And we continued having a great time with our friends… and with Art from “Church Task Force” who joined us Sunday morning.
It turned out that some people stayed dry, and some people got wet. Several small children (two under one year old) camped overnight, and I think they did the best of all of us.
So… camping was an adventure… but I’m looking forward to the next adventure… perhaps sometime this fall.
Wednesday Night Worship Service: Yeah, Of Course There’s Food Involved
God has placed me among some awesome people – brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, whenever someone is hurting or in need or had a baby or had been in the hospital or had been sick, someone begins to organize meals. The elders don’t tell them to do it. There is no benevolence committee or ministry director to control it. Instead, whenever someone is in need, someone else sends out an email and begins organizing meals.
Tonight, Margaret (my wife) had volunteered to prepare a meal for some friends of ours who recently had a baby. The husband and wife are both vegetarians, so she made a vegetarian pizza, something she normally doesn’t do. I got home just in time to help put the finishing touches on the pizza and salad. Then we delivered the meal to our friends.
Others have taken meals to our friends, and still others will take meals later. Why? Because we love them, and we want to help them while they adjusting to have a new baby. I can’t think of a better way to serve (worship) on a Wednesday evening!
I’m not really here
I haven’t seen T. in several weeks. T. lives in “The Neighborhood.” We met here a couple of years ago when we started spending time there.
She’s been having problems with her teeth for a long time. Although she’s been to the dentist over and over again, they keep putting off doing anything about it. For instance, once she called the dentist, and he told her that everything was ready. When she got there, everything wasn’t ready. And, she’s still waiting.
Recently, things have gotten worse. And, she’s very self-conscious about it. She’s asked me not to come by to visit her until she gets some of her teeth fixed. So, we just talk on the phone.
Today, when I was taking her neighbor’s garbage out, I noticed that T.’s door was open. On the way back, I knocked on her door. When I heard her coming, I told her it was me, but that I wasn’t going to stay.
I said, “We don’t have to talk. I just wanted to say hello.”
By that time, she had opened the door, and I hugged her. I simply said, “I love you and miss you, and I just wanted to let you know.”
As I turned to leave, she said thank you and that she missed me, too.
Sometimes, when you can’t really be there, a hug says alot.
Working together to serve others
I haven’t written about our friends in “the Neighborhood” lately. We met Mrs. WÂ in the neighborhood almost two years ago. At first, we had a hard time talking to her. It wasn’t that she was mean or anything, but she just wasn’t very talkative. Eventually, though, after visiting with her week after week for over a year, she started talking to us. She tells us about her life growing up around Wake Forest and about her family.
But, in all the times that we’ve visited her, she would never let us do anything for her. Even when we raked leaves for other neighbors, she said that she wanted to rake her own leaves. And, that was cool, because she likes to be outdoors and that’s about the only exercise she gets.
Just before Christmas, she mentioned that she was having a hard time cleaning her apartment. Her family had been helping her, but they didn’t clean like she wanted. She never asked us to clean her apartment, but one afternoon Margaret (my wife), Miranda (my daughter), and another lady cleaned her apartment. (see my post “Wednesday Afternoon Worship Service“)
Last Saturday, when we were talking to Mrs. W, Margaret didn’t even ask if she wanted her apartment cleaned again. She simply told Mrs. W that she wanted to clean her apartment again. The next day, Margaret asked if anyone would like to help her clean Mrs. W’s apartment.
So, this morning, Margaret, Miranda, three other ladies, and one of their daughters cleaned Mrs. W’s apartment again.
I appreciate their example of working together to serve others!
Gathering or Going?
If we read the narrative of Scripture as a whole (Old Testament and New Testament), we’ll see examples of God’s people gathering together and examples of God’s people going out.
I’ve been wondering lately, where should our focus be? Obviously, both gathering and going are important to the individual follower Jesus Christ and to the church. I agree with the Anabaptists that every disciple is both an ordained missionary and an ordained minister (servant).
But, should one (gathering or going) have a higher priority in our lives? Should this focus be different individually than corporately (as a group)? How would we (individually and corporately) demonstrate this priority?
We’ve come a long way baby
Recently, I was talking with some brothers who are part of Messiah Baptist Church. If you didn’t know, I’m one of the elders (pastors, if you prefer) of this group of believers. We’ve been meeting together for several years now, and our meetings and our interactions today look much different than they did when we first started meeting together.
As we talked about this, I told the guys that it was exciting to see what had happened in the last few years. If someone had asked me then what I would want the church to “look like” today, I probably would have described some things that are happening now, and other things that are not happening now.
But, “back then”, I decided not to push my agenda, even if some wanted me to push – and as tempting as that was. Instead, I taught and modeled and served and let God do the work of changing people. I didn’t want this to be my church.
I told my brothers that I think God has done a better job of growing his church than I would have done growing my church.
Faces, Scenes, and Life
Guy from “The M Blog” has given us a glimpse inside simple churches in Guayaquil, Ecuador in a post called “No Hay Paredes: Las caras, escenas y vida de las iglesias en Casa en Guayaquil.” Church life doesn’t get much more beautiful than that!
Concerning Missions: ‘We must not see ourselves as individuals.’
This quote is from Dave Black’s blog this morning (Sunday, December 20, 9:38 a.m.):
Perhaps our churches need to reconsider why we do mission trips. Yes, as individuals we must be responsive to the needs around us. But the primary locus of God’s activity in the world today is the local church, not the denomination or the association or the seminary or the missionary organization. Here is a point I would like to make crystal clear: We must not see ourselves as individuals. Jesus came to build His church. As His Body we are to “have the same attitude and the same love, live in harmony, and keep one purpose in mind” (Phil. 2:2). We are to “live as good citizens of heaven who reflect the value of the Good News about Christ” (1:27). We are to “work hard together to spread the Good News,” just as Paul and Timothy had done (2:22).
‘We must not see ourselves as individuals.’ This is true in missions (the context of Dave Black’s quote), but it’s also so true for so many (all?) aspects of life as a follower of Jesus Christ. There is a huge difference between a church as a community or family and a church as a group of individuals.
Blood is thicker than blood
This morning, as we were meeting with the church, we started talking about caring for one another – that is, caring for those who are part of “the household of faith” – other believers.
One brother said this: “The old saying goes, ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ But, according to Scripture, ‘Blood is thicker than blood.’ The blood of Jesus is ‘thicker’ than family relations. We’re all part of the same family because of Jesus’ blood. Nothing is ‘thicker’ than Jesus’ blood.”
I think he’s right. What do you think?
(I hadn’t taken pictures during one of our church meetings lately, so I decided to take pictures today. You can find them on my facebook profile.)