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.
A great post on homeschooling
Wes at “a mission-driven life” has written one of the best homeschool posts that I’ve read in a long time. It’s called “Homeschooling and Classical Education: What are you doing to your kids?” Primarily, I like that Wes has removed the Christian, holy, godly, etc. rhetoric that some add to the idea of homeschooling. Read the post. It’s worth the time.
We decided to homeschool our children 7 years ago. The reasons that we chose to homeschool are personal, and may not apply to anyone else. We never planned to homeschool, but we’re glad that we did. If you’re interested in homeschooling and need help getting started, read Wes’s post. If you still have questions, leave me a comment or send me an email. I don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you some of things that we’ve done over the past 7 years.
Working on Teaching Outline of 1 Corinthians
This summer, when we go to Ethiopia, I’ve been asked to teach a 5 day course on 1 Corinthians to a group of church leaders from area where we’ll be staying (Alaba). I love the book of 1 Corinthians, and I’m looking forward to teaching this course, but preparing the teaching outline is proving to be more difficult than expected.
Now, preparing the teaching outline is not difficult because of the material, but because of the structure of the course. The course will consist of 5 morning sessions and 5 afternoon sessions, which means that I will need to teach the book in 10 sessions total. But, what happens if the outline of the book itself does not lend itself to being divided into 10 sessions?
That’s the problem that I’m facing. This means, of course, that I have to stretch some parts over multiple sessions, or combine other parts into one session. That’s not unusual when teaching in this type of structure. For example, teaching in a high school or college/university/seminary setting often requires dividing the material into a specific number of sessions.
I also have to decide which sections of the book I will give more priority and which sections will receive (by default) less priority. This would be easier if I knew more about the people that will be taking the course. I think this decision will be easier the next time I travel to this area.
Finally, I have to consider teaching/learning styles. I know what style the people are accustomed to (primarily lecture), and I know what style I’m accustomed to (primarily discussion/dialogue). I think I will have to find a happy medium, probably beginning with more lecture and moving toward more discussion/dialogue as the people get to know me.
Well, that’s part of what’s going on in my life right now. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Fourth Blogiversary
Four years ago, I published my first blog post at “The Assembling of the Church.” At that time, my blog was hosted on blogger. I also published blog posts much less regularly. You can read my other blogiversary posts here: first, second, and third.
Occasionally, I wonder if I should continue blogging. It does take time. But, for now, blogging has been very beneficial to me and to others, and it has been helpful in my PhD research. So, for now, I think I am going to continue. Of course, things could change.
I still think that the best thing about blogging is the interaction that I have with my readers. So, thank you for reading and commenting. I learn alot from you.
If you read, but haven’t commented yet, please consider doing so. We need one another as we attempt to live in Christ together.
Southeastern Regional Meeting of ETS
This afternoon, my good friend Geth and I are riding together to Greenville, SC for the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. Tomorrow morning, we’re both presenting papers. I’m planning to present my paper “Theology of Encouragement in Hebrews” at 10:45 a.m.
Two Thousandth Post
This is my two thousandth post. Just thought you would want to know… 🙂
ETS in Atlanta in November 2010
I recently submitted two paper proposals for the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meeting in Atlanta in November 2010:
“The Assembled Church in the Apostolic Fathers”
The late first and early second century is often considered a mysterious period of church history. The information that exists is sketchy, with only a few extant documents from that time period. The Christians who wrote during this time have been called “apostolic fathers” since the sixteenth century and have been recognized as church leaders of their day. Although most Christians admit that these writers probably did not possess a complete New Testament, the apostolic fathers present a plethora of information to help today’s Christian understand the New Testament. However, often the apostolic fathers’ interpretations and emphases differ from those of modern scholars. As today’s Christians seek to understand Scripture, they can benefit from examining the writings of the apostolic fathers within their context and with an understanding of their purposes and intentions. This study will investigate passages in the writings of the apostolic fathers that describe the practices of churches when they gather together.“Luther’s ‘Third Kind’ of Divine Service”
In 1526, Martin Luther published a pamphlet called “German Mass and Order of Divine Service.” In the preface of this work, Luther described three different “kinds” of divine service: two designed for the non-believer to be presented in Latin and German respectively, and one designed for the believer. According to Luther, he could not find the people necessary to meet together in this kind of service. In the sections that follow his preface, Luther focuses on the first two kinds of divine service in Latin and German, without returning to the “third kind.” This study will examine Luther’s “third kind” of divine service, including comparisons and contrasts to the first two kinds along with a discussion of the historical reception and interpretation of the “third kind.”
My presentation last weekend and my presentation in two weeks are primary theological (although definitely from a biblical theology perspective). I thought it would be interesting to do a couple of historical presentations.
I’ll let you know when you I hear back from them. If you plan to be in Atlanta for ETS (or SBL) please let me know.
A Theology of Y’All
My presentation of “A Theology of Mutuality” at SECSOR 2010 went pretty well. I started having allergy problems yesterday. (Welcome back to Georgia!) I had a little trouble breathing, watery eyes, and a scratchy throat while delivering my paper. But, I made it through, and even had a few good questions. One person suggested I turn the presentation into a book.
A new friend, Neil Carter, from the blog “Christ in Y’all” and author of the book Christ in Y’all, sat through my presentation. Neil gave me a copy of his book, and we were able to talk together for a while. Meeting Neil was a great bonus to this conference, because I’ve been following his blog since before I started my own blog.
So, today went very well overall. Tonight we’ll have dinner with my family, and tomorrow after our drive home, our friends have invited us to have dinner with them. Opportunities for more “mutuality”… or “Y’all”.
SECSOR 2010
Today, we’re traveling to Atlanta. Tomorrow, I’m planning to present a paper at the Southeastern Conference on the Study of Religion. The topic of paper is “A Theology of Mutuality.”
I’m hoping to meet some people at the conference, too. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to spend at the conference, but hopefully I’ll have time to spend with a few people there.
I’m also looking forward to spending the weekend with my family.
So, if you think about it, I’d appreciate prayer for our travels and for my presentation on Saturday.
How do you find the time?
I was recently reminded of a couple of posts that I wrote called “How do you find the time?” and “How do you find the time to pastor?” I thought I wrote these last year, but apparently it’s been two years since I wrote them! So, I thought I would republish the posts together.
It looks like a few things have changed in those the past two years. I’m not teaching adjunctively for Southeastern College at Wake Forest (now the College at Wake Forest). I am not working with FullThrottle Development and teaching Latin for high school level homeschoolers. Finally, I’m not longer taking seminars in the PhD program at Southeastern Seminary. Now I’m working on my dissertation.
—————————————————–
I’m often asked how I find the time to do the things that I do. For example, a couple of days ago, Bert asked the following in a comment:
How do you find time to pastor, work full time, work on your PhD, and blog meaningful posts regularly? I have often said that there is no such thing as a part-time pastor so where did you find the extra hours in the day?
In this blog post, I’m going to discuss everything except pastoring. I’ll discuss pastoring in another post later.
To start with, like everyone else, I am only given 24 hours each day. And, while I try to be a good steward of my time, I will admit that I often waste time doing unproductive things. Also, you should know that I read and write quickly. I am not trying to brag, its just a fact of life. My wife would be the first to tell you. I also try to plan ahead, especially for school work. If I know that I have a paper due, I start it very early to give myself plenty of time to do the research and to write the paper.
First, I work full time as a web developer for the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’ve been working in this capacity for just over 5 years, and I love it! Not only do I get to work with awesome people, they are also very flexible with my work hours which allows me to take classes. One thing that helps with my time management on the job is that I take a very short lunch break. I almost always bring my lunch from home, and I have found that it does not take me an hour to eat my lunch. So, that saves me alot of time each week.
Second, I teach adjunctively for Southeastern College at Wake Forest, which is associated with the seminary. In fact, my class is located about 100 yards from my office – very convenient. I only teach one class – New Testament Greek – for 3 hours per week. I have also set aside one day per week when I meet with students for a coffee break for about 30 minutes. Besides this time, my students know that I’m always available outside of class, and I have even given them my home and cell phone numbers.
Third, I am a Ph.D. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m currently taking two seminars – one in the Gospel of John and the other in Old Testament Theology. These seminars meet for a total of 5 hours each week. We also have a heavy reading and writing load to go along with these seminars. This semester, my writing load is shifted to the second half of the semester, so I have not started writing yet. Most of my reading will be finished by the time I start writing. Like I said, I read and write fast. This takes me less time that most people think, but it still takes alot of time.
Fourth, I am a husband and a father. I probably should have put this first – it would have been more spiritual. I always try to set aside time for my family, and Margaret, my wife, helps me with this. We usually eat dinner together at night, and occasionally, Margaret and I will have lunch together during the day. I try to do very little school work on the weekends in order to set that time aside for family. (Although, sometimes I have to read and write at night.) Also, I choose to read and write at home instead of at the library. I realize that there are probably more distractions at home, but those distractions are my life. The distractions are more important than my studies. I can fail at school and remain obedient to God, but I cannot fail in my marriage and as a father and remain obedient to God.
Finally, I blog. I have been blogging here at The Assembling of the Church for almost two years. I’ve talked to several people in person about the way that I blog, and it seems to be unique. I rarely, if ever, write a blog post in one sitting. I always keep a long list of “draft” blogs that I’m working on. (Currently, I have 15 blog posts in “draft” mode that are in various stages of completion.) I work on these “draft” posts 10 or 15 minutes at a time whenever I have time. For example, I will often work on blog posts when I’m taking a break from reading or writing. When I publish a blog post, I probably started writing it several days – sometimes several months – before I finally publish it. Sometimes, as with this post, I write on specific posts in order to finish them, but usually I don’t care when I finish a post. (Even this post, which I wanted to finish quickly, took me several days of writing in small increments of time.) The exception would be when I’m writing a series. I’m usually 75-100% finished writing a series before I publish the first post. So, blogging takes a very small amount of time for me.
There are several aspects of my life that allow me to do the things that I do, the most important being the grace of God. The graciousness and concern of my family also plays a huge role in allowing me to work, go to school, and publish this blog (which I consider to be part of my studies and discipleship). Also, the fact that I work, teach, and attend classes on the same campus saves me alot of commuting time. Finally, my ability to read and write fast makes it look as if I spend much more time reading and blogging than most people realize. This routine works for me and my family for now. Things may change, and if they do, I can promise you that my family will not be left out of my schedule.
—————————————————–
How do you find the time to pastor?
A few days ago, Bert asked a question that I’m often asked:
How do you find time to pastor, work full time, work on your PhD, and blog meaningful posts regularly? I have often said that there is no such thing as a part-time pastor so where did you find the extra hours in the day?
I answered most of his question in a blog post called “How do you find the time?” (above) But, in this post, I hope to answer his question about pastoring. How do I find the time to pastor while working a full time job, working on my Ph.D., being a husband and father, and maintaining a blog?
One of the reasons that I wanted to answer the question about pastoring separately is that my understanding of what it means to be a pastor is not the traditional understanding. So, I want to take the time to explain what I think it means to be a pastor. A few years ago I was asked to be an elder/pastor for Messiah Baptist Church. I would be one of four pastors. This was a very serious decision for me, so I spent a long time reading Scripture and books about what it means to be a pastor.
At first, I did not want to accept the responsibilities and duties that come along with being a pastor. I did not think that I would have the time to pastor as well as be a husband and father, a full time employee, and a student. As I studied what it means to be a pastor and as I considered this decision, I noticed something: the scriptural description of an elder/pastor is not what we usually mean when we call someone “pastor” or “elder”.
Elders/pastors spend much of their time with administrative duties: maintaining buildings, planning, organizing, recruiting, and financing. These types of activities are not the scriptural responsibilities of pastors. It is not wrong for elders/pastors to do these things, but the activities should not be seen as “pastoring”. Also, elders/pastors are often considered to be the only or primary teachers, preachers, visitors, counselors, ministers, and leaders. While Scripture certainly indicates that pastors/elders should do these things, these are also the responsibilities of all believers.
While pastors/elders are very busy people, many times the “busyness” is related more the expectations of other people instead of the responsibilities that God gives to elders through Scripture. In fact, a few years ago, a good friend of mine who is a pastor at a mega-church told me that he has to schedule one hour a week to spend with a discipleship group, otherwise he would have not time to actually disciple people. Why? Because his time was spent doing other things – things that were required of him by his job description, the people on his staff, and the people in the church, but things that were not required by Scripture.
So, how do I find time to pastor? I find time to pastor by recognizing that discipleship is my primary responsibility as a pastor, just as discipleship is every believer’s primary responsibility. I spend time with people, caring for people, listening to people, teaching people – sometimes one on one, sometimes in small groups, sometimes in large groups – through email, instant messaging, phone, and face-to-face meetings. I do not set office hours, but instead I spend as much time as possible with people.
However, I recognize that I am not the extent of the discipling that goes on around me. Therefore, I encourage others to spend time with people, and I encourage people to seek help through already existing relationships. If someone has a problem, they can call me or another pastor, but they do not have to call a pastor. Instead, they can call a friend or a neighbor. Many times when people are helped, I know nothing about it until later. Praise God! I do not have to have my hand in everything. God is perfectly capable of taking care of his children without me.
What about organizing, planning, recruiting, etc.? Again, God is perfectly capable of taking care of these things through his people – not just through the pastors/elders. I do not spend time thinking up programs, planning how to carry them out, asking people to take part, and making sure the programs run well. Instead, I encourage people to serve as God gifts them and as he gives them a passion for that service. Then, I – along with the church – help them in whatever ways they need help. We do not have set programs as a church, but it is amazing the amount of ministry that is going on through the members of the church, because they have been freed to serve as God has gifted them.
What about teaching and preaching? In this case, the pastors do take on more of a responsibility. While I would love for people to show up at a church meeting having prepared a teaching, our church is not ready for this yet. (THIS HAS CHANGED IN TWO YEARS!!!) Therefore, the pastors have taken on the responsibility of providing someone to teach each Sunday. That does not mean that we teach every Sunday, but we teach more often. We also ask other people to teach, and we help them as they study Scripture and prepare to teach. I’ve also decided to study along with whoever is teaching that week. So, even though I am not teaching next Sunday, I am continuing to study as if I were going to teach next Sunday. It may be that God wants me to say something, even though I am not scheduled to preach.
By the way, except for helping to make the preaching schedule, there is very little that I do now that I would stop doing if I were no longer an elder/pastor. Why? Because I do not serve because of an office or position. I serve because God has gifted me and provided me opportunities to serve. I was doing all of these things before I was a pastor, and I will continue doing them if at some point I am no longer recognized as a pastor.
It takes much less time to focus on people than to focus on the organization. God’s heart is with people, and that’s where my heart should be as well. When I find myself started to yield to the expectations that other people or that the system places on me, then I may no longer be doing the things that God wants me to do. That’s when I must check my focus, and return to loving and caring and teaching and leading people, which I think is the responsibility of the pastor as well as all followers of Jesus Christ. (See my series on elders that starts with “Elders (Part 1) – Introduction“.)
So, how do I find the time to pastor? Because I am a pastor, but not that kind of pastor.