Coming Home

Wow what a week. I spent the first part of the week in Chi-town attending Harvest University at Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, IL. It was an overload of information as it was the first time I had been out to the ‘mothership‘ and also was trying to absorb the information during my daily workshops. It was a great opportunity to see what Harvest is all about and, how they can help me as I seek to be faithful in ministry. I see why Bill gets all excited about visiting there and why he is so gung ho about it. As a typical xer I am somewhat hesitant to buy into what I see as a little bit of hoopla but I understand the passion. I still don’t know those guys very well but I can respect them so far.

The latter half of the week was spent getting my temporary teeth put in (only two crowns), informing my students that the missions trip is cancelled/postponed, getting things done around the house, and getting ready for Sunday morning as I preached yesterday. (the church podcast should be updated later in the week – not sure what day they do that – Harvest Bible Chapel Scarborough, Maine)

All in all it was a good week and I am looking forward to applying what I learned out west to life out east. Although they never said this specifically, what I heard from them was, ‘if you preach It, they will come!’ I know that this isn’t some new way of thinking since It (the Bible) has needed to be the center of our worship since the dawn of time, however, I needed to be reminded of that this week.

I start the series on Jesus next Friday (9th) and I am looking forward to seeing what God does with us as a ministry. When we focus on Jesus we see just how much we need Him and what He says. We see where we are and we can therefore know where to start. Learning about Jesus forces us to change. We should be different having met with Him. If we aren’t any different, then we have, as James says, seen ourselves in the mirror and walked away forgetting what we look like! MEGANOINTA!

Where is God taking Harvest Scarborough? Where is God taking Harvest Youth? Where is God taking me? My goal is to know it when I get there but to not look forward so much that I don’t see what God is showing me on the way there. The fork is coming…which way will He take me?

Interesting Week

All last week I heard Bill’s sermon six or seven times. He would come into my office and throw out thoughts of a verse here a verse there and comment on how this should be an easy sermon but it wasn’t. I know now that one of the reasons that it wasn’t easy was that I needed to hear what God had to say through Bill over and over.

I am blessed to be here. ‘Here’ is a big place and I would be foolish to try and explain where it is for fear of not doing it justice. Bottom line is that if I call myself a Jesus follower, I need to love what He loves. Jesus lays it out in the latter part of John 21 that if I love Him, I will love what He loves. I can take this to the general or to the specific and it works either way. Generally I am to love sheep as He loves them and I need to learn to be better at feeding and tending. I know that God has brought me through specific circumstances to be able to minister to His people and be an earthen vessel for His message. But, do I love the message or the title? Do I love the responsibility of a shepherd or do I love the title? Lord, if I love you…I will love what You love!

I need to do this specifically as well, if I am going to love Laurie, I need to love what she loves. I do not see clutter, I do not see dishes in the sink. I wash dishes when I run out of clean ones. Laurie sees the dish as dirty when you walk from the table to the sink. If I am going to say that I love Laurie, I need to learn to see those dishes. I need to learn to see the clutter. I need to love what she loves.

Where to next Lord? Is the fork in the road closer than I think it is, or is it farther away? Help me to love what You love.

First One

I am both very nervous and excited for this evening. I feel as though I have been running in and out of church for a year dealing with a family. We go in, get our kids situated and then to get to the sanctuary. Then when everything is over we run to get the kids and try to get home at a decent time so they will all take a nap. As a result of this running in and out, I do not know many of the students that will be here tonight and that kind of bums me out since I would love to already know them. Ah well, gotta start somewhere.

I am very excited to start getting into the nitty gritty probably next week or after we get back from break. I am going to do a series on Jesus. THE Jesus. Since everything is about Jesus and how we react to Him, I figured it was the best place to start. Vintage Jesus is how Mark Driscoll puts it.

So; the beginning is now, the future is later. First things first.

Last Night

I must say that it was another great showing for the small Bible college in Maine. If people had any idea of what a gem we have here; they would run to get instruction. As Kent and I rode home, we lamented the fact that there is a stigma associated with the term ‘Bible college’ and NEBC defies that stigma. Sure, it has roots in the conservative baptist tradition and that is clearly their bent, but when they bring in people such as J. Otte and G. Parrett we see that their reach is for the gospel not for conservatism.

That excites me! To know that even a conservative organisation (that’s the British spelling) can realize that God is so much bigger than an ideal for living. I am worried at times when I hear people downplaying the role of NEBC now or in the future. I think that NEBC should seek to have a bigger role in the gospel in New England acting as their logo depicts, as a lighthouse, shining on the rocks without defining and categorising each rock and what type of boat they should use to avoid such rocks.

When the churches in New England can see the college as a resource to train and edify the local churches we will start to see the veil be lifted off New England and reformission will happen. That is not to say that the college is the future of NE as the future should be the church being what God wants. It is clear however that one way we can do that is lifting high the education and training of our leaders.

What does this have to do with me? As the NE rep for EE I can see the need for all facets of the church to be strengthened whether it is academics or evangelism training. I am excited to get out there and minister to the church and to reach out even further into the community as a result of learning more about worship.

This link is to the article that Gary Parrett wrote for Christianity Today which was the basic premise of what he spoke about Sunday evening.

This link is to the other speaker Josh Otte’s blog.