Abstract: If you’re an Awana Commander, I highly recommend it.  Great teaching, great application, great networking.  Downside: Information overload.

The event was held at Camp Stillwood, a really nice retreat/camp destination in the Columbia Valley, up behind Cultus Lake.  I’ve been there several times before for Men’s retreats with Cedar Grove Baptist Church, but this one was slightly longer, so more enjoyable.

The main speaker was Dr. Greg Carlson, who has been involved with Awana for decades along with his wife, Donna.  He wrote the book that Awana promotes, “Rock-Solid Teacher“.  The local Awana missionaries, Harvey and Lil Fehr also spoke.  All four of them, along with one of the local Awana commanders, Karen Quan, were quite good - engaging and passionate about their subject matter.

The material covered was very in-depth, about the philsophy of children’s ministry, the importance of presenting the gospel to children, the importance of protecting the children from abuse, and many other subjects.  It certainly gave me a much better vision for children’s ministry.  I found myself renewed with enthusiasm for doing my job well and serving the children, their families, and the leaders I am leading.

I don’t have a lot to complain about.  However, I will raise a couple of beefs.  First, in their lesson on child protection, they used a short video, a series of monologues which were meant to express forcefully the ravages of an abuse situation - how it impacts the church, the family, the abused, and the community.  However, at its end, the video pinned the blame for not reaching the lost of the community on the failings of the club to keep an abuser from abusing.  This is an unfair framework.  To suggest that because the church is rocked by this trauma, they stopped evangelizing the community, so people died in their sin, never hearing the gospel, that this is the church’s or the Awana Commander’s fault?  That is way too much.  People die in their sin not because someone fails to tell them about the gospel, but because they have heard the gospel, and have no excuse for their ignorance of God.  If they didn’t hear it from that church, then it came to them in another form, and they rejected it.

Another issue I had was with the intensity of the weekend.  There were so many sessions, and there was little time to reflect and process what was learned.  On the plus side, I have never experienced a conference with such a vested interest in retention for the attendees.  They built into the program all kinds of opportunities to note down takeaways and direct application.  At the end of the process they even had us write letters to ourselves highlighting the most important things we don’t want to forget from the conference.  However, I would have relished more time for reflection on the content I was downloading, if for no other reason than to think through some of the issues I have in particular and how their information changes how I see them.  I mean, from breakfast through to bedtime on Saturday, we were going for 12 hours straight!  That is intense for a learning experience.

I have written a lot above about what I didn’t like, but read that last paragraph again.  This was a very good weekend and I got a lot more out of it than the last conference I attended.  I attribute that to the organization and effectiveness of the speakers.  And the Word of God was the beginning and the end of their subject.

Friday, January 23rd, 2009
9:00am till 3:30pm
Southside Community Church
RP Campus
12642 - 100 Ave
Surrey, BC

“I’d rather be spiritual than actually pick a religion.”

That’s like saying, “I’d rather be hungry than pick what I want to eat.”

And it is about as healthy.

Here’s to making decisions!

Cheers!

She is worth far more than rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)

Just this weekend I was reminded about how wonderfully gifted my wife is.  She is a counsellor, leader, organizer, coordinator, so many wonderful gifts that will be critical to our success as a pastoral couple.  At times I almost feel overshadowed at how effortless she makes these things seem.

This morning I was thanking God for her while walking the dog, and I thought about how God has gifted me as a leader as well.  We’re not the same.  And in some ways, I would have to say that she is much more charismatic - people give her leadership automatically - than I am.  While it would be easier to plant a church if I was that way too, instead of embroiling myself in sinful jealousy, I found my heart moving in a completely different direction.  I just found myself praying that I would offer no appeal that way.  That I would be invisible, that I would just be the kind of leader that points the way to Jesus.  If the church we begin is thought of as a house of God, and oh yeah, that guy Shane talks on Sundays, I would be satisfied.

So thanks, God, for my wife, and let me simply point the way to you.

I don’t know about that opinion, for a number of economic reasons.  Yes, I expect to see especially amongst the more nominal Christians (who often flock to these mega-churches to get lost and avoid accountablity) a drop-off in tithing as times get tough.  However, people do look to the church for answers when they are facing hardship.  I have read various economists say that clergy are one of the most recession-proof occupations.

But what they followed with was a question as to why we are even building new church buildings.  The question was asked, “There are so many, why do we need them?”  Their answer was “consumer mentality”.  I think that’s too simplistic.

Yes, some churches are building “bigger, better” for consumer reasons, but I wonder if these bloggers and Drew really realize how much of a move against Christianity is already beginning to occur in our society.  On the ground, I am hearing more and more stories about church planters having a hard time finding space to meet.  City zoning laws prohibiting church buildings.  School boards refusing to rent to church groups, or reserving the right to pre-empt your regular meetings whenever they want for sports tournaments, etc.  Theatre operators declining to rent to faith groups, or not allowing this or that to make things so difficult as to become untenable as a location.  In my little corner of the world I know of two new churches who have faced these exact realities as they seek to find space to meet.

What is the answer?  Are house churches the answer?  Aren’t there things that churches need to do as large groups?  Are there not reasons to have large venues as churches?  I think just suggesting that “we have enough church buildings” does not recognize that we have bigger issues that are starting to ride up on new church development.

So, a few days ago, you read here that I was convicted about begging God for money all the time.  Yesterday on my morning prayer/dog walk I prayed that God would use me that day at work.  Lo and behold, a conversation about the Al-Qaeda issuing a statement likening President-elect Obama to a “House Negro” twisted into a brief discussion about racism in Arabic cultures, and from thence to a discussion about whether or not all religions are based on punishment avoidance.

This gave us a fantastic jumping off point to talk about the difference between a a capricious god who demands “submission”, and a loving God who sacrificed his Son to restore us to our proper relationship with him as his children.  It gave me a chance to teach about a heavenly father who loves us and gave us the freedom to choose to love or not love him, knowing the pain that it would cause him when we do not choose him.  But more than that, loving even those who hate him so much that he will ultimately give them what they want, even though he knows that they will not like it.  Like the Israelites crying out to God for a king, even after God explained that they would not like the choice, many in this world scream at God, “Go away”, not understanding what that really means.  I explained that hell is a place where God is not - that’s what makes it hell.  And when you die, God isn’t “punishing you” by sending you to hell, he is, in love, allowing you to choose eternal separation from him.  He loves you so much he will not force you to be with him if you spent your life wanting to be away from him.

They (my two atheist friends) still at the end did not grasp this difference - they still viewed separation from God as a punishment inflicted on them for not choosing God.  But I can’t change their hearts - only God can.  They can think about that and I can pray that they realize how childish that view is - though it is systemic of our political systems these days - that you can make a poor choice, but not suffer the consequences because a “loving” government would protect you from your own stuidity and obstinacy.  Apparently, they apply that same understanding to God - that he should allow us to indulge and then when we face the consequences, protect us from them.  He does do this, but he only gives us one life to come to him, and choose to repent.

But what I got out of the conversation was when one of them challenged me with the question, “what happens if you’re wrong?  You will have missed out on all the fun you could have had in this life.”  I said to him, “What will I have missed?”  The things that I have given up for Christ are sin - and I challenged him to find one sin in the Bible that does not either hurt myself or others around me.  He tried to some up with something but the best he could do was suggest that sins that only affect yourself are ok.  And I just said, “Why would it be fun to hurt myself?  I don’t feel I am missing that at all.”  Perhaps that part of the conversation was the most important part.  I really feel blessed to serve Jesus today because of that conversation.  I have given up nothing to serve Jesus.  What fun is it to hurt myself or others?

If, at the end of my life, I find out this is all a fallacy (I know it isn’t, but hey, we’ll pretend there is an outside chance), I will not feel like I missed a thing, because I know that I will have spent my life doing good for people and myself.  There will not be a moment of regret that I didn’t cause someone else pain for my own momentary pleasure.  And it is sad that my friends are so lost that they still see someone else’s pain as their gain.

I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday, and he started talking about what next year would look like at Community of Hope.  We look forward to passing the leadership of Awana on to somebody else (we’re already moving him in that direction - he’s already been taking huge stides along that path).  But the question was asked for us, what next?

Well, I told him I hope to take Freedom Session next fall, an intensive class to help people struggle with and overcome past issues in a Biblical framework.  Both Community of Hope and my previous church, Cedar Grove run this program, and I have had a lot of contact with both the people who run it and people who have taken it.  It is very good at what it does, helping people to recognize what hurts they have caused or experienced in the past, and how they affect their lives today, and act to resolve them.  I realized in my many interactions with people involved, that while I function pretty well, like most other people I have some hurts that definitely affect how I relate to people.  I wouldn’t mind dealing with those.

But, that’s not all by a long shot.  The vision that Cheryl and I have is to begin the process of planting a church in Alberta in the fall of 2010.  That is not far away at all!  Working back from a fall 2010 departure, that means we need to make a final decision about a destination city/town probably by the beginning of summer 2010, and before that we need to be building our team if there will be one.  It would probably make sense if we are going to have a team that our small group in the fall of 2009 be made up of those who are interested in planting with us.  We will need that fall and winter and spring to make decisions and pray and vision together what that new church will look like.

Fall 2009 seems so far away, but a quick check of the calendar is only 9 months!

On the bright side, if all these dates come too fast they are always subject to revision.  And on the brighter side, with every passing week, I do feel we are being prepared more and more for the task ahead.  There is still so much to do, but I still think we can get there.

As I watched it, I began to thank God that I didn’t teach that or believe that. But then God brought to my mind my prayers lately, and how much I’ve been begging of him for myself, my family, my needs, me me me. I don’t believe that I have earned blessing from God because of my faith in him, but I sure do act like it to a degree. I repent of that right now: of not begging God for others’ sake more than myself. For not thinking of others more than myself. Of thinking even subconciously that God is here to make my life easier.

I need him. And as the Mercy Me song says, “If that’s what it takes to praise you, then Jesus, bring the rain.”

After about a year Shane and I learned that Lyndan was on his way. I was already struggling with having to leave Dylan with my parents while I went to work and so I was wondering how I would handle leaving two behind. A few months in, I developed sciatica. I found work to be very challenging as I was in pain all the time. Soon after, I went off on medical leave.

I tried to stay in touch with my co-workers but I admit, I have been terrible at maintaining relationships. I am trying to get better but I rely on body language when I talk to people so emails and phone calls really are hard for me. They really aren’t my thing. I seriously hate the phone. Every time they would call about getting together to reconnect at a potluck, my kids were sick or I was sick. I thought they would think I was lying given the number of times I used that excuse, but it was the truth. Soon, we lost touch and I wished I had known what had happened to them.

One co-worker inparticular I was wondering about just recently. She had come to our home about 5 years ago for a visit and that was the last time I saw her. I wondered if I had somehow offended her. I couldn’t think of anything during that particular visit but I over-analyzed everything to try and come up with my errors. There were no more emails or phone calls after that day. I was beating myself up just last week for offending her and making her not want to contact me anymore.

Today I was visiting my nursing students in the community placements. Normally I start at the far end of the city and work my way back but today I messed up and bounced everywhere. I wasted a ton of gas. It was $94.9/L today so I filled up but that is beside the point. I ended up going to one particular placement last when normally it is first. I had no other students to see except for this final student. I pushed the button on the intercom and told the woman on the speaker I was there to visit my student and she invited me up and pushed the button upstairs to unlock the front door. I walk all the way up to the care floor to the nursing station. I say “Hello” and begin to ask where my student was when the woman looks at me with these big eyes “Cheryl! How are you?! How long has it been and where did I work with you again?”

It was her! She confessed later she only new my name because I was wearing my name tag but I knew her name and she wasn’t wearing one. Since this was the last placement I had to visit for the day, I walk into the nursing station and pull up a chair. We spent 30 minutes or so catching up on old times. She told me who left to work where (The hospital was downsizing when I left and our ward had been closed spreading our team throughout the hospital while other chose to quit to work elsewhere or retire). I found out how her family is and I told her about mine. Last she knew I had just had Lyndan and she didn’t know about our youngest two. I told her about how I’ve grown since I last saw her and that I was terrible with maintaining relationships before and I am really striving to improve in that area. I explained how I have always regretted losing touch with everyone and that I would love to exchange contact info so we can connect again. It turns out she’s on Facebook, so I hope she accepts my friend request. She said she would. She recently went out for lunch with a few of my old co-workers and says she would love to see me join them sometime.

Remember how I said that I thought I had offended her? Several, several times during our conversation she stated, out of the blue for no reason what-so-ever, that I am a good person and that I deserve to be doing so well. I finally feel like a little burden has been lifted. I was able to basically apologize for being a bad friend in not doing my part to stay in touch and I think she appreciated that. Today was a good day. I’m thankful.

As I was watching a couple of his newer sermons, what I really enjoyed and admired is there are elements of theology that are very important for people to grasp, like how salvation works, that he has so systematized that he can just work it into his message at will.   I am thinking that if I hope to develop my preaching/teaching style, I need to get a lot better grasp on things than I currently have.  I fly by the seat of my pants, when I start talking theology generally.  I grasp and concepts and verses as they float into my head, but that doesn’t communicate well.  I need to lock some concepts down into concise packages, that are accessible as the situation arises.  I have already done this with some subjects I know well.  For example, I can talk this way about just about any era of church history, denominations, and cults.  That is a result of most of my training being in those areas.  However, despite having taken a number of theology courses, I have never systematized my theology to the point of ready access.  That is definitely something I need to work on.

The cool side effect of having done this is that I don’t see as much sermon preparation being necessary.  I watched him speak and he had a page, maybe two, of notes.  He almost never referred to them.  I don’t think he has a photographic memory.  I think he just notes down the stuff he wants to talk about specific to the message, and then just shorthands different places where he has “prepackaged” material already in his head.  This allows him to do less sermon prep but still have a full message.  The rest is just practicing pacing and awareness of time and organization.  Skills that can be learned.

Of note: no curse-words or vulgar language was used in either of his sermons I watched.

Also note: no expression of agreement or disagreement with his theology.  I was primarily watching to learn style.