Dr. Russell West (our faculty mentor) presses us for the puzzle behind our dissertation topics!

In our last post related to our dissertation work, we reported that we mailed our first drafts to our mentor, Dr. Russell West, at Asbury Theological Seminary.

We both had very productive conversations with Russell last Friday by phone as he travelled to Louisville, KY. We both received good direction, and interestingly, both of our ministry projects are going to take a major detour. We’re both very excited about these changes (we’ll say more about our projects in another post).

Russell is very good at challenging you and getting you to the heart of the matter. Russell asks, “What’s the puzzle?” For Russell, this is the most important question. IOW, Russell asks, “What is not right in the world?” It’s a question Russell pressed us with when we met him last summer and again last January when we had lunch with him. We still needed some more pressing last week. (Incidentally, this question can be helpful in other contexts, too; for example, I started my sermon prep last week by asking this question.)

From our conversation, Russell sensed that the word “impact” was a keyword for me. In fact, our conversation reminded me of what I wrote a couple of months ago after the Chris Tomlin concert. I had written that I felt the experience at the concert was influencing my thinking on my dissertation work but I wasn’t sure how, at the time.

I did expand a little in my journal that same evening …

During the brief intermission, I wrote this: “I don’t just want to do ‘pastor things’ – I want to change the world! I want to be a transformational agent!”

As I wrote that I recalled the passion (and perhaps some naïveté) I had when I first responded to God. It was a charge-hell-with-a-water-pistol kind of passion, a passion to change the world! As I’ve grown and matured, I’ve also become a little less naïve (I hope) but I don’t want to lose my passion to be a change agent for God in the world.

I also thought about how this passion to be a change agent might impact the work on my dissertation (that I’m now beginning). We really don’t need another model for doing or leading church. I think what we need is more of God. Sure, we need good systems, but God has to be at the center of any system we develop, I’m curious how this will develop!

Thankfully, Russell helped me begin to make some connections.

Well, we’ll write more later about our specific ministry projects, but for now we need to reframe/redraft what we’ve already written. The good news is that we are on schedule (if not ahead of schedule). We should be one or two drafts away from our official proposal hearing sometime this summer.

God turns setbacks into comebacks!

I started a sermon series on Easter Sunday called “A Resilient Life.” God turns setbacks into comebacks. T greatest example of that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

I began the series with a message called, “Bouncebackability,” a word I read in a book by Dr. Robert H. Schuller called, If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me.

I remember hearing John Maxwell once say there are two kinds of people: Splatters and Bouncers. Splatters are people who hit rock bottom and splat; Bouncers are people who hit rock bottom and bounce back up. It reminds me of Abraham Lincoln who reportedly said, “Success is moving from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Rick Warren says that adversity will either make you bitter or better.

What do you do when you get knocked down? When you get knocked down, bounce back up! Ask God, “What are you teaching me?” and “What do I need to pick up while I’m down?” God helps us turn setbacks into comebacks! So, when you get knocked down, bounce back up!

My second message focused on Adversity Quotient, or AQ. The idea came from a book by Paul Stoltz, by the same title: Adversity Quotient.

I’ve always said, since reading the book, that Christ-followers should have the high AQs. In talking about AQ, I looked at the story of Joseph in Genesis. Stoltz says there are three kinds of people: Quitters (people who quit), Campers (people who quit after a while), and Climbers (people who keep climbing). I shared that People with high AQs keep climbing!

A series on handling adversity was certainly timely with the Virginia Tech tragedy. On the Sunday after the tragedy, I concluded the 3-week series with a fun message of “Filling Your Tank.” I read the story of Paul and Silas in prison found in Acts 16.16-28.

The image I had for this message was a cup that is overflowing, an image that comes from Psalm 23.5, “My cup overflows.” Truth is, we all get depleted from time to time, especially in the midst of adversity. “Keep your tank full so that you will always be ready to give!”

Jesus modeled such a life for us. Luke notes, “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer” (Luke 5.16). And going all the way back to the story of creation, God set everything in motion with a pattern — engage and disengage (work and rest).

Take a moment and list the things that drain you. Then list things that fill your tank, the things that give you energy, the things you get jazzed about. Then begin to build some of these things that fill your tank into your daily routine.

What would it look like if all of our “tanks” were overflowing, and we were always ready to give? May God help us to have high AQs so that we can handle adversity well, to continually bounce back when life knocks us down. May God help each of us begin each day with a full tank! And may God always us turn setbacks into comebacks!