Entries Tagged 'Mission' ↓

Ethan completed his first mission project just before leaving Manor Hill, with the help of the Manor Hill congregations.

At Dave and Jean Norris’ retirement dinner, there was a Mission Central “relay baton” at each table. Because of his birth date (the baton went to whose birthday was the closest at the time), Ethan received the challenge of filling the relay baton with quarters in Dave and Jean’s honor.

This challenge was not very difficult to fulfill with the Manor Hill folk around. We just passed it around the congregations and it was done!

So here’s to you, Dave and Jean! We are honored that we had the privilege to already involve Ethan in mission!

Looking at our blog now, you might think that posting pictures of Ethan has always been *easy* for us.

Truth is, we struggled with whether or not to post that very first referral picture last September. We ended up posting one (of the 6 photos we received) in the It’s a Boy! post.

When we received the second and third batches of photos, I think we only posted one from each of those as well. We also only posted one photo from our first meeting with Ethan (see 1,000 Words) five months ago in Korea.

Admittedly, posting photos of Ethan has gotten much easier, but our purpose, I think, remains the same — to inform and to influence.

But that kind openness and transparency comes with a price. It makes us vulnerable (I don’t really want to go into details here).

But vulnerability comes with the territory of leadership and influence. One of my last messages at Hope and 12th Street was on courage where my point was …

The difference between courage and comfort is the cost!

Choosing comfort is the natural choice, but choosing courage is necessary for people who want to influence others.

So we’ll continue to write about what God is doing in our lives and in our ministries in the hopes that God will use the seeds that are planted in people’s lives through this blog!

Life. Leadership. God’s Mission.

Those are the areas we’ve chosen to write about on this blog. But those areas have developed over time. We started out simply posting the text of our sermons. Later, we began reflecting on, and writing about, leadership.

Over the course of the past year, we’ve begun writing a lot more about what’s going on in our lives — mainly the adoption process. Originally, our main goal was simply to inform family and friends on how things were progressing.

However, we’ve continued to write about the adoption journey, including the process of adjustment since bringing Ethan home, not only to inform, but also to influence.

That makes sense, since as leaders, we are influencers (leadership expert, John Maxwell, has long taught that “leadership is influence”). Our influence through this blog has grown, apparently. We’ve received over 16,000 page views in the last 6 months from all over the world (which isn’t necessarily a lot, just a lot more than it was before that).

Currently, there is a link on a Korea Blogroll of another blog, from which we’ve received 134 page views by people who have clicked on our link over there.

We certainly hope that our story and our experience, ultimately our journey of being faithful to God’s leadership and work in our lives, is helpful to the people, who for whatever reason, choose to come here!

Sometimes “tomorrow” is a bad word — “Instead of doing (fill-in-the-blank) today, I’ll do it tomorrow!” (i.e., procrastination).

But, other times, tomorrow is an inspiring word. Tomorrow gives us the opportunity to dream, envision, and plan for the future. Tomorrow is an opportunity to take what we’ve learned yesterday and today and apply it on the next leg of our journey.

Scripture cautions about how we view tomorrow, though. James wrote …

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. (James 4.14-16)

And, Jesus said …

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6.34)

However, Jesus also talked about the importance of looking ahead in counting the cost of being his disciple, saying:

… don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ (Luke 14.28-30)

I think one lesson is that we need to entrust our tomorrows to God — don’t take them for granted, don’t worry about what may or may not happen — but be prepared to pay the price of following Jesus and helping others follow Jesus, too, for the transformation of the world!

So tonight, June 30, 2008, we look ahead to tomorrow when we (officially) begin the next leg of our journey in Clearfield. We look forward, with great anticipation, to all that God will do in and through us as we seek to serve God faithfully!

Tired, sleep-deprived, and worn out.

That’s an odd way to begin a post called “Re-energized!” But while annual conference is physically tiring (and not just annual conference, but annual conference with a baby for the first time), it is still very energizing, spiritually and missionally!

Of course, while spending hours together with a community of Christ-followers in worship and worshipful work is always impacting and re-energizing, it is also a time to refocus on the mission — the main thing, why we do what we do.

Everyone, including leaders, need these kinds of times renewal and refocusing. Leading on the front lines of the mission is challenging. In every organization, including churches, there are strong forces at work to simply maintain the status quo (or go back to the way things were at some point in the past), to take the easy road, or to seek the comfortable way.

The temptation for leaders is to grow weary of the journey of leading people in mission and to allow these forces to inhibit them from fulfilling their God-given task. Leadership *always* involves challenging the process (to use the language of Kouzes and Posner in their landmark book, The Leadership Challenge). It’s certainly not for the fainthearted!

But we all get tired. We all battle doubt and despair, at times. We must regularly find ways to fan the flames, to stir the passion, and to keep moving forward. For us, annual conference is one of the ways that keeps us focused, encouraging us to stay the course, and to lead with courage.

These times of renewal serve as reminders that this is ultimately God’s work. God always gives us the equipment we need for us to complete the work he’s given us. The journey is never easy, but because of God’s power and presence, it is always do-able!

BTW, Ethan did well today, his third/final day of annual conference. He was obviously tired, though. We are grateful for Jean, our district superintendent’s (Dave Norris) wife, who cared for Ethan during the closing ordination service in the afternoon. And, Ethan finally got a much-needed nice long nap during that time!

Following up on what I wrote in Circuit Riders 1.0, I think what challenges and inspires me to be an effective leader is the early circuit riders’ sense of mission — they simply went wherever the people were!

Lovett H. Weems, Jr. describes the pioneering spirit of the early Methodists in his book, Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit. He describes the early Methodist movement as “a ‘sent’ ministry” that “followed the movement of the people” (22). IOW, they were proactive and went where the people were.

I think one thing that happens as churches age is that they tend to lose their pioneering spirit and begin to take on the mission of maintaining and preserving the work of their forbears. But the mission of modern day circuit riders (and the church, in general) is *not* to maintain what our forbears built. Our mission is to lead with the same spirit in which they led!

But we honor our forbears, not by continuing what they started, but by living in the same pioneering spirit in which they led and operated!

A pioneering spirit is necessary simply because what worked to reach people in previous generations will not necessarily work in this generation. And pioneers are willing to do whatever it takes to connect with the people God calls them to reach in ways that bear fruit.

The early circuit riders modeled a pioneering spirit. It’s a spirit we must regain today if we’re going to transform the world for Jesus Christ!

Ilove history, especially the history of great Christ-following leaders who’ve gone before us. While reading about the UMC’s itinerant system for the previous post, I was once again challenged by the character and the courage of the early “circuit riders.”

The term “circuit riders” has stuck, even though it has evolved over time (e.g., the transition from horses to motor vehicles, smaller geographical areas, fewer churches on circuits in most cases). In fact, the United Methodist magazine for clergy continues to use the name Circuit Rider.

The General Commission on Archives and History has an article on The Circuit - Riders in Early American Methodism that briefly describes the practices of the early circuit riders. Basically, preachers were assigned to a number of churches that became the circuits they traveled. Often, the circuits covered a pretty large geographical area.

There are many great stories of character and courage of the early circuit riders. One of my favorite stories, from Methodist Heroes of Other Days (by Samuel Gardiner Ayres), is about George Harmon, a circuit rider in New York and Pennsylvania. He writes about an experience that took place in 1812 …

I held a quarterly meeting in the north part of the district [Susquehanna], my next being on the south part. I had to pass through the sixty miles of wilderness. I took what was called the Lycoming route. It was in the winter, the snow being two and three feet deep. I lodged all night at Spaulding’s tavern, near the head of the Towanda. I started early the next morning, and rode some eight miles to Brother Soper’s, on the Lycoming, and took breakfast. I then set out for Williamsport. When I came to what was considered the most dangerous crossing place on the route I found the river frozen over about one third of the way on each side. The snow, as above stated, was from two to three feet deep, and no one had passed to open the road. I paused but for a moment. I could not go back to Brother Soper’s, some ten or fifteen miles, the last house I had passed; the sun had gone down. If I could cross there was a log tavern within about a mile. I knew the greatest danger would be in getting on the ice on the other side, for should the ice break I and my horse would both go under. I must venture it. I saw no other course. I was on a very spirited and powerful horse. I urged him forward, and when his feet touched the bottom his head went under water. As he arose on his hind feet I put both spurs into his flanks and he at once bounded off into the river. The water was so deep that it ran over the tops of my boots as I sat upon his back. I got through without further difficulty. When I reached the tavern my first care was to have my horse attended to. But when I attempted to take off my boots they were frozen to my stockings. I bought half a pint of rum and bathed myself with it. I slept comfortably and took no cold. But my poor horse! The fatigue of worrying through the snow, and so often fording the river, so affected his limbs that I had to part with him at great sacrifice.

I am grateful for the pioneering circuit riders who have gone before us. Being a circuit rider in early Methodism was certainly not for the faint of heart.

But leading churches on God’s mission today is not for the faint of heart, either. In a future post (Circuit Riders 2.0), I’ll say more about how the mission and passion of the early circuit riders should challenge and inspire us today.