A New Set of Classes

Today was the first day of our new set of classes. I am taking a morning class called Theology in the Wesleyan Spirit. Our instructor is in his first year of teaching course of study. I appreciate his laid-back style. He creates an environment conducive to honest discussion. When you are dialogging about theology, this is helpful.

Our afternoon class is called Pastoral Leadership and Administration. I know that this class will be helpful in my ministry, but the content is a bit drier than my other classes.

I continue to learn great stuff!

Free Day

Today is a free day between classes. We slept through breakfast this morning, so we made a trip to Dunkin' Donuts. ;)

We had the opportunity to visit the Cokesbury Store. I am only familiar with their website, it was nice to see the actual store. As Course of Study students, we get a 20% discount on anything we buy. They also have a 5o% and 75% off section. Hopefully I don't accumulate too many books.

Tonight Justin and I are probably going to head over to the Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church for a Latin mass this evening. They have a beautiful sanctuary and organ. I am intrigued to see it all in action.

In the meantime, I have to work on the August newsletter. I am also working on preparations for Oakfield and Tabor VBS. I also think I will make a few changes for the August 1st bulletin. I am greatly looking forward to being back in worship at the Oakfield and Tabor churches.

I also would like to get some reading in, as well as another run around the city. I think that's all for now. Take care!

Halfway Point!

We have completed our first two classes for Course of Study!

We have the rest of today, as well as tomorrow, off. We begin our second set of classes on Thursday morning.

I have made some wonderful friends, learned some incredible things and I look forward to coming back home for our worship service on August 1st!

The Trinity

Justin and I led a devotional for the beginning of our morning class. The focus was on The Trinity of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We decided to provide a slightly humorous introduction. We'll keep things light today. Enjoy a throwback to the days of School House Rock.

Reflections on Being a Pastor

Over this first year in pastoral ministry, I have done a great deal of reflection on what is means to be a pastor. The first few weeks were an adjustment to the idea that people were even calling me "pastor." It took me a few months to begin to understand that being a pastor was more than just a title...I continue to learn more about this.

I have been facing a struggle about the pastor that I want to be. It is certainly not a definite dichotomy, but I think about my lifestyle as a pastor going one of two ways:

1. Do I want to be appear more approachable and interact and do things things more like the layperson would do?
2. Do I feel called to live life with a high standard, realizing that some things that I enjoy doing or that are meaningful to me may not fit within that call to a higher standard of living?

This is a choice that I still struggle with and think about. We talked a little bit about this in class today. It didn't help in my decision, but it offered additional perspective. It would appear for now that I still feel safe playing Dungeons and Dragons ;).

Course of Study:Two Days of Classes Done!

I meant to write this entry this morning, but I did not have time. So, in writing this entry I have been through two days worth of classes. I will admit the days are long. Between the two classes, we have about six hours of instruction each day. We have a thirty minute chapel session, plus papers and group projects in the evening. It is making the week go by pretty quick.

So far, I realize that there is a lot I have to learn. Right now, the focus is on pastoral care and Biblical interpretation. These are two areas in which I would appreciate some help. So far, the classes have been wonderful and very informative.

For these two days, I have managed to run at night. I am used to running Oakfield with country roads and minimal traffic. A Chicago suburb does not provide that kind of environment. I have been trying to dodge the crazy Chicago traffic.

My prayers go out to the family of Don Grahl, who passed away on Monday morning. I was thankful to have the opportunity to sit at Don's side at Rolling Meadows with some of his family this past Friday. I appreciated the time I had to get to know him, and I am continually amazed to hear about the lives that he has touched and the difference that he made.

Course of Study: Day One

Justin and I embarked on our journey to Naperville, IL not too long after my second worship service of the morning. We made pretty good time and arrived at North Central College in plenty of time to unpack and get settled before our orientation.

I realize that I have lived in residence halls for quite a few years, but by the time I became a residence hall director, I figured I was done with communal bathrooms. I was wrong. That was a bit of an adjustment.

Here is a picture of my half of the room. Justin and I are going to be roommates for our three week stay at NCC. Thankfully, we were able to find the internet jack. We still haven't exactly figured out how the air conditioning unit works. It is over the door and never really makes any sound. Somehow, though, cold air does come out.

In a few minutes we will be heading out to breakfast and our first class which starts at 8:00AM. Tomorrow's entry will reflect on the first day of class.

Service Preview for July 11, 2010

This Sunday will make it the one full year that I have been in ministry and the Oakfield and Tabor churches. My sermon for each service will be a State of the Church Address for each church. It will highlight our successes, our areas for concern and a vision for the future. If you cannot make the service this Sunday, these addresses will be put on the website after the Sunday service. The next time I see you all will be on August 1!

In addition, at the Oakfield church we will be partaking together in Holy Communion. We will also have a baptism at the Oakfield church, Dylan James Yonker. There will be a reception after the service in the Fellowship Hall.

The readings for this Sunday are:

• Amos 7:7-17
• Colossians 1:1-14
• Psalm 82
• Luke 10:25-37

Blog Note:

After the Oakfield church service, I will be heading down to Naperville, IL for year one of Course of Study. I will have internet access while I am down there, and it is my plan to continue blogging. It is my hope to reflect on some of what I am learning in class.

Kicking It Up a Notch

This morning, I completed a 10 mile run. Now that I have sat down in front of the computer to get some internet-related work done, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get up! :-) I am definitely sore, but not as tired as I have been for some of my longer runs.

If I were training for the half marathon, I would max out at a 10 mile run in anticipation for the 13.1 mile race. What made this morning's run a little bit more difficult is that this run is no longer an end...it is just the beginning.

I have decided to run the Fox Cities Marathon!

So, as the weeks go by, my "long" run will be getting longer and longer. It will go up by one mile each week until two weeks before the race. This means that starting next week, training runs will be breaking new ground.

I am excited for the next three weeks, I will get to do some running in a completely new environment as I will be in Naperville, IL.

I have wanted to run a marathon since I was in high school. I hope to accomplish this goal. Along the this goal, I appreciate the health benefits, as I have lost weight and feel better about myself.

Intervention

To be honest, I was not exactly sure what the policy was as it relates to working on government holidays. I checked the bank and it was closed and I knew there was no mail. It seemed as though many folks had July 5th off, but I decided that I would work yesterday. So, I decided to work at home yesterday. I had a lot of bulletins to prepare...so, as I was preparing bulletins I had the television on in the background. The A&E channel happened to have a marathon of the show Intervention on throughout the day.

If you have not already had the opportunity to watch this show, I recommend that you watch it sometime. During the course of the day, I heard stories about individuals that were addicted to alcohol, heroine, cocaine. I heard stories about people who were bulimic and anorexic. It was difficult to listen to their stories. My heart went out to them and their families. They could no longer hide their addictions or felt no shame in sharing their addiction.

I suppose we all have addictions. Maybe you are addicted to chocolate. Maybe you are addicted to caffeine through beverages such as coffee or soda. Maybe you are addicted to television or video games. It is likely that we are able to function in society and no one would worry that this addiction affects our ability to lead a normal.

When you watch these folks, you see the families torn apart. You see that nothing else in their life matters except for the addiction. You see relationships destroyed. You see folks truly hitting rock bottom in their lives. You see families with no other avenue to help give up...they live with this person with their addiction. It is at that point that an intervention becomes. They have nowhere else to turn.

This show helped me realize that addiction can be severe, but still hidden. We may not always see the obvious warning signs of addiction. But, just because we don't see it does not mean that it does not happen. There are members of our congregation that struggle with addiction. Let us continue to pray for all of those who struggle with addiction.

The Outdoor Worship Experience

Things wrapped up a little early at Tabor, so I was able to get back to Oakfield with plenty of time before the Oakfield worship service. In our Oakfield UMC Discovery Team meeting, we put a lot of effort into putting together an outdoor worship service for the Sunday of July 4th. We put up posters all over Oakfield and we advertised in area papers.

Whenever you plan anything outdoors you, of course, have to be concerned about the weather. The rain in the forecast did not occur until later in the afternoon. It was, however, a little hot...and really windy. We struggled to keep the flags upright. We struggled with keeping money in the offering plate, keeping hymnals open and our accompanist was constantly struggling with music blowing. Our keyboard faltered a few times so I got to lead a few hymns as well. I shared with the congregation that I got a valuable lesson in preaching a sermon with a great deal of distr

action ;).

Talking with Christa and my parents, who came up for the service, they said that sometimes you need to try something once so that you can plan for it if you do it again. I agree. If we choose to do this again, I definitely have some ideas for next year. I got a sense from the folks gathered that they enjoyed being outdoors and they enjoyed the informality of the service. We had folks from Lomira UMC join us, as well as a few families from the Oakfield community.

One person came up to me after the worship service and said, "I am really glad that I began my day with this worship service." In a time when we forget the freedom we have as Americans, and we forget the freedome we have in Christ...I was really glad to hear that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Don't forget the freedom we have in Christ:

"...and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free...So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:32 & 26

Service Preview for July 4th

It is a blessing this year that July 4th, Independence Day, is on a Sunday. As we reflect on Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence, you can not help but think about the word freedom. As Americans, we celebrate the freedoms that we have living in the United States. We have the freedom to say things and do things that folks from other countries are not allowed to do. As Christians, however, having this freedom does not always mean that we get to exercise it to whatever extent we wish. This Sunday will talk about the meaning of freedom for us as Christians.

At Oakfield, we will be having an Ecumenical Outdoor Worship Service. It will be taking place at Acorn Park...you can park in the church parking lot and walk over form there. We will have greeters that will guide you to the park. The service will take place at the normal 10:45AM time, but there will be a hymn sing of popular patriotic music at 10:30AM. He hope you can make it! We realize that Communion was scheduled for this Sunday, but it has been re-scheduled to the July 11 worship service.

At Tabor, we will also have a Independence Day-themed worship service. We will be celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion during our morning worship service.

The scripture reading for this Sunday are:

• Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 17-21
• Galatians 5:13-26
• Psalm 72
• John 8:31-36

See you in church!