Towne Hall Meeting – Music - II

Tuesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 4-5
NT: Colossians 1
W&W: Psalm 112

Today’s Reflection:

In the Towne Hall Meeting, I have answered several questions about music. I am continuing my response below:

“Let me tell you what I told Mark from the beginning as far as how a service should flow:

• Start on a pretty energetic tone.
• Put a hymn or two in the beginning of the service if it fits.
• Get me up to preach within 15 minutes whenever possible.
• Work with me on the response song and let’s follow the lead of the Holy Spirit together.
• After the prayer of response, let’s sing some songs that will transition us from meditative (prayer, surrender, obedience) to more celebrative. I want to go out on a high note, just like we came in on.
• The announcements will continue to be a part of the offering time, but we will limit them and plan them in advance, asking our people to be more attentive to their bulletins. (By the way, that means I really don’t want you to give me announcements on Sunday morning if at all possible to avoid it. We need to plan a little further ahead when we can.)
• I also told Mark that for the evenings, let’s keep doing what you’ve been doing as, except that I want to add a children’s sermon so I can minister directly to the kids. (That’s on top of my Smarties© ministry!)

Tune in tomorrow for more about the music at Bethel Nazarene Church!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Matthew 16.24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Towne Hall Meeting, Music I

Monday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 2-3
NT: Philippians 4
W&W: Psalm 111

Tuesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 4-5
NT: Colossians 1
W&W: Psalm 112

Wednesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 6
NT: Colossians 2
W&W: Psalm 113

Thursday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 7-8
NT: Colossians 3
W&W: Psalm 114

Friday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 9-10
NT: Colossians 4
W&W: Psalm 115

Today’s Reflection:

In the Towne Hall Meeting, I have answered several question about music. The first was submitted as follows: Pastor, I was wondering about: “our congregational singing on Sunday morning. Are we ever going to sing from our hymnals those beautiful hymns of faith and inspiration that have served the church so well in the past?” Below is the first part of my response:

“I’ve asked Mark to help me address that topic. But before he speaks, I want to tell you about how we plan the services. When I arrived, I didn’t want to change very much, and that included the way you were worshiping (except as you recall, I did move the offering to the end of the service). I did realize however, that there were some minor adjustments that I needed to make in order to reflect my style.

“I want to thank the board and Pastor Roberts for giving me such a helper as Mark Owen. He is a wonderful Christian young man and adds much to our services. It is a pleasure working with him. In the wisdom of Pastor Roberts, the church board, and even our DS (for he approved his remaining here during the interim), Mark was planning the music when I arrived. He was doing a great job from all I could tell. I knew that I wanted him to continue to express that God-given talent and call and that for that to happen, I should not limit him too much. I sensed that he was sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and I liked his style. I knew we could work well together.

“As I observed the first couple of weeks, I thought it was a good blend of hymns and contemporary songs. I wanted Mark to keep things the way they were in that regard in order to reach a broad spectrum of people. I’m very pleased with the balance he has achieved.

Tune in tomorrow for more about the music at Bethel Nazarene Church!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Matthew 16.24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

I Choose to Follow Jesus!

Thursday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 4-5
NT: Philippians 2
W&W: Psalm 109.21-31

Friday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 1
NT: Philippians 3
W&W: Psalm 110

Today’s Reflection:

The following questions were submitted to me at the Towne Hall Meeting by “An Old Lady” (I discussed anonymous communication in an earlier question. See my posts from August 17, 18, and 19 concerning “Openness”):
Are you visiting the sick from Church? Pastor Roberts is a hard one to follow. We were told you wanted to get back to visiting again.
Have you ever been on a mission trip?

This is a tough one to answer, because I know that there is no right answer. I read once that whether or not you think your pastor is a good pastor depends on if that pastor is doing what you think he or she should be doing. That makes sense. But, it sets the pastor up to fail – if he or she tries to model his ministry based on what others think.

But, let me hasten to say that I am glad that I am not “following” Pastor Roberts in this regard. If I placed that burden on myself, it would not be fair to me or to Pastor Roberts. It would certainly not be fair to you or to the Lord of the church who called me here to take the next step in our church’s great history.

I model my ministry based on what I understand Jesus did, based on what I read concerning how the Apostles and Paul conducted their ministries in the early church, based on Paul’s letters to the churches and pastors in the New Testament, and based upon what I feel the Lord leading me to do for the good people of Bethel Nazarene Church. If we finish these questions tonight – and as the Lord leads – perhaps I will preach a message next Sunday night on the role of the pastor. I’ve always wanted to do that, but I’ve been a little hesitant – even fearful. But, a dear friend of mine called me fearless last week, and I don’t want to disappoint her. Besides, it would only be helpful to us all to understand the biblical view together.

That said, I am visiting the sick from the church. I find it a little harder to do, but I also try to visit the sick of the church! And, yes, I am glad to be in a position where I can invest more in the pastoral care of my flock. I feel that that is an area of giftedness for me. At times, Lana joins me on those visits, but not always. I’ll get back to this in a moment.

Concerning mission trips, yes, I have been on several. Two out of the country – in Trinidad and in Canada, and two in the country – in Chattanooga and in Iowa.

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Let’s put Romans 3.21-25a together: 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

What Does the Pastor Do All Week?

Wednesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 3
NT: Philippians 1
W&W: Psalm 109.1-20

Today’s Reflection:

At the Town Hall Meeting, I answered the following questions:

• What are the days and hours of the week you would prefer not to be disturbed?
• What day is your “day off?”

I’m glad you asked that. I have given this a lot of thought in the last several months, and I have come up with an “ideal schedule.” Through prayer, and seeking the help of others, I have come up with a general pattern that I like to follow:

Mornings are my best time, so I need to spend that time – whenever possible – in the highest impact activities. For me that is preaching preparation, prayer, and personal formation. When possible, I try not to schedule appointments in the morning. I need that time with the Lord and to feed my soul. Afternoons are such that I am ready for more personal contact with people: pastoring.

Monday through Thursday, I usually get up between 5 and 5:30 and spend some time in prayer and Bible reading. My goal is to tithe my time, but I find that a hard goal to reach. Lana and I spend about 30-45 minutes together in the morning – on a walk and then breakfast and devotions. I usually arrive at the office at 8:30. On Tuesday mornings I have a meeting with Mark to review the weekend services and prepare the coming service.

I try to have the first draft of my morning sermon done by Tuesday noon. I want to give it to those preparing PowerPoint as early as possible. Sometimes, though, I don’t get it done until Sunday at 11:20! But, usually I’m pretty much done with it by Wednesday and don’t look at it again until Saturday. I try to finish my Sunday night teaching early in the week also.

Starting with lunch, I like to make appointments for pastoral visitation and administrative meetings. I also spend time in administrative tasks during the afternoons. The focus of my time varies depending on the needs present. If needed, my sermon preparation bleeds over into the afternoon.

I like to have everything done for the weekend by Thursday afternoon, because Friday is my day off. For that same reason, I prefer not to schedule meetings on Thursday evenings. (In the same way, I know you wouldn’t want to have meetings at work on Friday evenings.)

Friday I take the whole day off whenever I can, which is usually most weeks.

Saturdays vary depending on the church calendar. I don’t really have a set schedule except that I know I will be reviewing my sermon to add notes to it, re-reading commentaries, etc. If there is nothing pressing, I may not come into the office.

Do I stick with this schedule? Sometimes pretty close, but often I am not able to observe it “religiously.” That bothered me until I remembered what a pastoral coach once told me: “Make your ideal schedule, and if you can get to 50% compliance, you’re doing great.” I would say, by that standard, that I’m doing great.

Summary: I work Sunday through Thursday all day; I’m off on Fridays; and I take it easy on Saturdays as much as possible. I need undisturbed time in the mornings to adequately prepare for preaching and teaching the Word of God and for prayer.

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Let’s put Romans 3.21-25a together: 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

We Need More Space

Tuesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 2
NT: Ephesians 6
W&W: Psalm 108

Today’s Reflection:

One of the concerns at the Towne Hall Meeting was: “No one ever mentions the building fund. Is it still active? We need more space. Should we have an active push to save money for this? I think a member of the board should lead this effort.” Following is my response from the meeting:

The building fund is still active. However, to my knowledge, we do not have an active plan in place to encourage contributions to a capital project. I guess – as the new kid on the block – I would ask you: “Should we have an active push to save money for this?” Talk to me. As far as a board member leading it: I couldn’t agree more!

Let me talk for a moment about our stewardship. Stewardship is part of the “Sow Seeds of Partnership” component of being a disciple. (The other two ingredients are prayer and serving). The church board and I are floating the idea of having a stewardship team – apart from the finance team of the board. The stewardship team will be responsible for stewardship awareness, education, and special fund drives. I hope that we see some good progress on this by the first of 2010. If you are interested in Christian stewardship, please see me. We don’t have the team assembled yet!

Let me address the comment: “We need more space.” In my vast experience here I would both agree and disagree with that statement. Let me tell you what happened to me this morning. During Sunday school, I felt an inner compulsion to go into the basement of our education wing. So strong was the compulsion that I could not – not do it – even though it would make me late for the staff prayer time at 10:15. (My wife and my staff can tell you how I don’t like being late!) Now I know why I felt that compulsion: this question, which I didn’t answer until this afternoon required that I take that trip down there.

In the basement I was confronted by the Lord: “Pastor, why are these rooms empty?” That’s right – the rooms were empty! Oh, church, it breaks my heart to say it! The rooms were empty! Fans were running in two of the rooms, but no children were running in the hall. The air conditioners were making some noise but no teens were. Yes, they were at McDonalds, I know. I think God did sent me down there while the teens were gone on purpose so he could really drive this point home. Fill up those rooms! Do what it takes to make the rooms usable and fill up those rooms! Maybe it won’t work due to mold or low ceilings or whatever. I don’t know. But I do know this: getting more space will take a plan, and the first place we need to look is right under our nose, or – if you happen to be over there during Sunday school – right under your feet!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Let’s put Romans 3.21-25a together: 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Hitch Up the Horses: We're Headin' East!

Monday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 1
NT: Ephesians 5
W&W: Psalm 107.33-43

Tuesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 2
NT: Ephesians 6
W&W: Psalm 108

Wednesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 3
NT: Philippians 1
W&W: Psalm 109.1-20

Thursday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Lamentations 4-5
NT: Philippians 2
W&W: Psalm 109.21-31

Friday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Ezekiel 1
NT: Philippians 3
W&W: Psalm 110

Today’s Reflection:

As I answered questions at our Towne Hall Meeting last week, I shared the following illustration that I had heard from Gene Wood. (It is also in his book Leading Turnaround Churches.)

The church is like a wagon hitched to a team of horses. Now that wagon has a destination. The destination is the vision and dreams and goals of the congregation. At a minimum that would include getting people saved and maturing in their faith, don’t you think? Or, as I like to say it: making Christ-like disciples (in the nations)! And remember a disciple is one who knows God, shows love, grows up, goes out and sows seeds. Making disciples – that is our destination.

Every local church, however, has to determine the route it takes to get to its destination. Some churches will go east and some will go west. That’s OK as long as the route leads to the right destination. There is nothing intrinsically better about going east than going west, but you have to decide!

When I pull out of this parking lot tonight, I need to decide: “Do I want to turn south and go through the winding roads of Clermont and Brown County – through Poetown and Feesburg – to get home? Or, would I rather head east and go through the speed trap of Hamersville to get home?” I’ve tried it both ways, and it really isn’t better to go one way or the other. But I have to go one way or the other! If I decide to go west and Lana says, “No, I want to go south!” and tries to steer a different direction, what happens? Chaos ensues!

Now the local church is like that, too. We need to decide on a direction, hitch up our horses and do the best we can to get to our destination. Now, someone may come along and say, “I want to hitch up a team of horses to go this way…” What should we do? If enough people start pulling in many different directions, our progress will grind to a halt and we will never reach our destination of getting people saved! Let’s all pull in the same direction!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Let’s put Romans 3.21-25a together: 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Let It Be Us!

Thursday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Jeremiah 50-51
NT: Ephesians 3
W&W: Psalm 107.1-16

Friday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Jeremiah 52
NT: Ephesians 4
W&W: Psalm 107.17-32

Today’s Reflection:

I have been praying: let it be us! God, you give the increase… Give it to us! In our Towne Hall Meeting, as I finished answering a question about possible ministries to add, I shared the following thoughts from my prayer journal:

Several years ago I was in the habit of praying the scripture found in Psalm 2.8: “Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” I had kind of gotten away from that, but God reminded me of it in this morning’s Old Testament reading: “With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people… and I give it to anyone I please” (Jeremiah 27.5). God made Bethel and the people in it and around it. He will give this community to anyone he pleases.
Oh, God, give them to me! Give me their ears. Give me their hearts. Enable me to speak Your Word to them and enable them to hear. Give me these souls to feed and nurture, to love and care for, to win and disciple.
Do this so that they may become disciples of Jesus Christ:
· Knowing God in Worship
· Showing Love in Friendship
· Growing up in Discipleship
· Going Out in Citizenship
· Sowing Seeds of Partnership

I challenge you to pray that prayer with me!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
Romans 3.25a: God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.