Description of Church I would like to serve
Unique gifts, skills and experiences
Present call and accomplishments
Theological Issues Facing Church and Society
Church Description
I would like to serve a missional church in or near a large city or a college community, where people are concerned with more than their individual families, congregation, and local community, and are seeking to embody the principles, purposes, and values of the Kingdom of God, so that all are involved in service, evangelism, discipleship, prayer, education, and worship.
Ideally, the church would:
-
Place people into service according to their gifts, abilities and enthusiasm;
-
Continually develop new leaders;
-
Constantly improve their knowledge and practice of the faith;
-
Be passionate about their relationship with God;
-
Have inspiring worship services, that encourages faith, joy, hope, service, and enthusiasm;
-
Engage members and community together so that the congregation makes a positive impact upon others;
-
Seek to encourage, engage, nurture, and challenge, all generations; and
-
Have ample room for diversity and disagreements, while creating committed, supportive loving relationships among the members.
Although this is the ideal, I am willing to go where I feel my talents, interests, knowledge, and skills are needed and will be appreciated. I'm looking for a congregation that wants a collaborative relationship with their pastor(s), and who want to do something more with their faith than be inwardly focused. I do not want to manage a "country club," or be a chaplain of a congregation that is fading away. I want a congregation that desires to attract and invite people into the kingdom of God, not one who wants to discourage and push people away from the church. I want to work with people who want to plant seeds, not pull weeds.
Gifts, skills and experiences
I have lived coast to coast and have excellent computer skills. I play the accordion and tenor recorder, read music and sing baritone. I am creative, artistic, adaptable, and enjoy designing special worship services using drama and music. My primary gifts are teaching, preaching, and administration. I have had many different jobs and life experiences, including working as full-time summer youth staff of a large church, being present for the birth of my children, working jobs I did not like, almost dying of a major infection, and being miraculously cured three days before major surgery. Most consider me an excellent teacher, administrator and worship leader, a good preacher and counselor, and a model of patience and perseverance, and call me a gentleman and a scholar. Because I am generally easy going and adaptable and have a smile on my face, my workmates nicknamed me "Chuckles."
Present Call and Accomplishments
I was called to be the interim pastor of two yoked congregations: Pitts Creek Presbyterian Church in Pocomoke City, MD and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church on the border of MD and VA. Pitts Creek is a town church that likes more formal worship and has a "head" spirituality, and Beaver Dam is a country church that likes informal worship and has a "heart" spirituality. Neither congregation trusts the other, and do very little together; but both agree that they truly liked me as their pastor, and so called me as their regularly installed pastor to keep me as long as possible. Pitts Creek was willing to impoverish themselves to keep me until I retired, but Beaver Dam was not. They were willing to keep me only for another two years, and thus I am looking for another call.
I coached them through the interim objectives, going through their histories and coming to a greater understanding of who they and their communities are. I also helped Pitts Creek go to a unicameral board: merging the elders, trustees, and deacons into one board.
I taught Wednesday night adult Bible study at Pitts Creek, sang in both choirs, created PowerPoint presentations and accompanying guide sheet for Beaver Dam, and finished creating my study on the life of Christ.
I served as the Vice President of the local ministerium, and hosted one of the community Good Friday's services. I sang with the choir of Salem United Methodist Church for Christmas and Easter specials, and in 2017 Pitts Creek and Salem joined their morning worship service together to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent with special music.
I also preached at the Makemie Men's Association, and I served presbytery through the C.O.M., primarily working with the sub-committee overseeing Commissioned Lay Pastors.
Leadership Style
I enjoy working with the big picture, envisioning the future, and seeking to improve the present. I listen to others, look for signs where the Holy Spirit is already active and leading others, and then encourage others to act, providing resources, knowledge and direction as needed. I discourage gossip and triangulation between members, and encourage everyone to speak up, while patiently, prayerfully and courteously listening to others. I will not take over committees or become a one-man show. I act more of a father figure than a mother, trying to get people to help themselves and work out problems with others rather than trying to rescue them.
Working with the Clerk of Session, I provide an agenda and a schedule of upcoming events for Session meetings. If committees are timely, all information for our business is distributed to the Session at least three days before the normally scheduled meeting. I encourage everyone to speak up, even when they are in the minority, and to patiently and courteously listen to others. I keep discussions on track, moving forward, not allowing them to wander or become abusive. I work for consensus, not unanimity.
Committees are to be responsive, open, reflective, and accountable. They should be concerned primarily about initiating, championing, and overseeing their programs, but not running the whole show. As much of the congregation as possible should be used in the work of the church. Committee chairs and a few others should not become burned out trying to maintain a program that is not being supported by the rest of the congregation. "Because we have always done it" is no reason to continue doing it. I help committees carry out their responsibilities by coordinating, scheduling, clarifying responsibilities, establishing deadlines, finding resources and keeping in touch. I will not take over committees, be a dictator, or become a one-man show.
I encourage people to be involved with committees, mission groups, and task forces instead of sitting back to complain about what other people are doing. We must spread the gospel, not gossip; build up, not tear down; encourage active outreach opportunities and experiment with programs and worship services, and not be worried about "failure."
According to Robert Dale's categories of leadership from Pastoral Leadership book, I am primarily a "Commander" closely followed by a "Catalyst." A Commander has clearly defined demands and high expectations, and generally places goals before relationships. A Catalyst tries to balance goals and people, and balance group and individual needs, is flexible, steadfastly committed to the group and process, and takes the initiative.
Theological Issues Facing Church and Society
Generally speaking, the problems we face in church and society are: purposelessness, selfishness, utilitarianism, cult personalities, partisan politics, drug and electronic escapism, suicide, and apathy. Eastern mysticism, Islam, the cults, and the rise of fundamentalism and militant atheism also cause problems and confusion for the Church.
More specifically, in the church, we have problems because we have more of a country club faith instead of a caravan faith. A caravan:
Is always moving toward their destination, and resists the desire to stay put at their favorite oasis;
Gives everyone jobs and holds one another responsible and accountable for the group;
Welcomes and gives the best hospitality possible to "outsiders" and encourages them to join the group;
Cares more for progress than how things look and smell, and gives allowances for irritability and idiosyncrasies, recognizing that everybody is sweaty, tired and dirty; and
Spends time to sing, rest and enjoy one another's company, but doesn't make it their number one priority.
Stays put in one location, striving to maintain its image, grounds and buildings;
All members have monetary responsibilities, but only a few others doing any other work; members hire others to work;
Welcomes members and people who are similar to them as potential members;
Maintain a distinction between insiders and outsiders, keeping the outsiders out;
Spend a lot of time judging one another, worrying about appearances, and living up to standards; and
Make enjoying one another's company their primary purpose.
Instead of being a community emulating the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God and obeying the Great Commission, the Church has become fragmented, divisive, irrelevant and disconnected from society. Instead of being ambassadors of Christ, we have become secret agents for God's hidden kingdom. Instead of giving coherent logical answers to questions and demonstrating the truth of Christianity with our words and lives, we have promoted dead traditionalism, or have allowed any and everything to be done and taught in Church. Some have wrongly taught all religions are the same and accepted the idea that there are no absolutes. We have promoted a self-centered, life-to-come-in -the-future faith, instead of a God-centered, world-changing faith for the here and now, and too often we have concentrated on the negatives and the prohibitions, instead of demonstrating a joyful, free and loving life of grace and love.
We have been unduly influenced by:
Materialistic Naturalism, which believes that matter and energy always existed and everything came about and continues to exist solely by natural means, through the random non-purposeful interactions of physical elements, without any super- or supra-natural interference (cf. Darwinian Evolution);
Situational Ethics, which believes ethics is just a social construct and power play by those in power, and which changes according to one's culture, beliefs and needs, so that there is no one absolute value or ethic that applies to everybody all the time;
New-Age Mysticism, which believes spiritual and mental forces shape our world, that we are either all gods or are part of a cosmic, non-personal god force, and that we can control spiritual and mental powers to shape our own destinies as well as to contact other spiritual beings;
Word-Faith Movement, which believes that faith is a force, words captures that force, and spoken words releases the force; in other words, spoken words shape our destinies; faith is reduce to faith in faith; and each of us are responsible for our own failures and successes; thus instead of a Biblical concepts of reliance upon, and trust put into action, faith becomes magic, and follows the ideas of new-age mysticism; and
- Dispensationalism, which believes God works in different ways in different times with different purposes, so that there are multiple covenants, multiple ways for salvation, and multiple peoples of God, Jewish and Gentile. Dispensationalists also seek a future, literal millennial kingdom, and ignore the call to persevere and struggle against evil and unbelief, while working for justice and righteousness and being good stewards of this current world, and thereby distort the hope of the resurrection and the new world to come.
In my ministry, I . . .
-
Emphasize the essentials and the positive aspects of Christianity;
-
Correct misunderstandings and false caricatures of the faith;
-
Encourage faith sharing among friends, not evangelistic confrontation;
-
Discourage gossip, racism, sexism and the judging of motives;
-
Form committed small groups for mutual study, support and service;
-
Teach spiritual disciplines, the use of wisdom, apologetics, scripture and theology;
-
Remind us all that we can become more than we currently are;
-
Keep our eyes upon the donut, not the hole.
Personal Guiding Principles of Worship
I try to base worship services upon a double epic:
| Engaging, | Participatory, | Interactive, | Communal; and | |
| Evangelistic, | Professional, | Inspirational, | and Confessional |
Engaging — involving the whole person, body, mind, spirit and feelings. Music, rituals, sermons, programs and notes should touch all of our being, not just our minds or emotions. We should be able to leave a worship service knowing a little more, transformed by the Holy Spirit, encouraged by one another, and enthused to talk about our faith and serve others. Ideally, all our sense would be engaged. Thus banners, flowers, programs, skits, drama, dance, multi-media, incense, music and food can be used and encouraged. Since the Lord’s Supper engages us in all of these levels, it should be done often, although, not necessarily weekly. (I prefer monthly.)
Participatory — neither passive listeners nor one-man shows. Various people, with training and preparation, should take part in leading prayers and liturgies, reading the Scripture, and giving testimonies. People sing with joy, reflectively respond to liturgies, and have freedom, within limits, to share their joys and concerns and to pray for one another. Except for administering the sacraments, elders can do everything else in the worship service.
Interactive — a group of people, including the pastor, the choir director and others plan the worship service together, giving time and space for people to purposely interact with God and with one another. Moments of silence should be built in for people to individual become centered in the Spirit and listen for God to speak. Music, sermons and liturgies are understandable and drawn from the church’s culture and experiences, in tuned with the liturgical church calendar, and connected to and applicable to our lives today. People should interact, touch and share with one another, primarily through times before and after the church as well as through sharing our joys and concerns and passing the peace. Sometimes sermons are dialogues between the pastor and the people with the people being asked to share illustrations and applications of the Scripture, and to make a definite commitment in response to the sermon (for saving faith, for program involvement, for mission service, for stewardship, etc).
Communal — the family of God is built up, renewed and become committed to serve one another and God. Services should challenge individualistic and isolated expressions of faith and help form a committed, interconnected, mutually responsible and unified community, without denying or discouraging diversity and the uniqueness of individuals, and also without ignoring the needs of the greater community around the church. Services are open, receptive and welcoming to all people.
Evangelistic — not necessarily that each and every service have a call to become a committed and faithful Christian, but that worship is centered around basic evangelical theology: grace alone; faith alone; the primacy and sufficiency of Scripture; pervasiveness of sin; necessity of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus; assurance of salvation; necessity of personal spiritual discipline and community correction; and the necessity to share our faith and help others in need.
Professional — do all things as professionally and attractively as possible, without destroying the supportive, participatory and interactive atmosphere of the church. Children are welcomed. Even though distracting noise and mistakes will be made, sometimes worship leaders and scripture readers are nervous, mumble and mispronounce words, children are being instructed in proper behavior while being loved, leaders and readers are taught to more proficient and comfortable in their functions, while being encouraged to continue stretching their faith and using their gifts and desires. Purposeful experimentation in programs and leadership is encouraged, but doing things without preparation, planning or energy is discouraged. Excellence is always sought for, but not always expected.
Inspirational — not boring, encourages people to live more openly and fully for Jesus, promotes enthusiasm for being together as a community, and gives us a desire to come back for more. People should be changed, over time, through participating in the service, and able to say, "God was pleased" and "I am being transformed."
Confessional — based upon the confessions of our Church and enables us to go out to confess our faith by words and deeds and to serve those in need. People are inspired to talk positively, boldly and clearly about their faith to people around them, using their own words.