I’ve moved this blog to benjk.com
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The last six months have been pretty intense and chock full of self-discovery. Hopefully you’ll see that in the blog entries to come. My last post on this blog was September 22, 2008 (I’ve since made that post private.) My life had just changed in ways that I’m still noticing and catching up with today. Becoming a [foster] daddy has been quite the experience! Our foster son is still in our home, but you won’t find me discussing him very much on this blog due to privacy concerns. If you are facebook friends with me, stay tuned to my profile for family updates, pictures, and stuff like that.
I will continue to write about youth ministry in my context, as a youth pastor at a small rural church in the most unchurched county of the most unchurched state (no joke — Lane County, Oregon. Google it!) I also plan to write about my Geocaching adventures. Not sure what Geocaching is? Well, essentially, it’s a high-tech treasure hunt guided by a GPS receiver. There’s probably a Geocache hiding within half a mile of you right now! Find out more at Geocaching.com, and be sure to enter your zipcode to see the caches hiding around you. See my Geocaching.com stat bar in the left-hand column of my blog!
And of course, you can expect to find my rants, raves, and reflections that don’t necessarily fit in any categories here on this blog as well.
I’m stoked to blog again.
If you’re looking for another deep post about pickles, this isn’t it. Sorry. My good friend (and faithful blog commenter) Rachel Deater recently ‘tagged’ me with some random meme… so, I figured I’d fill it out.
10 random facts/goals/habits of a high influe…. I mean…. of me. 
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1] After I fill out this survey, I’m going hiking/climbing up Spencer’s Butte in Eugene, Oregon with one of my students.
2] It can take me up to a year (or more) to read a book. For example: I’ve been reading “The Godbearing Life” by Kenda Ceasy Dean for about a year and a half now, and I’m just now on the final chapter. The book is pretty worn, too. When I read books like that, I want to learn as much as I can from them. So while reading TGL, I’ve been scribbling away in a notebook, daydreaming about what that would look like in my context, asking other youth pastors how they incorporate some of what she talks about. But, I can get through a book very quickly if I need to, and still retain most of what I read. For example, our church book club read Shane Claiborne’s Irrisistable Revolution (if you haven’t red it yet, you must), and I was able to plow through that book in just under a week, which is really good for me.
3] Some days I feel paralyzed when I sit in my office at church. I know there are a million things I could be doing, but I have the hardest time getting started. On days when this is really bad, I hop in my Volvo station wagon and drive to My Coffee in Eugene and bring my work with me.
4] Goal: spend part of ministry life as a teacher — not sure in what capacity, but I’m drawn to professor and teaching pastor. I’ve done a lot of speaking this summer, and really enjoyed that teaching position.
5] Goal2: Write books.
6] For nearly 2 years, I really struggled with loneliness being out here in Oregon. I love my new home, but it took almost 2 years for me to form lasting relationships with people. Obviously, Andi & I have each other, and in fact I think being so far from Michigan has really strengthened our relationship in ways I can’t even begin to explain. But I remember numerous conversations with my pastor/co-worker, and a couple conversations with the other pastors who are part of our area’s ministerial association, where I shared with them about how lonely it was to be out here sometimes. These pastors prayed for Andi & I, asking God to give us wisdom regarding whether we should stay here or return to Michigan. The thought of returning to Michigan seemed like a pipe-dream to us, because deep down, we knew this is exactly where we needed to be. And since then, God has provided three other guys (all in their twenties, married, and in youth ministry) who I get lunch/breakfast with once a week. Total answer to prayer. And Andi has a group of gals her age from church that she hangs out with once a week, and some friends from work as well. JHVH JRH, my provider, His grace is sufficient for me (I just pulled up a YouTube video of this song, as performed by an 80’s church choir at a Benny Hinn revival….GLORY! ha ha ha.)
7] I play the djembe, congas, and a smattering of hand percussion instruments. I taught myself, and don’t have any formal training. Recently, I played at camp with some very talented musicians, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Levi (from the band Calling Simon) was very patient with me, noticing my talent/ability to play, and telling me in non-musical terms how to improve my playing. A few times I just wanted to throw my djembe on the ground and stop trying to play with such a talented group of people…but I stuck it out, and we all sounded excellent together. One of the highlights of camp for me.
8] For me, Starbucks or Biggby? …. uhh, neither. My allegiance is to My Coffee only. “You shall have no other coffees before me.”
9] I have no 1 denomination that I call “home.” Currently, I’m serving at a Church of Christ with restoration movement roots. I love my church and its value of unity in the body, even if we don’t all see eye to eye. One quote really sums us up — “In essentials, unity, and in non-essentials, liberty.”
10] Hmmm….I’ve mentioned camp a few times in this survey…I suppose I’ll close with one last fact about camp. Recently, I was asked to oversee the directors of the middle school/high school camps. My job would be to make sure that the directors had what they need to hold a successful week of camp. I would also network with churches and encourage them to send their youth to camp, and make an appearance at camp during each of the youth weeks. I haven’t accepted this position, yet, but I really have no reason not to.
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So there ya have it, folks. I don’t feel like tagging anyone, so just go ahead and leave me a comment with a few (or 10) random facts about yourself.
Bonus fact #11 — I’m going to go eat a bowl of Capn Crunch and then head out to climb Spencer’s Butte.
This entry turned into a pretty long one – 990 words, to be exact – so kudos to you if you read it all. It’s basically a reflection on the last 8 years of my life…prompted by the beautiful summer weather and a slow in my schedule…
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Now that the youth group year has wrapped up for the summer, I’m not out all afternoon/evening working on youth stuff. I have more time to read, think, sit, and reflect. As I sit here, reading in my office at church, I find my mind wandering back through the last eight years of my life. I’m reminded of how desperately I wanted to have a career in youth ministry; whether as a youth speaker, camp program director, ministry leader, or youth pastor. I’m also reminded of how miserable I felt at times when these pursuits didn’t pan out as I hoped they would. I’m saddened by how much focus I put on myself sometimes, and how little attention I paid to the ones God called me to lead.
While still in high school, I wanted nothing more than to be a youth speaker. Someone who traveled the country and spoke at youth events, calling for the lost youth of my generation to return home. I made a website for myself (if you Google my name, you’ll see some lost fragments), took every chance I could to speak at my youth group (the ’speaking dates’ on my website were primarily events I was directly involved with organizing … as opposed to events I was invited to speak at), and even made up promotional packets to send out to churches that might be interested in having me speak. I was serious about this speaking thing. I got really good at ’selling myself’ to churches and camps, and actually had a pretty decent ‘indie’ speaking ministry. This lasted from my sophomore year in high school until roughly my sophomore year in college. I certainly wasn’t a masterful orator, but I definitely was able to connect with students and see God do some really neat things, though a lot times in the back of my head I wondered if I was standing in God’s way.
Though God definitely used me and my crazy ’speaking ministry’ (doesn’t God say something in the Bible about using foolish things to reveal His glory…?), I look back on that time in my life with a bit of painful embarrasment. I took myself way too seriously. At one point, I felt it necessary to have a ‘manager’ to keep track of my speaking ministry … honestly, it was more of a ploy to build credibility, and unltimately get more speaking dates. So I had a friend serve as my ‘manager,’ scheduling speaking dates and the like. This whole speaking thing was more about building my image, and less about truly making a difference in the lives of young people. I wasn’t necessarily concerned with the actual human beings that were sitting there listening to me speak, each with their own very unique stories and hurts and joys. Stories, hurts, and joys that I never really got to hear about, because I was so concerned with speaking up.
I’ll also never forget my years spent on staff at a small Christian camp. I started as a counselor in training during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. The next summer, I was a full fledged senior counselor. I slowly worked my way up to being the summer program director, 4 years after serving as a counselor in training. Camp that summer was a mess, due in part to changes in the leadership structure at camp, as well due in part to my lack of experience in this position — I regularly became painfully aware of my short-comings. It was a humbling time for me that revealed that there were still some traces of self-serving leadership in me. Again, I took myself too seriously. I didn’t show enough concern for the staff I was overseeing.
There are so many other similar experiences that I could write about here, that follow the same theme … work hard to start something/make a name for myself … lose sight of the ones I’m serving. Through all these fumblings, though, I’ve really become aware of how important it is to truly be present in the lives of my students. Not just speaking at them or ruling over them…but being still and quiet long enough to hear the cries of their hearts.
I’m reading Andrew Root’s “Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry” right now, and I am fascinated by the premise of this book: building relationships in ministry is not a means to a goal, but relationships are the goal. For so long I’ve made my goals other pursuits, and used relationships as aids to achieving those goals. Now, in moments like these, I find myself sorting through memories of times when I was focused on everything BUT relationships. I’m reminded of the relationships that were negatively impacted by my narrow-minded, self-centered way of doing things.
In my first full-time paid youth pastor position, my primary goal is to build relationships with my students. I’m not concerned with being the best speaker – in fact, there is no place for a ‘speaker’ in the ‘family style’ way we do our youth ministry. I know what I’m good at, and what I need others help with. While I make every effort to be present to my youth and walk with them in their struggles, I still allow myself some “me time” where I can rest and be transformed by God as I still myself in his presence. My focus in ministry has definitely changed over the last eight years of my life. I look back and see God making me who I am today, through all of the ugly twists and turns of often self-focused living. Of course, eight years from now I’ll probably look back on this time in my life and experience some of that ‘painful embarrassment’ all over again…but I’m ok with that, because through it all, I’m finding out what truly matters and makes a difference.
What music captures you, makes you unaware of your surroundings, lifts your spirit up out of the darkness? Have you ever gotten lost in music, simply overcome and captured by the musical and lyrical masterpiece?
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Ian McIntosh’s music on iTunes. When I first heard it, I was stunned by the creativity in worship that Ian possesses. The creativity, passion, artistry, and worship is gripping.
I was listening to Ian’s stuff while working out at the gym. Before I knew it, my 40-minute workout was over. I got lost in the music, somewhere between wiping the sweat off my brow and getting off the elliptical!
You can find Ian’s music on iTunes, or you can check out his website. Definitely worth a listen, and definitely worth paying 9.99 for the album!
One of my favorite podcasts is “The Story” from American Public Media. Last Wednesday, Dick Gordon had Nathaniel Raymond, a world relief worker, on the show. The once-burnt out aid worker shared his story quite transparently.
As I listened, I noticed that there were some profound implications for those of us in youth ministry. And not just youth ministry, either, but any form of ministry. At about 26 minutes in to the show, Nathaniel speaks about his work consuming him to the point that he wasn’t able to communicate with others about anything else other than crises around the world. He addresses the need to have a life outside of one’s work, so that there is more to a person than the things he or she does.
Definitely worth a listen. Again, the “good stuff” that struck home for me is about 26 minutes in, but the entire show is decent.
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_525_Burning_Out.mp3/view
Growing up in west Michigan, the local newspaper always ran a column called “Hit or Miss.” Local happenings, current events, and anything else of interest were ranked as either hits or misses. I always enjoyed a quick read of this column, as it mixed opinion AND news into a short quick read. What could be better reading at the breakfast table??
So here’s the hit & miss of tonight, the last high school youth group of the school year.
Summary: We wanted to do something ‘fun’ to close out a somewhat intense year of youth group, so we went to Wendy’s and got some grub and sat around just hanging out. Half of us went back to church and played Apples to Apples, and the other half decided to go to a movie (mostly upperclassmen.)
Hit: We had 3 visitors, Cookie Dough Frosty Float = AMAZING (especially dipping fries into it),
Apples to Apples is always a fun game, I got to hang out with some of my students and didn’t have to put a lot of time and preparation into the night.
Miss: We had 3 visitors — on the last night of youth group! Some coarse sexual innuendos were tossed around at one point by the visitors. I’m all for friends bringing friends…but on the last youth group night of the year? So much for reviewing the year, putting an end to a season, etc. Hmm. The discussions around the table at Wendy’s wasn’t what I hoped for…but then again, I didn’t really have many high hopes for tonight. Oh, and about half of our regular attendees were not there tonight….ack.
And then the car of upperclassmen (the visitors) decided to go to a movie afterwards…and the rest of us went back to church. Random. Frustrating.
On top of everything that is happening in my personal life (hard to maintain that when in full-time ministry in a small church!), tonight was just another additional WEIRD spot. Oh well.
I’m looking forward to semi-normal summer with my high schoolers and middle schoolers!
Sorry for the rant! Just had to re-cap the night.
I never know what kind of reaction to expect when I say I serve in a Church of Christ church. Some have heard that we don’t use instruments in our worship services… that is true of some of the ‘old-school’ churches… but generally, most Churches of Christ now allow instruments in worship. Just for the record, no pun intended, instruments were banned because there is no reference to their use in New Testament worship. But, many churches (including mine) acknowledge that instruments were likely used, and we’re pretty sure the early church was aware of instruments in worship throughout history (David comes to mind) and more than likely included instruments in worship.
Others identify us by our stance on baptism. This, as I discussed in an earlier post, is a matter that I’m still wrestling with, and I find myself in a church that allows me all the time/grace/etc. I need to wrestle with it.
I am a transplant into this church movement, and the more I learn about my un-denomination the more I fall in love with it even more. I’m not trying to paint my church & the whole Church of Christ/Christian movement as being elite, or the way church should be done, or anything like that. To quote Barton Stone, the former Presbyterian minister who later ‘founded’ this movement, “we are Christians only, but not the only Christians.” Stone is also known for expressing his desire, for himself and his church, to be known as ’simply Christian’ without all the baggage that tends to divide Christians.
My church, Elmira Church of Christ, is an extremely unique Church. We welcome anyone into our family. In our church of about 150, we have a former Episcopalian, several from Charismatic backgrounds, some from Baptist churches, some from Catholic backgrounds…we also have a smattering of folks from different backgrounds, political stances (around this time of year, it gets a bit … tricky!), white-collar jobs, blue-collar jobs, age groups, etc. One of the big distinctives of the Church of Christ/Christian Churches is the value of unity. ‘In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things love’ is the best known slogan in our family.
I stumbled upon the website for the World Convention of Churches of Christ/Christian Churches. Honestly, I didn’t even know such a convention ever happened. The movement our church is a part of is very grass-roots, we don’t have a national headquarters or anything like that. So finding this website was almost like finding a gold mine!
I highly encourage you to read the story of the movement. It’s a quick read, and very informative.
Here are the distinctives of the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches — as found on the Convention’s website… I’ve put in bold some of the statements (headings in bold by default) that are certainly true of Elmira Church of Christ.
1. A concern for Christian Unity.
In the 1808 ‘Declaration and Address’ Thomas Campbell wrote that the ‘Church of Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one’. Another pioneer, Barton Stone, spoke of Christian unity being the ‘polar star’. The ‘Christian’ movement was a movement for unity within the fragmented and often hostile and competitive church environment of that time but ultimately became a separate movement. Today there are different understandings of how Christian unity might be understood and achieved ranging from commitment to the ecumenical movement, with some involved in dialogue and negotiation with other church families, through a belief that there is already an underlying God-given unity despite apparent division, to those who feel that they have discovered what the church should be like and that unity will come through others recognising this and joining with them.
2. A commitment to Evangelism and Mission.
Unity was never an end in itself. Its desirability came out of the understanding ‘that the world could be won only if the church became one’. Today that commitment is shown both by emphasising the need for personal commitment to Jesus Christ and by a concern for peace and justice for all people. Many will balance these two emphases but often one will be emphasised much more than the other.
3. A New Testament emphasis.
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ are ‘People of The Book’. They believed that unity could be achieved by ‘restoring’ the New Testament Church – stripping away the accumulation of traditions that had brought about division. The authority was the scriptures – not the church. Many still like to be referred to as the ‘Restoration Movement’; others believe there are difficulties in accepting that the New Testament provides a clear unified model for the church and believe that the church must also be open to God’s present word measured against the biblical revelation. All members of Churches of Christ and Christian Churches would describe themselves as biblical but interpretation varies greatly.
4. A simple confession of faith.
From Matthew 16:16 came the cornerstone question for church membership: ‘Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ and accept him as your Lord and Saviour?’ Answering yes to that question is all that is required for membership though many congregations now have membership classes. This simple question avoided the use of – often divisive – creeds. Many today will not make any use of creeds; others will use them as a means of expressing faith – but not a test of faith.
5. Believers’ Baptism.
Only people who have reached an age where they can make their own confession of faith are baptised. The means of baptism is always immersion. Many congregations will now accept into membership – by transfer – those who become church members through other traditions; other congregations are adamant that believers’ baptism is essential. Baptistries – for immersion – are features of worship facilities.
6. Weekly Communion.
Again believing that they follow the New Testament model, Christian Churches and Churches of Christ celebrate communion or ‘The Lord’s Supper’ each Sunday.
7. Biblical Name.
Members of the emerging 19th Century Movement wanted to be known only as ‘Christians’ or ‘Disciples of Christ’. Slogans such as ‘Christians only – but not the only Christians’ and ‘Biblical names for Biblical people’ captured this emphasis. Congregations use names such as Church (or Churches or church) of Christ, Christian Church or Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). There are also congregations within uniting churches in many areas and countries.
8. Congregational Autonomy.
Members of Churches of Christ and Christian Churches live under the authority of Christ but this authority is seen as being worked out in the local congregation. For many this congregational autonomy is absolute; many others guard their autonomy jealously but have established ways of working together; many are organised in regions and/or nationally but still with a very large degree of congregational autonomy. Globally there is very limited organisation. Some countries that have nationally organised work cooperate through the ‘Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council’. The World Convention of Churches of Christ is a global fellowship which endeavours to build up fellowship and understanding within the whole family.
9. Lay Leadership.
The ‘Priesthood of all Believers’ is a mark of all Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. We speak of ‘mutual ministry’. Participation by lay people in all aspects of the church’s life is a notable feature. Lay people conduct the sacraments. Women and men are seen as equal by many parts of the family but others see distinct roles for men and women (NOTE: we’re working on this one!!). There is an employed and trained ministry with recognition varying from a ‘paid member’ to an expectation of special leadership.
10. Diversity.
‘In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things love’ is the best known slogan in our family. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ have always allowed for diversity and much of that diversity has been enriching. Diversity also allows for the possibility of intolerance and division and that unfortunately has been part of our experience. This Christian family is left with the challenge of finding for itself the unity-in-diversity it seeks for the whole church of Jesus Christ.
Our high school group made this video for our middle schoolers to watch at youth group tonight. The video is about unforgiveness and uses rocks to symbolize the weight of carrying around a grudge against somebody or something done to you.
Let me know what you think!
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