January Again

For whatever reason, January is a month that has been standing out in recent years as we take stock of what God is doing in our lives.  It's hard to believe how much God has been doing in our journey with him to bring us to this point, so maybe the following recap will be as encouraging to you as it has been to me.

January 2005

January 2005 marked the mid-point of  a singularly rough year in ministry at NPC.  We had welcomed Parker into our family the previous summer.  I then jumped into the first year of ministry at NPC without a sr. pastor.  NPC was finishing a 3 year stewardship campaign so I was doing added teaching and curriculum, and picking up some of the preaching load from Mike having left.  I was really struggling as a first time parent, and spending 14 hour Tuesdays to do night school Hebrew up at Trinity in anticipation of taking my ordination exams.  In January we celebrated Parker's first birthday and then over the next few months both of my folks would be diagnosed with cancer.  

January 2006

After a grueling year and half without a sr. pastor at NPC, I was now also taking my licensure exams as part of the ordination process.  The previous few months had seen daily study and then marathon work sessions in December to finish my written exams over Christmas and take (and pass) my oral exams in January.  After finishing my exams, I jumped into a preaching series from Malachi, and Chris Hodge came to interview for the sr. pastor job at NPC.  Chris was hired and arrived around Easter that year.  (yea!)

January 2007

Having done our best for NPC while they were searching for a new pastor, with Chris hired, we felt free to begin the process of moving on to our next ministry.  So 2007 started with me still being in the middle of the job hunt.  And while we did have some good conversations with a few churches that fall, nothing had really clicked yet.  Coming to a place where a decision (and salary) would be needed soon, January 07 marked the final round of conversations with World Harvest in which we became convinced that this is where God was leading us.  The following months would have us support raising, selling and buying a house, saying good bye to dear friends, moving to Philly and starting over, and a lot of tears.

January 2008

January of last year held two dramatic events.  The first was Jennifer and I attending the WHM team leaders retreat in Austria.  It was one of those rare moments in life and ministry where things seem to really align.  Being with the WHM field team leaders, praying with them and ministering to them, and staying up late into the night laughing and telling stories was the exclamation point to my sense of calling to WHM.  And a few short weeks later, my mom ended her struggle with cancer by going home to be with the Lord.  Again our lives in Philly and Chicago overlapped and collided as we were well loved by our friends in Naperville and returned to Philly feeling finally able to start our new lives there.

January 2009

Having made some some new friends in snowy Princeton, I am now sitting in sunny Orlando (82 and not a cloud in the sky!) at the Global Church Planting Conference.  While here I've gotten to hang out with some of our Ireland team who is also attending, been introduced to lots of really great folks who are experienced church planters and trainers, and spent some time investing in new friendships.  GCA is a bit like a crossroads in the church planting world, and as bizarre as this seems to me, I seem to be a person that other folks want to meet.  I have also been gaining a much greater sense of how my passions and desires and calling fit into the larger work of the kingdom.

I can't tell you how little I would have ever guessed that this is what God would have in store for us.  My heart is so full of compassion and concern for our teams on the field and the men and women sitting in the training sessions who are getting read to launch out and start new churches.  I keep marveling over the fact that we have celebrated Parkers 5th birthday party (thats 25% of his life of "pre-college" life gone already!!) and that the little guy keeps growing up to be my friend.  And I am tremendously grateful for the way that all of you have walked with us, prayed for us, supported us, and keep cheering us on.  Who knows what January of 2010 will bring?

Princeton by the Numbers

The picture above is of the Gotham Fellows, along with a few Redeemer staff and the 3 WHM people standing in front of Alexander Hall, the first building built at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1830 -something.  For those of you who have been reading, I wanted to give you a little more of an update on how the weekend at Princeton actually went.

By all accounts it was a good weekend for those involved.  Here were a few things that stood out.

53--Driving time in minutes from our house to the main campus at Princeton.  And if you've never been there before, let me tell you it's worth a visit.  Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous campus!  Lots of old stone buildings, tons of cool church architecture, and lots of fun shops.  Of course the place just screams east coast, old money, elitism, but still... as long as I didn't say too much, no one really knew that I was out of my league.

3--number of dead theologians graves we visited.  Jonathan Edwards, the one time president of Princeton (who was killed off by the university... I'll let you look that one up, but I swear it's true).  Archibald Alexander, the earliest of the "Princeton Theologians" and a hard core presbyterian who was the first theology professor at the newly formed Princeton Seminary.  Charles Hodge, who was the focus of my masters thesis and also a theology professor at Princeton in the mid-1800's.  Kind of fun to see all of them... in an odd sort of way.

3--number of pubs that were rejected by the Gotham Fellows on Saturday night when went out for a pint.  The reason for the rejection of said establishments, and I quote "They're just not that hip."  I've honestly never been with a group of people that was cool enough to reject a pub based on the criteria of hipness.

8--number of pages for my outline in the retreat notebook.

4--number of pages of Ron and Bethany's outlines for the retreat notebook.  Some things never change.

24--number of Gotham Fellows who participated in the retreat.  They ranged in age from 23-31, mostly single, and ran the gamut of professions from law, to business, to the arts.  They were all articulate, funny, and more than a little competitive.   Our strongest contribution was really helping them connect the great theology that they have been learning with the day to day details of their lives.

1--number of people staying in my  room for the weekend.  The retreat center has private rooms, with shared bathrooms.  Classy place.

4--number of guys in the small group that I worked with.  A finance guy, a lawyer, an architect and a video producer.  I really enjoyed getting to know them, hear their stories and in some small way try to help them where I could.

2--number of people I tried to get to come with me to Thomas Sweet, a famous ice cream emporium.  Evidently the frigid temps and 3 inches of snow made people think it wasn't time for ice cream.  Oh, well.  We'll be making another trip up as a family sometime when the weather is nice just to sight see, so I'll swing by then.

52:36--number in minutes and seconds of my teaching time.  I went over my alloted time by 7 minutes and 36 seconds, so I lost my "I know how to finish my lesson on time righteousness."  It really hurt, since Bethany and Ron did a great job of finishing their lessons on time.

1--number of hearts so sincerely moved by your prayers and generosity.

Redeemer, Savior, Friend

Gotta love the iphone...here's one reason why!  :) I was studying Eph. 5 for my women's Bible study group tomorrow & had my iphone playing music in the background. The last question suggested taking a few minutes to meditate on Christ's great love shown in his submission to God as he was crucified and resurrected for me. The song that came on right then was Redeemer, Savior, Friend by Melendez, Kauffman, & Armstrong from the Intimate Worship CD.  Here are some of those precious words that spoke to my soul this morning...

Redeemer, redeem my heart again.

Savior, come and shelter me from sin.

You're familiar with my weakness, devoted to the end.

Redeemer, Savior, Friend.

Rich in Poverty

It was a wonderful weekend in Princeton with the Gotham Fellows from Redeemer NYC!  (see the previous post)

And while it was great to be with such talented and energized young(er) people, and while it was uplifting to make new friends with the Redeemer staff who lead the Gotham Fellowship, and while it was AWESOME to be at Princeton Theological Seminary (a mecca in days gone by for theo-nerds such as myself... more later), none of those things are what made it such a great weekend.

On Friday, Jennifer sent out a prayer request with a link to this blog to our prayer team.  Over the weekend I literally received over a dozen short e-mails telling me that people were praying for me, offering great gospel quotes (thanks Jack!) and even offering very moving written prayers for my time away.  I honestly have never felt so rich in terms of friends, and prayers for my poor, tired, weak soul.  It was glorious to be weak enough, to truly need the ministry of others, instead of seeking to be strong in order to minister to the Redeemer folk.  Even the times of worship were extremely powerful and moving for me as I was continually drawn back to the realities of the cross, knowing in my heart of hearts that there were people out there beseeching the Holy Spirit to work in my life in just that way.

I'll post again in a little bit some more about the actual event--which went very well, in case you were wondering.

But my over riding memory is being in a place of tremendous wealth, power, prestige and theological heritage as a beggar with nothing to offer and having friends who were scattered around the country praying for me so that in my spiritual poverty I would be weak enough to point people to the riches of Christ Jesus.  It was wonderful.

Thank you.  Thank you for ministering to me, and in turn, ministering to those that I walked with this last weekend.

Princeton, NYC, and Oh No...

I'm not OK with what I'm about to write.  I'm not OK with it because I'm proving to be a fiercely independent, willful, trust-my-own-gifts sort of guy, way more than I realized.  But...  I know that my pride is a false pride, and my Savior's love is a true love.  So here goes.  

I'm desperate.  

Again.  

For your prayers. 

This weekend I and a couple of team mates from WHM will be traveling to Princeton Seminary to lead a weekend retreat for a group of talented young, urban professionals from Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan NY.  Maybe it's just because I'm turning 38 in a few weeks and all of the people coming to the retreat are at least 10 year younger than me.  Or maybe it's because these guys have a pretty smart, pretty famous pastor (some guy named Tim Keller; I've personally never heard of him ;-), and the idea that I could actually help them spiritually seems a little absurd.  But whatever it is, I have the "fear of man" disease and I have it bad. 

So... would you please, please, please pray for me?  

• Not that I would do a good job (though I want to).  
  
• Not that I would impress the folks from Redeemer or my teammates (though I'd like to).  
  
• And not that I would feel great about what my teaching when it's all over (though that would make Monday feel better.)  

Would you pray that I would continue to see my desperate need for Christ to define my identity and the my growing hunger to see the Holy Spirit really work and have folks barely notice me as being the blessings that they really are?  

I have to admit I'm much more inclined to think of blessings as being the good things in life that make my life easier or add to my reputation in good ways (though not too good--that just spoils things).  But the truth is that God is working through my busy schedule, and through invitations to minister to folks that I'm really not equipped to minister to, and through me having to confront just how much I've relied on people liking my teaching to develop my identity.

I'm not sure how much more blessing like  this I can take, but I do trust God even when he is being severe in his mercy.  I'll be away all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so anytime God brings me to mind, please pray!!

The Last Day of Being Four

Today is Parker's last day of being four.  On the way to school today, he asked, "Mommy, are you gonna like five?" You see, I've been telling him for a year now how much I like four, and while he's been counting down the days until his 5th birthday (since his 4th birthday), he was a little concerned about me.  Then, he said, "How long 'til I go to college? 5 years? 10 years? 89 years?...cuz I don't want to go without you, Mom. I'd miss you too much." :)  ...this is what I like about four.  so precious.