I know of at least one Council member who doesn’t particularly care for the title. That’s understandable. Often, when we characterize people as “playing church,” we mean that we don’t think they are taking their faith and the cost of discipleship seriously enough. In other words, “playing church” is a judgment that they are playing games rather than taking their faith seriously.

One of the things that I don’t like about describing people as people who are just “Playing Church” is that we give the impression that people are either “playing” or they are “serious.” It’s black or white, light or dark, on or off. But that simply doesn’t fit with the reality of what the life of faith is like.

I think a better image for the Christian life is that of a journey. We are on a path toward righteousness. Some are at the beginning of the path; others are nearing the end. Some have stopped walking for a while; others are running. Some might even be turned around or have gotten off the path. But we gather together as a congregation because we all in our own way are striving to walk the path toward Christian maturity.

So, why make such a bold statement that we are going to stop “Playing Church?” Because we are. Going to stop. “Playing Church.” Inasmuch as we are pretending to follow Jesus Christ, we’ll stop pretending and admit the truth. Insofar as we are not giving our best effort, we’ll stop pretending that we are doing our best and we’ll engage in a more concerted effort toward growing in Christlikeness. Or, as the announcement will say on Sunday, we will “put an end to formalities and rituals and get back to the basics of the Christian faith.”

In 2012, we at Bethel Church are going to embark together on a journey toward maturity in our faith.

I did mention to you a video that had to do with learning to walk. You can find it here (http://www.carbonfibergear.com/ellie-may-at-5-years-old-is-the-youngest-person-ever-to-have-carbon-fiber-legs/).

I hope you enjoy the poem. I know I did!

On Monday, March 28, I will return to work. It seems kind of odd to say it. I’ll go through my regular morning routine except that – at the end of it – I’ll go to work. I’ll probably park in the same spot (or maybe now I won’t, just to prove myself wrong!), say hi to Bonnie, set up my computer and start thinking about sermons and Art Camp and who to visit and… It will be just like coming back after any other weekend. NOT!

These 12 weeks off have been intense. As I delved into the past, I relived some significant hurts and feel like I am now able to let those memories “rest in peace.” I also worked with a sponsor to go through a 12-Step program through Crossing Recovery. It was very humbling to realize how deeply my character defects – my hurts, fears, resentments and failures – have contributed to the troubles that I continue to deal with today. I also have discovered in a deeper way some of the joys and limitations of present-day relationships. My troubles are far from over; my problems are far from solved. I can only trust that God who has begun a good work in me will complete it as well.

On April 3, I will be preaching again. I have no idea what I will preach on or what it will feel like to be back. I do know that I appreciate the many people from Bethel and beyond who have been so supportive and prayerful during this time away. It has been a gift beyond measure to me and I appreciate your patience with me. Thank you!

While I am in Wisconsin, I would appreciate your prayers for me. They describe their retreats this way:

Our self-directed retreats are a time for rest, reflection, and recreation. Think of the experience as “continuing education of the heart.”

For each pastor and ministry couple, the process is unique, but the outcome is the same—you leave the retreat refreshed, renewed, and more deeply in love with the God you serve.

So pray for that: refreshment, renewal and a deeper love with the God I return to serve.

By now, most of you reading this know that I am taking a 12-week leave of absence. I partially explained the reason behind that on Sunday when I announced it during our morning worship. Since not everyone was there on Sunday and since some might want more of an idea of what I’m going to be doing, I’m posting this today.

The shortest explanation I can give is that I am tired. I have been under a great deal of stress in my personal life and was finding myself less and less able to do my work as a pastor. There are things – weaknesses, if you will – that I want to work on personally that I know are going to take even more energy. Knowing that I could not face my weaknesses while at the same time serve our congregation, I asked for the leave of absence.

During the leave of absence, I will be focusing on two areas:

The Past: I plan on dealing with the losses and grief of my childhood so that I can live in the present, rather than the past.

Relationships: I plan on forging relationships individually and in small groups so that I can learn how to be in relationship with others more fully.

FAQs:

1. What are you taking time off from? Pretty much everything. If there are crises or deaths, I will want to be available to the congregation still. But I will not be attending meetings, preaching, doing regular pastoral care, maintaining office hours, etc.
2. Where will you go? For the most part, I will be around. I am going to look for private places where I can work through the past. But I’ll still take my kids to school and pick them up after. Most evenings, Ill be at home – as much as my kids schedules will allow me to be.
3. Can we still talk to you? I will be meeting with some people for breakfast, coffee, lunch…whatever. I have been advised to limit that so that I can get the rest I need.
4. When will you be back? The 12 weeks will end on March 28. I should be preaching again on April 3.
5. Will you get paid? No. I didn’t feel it was fair to ask the church to pay me while I was not working.

A journey to the center of the earth: what would possess someone to try it? What made them think it was possible? Or that they would survive? And would any of them have dared to try it alone?

Beginning in January, 2011, our congregation is going on a journey as well. It’s not a science fiction journey to the center of the earth; it’s not an extreme vacation journey to a far-off land; it’s a journey to the heart of God.

The idea for the Ninety-Day Adventure in Prayer originally came from Vital Churches Institute. We’re modifying it to fit our congregation, but the basics are the same:

The practice of daily prayer. When we practice a new habit ninety days in a row it more easily becomes part of our ongoing lifestyle. To help in this, Rob Braun is working on a daily devotional based on the Heidelberg Catechism that not only teaches us what prayer is but encourages us to practice prayer. Each day, you will have questions that will help you to reflect on Scripture, respond to what God is saying to you and to pray.

The practice of praying in very small groups. We would also like to encourage you to be involved with 2 others in a prayer trio. The trios meet weekly for twelve weeks, in person if possible, to share what you have been learning in your personal times of prayer and to pray with and for each other.

During this 90 days, we anticipate that those who get involved will establish a habit of prayer AND form new and lasting friendships.

I’d like to invite you to join together on Sunday night, January 2 at 6:00 pm to hear more about this 90-day adventure in prayer…and to take the first step on the journey by committing yourself to daily prayer on your own and weekly prayer in a very small group.

Here’s the quote.

“Wonder is my second favorite condition to be in, after love – and I sometimes wonder whether there’s even a difference: maybe love is just wonder aimed at a beloved. Wonder is like grace, in that it’s not a condition we grasp: wonder grasps us. We do have the freedom to elude wonder’s grasp. we have the freedom to do all sorts of stupid things. By deploying cynicism, rationalism, fear, arrogance, judgmentalism, we can evade wonder nonstop, all our lives. I’m not too fond of that gnarly old word, sin, but the deliberative evasion of wonder does bring it to mind. It may not be biblically sinful to evade wonder. But it is artistically and spiritually sinful.”

So, what do you think? Is wonder (aimed at God or His creation or life in general) an important part of your spiritual life?

• we take time to give thanks to God, the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17);
• we open our eyes to see the ways that God is blessing others (Psalm 107:31);
• we encourage each other to see that God can work good even in difficult circumstances (Romans 8:28)
• we remember that these blessings pale in comparison to what God is going to bring (Romans 8:18).

During our worship service, we will have an open mic time – a time in which you are encouraged to share with us what you are thankful for this year. Would you take a few moments right now to consider what you are thankful for…and how sharing that on Thursday morning could encourage thankfulness in others?

The Segue Team (planning, implementing and overseeing the budding small group ministry) is recommending that we as a church go through a series of messages in the fall based on Crazy Love, a book by Francis Chan. Many of us have already read the book; some have even gone through a small group discussion of it. Suffice it to say that those who are familiar with the book are very excited to have our entire congregation work through the thoughts presented there.

This video gives you a taste of Francis Chan and his heart for ministry and the church.

Welcome Video from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Beginning on our kickoff Sunday, we will begin to focus our attention during the worship services to the ideas presented in the book. Our prayer is that this series of messages will really challenge us to take seriously God’s call on our lives and to ask, “Where are we at in following Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior?” Or, to ask it in a way more in keeping with the book, “How fully in love with God are we?”

More importantly, we will also be kicking off a number of small groups to “bring the message home.” We want the message and the ideas to literally be wrestled with in each one of our lives and in each one of our homes. These small groups will meet until Thanksgiving. In the winter of 2011, we will be offering more small groups focusing on a variety of different subjects.

So, what’s next? I need some help in thinking ahead! When we have done church-wide studies in the past, we have usually used materials supplied by others – including worship helps, visual ideas, etc. This time, we’re going it alone! To do this well, I/we need some help in brainstorming.

We’re looking for creative people who will be able to join together either June 29 from 9:00 – 10:30 at church or July 1 from 7:00 – 8:30 at my new house. In these meetings, I will present the overall vision for the study and begin to elicit some creative ways that we can visually draw our congregation in to the message. This may involve decorations in the Worship Center or Gathering Place, but could also be videos during worship, movie clips for during the sermon, thought-provoking items in the Gathering Place prior to worship, or…the skies the limit.

Following these two initial meetings, we will also gather on July 13th at 6:00 at the church to begin to draw the ideas together. We’ll have a potluck meal and enjoy some time together dreaming and planning.

If you are interested in helping, please let me know soon!

Coaching for Congregations
Coaching for Pastors
Health and Renewal
Technology

Finances

Lack of clarity on where we’re at
Unclear lines of responsibility – who decides where money is spent and when?
Reimbursement system

Jody Rice opened our meeting reading from Psalm 62. The Elders and Deacons then went into their districts to spend time in prayer and discussing any pressing pastoral concerns.

During our staff-led discussion time, we received updates on several grants that are being applied for from our denominations Sustaining Congregational Excellence (SCE) program. These grants are being applied for in the following areas:
1.Coaching for Congregations – we’ve applied to have a coach work alongside our congregation to help us figure out how to develop leaders of all types: Council members, ministry leaders and small group leaders;
2.Coaching for Pastor Cal – in the areas of spiritual growth/disciplines and pastoral care;
3.Health and Renewal (due June 1) – to provide for training for Bonnie and small group leaders as well as coaching for designing and implementing the small group ministry. This application is due June1;
4.Technology (due July 1) – this one will cover new items (e.g. a hand-held cordless mic or replacements for older computers).
These grants are available to smaller congregations. SCE will pay 75% of the expenses, but does require the congregation to pay 25%.

We also began a discussion of how we structure our finances. We struggle to have everyone know where we are at financially, it’s not always clear who is making financial decisions and we would like to move away from the use of personal funds that need to be reimbursed. Needless to say, there was a lot of discussion – which will help us when we bring up the topic again, this time with some staff-led direction.

This discussion led nicely into a discussion of the proposed budget. The budgeted amount from last year needed to be reduced for this year, in large part because we have only received roughly ½ of the budget slips back. We will try one more time to get slips back, then propose the budget based on what we have. Our loan balance as of May 24 is $746,064. We’ve set the annual Congregational Meeting for June 28 to approve the budget and to select Elders and Deacons. We have four Elder nominees and are just waiting to finalize Deacon nominees.

We reviewed minutes and/or received verbal reports on many of the different ministries and from the staff. Bonnie’s report raised an interesting discussion on how to handle large events. In the recent past, we have had some very large events that involved a lot of volunteer hours…and a lot of Bonnie’s time. The question is how we can host large events like these without overwhelming our volunteers and without overwhelming Bonnie. The suggestion is to find a Large Event Coordinator who will find people to take care of technology/sound, set-up and take down, kitchen, program/worship, publicity and custodial needs.

I’ve joined another team as well. You can find out more about it here. It is a continuation of the fast that Jason and I completed during Lent and the challenge that some of us took on to only drink tap water during Lent. (By the way, the check should be in the mail soon to supply materials to provide clean water for one village as a result of that. Almost $100 was raised through the water bottle. Thanks!)

Team World Vision is sponsoring a team to run in the 13.1 Marathon being run in Minneapolis on August 22. Along with looking like it could be fun (?), it helps to raise money for clean water projects through World Vision. I’d love to have your help in raising some money.