Just Catching Up . . .

We woke up this fine Monday morning to the first snow of the season. We were all running late so I took Anna and Cora to school. Wilmore Elementary is a fine school, but why do schools and prisons look so similar? As you can see, we were getting some nice, big snow flakes but nothing was sticking. There will be no snowmen in Wilmore tonight.I should say another word or two on our class with Dale Galloway. It ended on Friday.
The reading for this class left something to be desired. I didn't come into the week with high academic expectations. As it turns out, I was wise. There is no need to waste words in an effort to coat the truth with sugar.

That doesn't mean that I didn't learn anything. On the contrary. More and more I'm realizing that I am, by nature, a hesitant leader. There are, I'm sure, many reasons for this. Cowardice? Competence? Complacency? (we get a lot of alliteration when we listen to preachers).

Grandview is blessed with excellent leadership. So many of the good things that have happened in the past 8 years have been the result of the elders who have been led by the following chairmen: Dan Lawson, Bill Greer, lil' Bobby Hall, and Ron Pyron (the Energizer Bunny of Elders).

There have been times when the church has looked to me for leadership and I have simply turned to the elders. There is wisdom in that, but I can see that I need to step up to the plate in the coming years. I've seen, during my time at Asbury, that a leader needs to communicate the vision of the church clearly and with confidence. A leader must be careful to keep the programs and activities in line with the goals of the church, despite the criticism that sometimes inspires.

Our leadership classes have convicted me on this point, but even more than that, my visits to local churches have been enlightening. I see the light. I see how critical the role of the lead minister really is--despite my 8 years of denying it!

So, here is a short list of leadership thoughts running through my head:

• The word "exciting" should be put on probation. It means nothing anymore.
• Christians are amazing. They are willing, mostly because of their commitment to God and duty, to sit through all sorts of miserable attempts by ministers to "get things moving."
• If joy isn't evident in worship, something needs to change.
• If there is no space for grieving in worship, something needs to change.
• It's not enough to be deep and thoughtful.
• The faithful church will be "deep and wide," just like the song so many of us sang as kids. It's not enough to be deep if our "depth" keeps us from teaching people about the love of God. That's not depth. That's elitism dressed in religious robes.
• It's not enough to be wide, either. A "wide" church is good at getting people to believe that God exists and that Jesus is God's son in human flesh. Too often that's as far as things go. The faithful, wide, church must proceed to inspire people to trust this "incarnated" God enough to do what God says, even when those demands make no sense. Love your enemy? Make your life a sacrifice to God? Take care of the community? Make disciples . . . even if God does not bring them to our front door, anxious to hear the gospel? Make the lame to walk? Free the oppressed? It is possible to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and still reject God's ways. We do it all the time.
  
• The way forward, for Grandview and all Christians, is genuine affection for God, for each other, and for the world God has created. Our undisciplined, personal "likes and dislikes" are a sober test of our affections. If we are unbending on things like style then we are worshiping a version of ourselves . . . a Jesus who refused to come to earth and sing imperfect hymns with his disciples before going to the cross.
  
• Last, but not least, I'm excited (okay, probation on "excited" starts . . . now) about going back home this week for Thanksgiving. I'm surprised by how nervous I feel. I haven't preached in a worship service in almost five months. Even in my associate minister days I never had a lay-off that long.
  

Well, hope you have enjoyed some random Monday morning thoughts inspired by a leadership class that was a mixed bag.

Here are some more pictures from class last week. Below is a picture of Alicia and Scott (Scott is the one with the facial hair).

Harriet, the faculty secretary, dropped by in a Thanksgiving turkey suit just as class was finishing. I'll let you decide which one is the turkey.

Nolan and Kent got in on the act.