Harmonic Convergenece
Most of the stuff I'm reading in my life is very Gen-X. Literally, in that I'm reading a Douglas Coupland novel on the "fun" side of my reading ledger (Ha, seminary student readers! One of the joys of seminary graduation is that you can choose what you want to read and give yourself your own deadlines.)
Figuratively so in that much of my reading that is "work-related" (Reality check, seminary student readers: The habits you develop in seminary stay with you without you even thinking about them.) has to do with the nature of the church in this current culture...for the most part written by fellow Gen Xers.
So yesterday, a pastor from Maryland (and an integral part in the founding of Crossroads Bible) was in town for a conference on the nature of the church in this current culture. He's good friends with our current pastor, who invited him to give a staff devotional.
After that, we all exchanged pleasantries, and our current pastor asked him to tell us why he was in town and what he learned.
Yes there were buzzwords (which, thankfully, he was hesitant to use...he "gets" the movement) like "emergent" and "relevant" and "PoMo" but by and large he was saying the same thing: Suburban mega-churches have to re-think what it means to be a church.
Then, my pastor invites me into the fray and the next thing I know our staff meeting goes an hour longer than normal, and our 50-something staffers were caught by surprise about this stuff...even though I've been saying these same things for two years.
Validation is always pleasant.
And God is stirring up things in the heartbeats of our church members.
It's cool working at a place where the majority of members are spiritually mature, and even though their comfort is their reality, once exposed, they're willing and enthusiastic about the spiritual needs of all their generations.
And open to change.
One subset of our church down. A few more to go.
I'm enthused that ears are opening.
And hearts are stirring.
Exciting times in my life and work.
Feeling: Alive. Synapses flashing. Neurons firing. All systems "Go!"
Most of the stuff I'm reading in my life is very Gen-X. Literally, in that I'm reading a Douglas Coupland novel on the "fun" side of my reading ledger (Ha, seminary student readers! One of the joys of seminary graduation is that you can choose what you want to read and give yourself your own deadlines.)
Figuratively so in that much of my reading that is "work-related" (Reality check, seminary student readers: The habits you develop in seminary stay with you without you even thinking about them.) has to do with the nature of the church in this current culture...for the most part written by fellow Gen Xers.
So yesterday, a pastor from Maryland (and an integral part in the founding of Crossroads Bible) was in town for a conference on the nature of the church in this current culture. He's good friends with our current pastor, who invited him to give a staff devotional.
After that, we all exchanged pleasantries, and our current pastor asked him to tell us why he was in town and what he learned.
Yes there were buzzwords (which, thankfully, he was hesitant to use...he "gets" the movement) like "emergent" and "relevant" and "PoMo" but by and large he was saying the same thing: Suburban mega-churches have to re-think what it means to be a church.
Then, my pastor invites me into the fray and the next thing I know our staff meeting goes an hour longer than normal, and our 50-something staffers were caught by surprise about this stuff...even though I've been saying these same things for two years.
Validation is always pleasant.
And God is stirring up things in the heartbeats of our church members.
It's cool working at a place where the majority of members are spiritually mature, and even though their comfort is their reality, once exposed, they're willing and enthusiastic about the spiritual needs of all their generations.
And open to change.
One subset of our church down. A few more to go.
I'm enthused that ears are opening.
And hearts are stirring.
Exciting times in my life and work.
Feeling: Alive. Synapses flashing. Neurons firing. All systems "Go!"
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