Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tears are OK! (click here)
This one is for me and for many of you out there who find yourself surprised by tears.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Who's your audience?
The conferences and learning experiences don't end. After the two seminars related to ethnic and urban ministries I had a few days in the office to get caught up. That Sunday I had a fun opportunity to go to a Methodist Church in the city and share the Army story. It was Methodist Women's Sunday and so I focused on women in SA history and our ministry to women and families. In 20 minutes I did that and threw in a short sermon. Talk about a challenge. I think it worked. They were a hospitable and gracious congregation, anyway. Just a few days later I left for the Territorial Writers' Conference. After everything else I'd been to, it probably wasn't necessary to be gone again. But this conference was for me - I love writing and want to be better and more disciplined about it. I'm glad I went because I did get motivated - well, for a while anyway. I have a page full of ideas for some article or sermon. We'll see where they take me. I've also been challenged by the question in the title. I started thinking in this direction during the first two seminars and it was reinforced at this one. "Who's your audience?" - of course, I wonder about this blog. I wonder about the division, I wonder about this city and our role in it. Who should we be serving? Where is the need and how can we connect?
A day later we had Youth Councils. It was the first for our DYs, who did a great job. And it was my first in this division. I actually recognized a lot of the teens/young adults from my visits to corps. My own corps, Euclid, had a good delegation - all boys! They were so much fun to watch and get to know a little better. It was a powerful weekend and the Holy Spirit did move. I believe the young adults, especially, can and will be the catylst for a spiritual movement in the division.
And while I would love to be writing about all of the reflecting I've been doing on these learning experiences, they didn't end. A few days later I flew to Chicago for a day to be part of the Multicultural Committee. We were planning our next conference. It was a good but hard day. And I'll never do that in one day again. I came home sick and stayed home Saturday. But couldn't do that on Sunday. I was at the Arnold corps in the morning. Since it was Mother's Day, I decided to preach about the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter. It's not an easy passage but was fun to study. I've been reading Philip Yancey's Prayer and he refers to this event. Check it out. I'd love to have a conversation with someone about the Scripture. Yancey's book, too. The people were very responsive. It was a good morning, but by the end I had nearly lost my voice and felt pretty awful. That didn't matter, because my next few hours would be spent at the Global Day of Prayer, held at Busch Stadium. I've been part of the planning committee and put together a team of greeters for the event. We had a dozen guys from the Adult Rehab Center. I love working with them - they are so helpful and a blessing. There were also 6-7 more officers/ employees/soldiers who helped. The day started very cold, windy and rainy. I'd been praying since Saturday morning for good weather, but it sure didn't seem hopeful. In fact practically, we should probably have cancelled. But, this is a faith-filled group and we went on. Sure enough, we started at 4 and about 4:05 just as we were getting ready to worship and pray, they sun shone directly on the field! It was awesome! Because I was on the planning team, I got to sit right behind home plate. Of course, I forgot my camera so you can't get a good picture of the view. It was overwhelming to see the city behind the screens, the sun shining through the clouds and a hundred dancers praising the Lord enthusiastically. Sometimes I long to be back in Europe, but these days I'm more and more certain that St. Louis is where I'm supposed to be. The Lord is giving me a longing for this city to change and people to be transformed. That was confirmed as we prayed in small groups during the afternoon. And I'm excited about how God is going to put His plan in place and feel blessed to be in this place where God wants to work.
A day later we had Youth Councils. It was the first for our DYs, who did a great job. And it was my first in this division. I actually recognized a lot of the teens/young adults from my visits to corps. My own corps, Euclid, had a good delegation - all boys! They were so much fun to watch and get to know a little better. It was a powerful weekend and the Holy Spirit did move. I believe the young adults, especially, can and will be the catylst for a spiritual movement in the division.
And while I would love to be writing about all of the reflecting I've been doing on these learning experiences, they didn't end. A few days later I flew to Chicago for a day to be part of the Multicultural Committee. We were planning our next conference. It was a good but hard day. And I'll never do that in one day again. I came home sick and stayed home Saturday. But couldn't do that on Sunday. I was at the Arnold corps in the morning. Since it was Mother's Day, I decided to preach about the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter. It's not an easy passage but was fun to study. I've been reading Philip Yancey's Prayer and he refers to this event. Check it out. I'd love to have a conversation with someone about the Scripture. Yancey's book, too. The people were very responsive. It was a good morning, but by the end I had nearly lost my voice and felt pretty awful. That didn't matter, because my next few hours would be spent at the Global Day of Prayer, held at Busch Stadium. I've been part of the planning committee and put together a team of greeters for the event. We had a dozen guys from the Adult Rehab Center. I love working with them - they are so helpful and a blessing. There were also 6-7 more officers/ employees/soldiers who helped. The day started very cold, windy and rainy. I'd been praying since Saturday morning for good weather, but it sure didn't seem hopeful. In fact practically, we should probably have cancelled. But, this is a faith-filled group and we went on. Sure enough, we started at 4 and about 4:05 just as we were getting ready to worship and pray, they sun shone directly on the field! It was awesome! Because I was on the planning team, I got to sit right behind home plate. Of course, I forgot my camera so you can't get a good picture of the view. It was overwhelming to see the city behind the screens, the sun shining through the clouds and a hundred dancers praising the Lord enthusiastically. Sometimes I long to be back in Europe, but these days I'm more and more certain that St. Louis is where I'm supposed to be. The Lord is giving me a longing for this city to change and people to be transformed. That was confirmed as we prayed in small groups during the afternoon. And I'm excited about how God is going to put His plan in place and feel blessed to be in this place where God wants to work.
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