Personal Stuff
(Today the family of Grace is celebrating my 25th Anniversary. We're off to a great start as former Cardinals Quarterback Neil Lomax was our guest interview today! He was fantastic.)
Though my family may argue otherwise from time to time, life consists of more than ministry. Life happens, too. In no particular order here are some of the memories from the last 25 years that were lived--good and bad--in and around ministry:
Lots of great family trips. Probably our most visited spot on earth is Disneyland. We fell in love with it while on internship and have been fans ever since. For a time, Jan worked at one of the local Disney Stores giving us free passes and special rates on Disneyland hotel rooms. Trips overseas (although Mike hated most of them), trips to Hawaii (surprising our kids the first time by picking them up from school and showing them the airline tickets!), to Aspen, New York City, a couple of "See America Tours" (the history of the East Coast and a wandering trip from Minneapolis to Arizona), vacations in Minneapolis with my family and Jan's family, to Walt Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, to name a few. Pastor families make certain sacrifices (we've spent the last 25 Christmas Eve's in church, for example) so family trips were and continue to be important.
My grandparents died in the late 80's. Grandma went first and grandpa followed a few weeks later. I was so glad they made it to Phoenix. It was the only time grandma ever flew!
Jan's mom passed away from cancer at the age of 62. Her husband, Vic, had Parkinson's disease so Jan's folks built us a new home before Phadoris died so that we could take in Vic. Turns out Vic didn't like being dependent on us so he moved out and lived for several years before he passed away.
My mom died in 2007 while Jan, Jeff, Diane, and I were in Hawaii. We couldn't get home for 3 days. But family and the family of Grace rallied around my dad. We had an amazing funeral service for her at Zuni. I was awed at the number of people who told me of how encouraging mom had been to them. She had quite a ministry!
Battling against an anxiety disorder that came to full fruition while I was in Pasadena on what was to be a two week Church Growth course. I've had some great successes and some great setbacks but am grateful to still be able to live my life fully. Some are so overwhelmed by it that it shuts them down.
Mike fell in love with Amber while the two of them were musicians over at Radiant Church in Surprise, Arizona. Mike was really whipped. But Amber was in another relationship. Just before Jan and I headed out on a vacation Mike called to say that any possibilities with Amber were over. He was heartbroken. A few days later he called saying he was out to dinner with Amber and her parents! He proposed to her in Hawaii. They were married in 2007. A pretty cool deal for me to marry off my son. They walked out of the ceremony to "Son of a Preacher Man!"
Alycia is our world traveler, moving from one experience to the next, from one degree to the next. She never really had time for a serious relationship. But love finally caught up with her a couple of years ago. In February of 2008 Corey called me while I was on vacation (I get 4 weeks per year but big stuff always happens on them!) to ask if he could marry her. Alycia and I headed to Rwanda in March. What she didn't know was that we arranged for Corey to fly to Phoenix to meet her at the airport when we got home, to propose to her. They were married in August. Again, a great honor to marry off my daughter.
Every day with Jan is a highlight!
Getting Santi the Beagle and Saba the Dachshund has been one of the great joys of our lives. I often say I almost love my kids as much as my dogs.
I trained for and completed 3 marathons (the Walt Disney World, San Diego, and London) and 5 half-marathons. I now enjoy biking, and so does my back and hip.
Taking in a taping of David Letterman, twice. Same with Jay Leno. I'm a huge Letterman fan. Not so much Leno but I loved being a part of the tapings. Sitting in the front row, center seats at a Barry Manilow concert and having him shake my hand at the end of the show. Hearing former President Reagan speak in person. What a speaker! Being at a George W. Bush rally (politics aside, simply very cool to see a president live and in person.)
Driving to the Rose Bowl in 1987 with Walt to watch the Arizona Sun Devils win over Michigan. Jeff Van Raphorst was the quarterback. One year we did a fundraiser event with some college and former pro-athletes. Jeff was one of them. We competed against them. During touch football Jeff came charging at me. I had no idea of how fast those guys move! However, in the sit up competition, I blew him away. A few years later we set up a Sunday interview with him. He had the wrong date and didn't show up. So I interviewed my brother Jeff instead and we "pretended" he was Van Raphorst.
The 1987 World Series. Being from Minneapolis, having the Twins in the series was a big deal. During the playoffs, during our Sunday night services, we would pull out homer tissues and sing the Twins theme song. The decisive game 7 was on a Sunday night. We couldn't cancel church so we did the service and then rushed home to see the Twins win it on the last play of the game.
The 1991 World Series. Once again the Twins were in it. We were in Hawaii--I know, I'm always in Hawaii--on our very first trip there speaking at a conference. Game 7, once again was on Sunday. I had a speaking thing that night. I sat in the car glued to the radio as long as I could but the game went into extra innings. So I told Mike to stay in the car to catch the end of the game. He was 8 years old! I was inside speaking, talking about something fairly serious when Mike ran into the back with his arms in the air! I yelled, "Did they win?" I immediately fell to the floor and said, "There is a God." Not my greatest speaking moment but a moment none-the-less. We moved into a song. I sat next to Mike and asked, "Are you sure they won?" "I think so!" I sent him out to make sure. The Twins won by 1 run.
August 25, 1997 (our wedding anniversary). The Arena League Arizona Rattlers were hosting their first home Arenabowl (they'd already won one!) against Kurt Warner and the Iowa Barnstormers. We stood almost the entire game. I was worn out at the end. But we whipped them! It was pretty cool being at home and winning a big game.
The 2001 World Series in which the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Yankees by one run on the final play of the game. All three of the World Series I cared about ended that way! Great for baseball. Hard on the heart.
The NFC Championship game in Phoenix this year when the Cards made a game winning drive in the final minutes of the game against the Eagles to propel them into their first Super Bowl. Another game that left me blissfully exhausted. Having the chance to go to that Super Bowl with my kids was one of the great experiences of our lives.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--15
Being Grace
We launched Grace on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2005. What a great day. We did one service and had about 600 people show up! It was a bit overwhelming. I knew a good many people were coming to be a part of the first service as a support to us but none-the-less, it was a big day. On top of that we had 19 baptisms.
The next weekend we were at about 360 people and held there or near it after that to our current average of about 500-550 per weekend. We'd been up to over 700 about a year in, but as often happens, many head back to other places or go to new places as the pioneer spirit wears off. Mike Perkinson says that new church starts will lost about 30% of the original group in the first 4-5 years. That doesn't necessarily mean the congregation shrinks by that size as new people hopefully come in, but of the originals, 30% will move on. I'm not sure we're that high but it sounds about right.
At the advice of Mike Breen, we started Grace by using the topics from Alpha as the basis for the sermons. Then, anyone interested could stay after and be a part of a cluster for a brief discussion. After that experiment, clusters began to move into homes during the week.
At first, I didn't lead any clusters but instead coached cluster leaders. But it quickly became apparent that I needed to lead a few so I could better lead the leaders. So I took on a few clusters, some of which I still lead. It enabled me to experiment a bit with various ideas while we were in the early stages of forming clusters.
After our launch we moved from one major event to another--emulating the fast work we put in getting ready to launch Grace.
Some highlights:
June 5, 2005: We held our organizing meeting to become an official congregation of the ELCA. I think we set a record for moving from mission status to official congregation.
July 21, 2005: I was officially installed as the Pastor of Grace.
July 16, 2006: Brian Beckstrom was installed as our Associate Pastor
December 17, 2006: Bishop Steve Talmage hands over the title to the 9.5 acres of land to Grace
January 28, 2007: We officially launched our capital campaign: Building a Community of Grace. We received $1.5 million in 3 year commitments.
We've spent the last several years dreaming about our new campus and designing, re-designing and tweaking the concept and plans. We're ready to build. We're currently praying through the timing in light of the current recession.
Other highlights: Christmas Eve services are always my favorite and the first 4 years have been awesome. Same with Easter services.
We've had in some interesting speakers and interviews over the years from Hope 4 Kids International's Tom Eggum to Walt to Jay Bakker to Rob Morris of love146 (a ministry that works with victims of sex-trafficking) to Pastor John from Rwanda to Pastor Wilbur from Uganda.
Last Thanksgiving time we did a "poverty meal" experience, where we fed everyone a small cup of brown rice and a cup of water (a typical meal for billions around the world) while a family was waited upon on the stage, being fed a gourmet breakfast.
We've done special events from comedy nights to magic nights.
Every Sunday after Christmas we have a pancake breakfast in the worship center.
We've done two Kingdom Assignments. On Palm Sunday, 2008 we brought our unused stuff to Grace to donate to the Lutheran Thrift store and filled up the truck 2 1/2 times. In the fall of 2008 I handed out almost $1100 to various people (in 50's, 20's and 5's) and invited the chosen to try to increase the money and then give it away. Currently we're in Assignment #3--where we are selling something of emotional/monetary value and then, on Sunday, April 19 we'll bring it to worship to give to the Prodigal's Home (a mission to the homeless). I sold my trumpet and received $1250!
Each December our congregation, along with others, participates in Angel Tree, buying and distributing gifts to children whose mom or dad is in prison.
Most rewarding, however, are the relationships built in worship and clusters and the mission being done on a local and international level.
It takes vibrant leaders to build a vibrant congregation and I've had the honor to work with some great people from a talented staff to a committed board to excited everyday followers of Jesus.
One of the delightful surprises of starting Grace has been the chance to reconnect with some of the Lutheran pastors in our area. Because of the size and magnitude of Joy we didn't have the time to attend many "Lutheran" functions. On top of that, through our Leadership Center, we had become a teaching church so we poured a lot of time into congregations and leaders all over the world. The pace of life hasn't necessarily slowed but it is different. And now I have the chance to be a part of a weekly Bible study with some of the pastors and also attend some of the other events.
As we move toward year five we will continue to find ways to be a missional community together, we will continue to worship, meet, serve, and pray. And, somewhere down the line, we'll probably build a new mission facility out of which the mission of the Kingdom, in one of its local expressions called Grace, will continue.
We launched Grace on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2005. What a great day. We did one service and had about 600 people show up! It was a bit overwhelming. I knew a good many people were coming to be a part of the first service as a support to us but none-the-less, it was a big day. On top of that we had 19 baptisms.
The next weekend we were at about 360 people and held there or near it after that to our current average of about 500-550 per weekend. We'd been up to over 700 about a year in, but as often happens, many head back to other places or go to new places as the pioneer spirit wears off. Mike Perkinson says that new church starts will lost about 30% of the original group in the first 4-5 years. That doesn't necessarily mean the congregation shrinks by that size as new people hopefully come in, but of the originals, 30% will move on. I'm not sure we're that high but it sounds about right.
At the advice of Mike Breen, we started Grace by using the topics from Alpha as the basis for the sermons. Then, anyone interested could stay after and be a part of a cluster for a brief discussion. After that experiment, clusters began to move into homes during the week.
At first, I didn't lead any clusters but instead coached cluster leaders. But it quickly became apparent that I needed to lead a few so I could better lead the leaders. So I took on a few clusters, some of which I still lead. It enabled me to experiment a bit with various ideas while we were in the early stages of forming clusters.
After our launch we moved from one major event to another--emulating the fast work we put in getting ready to launch Grace.
Some highlights:
June 5, 2005: We held our organizing meeting to become an official congregation of the ELCA. I think we set a record for moving from mission status to official congregation.
July 21, 2005: I was officially installed as the Pastor of Grace.
July 16, 2006: Brian Beckstrom was installed as our Associate Pastor
December 17, 2006: Bishop Steve Talmage hands over the title to the 9.5 acres of land to Grace
January 28, 2007: We officially launched our capital campaign: Building a Community of Grace. We received $1.5 million in 3 year commitments.
We've spent the last several years dreaming about our new campus and designing, re-designing and tweaking the concept and plans. We're ready to build. We're currently praying through the timing in light of the current recession.
Other highlights: Christmas Eve services are always my favorite and the first 4 years have been awesome. Same with Easter services.
We've had in some interesting speakers and interviews over the years from Hope 4 Kids International's Tom Eggum to Walt to Jay Bakker to Rob Morris of love146 (a ministry that works with victims of sex-trafficking) to Pastor John from Rwanda to Pastor Wilbur from Uganda.
Last Thanksgiving time we did a "poverty meal" experience, where we fed everyone a small cup of brown rice and a cup of water (a typical meal for billions around the world) while a family was waited upon on the stage, being fed a gourmet breakfast.
We've done special events from comedy nights to magic nights.
Every Sunday after Christmas we have a pancake breakfast in the worship center.
We've done two Kingdom Assignments. On Palm Sunday, 2008 we brought our unused stuff to Grace to donate to the Lutheran Thrift store and filled up the truck 2 1/2 times. In the fall of 2008 I handed out almost $1100 to various people (in 50's, 20's and 5's) and invited the chosen to try to increase the money and then give it away. Currently we're in Assignment #3--where we are selling something of emotional/monetary value and then, on Sunday, April 19 we'll bring it to worship to give to the Prodigal's Home (a mission to the homeless). I sold my trumpet and received $1250!
Each December our congregation, along with others, participates in Angel Tree, buying and distributing gifts to children whose mom or dad is in prison.
Most rewarding, however, are the relationships built in worship and clusters and the mission being done on a local and international level.
It takes vibrant leaders to build a vibrant congregation and I've had the honor to work with some great people from a talented staff to a committed board to excited everyday followers of Jesus.
One of the delightful surprises of starting Grace has been the chance to reconnect with some of the Lutheran pastors in our area. Because of the size and magnitude of Joy we didn't have the time to attend many "Lutheran" functions. On top of that, through our Leadership Center, we had become a teaching church so we poured a lot of time into congregations and leaders all over the world. The pace of life hasn't necessarily slowed but it is different. And now I have the chance to be a part of a weekly Bible study with some of the pastors and also attend some of the other events.
As we move toward year five we will continue to find ways to be a missional community together, we will continue to worship, meet, serve, and pray. And, somewhere down the line, we'll probably build a new mission facility out of which the mission of the Kingdom, in one of its local expressions called Grace, will continue.
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--14
Launching Grace--#2
I have been and remain a "fan" and supporter of the Church Growth Movement and the Seeker Movement. God is continually inviting the Church to be the Church for each new generation. My belief is that the CGM and the Seeker Movement were moves of God's Spirit calling the Church back to mission and evangelism. My generation, the Boomers, left the Church in droves because we found it boring and irrelevant. The Seeker/Church Growth Movement encouraged creative, Spirit-led thinking in how the Church could once again speak and share the Gospel in the language of the people.
Having said that, like Walt after his sabbatical, I began to sense that God was up to something new. And Grace offered the chance to begin to go in that new direction.
My passion for seekers remain. But in this particular time in this particular congregation I sense a mission different from that of the seeker movement I experienced at Joy:
From "Come and See" to "Go and Show." Certainly we want to invite people to come and see Jesus, including inviting them to see him in our worship services, etc. But increasingly people are staying away from churches so the Church needs to go to seekers. That lead to a major shift for us. Rather than building a church for seekers, per se, Grace is focused on building a congregation that disciples followers of Jesus to go back out and bring his grace to our corners of the world.
From "Seeker Services" to "Missional Worshipping Communities." Rather than designing the Sunday experience for those who've never been to church before as we did in the seeker services, our worship is now geared to those already committed to Jesus. Certainly we want to ensure that newcomers feel welcome, but the point is not to introduce people to Jesus though the service but to train/equip/inspire/empower Jesus followers to go back into the world to bring Jesus there. The service is far more participational than presentational. And the messages are more disciple-oriented (what it means to follow Jesus) than life application.
From "Programming" to "Communities." Rather than creating a busy church with lots of programs, we're keeping it simple by focusing on getting people into groups/clusters to share faith, build relationships, be Jesus to one another other, so we can then be Jesus in the world.
From "Presentational Evangelism" to "Hands on Mission." Again, rather than bringing people to worship to hear a presentation of the Gospel, we're headed back out to bring Jesus to people in tangible ways. That lead to our 4 Make A Difference Days, in which 4 times a year we go into the community to serve in a variety of ways from cleaning up a neighborhood to feeding the homeless to gleaning fruit to walks for certain causes. We're not being called to build a church but to serve a city.
From "Church Work" to the "Work of the Church." In the '80s and 90's it was all about getting everyone plugged into a ministry in the church. So the task of the staff/leadership was to help people discover their gifts and then put them into some kind of service opportunity at the church. And if a slot didn't exist, one would be created. The whole point was to serve each other and the church. We still have significant ministries within the congregation that need great leaders from caring for children to worship leadership. But our main task is to empower people not for church work but to do the work of the church--getting out and being Jesus. Part of this comes in helping Christians see their every day lives as God's calling for them: Their job is their ministry. Being a parent is their ministry. Volunteering for the PTA is their ministry. Being neighborly is their ministry.
One of the growth areas for me right now is learning how to disciple individuals.
We've learned a lot over the last 4 years about what it means to try to be a missional church. And we've got a lot more to learn. But I am constantly amazed at the ways in which the people of Grace are following Jesus on the bold, daring, reckless adventure of bringing grace to the world. It's been a huge stretch to move from a strong, passionate seeker/program-driven church to a missional community based church. But Gracer's have been up for it.
We also had the dream of being a world church--focused on the needs of people around the world. Hence our ministry with our friends in Rwanda, Haiti, Mexico, Bethlehem, in addition to local stuff.
One of the defining growth experiences for me came in October of 2008 when I visited the Vineyard Church in Boise for a conference they were doing on mission. Their whole congregation is focused on how Jesus speaks to the global issues of the day from the environment to hunger/poverty to sex-trafficking, to oppression. 25 years earlier I saw a picture of what Joy could be like when I visited Robert Schuller's congregation. This time, I saw a picture of what Grace can be like.
In the midst of all of that, our mantra is keep it simple, keep it significant, and keep it fun (not meaning that ministry is always happy and gooey sweet, but that we should sense a passion for whatever we're doing.)
We're only 4 years old but it's been quite a ride so far. As Walt always says, "The best is yet to be."
I have been and remain a "fan" and supporter of the Church Growth Movement and the Seeker Movement. God is continually inviting the Church to be the Church for each new generation. My belief is that the CGM and the Seeker Movement were moves of God's Spirit calling the Church back to mission and evangelism. My generation, the Boomers, left the Church in droves because we found it boring and irrelevant. The Seeker/Church Growth Movement encouraged creative, Spirit-led thinking in how the Church could once again speak and share the Gospel in the language of the people.
Having said that, like Walt after his sabbatical, I began to sense that God was up to something new. And Grace offered the chance to begin to go in that new direction.
My passion for seekers remain. But in this particular time in this particular congregation I sense a mission different from that of the seeker movement I experienced at Joy:
From "Come and See" to "Go and Show." Certainly we want to invite people to come and see Jesus, including inviting them to see him in our worship services, etc. But increasingly people are staying away from churches so the Church needs to go to seekers. That lead to a major shift for us. Rather than building a church for seekers, per se, Grace is focused on building a congregation that disciples followers of Jesus to go back out and bring his grace to our corners of the world.
From "Seeker Services" to "Missional Worshipping Communities." Rather than designing the Sunday experience for those who've never been to church before as we did in the seeker services, our worship is now geared to those already committed to Jesus. Certainly we want to ensure that newcomers feel welcome, but the point is not to introduce people to Jesus though the service but to train/equip/inspire/empower Jesus followers to go back into the world to bring Jesus there. The service is far more participational than presentational. And the messages are more disciple-oriented (what it means to follow Jesus) than life application.
From "Programming" to "Communities." Rather than creating a busy church with lots of programs, we're keeping it simple by focusing on getting people into groups/clusters to share faith, build relationships, be Jesus to one another other, so we can then be Jesus in the world.
From "Presentational Evangelism" to "Hands on Mission." Again, rather than bringing people to worship to hear a presentation of the Gospel, we're headed back out to bring Jesus to people in tangible ways. That lead to our 4 Make A Difference Days, in which 4 times a year we go into the community to serve in a variety of ways from cleaning up a neighborhood to feeding the homeless to gleaning fruit to walks for certain causes. We're not being called to build a church but to serve a city.
From "Church Work" to the "Work of the Church." In the '80s and 90's it was all about getting everyone plugged into a ministry in the church. So the task of the staff/leadership was to help people discover their gifts and then put them into some kind of service opportunity at the church. And if a slot didn't exist, one would be created. The whole point was to serve each other and the church. We still have significant ministries within the congregation that need great leaders from caring for children to worship leadership. But our main task is to empower people not for church work but to do the work of the church--getting out and being Jesus. Part of this comes in helping Christians see their every day lives as God's calling for them: Their job is their ministry. Being a parent is their ministry. Volunteering for the PTA is their ministry. Being neighborly is their ministry.
One of the growth areas for me right now is learning how to disciple individuals.
We've learned a lot over the last 4 years about what it means to try to be a missional church. And we've got a lot more to learn. But I am constantly amazed at the ways in which the people of Grace are following Jesus on the bold, daring, reckless adventure of bringing grace to the world. It's been a huge stretch to move from a strong, passionate seeker/program-driven church to a missional community based church. But Gracer's have been up for it.
We also had the dream of being a world church--focused on the needs of people around the world. Hence our ministry with our friends in Rwanda, Haiti, Mexico, Bethlehem, in addition to local stuff.
One of the defining growth experiences for me came in October of 2008 when I visited the Vineyard Church in Boise for a conference they were doing on mission. Their whole congregation is focused on how Jesus speaks to the global issues of the day from the environment to hunger/poverty to sex-trafficking, to oppression. 25 years earlier I saw a picture of what Joy could be like when I visited Robert Schuller's congregation. This time, I saw a picture of what Grace can be like.
In the midst of all of that, our mantra is keep it simple, keep it significant, and keep it fun (not meaning that ministry is always happy and gooey sweet, but that we should sense a passion for whatever we're doing.)
We're only 4 years old but it's been quite a ride so far. As Walt always says, "The best is yet to be."
Friday, February 27, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--13
Launching Grace--#1
Walt and I officially announced the launching of Grace on Sunday, January 16, 2005. We were set to hold our first service on Easter Sunday, March 27. That gave us about two months to put everything together. And I was to be gone a couple of weeks--one to Rwanda and then one to Hawaii.
Obviously, we had several balls in the air at one time. We set about putting a board together and figuring out a budget. We had to find a place to worship. We needed to get all of the equipment necessary for a worship service from sound systems to communion sets and so on. And we needed to figure out how to finance all of this.
We started weekly Wednesday night prayer meetings for those who were coming to Grace. We also held 3 visioning experiences to begin to talk about our mission together.
Jeff and I spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place to hold worship services. Phoenix is a prime spot for launching new congregations so everywhere we looked was already booked from schools to small community centers. We didn't have much time. Finally, we found a school that was willing to let us worship Sunday evenings as they already had a church there on Sunday mornings. But that church was in the process of building and it looked like their building might be done before our first Sunday. We actually signed papers on the school the day Steve Talmage called me about the land for the first time. Our third visioning meeting was actually held at Sunrise Mountain High School, on a Sunday evening, to give us a chance to practice and get a feel for it.
Financially, Joy had made a commitment of $50,000 to get us launched. That was a huge help. They also provided offices for us for 2 years and the resources of copy machines, etc. (When we moved out to our new office they also gave us all of the recording studio equipment.) But we were on our own financially after that. We had to be self-sufficient from day 1 so we put together a very tight, conservative budget (which has been our MO since then. In 4 years we've so far had no payables and have been able to build up some reserves. It's taken sacrifice and generosity but I really appreciate the financial stability and integrity of the congregation.) The new congregation really stepped up and ensured that we would be able to make it financially.
On March 9, just a few weeks away from our launch, I was about to leave for Hawaii for a week. It turned out that the church using Sunrise Mountain in the morning was not going to be out of the school until June at the earliest. So we had to scramble to find a new place. Jeff contacted Zuni Hills (1/2 mile from where our land is). The church that had been renting there had moved out. So we were able to move in. Perfect! This all happened while I was in Africa.
While Zuni looked to be a go, we still needed to get the janitor to sign on. He had to agree to come and open, lock up, and clean up. He said it looked good, but as I was about to board the plane for Hawaii Jeff called to say that the janitor would not be available. That meant we couldn't get in. But...2 of the women who worked at Zuni who said they'd be coming to Grace volunteered to be the "janitors" and let us in each weekend. Zuni was back on!
3 days later, while I was sitting on the beach, Jeff texted to say that Zuni was off again. The two women had backed out. The principal, however, said that if we could find some teachers from the district who would take responsibility, he would let us in. We were able to identify 5 teachers. So Zuni was back on again. With a couple of weeks to spare. In the end, the principal gave us the keys and the code. We make sure each week the building is cleaner than when we got in. It's saved us the janitor fee!
Being at Zuni has been a real gift. And we've worked hard to be a blessing to the school, as well, through donations, clean up days, providing coffee for the teachers, etc. The school has been great in letting us store our stuff there. Not all is perfect. Our nursery is in a closet and Sunday school takes place in locker rooms. But it's not about the building. It's about mission. And Zuni came along at just the right time!
Finally, everything was in place. On Palm Sunday evening Joy held a special commissioning service for those of us headed to Grace. Pretty emotional stuff for me. Over 20 years of my life had been spent in that very very special place. I am who I am as a pastor in large part due to Joy, and especially due to Walt and his friendship and partnership. I worked with some amazing people over the years at Joy from staff to the congregation. Saying goodbye was bittersweet. I knew that the busyness of Grace would probably keep us from connecting with Joy much. At the same time, I was very excited about the new venture.
Walt and I officially announced the launching of Grace on Sunday, January 16, 2005. We were set to hold our first service on Easter Sunday, March 27. That gave us about two months to put everything together. And I was to be gone a couple of weeks--one to Rwanda and then one to Hawaii.
Obviously, we had several balls in the air at one time. We set about putting a board together and figuring out a budget. We had to find a place to worship. We needed to get all of the equipment necessary for a worship service from sound systems to communion sets and so on. And we needed to figure out how to finance all of this.
We started weekly Wednesday night prayer meetings for those who were coming to Grace. We also held 3 visioning experiences to begin to talk about our mission together.
Jeff and I spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place to hold worship services. Phoenix is a prime spot for launching new congregations so everywhere we looked was already booked from schools to small community centers. We didn't have much time. Finally, we found a school that was willing to let us worship Sunday evenings as they already had a church there on Sunday mornings. But that church was in the process of building and it looked like their building might be done before our first Sunday. We actually signed papers on the school the day Steve Talmage called me about the land for the first time. Our third visioning meeting was actually held at Sunrise Mountain High School, on a Sunday evening, to give us a chance to practice and get a feel for it.
Financially, Joy had made a commitment of $50,000 to get us launched. That was a huge help. They also provided offices for us for 2 years and the resources of copy machines, etc. (When we moved out to our new office they also gave us all of the recording studio equipment.) But we were on our own financially after that. We had to be self-sufficient from day 1 so we put together a very tight, conservative budget (which has been our MO since then. In 4 years we've so far had no payables and have been able to build up some reserves. It's taken sacrifice and generosity but I really appreciate the financial stability and integrity of the congregation.) The new congregation really stepped up and ensured that we would be able to make it financially.
On March 9, just a few weeks away from our launch, I was about to leave for Hawaii for a week. It turned out that the church using Sunrise Mountain in the morning was not going to be out of the school until June at the earliest. So we had to scramble to find a new place. Jeff contacted Zuni Hills (1/2 mile from where our land is). The church that had been renting there had moved out. So we were able to move in. Perfect! This all happened while I was in Africa.
While Zuni looked to be a go, we still needed to get the janitor to sign on. He had to agree to come and open, lock up, and clean up. He said it looked good, but as I was about to board the plane for Hawaii Jeff called to say that the janitor would not be available. That meant we couldn't get in. But...2 of the women who worked at Zuni who said they'd be coming to Grace volunteered to be the "janitors" and let us in each weekend. Zuni was back on!
3 days later, while I was sitting on the beach, Jeff texted to say that Zuni was off again. The two women had backed out. The principal, however, said that if we could find some teachers from the district who would take responsibility, he would let us in. We were able to identify 5 teachers. So Zuni was back on again. With a couple of weeks to spare. In the end, the principal gave us the keys and the code. We make sure each week the building is cleaner than when we got in. It's saved us the janitor fee!
Being at Zuni has been a real gift. And we've worked hard to be a blessing to the school, as well, through donations, clean up days, providing coffee for the teachers, etc. The school has been great in letting us store our stuff there. Not all is perfect. Our nursery is in a closet and Sunday school takes place in locker rooms. But it's not about the building. It's about mission. And Zuni came along at just the right time!
Finally, everything was in place. On Palm Sunday evening Joy held a special commissioning service for those of us headed to Grace. Pretty emotional stuff for me. Over 20 years of my life had been spent in that very very special place. I am who I am as a pastor in large part due to Joy, and especially due to Walt and his friendship and partnership. I worked with some amazing people over the years at Joy from staff to the congregation. Saying goodbye was bittersweet. I knew that the busyness of Grace would probably keep us from connecting with Joy much. At the same time, I was very excited about the new venture.
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--12
Leaving Joy--#2
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for good reason, has procedures and processes in place. Organizations, including churches, need them to prevent chaos, misunderstandings, and preventable problems. Admittedly, Joy was not always good at playing within the rules. It wasn't because we were anti-establishment or believed that we knew better. When you're a big congregation things move quickly and you usually end up asking for forgiveness because you forgot to ask for permission.
My call to start Grace was such a whirlwind that we had the ball rolling before we could meet with the Bishop and get his approval. We finally set up a meeting but he had to cancel. So on January 13, 2005, 3 days before Walt and I were going to officially announce the new start to the Joy congregation, we met with the Bishop. To my relief, he was extremely affirming, in fact very excited. When we told him where we were thinking of planting the new church he mentioned that there was some land out there for a new church. Walt and I had heard about it and we assumed the ELCA owned it. The Bishop also said that his Assistant was the one in charge of new plants and she would need to get in the loop. He would have her call me. But all in all, Walt and I took it as a good meeting and felt we could make the announcement.
More than a week had gone by and no call from the Assistant to the Bishop. So I called her. She was not nearly as affirming as the Bishop, understandably so, as we had been working outside of the system. She also didn't really know what was happening so she said that perhaps we could talk about a new church start in Anthem. She also said the Synod had no money for new church starts. When I told her we were going to take a group of Joy people with us and that Anthem was too far she had two reactions: 1) She was pretty shocked that we had already announced the new church start and 2) When I shared with her where I thought we might want to go, knowing there was land available, she told me that two other Lutheran churches owned that land and intended to start a new congregation there on their own. That's when I was shocked, as now we had bumbled into a partner congregation's mission area. We'd have to find a new area to meet. And, we had no access to Synod funds to get us started.
I was a bit panicked, to say the least. We had lost our ministry area and we had hacked off the Assistant to the Bishop and probably a couple of our partner Lutheran congregations and pastors.
That afternoon, Steve Talmage, then the Pastor of Peace Lutheran and one of the congregations that owned the land, left me a voice mail. He had heard about our new vision from the Assistant to the Bishop (who had set up a meeting for us for the following month). He was very affirming on the phone but he did want to chat.
I called him back immediately and quickly apologized for what seemed to be our encroachment into their area of ministry. Nothing like a big Mega-church seemingly doing its own thing with little regard for anyone else. But that wasn't what we were trying to do. I told him we had misunderstood about the land and that we would find a new area for ministry. At that point he said that things were perhaps changing in their minds; that perhaps rather than them starting the church, they would give the land to a Lutheran congregation that might start in that area. He said, "Perhaps God is bringing us together for a reason!" That phone call was an especially powerful gift in what could have been a very difficult situation.
After a year of meeting with Steve (who is now our Bishop) and Mark Huggenvik, former pastor of American Lutheran, the other congregation who purchased the land, their two congregations voted unanimously to give that 9.5 acres to Grace. What a day! What a God thing--to think two Lutheran churches bought a piece of land 4 years before Grace was a dream in my heart.
But the excitement, setbacks, and adventure were just heating up.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for good reason, has procedures and processes in place. Organizations, including churches, need them to prevent chaos, misunderstandings, and preventable problems. Admittedly, Joy was not always good at playing within the rules. It wasn't because we were anti-establishment or believed that we knew better. When you're a big congregation things move quickly and you usually end up asking for forgiveness because you forgot to ask for permission.
My call to start Grace was such a whirlwind that we had the ball rolling before we could meet with the Bishop and get his approval. We finally set up a meeting but he had to cancel. So on January 13, 2005, 3 days before Walt and I were going to officially announce the new start to the Joy congregation, we met with the Bishop. To my relief, he was extremely affirming, in fact very excited. When we told him where we were thinking of planting the new church he mentioned that there was some land out there for a new church. Walt and I had heard about it and we assumed the ELCA owned it. The Bishop also said that his Assistant was the one in charge of new plants and she would need to get in the loop. He would have her call me. But all in all, Walt and I took it as a good meeting and felt we could make the announcement.
More than a week had gone by and no call from the Assistant to the Bishop. So I called her. She was not nearly as affirming as the Bishop, understandably so, as we had been working outside of the system. She also didn't really know what was happening so she said that perhaps we could talk about a new church start in Anthem. She also said the Synod had no money for new church starts. When I told her we were going to take a group of Joy people with us and that Anthem was too far she had two reactions: 1) She was pretty shocked that we had already announced the new church start and 2) When I shared with her where I thought we might want to go, knowing there was land available, she told me that two other Lutheran churches owned that land and intended to start a new congregation there on their own. That's when I was shocked, as now we had bumbled into a partner congregation's mission area. We'd have to find a new area to meet. And, we had no access to Synod funds to get us started.
I was a bit panicked, to say the least. We had lost our ministry area and we had hacked off the Assistant to the Bishop and probably a couple of our partner Lutheran congregations and pastors.
That afternoon, Steve Talmage, then the Pastor of Peace Lutheran and one of the congregations that owned the land, left me a voice mail. He had heard about our new vision from the Assistant to the Bishop (who had set up a meeting for us for the following month). He was very affirming on the phone but he did want to chat.
I called him back immediately and quickly apologized for what seemed to be our encroachment into their area of ministry. Nothing like a big Mega-church seemingly doing its own thing with little regard for anyone else. But that wasn't what we were trying to do. I told him we had misunderstood about the land and that we would find a new area for ministry. At that point he said that things were perhaps changing in their minds; that perhaps rather than them starting the church, they would give the land to a Lutheran congregation that might start in that area. He said, "Perhaps God is bringing us together for a reason!" That phone call was an especially powerful gift in what could have been a very difficult situation.
After a year of meeting with Steve (who is now our Bishop) and Mark Huggenvik, former pastor of American Lutheran, the other congregation who purchased the land, their two congregations voted unanimously to give that 9.5 acres to Grace. What a day! What a God thing--to think two Lutheran churches bought a piece of land 4 years before Grace was a dream in my heart.
But the excitement, setbacks, and adventure were just heating up.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--11
Leaving Joy--#1
In the summer of 2003 Walt headed out on a 3 month sabbatical. He sensed God was up to something new at Joy and he wanted the chance to visit some new kinds of ministries emerging in the States and around the world. One of the places he visited early on was Sheffield, England and the ministry of Mike Breen. Walt invited Jan and me to join him. We caught a glimpse of what God was stirring in Walt's soul.
When Walt came back from his sabbatical he began to talk through what this new way of doing ministry might look like for Joy. Mike Breen moved over to Phoenix to help us in the transition.
As is true with any culture/vision change, Joy, especially the staff, went through a period of transition and chaos as we tried to figure out what God was up to and what it all meant.
In 2004 we made a shift in worship. I sensed my time as the overseer of worship was done so I stepped down from that responsibility. Out of that came a new way of viewing worship. We moved from a seeker model to a worshipping community model. In this new model, each pastor took responsibility for one of the worship services. The concept was for each pastor to be the pastor of that "congregation." So I took responsibility for the 9:35 service. I was now responsible not only for worship at that service, but for building that service into a community.
For me, the change brought a new energy. For most of my time at Joy I had a more manager type role. This new shift would free me up to pastor a group of people. In addition to worship we had picnics, I started a weekly 935 email letter, I began to meet with leaders who would eventually develop smaller groups out of the 935 worship service, to name a few things we did to build the 9:35 worship service into a missional community of people.
Then Joy was hit by a financial crisis. We were going into the hole financially and needed to stop the bleeding. More often than not, that means staff restructuring and pay cuts. As it became evident we needed to do something significant, Walt called the pastors together and invited us to pray about our call to Joy. He told us he was going to the board to hand in his resignation and would be willing to leave Joy if the board felt he should. Each of us needed to take time to discern if God was affirming our call to Joy or if this might be a time for change.
I was absolutely enjoying my time as the pastor of 935. So I didn't feel I needed to pray about it. I felt like I would be at Joy until I retired.
An aside: When Joy called me back in 1984 it was with the thought that I might plant a new congregation five years later. We actually started looking at land near where Joy ended up relocating. But Walt and I enjoyed ministry together so much that nothing really came of it.
Then the ELCA invited Joy to take the lead in planting 10 churches throughout the US--10 congregations that would be created from the start to be mega-churches. My role was to help train the lead pastors and staffs of these new congregations. As we were getting ready for the first site in Yorba Linda, CA, I woke up one morning sensing that I was to pursue the lead pastor role for that church. I told Jan about it and she said I should go for it. Walt was very supportive as well so Jan and I, along with my brother Jeff and his wife Diane, started the interview process. We headed out to Yorba Linda for a few days to see the area, look at homes, and meet with some of the pastors in the area. We drove back to Phoenix pretty certain that we were going to do it!
During the interview process we were holding one of our evangelism conferences. For whatever reason that week I had several pastors ask me when I was going to leave Joy and become a Senior Pastor! Little did they know.
What I didn't know was that Lyle Schaller, the great church consultant and our speaker for that week, pulled Walt aside and said that my leaving was a bad idea. First, he said Yorba Linda was one of the toughest places in the country to start a church. Second, he said the Lutheran church needed a strong model of a healthy growing church and a strong, healthy staff. In essence he said that together, Walt and I could build a more significant ministry than the two of us could do on our own. (Walt didn't tell me this until after we had made our final decision.)
Convinced we were headed to Yorba Linda we decided to visit it one more time. And something odd happened. As we crossed into Yorba Linda all four of us (me, Jan, Jeff, and Diane) felt the door shut. We headed back to Phoenix and pulled our names out from consideration. The ELCA went ahead with the project and it was a spectacular...failure!
I was never quite sure why I had such a strong sense to apply for the job only to have the door shut, but it did renew my commitment to Walt, Joy, and its mission. I really believed I would be there for my entire ministry.
Back to the fall, 2004. I continued to enjoy every minute of my new responsibilities. But then, seemingly out of the blue, I woke up one morning in November (not unlike that time years ago when thinking about Yorba Linda) with the strong impression that God wanted me to plant a new congregation out of Joy. The only way I've been able to explain it is I heard God's whisper. When I told Jan about it that morning she immediately said, "I think that's right!"
I set up an appointment with Walt to try the idea out on him as I was headed out of town for 10 days. The day before that meeting I bounced the idea off of Mike Breen whose excitement for the idea was a nice, affirming gift of grace. Walt, too, was extremely supportive of the idea. I told Walt the staff I'd like to take with me (which would also help with the financial challenges Joy was facing) and we began the process of making the transition.
I was headed out for a few days of vacation right before Christmas so I pulled Michelle Halonen aside and asked her to be a part of the team. She didn't even blink an eye when she said yes! I was meeting Jeff and Diane, Terey Summers and her husband, Jimmy, in Disneyland. I took them to lunch and told them I was leaving Joy to start a new church. After a nice dramatic pause, I asked them to join me.
Because this was all happening around Christmas it was hard to get to all of the people I felt an obligation to talk to personally about this (and then I got sick on Christmas Eve and was out for a week) so the news leaked before I could get to everyone.
Christmas night, at our Wright family dinner, we announced it to my family. Talk about a Christmas surprise!
Christmas weekend we held an informal meeting with some key leaders to share the dream. Then Walt and I held a forum with some of the main leaders of the 935 community. Finally we were able to get to the Joy staff, but by then most of them had heard the rumors.
In early January Walt and I did a joint sermon announcing the new venture. We invited the people of Joy to pray about the mission with us and if they were interested in joining us, to indicate so on the card. At the end of the service when I introduced the Grace team, the 9:35 service gave them a standing ovation--a very cool act of support and a demonstration of Joy's passion for mission.
We were off and running. We now had about 3 months to put a new church together, find a place to worship, and get going.
But we forgot one main thing...we forgot to get permission from the Bishop.
In the summer of 2003 Walt headed out on a 3 month sabbatical. He sensed God was up to something new at Joy and he wanted the chance to visit some new kinds of ministries emerging in the States and around the world. One of the places he visited early on was Sheffield, England and the ministry of Mike Breen. Walt invited Jan and me to join him. We caught a glimpse of what God was stirring in Walt's soul.
When Walt came back from his sabbatical he began to talk through what this new way of doing ministry might look like for Joy. Mike Breen moved over to Phoenix to help us in the transition.
As is true with any culture/vision change, Joy, especially the staff, went through a period of transition and chaos as we tried to figure out what God was up to and what it all meant.
In 2004 we made a shift in worship. I sensed my time as the overseer of worship was done so I stepped down from that responsibility. Out of that came a new way of viewing worship. We moved from a seeker model to a worshipping community model. In this new model, each pastor took responsibility for one of the worship services. The concept was for each pastor to be the pastor of that "congregation." So I took responsibility for the 9:35 service. I was now responsible not only for worship at that service, but for building that service into a community.
For me, the change brought a new energy. For most of my time at Joy I had a more manager type role. This new shift would free me up to pastor a group of people. In addition to worship we had picnics, I started a weekly 935 email letter, I began to meet with leaders who would eventually develop smaller groups out of the 935 worship service, to name a few things we did to build the 9:35 worship service into a missional community of people.
Then Joy was hit by a financial crisis. We were going into the hole financially and needed to stop the bleeding. More often than not, that means staff restructuring and pay cuts. As it became evident we needed to do something significant, Walt called the pastors together and invited us to pray about our call to Joy. He told us he was going to the board to hand in his resignation and would be willing to leave Joy if the board felt he should. Each of us needed to take time to discern if God was affirming our call to Joy or if this might be a time for change.
I was absolutely enjoying my time as the pastor of 935. So I didn't feel I needed to pray about it. I felt like I would be at Joy until I retired.
An aside: When Joy called me back in 1984 it was with the thought that I might plant a new congregation five years later. We actually started looking at land near where Joy ended up relocating. But Walt and I enjoyed ministry together so much that nothing really came of it.
Then the ELCA invited Joy to take the lead in planting 10 churches throughout the US--10 congregations that would be created from the start to be mega-churches. My role was to help train the lead pastors and staffs of these new congregations. As we were getting ready for the first site in Yorba Linda, CA, I woke up one morning sensing that I was to pursue the lead pastor role for that church. I told Jan about it and she said I should go for it. Walt was very supportive as well so Jan and I, along with my brother Jeff and his wife Diane, started the interview process. We headed out to Yorba Linda for a few days to see the area, look at homes, and meet with some of the pastors in the area. We drove back to Phoenix pretty certain that we were going to do it!
During the interview process we were holding one of our evangelism conferences. For whatever reason that week I had several pastors ask me when I was going to leave Joy and become a Senior Pastor! Little did they know.
What I didn't know was that Lyle Schaller, the great church consultant and our speaker for that week, pulled Walt aside and said that my leaving was a bad idea. First, he said Yorba Linda was one of the toughest places in the country to start a church. Second, he said the Lutheran church needed a strong model of a healthy growing church and a strong, healthy staff. In essence he said that together, Walt and I could build a more significant ministry than the two of us could do on our own. (Walt didn't tell me this until after we had made our final decision.)
Convinced we were headed to Yorba Linda we decided to visit it one more time. And something odd happened. As we crossed into Yorba Linda all four of us (me, Jan, Jeff, and Diane) felt the door shut. We headed back to Phoenix and pulled our names out from consideration. The ELCA went ahead with the project and it was a spectacular...failure!
I was never quite sure why I had such a strong sense to apply for the job only to have the door shut, but it did renew my commitment to Walt, Joy, and its mission. I really believed I would be there for my entire ministry.
Back to the fall, 2004. I continued to enjoy every minute of my new responsibilities. But then, seemingly out of the blue, I woke up one morning in November (not unlike that time years ago when thinking about Yorba Linda) with the strong impression that God wanted me to plant a new congregation out of Joy. The only way I've been able to explain it is I heard God's whisper. When I told Jan about it that morning she immediately said, "I think that's right!"
I set up an appointment with Walt to try the idea out on him as I was headed out of town for 10 days. The day before that meeting I bounced the idea off of Mike Breen whose excitement for the idea was a nice, affirming gift of grace. Walt, too, was extremely supportive of the idea. I told Walt the staff I'd like to take with me (which would also help with the financial challenges Joy was facing) and we began the process of making the transition.
I was headed out for a few days of vacation right before Christmas so I pulled Michelle Halonen aside and asked her to be a part of the team. She didn't even blink an eye when she said yes! I was meeting Jeff and Diane, Terey Summers and her husband, Jimmy, in Disneyland. I took them to lunch and told them I was leaving Joy to start a new church. After a nice dramatic pause, I asked them to join me.
Because this was all happening around Christmas it was hard to get to all of the people I felt an obligation to talk to personally about this (and then I got sick on Christmas Eve and was out for a week) so the news leaked before I could get to everyone.
Christmas night, at our Wright family dinner, we announced it to my family. Talk about a Christmas surprise!
Christmas weekend we held an informal meeting with some key leaders to share the dream. Then Walt and I held a forum with some of the main leaders of the 935 community. Finally we were able to get to the Joy staff, but by then most of them had heard the rumors.
In early January Walt and I did a joint sermon announcing the new venture. We invited the people of Joy to pray about the mission with us and if they were interested in joining us, to indicate so on the card. At the end of the service when I introduced the Grace team, the 9:35 service gave them a standing ovation--a very cool act of support and a demonstration of Joy's passion for mission.
We were off and running. We now had about 3 months to put a new church together, find a place to worship, and get going.
But we forgot one main thing...we forgot to get permission from the Bishop.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--10
Interlude #3--BJ Thomas (he gets his own post)
My parents weren't all that crazy about the new music coming out in the 60's--that radical stuff like "I wanna hold your hand" sung by 4 guys wearing suits but with sort of long hair and hordes of screaming girls around them. But you know how parents are--beg them enough and they eventually give in. So we eased into the Rock scene with 45's like Daydream Believer from the Monkees and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head by BJ Thomas. My brother, Jeff, was really the early BJ Thomas fan. I think he was the one who purchased one of the first albums of BJ hits. But I remember listening to the album over and over again as well. As my parents feared, that lite rock music led us to the deeper stuff...like Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond!
By the way, BJ is the only artist to have #1 hit songs in Pop, country, and Gospel music. He's sold over 80 million records. He's a big deal in the music biz.
In 1976, while I was at LBI, rumors started circulating that BJ Thomas had converted to Christianity. Not long after he released his first album of Contemporary Christian Music. The album was huge! BJ has one of those voices that brings a high level of professionalism to the recording and his talent/success in pop music gave CCM a big boost.
I first heard BJ in concert in Tacoma, Washington. After the opening act BJ came out and it was electric. He sang hit song after hit song. I'd forgotten the huge hits he had had. Then he moved into his new Gospel music. In so doing, he shared his story, his life of success, drug addiction, his death on a flight between islands in Hawaii, and how he'd been brought back again. The nurse standing over him told him God must have something important for him. BJ called his wife, from whom he was somewhat estranged. He didn't know she had become a Christian. But when we went home, she and some of her friends shared Jesus with BJ and Jesus caught ahold of him. In that moment BJ was freed from his drug addiction.
BJ started putting out both Gospel and "secular albums." But his Gospel stuff started taking over. And some Christians weren't all that happy about him singing secular stuff. BJ always maintained he was a singer who was a Christian, not a Christian singer. That God was using him to sing for and talk to people whom the church couldn't reach. It didn't take long, however, before it turned ugly. During concerts a few well-intentioned but clueless Christians would heckle him and yell out--sing about Jesus! I saw this happen several times. One time, in St. Paul, the heckling was so bad that BJ actually walked off stage. It as heartbreaking. He actually received death threats from Christians. Some Christians even bashed in the windows of Christian bookstores that carried his recordings!
The heckling began to sour BJ on Christianity (understandably) and soon he distanced himself from the whole Christian scene.
He fell back into addictions, one time due to a pain med, and went through some tough years.
Many people have an artist they connect with. BJ is that artist for me. Something about his music, something about his voice and his soul always moves me. I can't explain it other than that. In those years I would take every chance I could to stick up for the guy, whether through a letter to the editor of a Christian music magazine or through the radio show Steve and I did.
I kept up with his career as best I could. I took in his shows whenever he was in town. The amazing thing to me was that he still continued to sing some of his Gospel songs in every one of his shows. He often gave a disclaimer to distance himself from the judgmental Christianity he had experienced but he still sang about Jesus in every venue, in every concert.
In the mid-90's I read an article that suggested BJ and his wife Gloria were trying to reconnect with Christianity. So I decided to see if he might be interested in doing a concert at Joy. I called his agent who said BJ would be delighted to do such an event. I said I didn't want a Gospel concert. I wanted him to do what he does! (BJ later told me he didn't want to do it. It was too painful. But his wife explained that we didn't want a Christian concert but a BJ concert and that he should pray about it.)
We booked the concert. Words can describe how excited I was. I knew the people of Joy would welcome him with grace and love. I wanted Joy to hear BJ and wanted BJ to experience at least one Christian place where people would accept him for who he was.
I can't tell you how nervous I was to meet him. Little did I know how nervous he was to be in a church. He came out to a full house, standing ovation. He sang a few songs and the response to him was overwhelming. He jokingly said to his band early on--boy, it wasn't like this 14 years ago! It was evident he was a bit nervous at first but as the evening wore on, he relaxed, opened up, and even had some very emotional moments on the stage. My friend Janie, a BJ stalker, said normally BJ does about 75 minutes of music. If he goes over that, it's a good night. He went 2 hours! One of the reporters who wrote about the event said there were 7-8 standing ovations during the show. As he walked off of the stage for the final time that night he reached down and shook my hand and gave me a heartfelt thanks.
After the show I had the chance to interview him for a small group of people. It was an emotional interview for me (this is my singing hero) and for him as he had had a healing experience after all those years of hurt heaped on him by Christians.
As a result of that first concert, we became friends. An odd friendship as I had to pay to see him all the time, either by going to his concerts or bringing him to Joy! :) But once in a while he'd call. But almost always, when I'd attend his concerts, he'd invite me backstage to chat for awhile. If he knew I was in the audience he would dedicate a song to me. He is a genuinely nice guy!
Once word got out that he had done a few concerts at our church, other churches wanted to have him. But BJ insisted that the only church he did was Joy. I remember one pastor calling me asking about booking BJ. I got the impression they wanted a Christian concert out of him so I did my best to talk the pastor out of it.
One of the big highlights for me came a few years back when he recorded two live, in concert CD's at Joy. One featuring his pop/country hits and the other his Gospel hits. On both BJ albums I introduce him. And on both, he gives a shout out to me. Very cool!
BJ was kind of enough to do an in-depth interview with me for a book I wrote.
Since I left Joy I haven't had the chance to see as much of BJ and we've lost contact a bit. I'm hoping that once we get our new building up I can bring him in once more for all of us oldies to enjoy his unique talent.
My experiences with BJ were among the highlights of my highlights. Having the chance--through Joy--to bring some grace to a guy I admire so much, who had endured so much abuse from a few Christians, and becoming his friend was and is very, very cool.
My parents weren't all that crazy about the new music coming out in the 60's--that radical stuff like "I wanna hold your hand" sung by 4 guys wearing suits but with sort of long hair and hordes of screaming girls around them. But you know how parents are--beg them enough and they eventually give in. So we eased into the Rock scene with 45's like Daydream Believer from the Monkees and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head by BJ Thomas. My brother, Jeff, was really the early BJ Thomas fan. I think he was the one who purchased one of the first albums of BJ hits. But I remember listening to the album over and over again as well. As my parents feared, that lite rock music led us to the deeper stuff...like Kenny Rogers and Neil Diamond!
By the way, BJ is the only artist to have #1 hit songs in Pop, country, and Gospel music. He's sold over 80 million records. He's a big deal in the music biz.
In 1976, while I was at LBI, rumors started circulating that BJ Thomas had converted to Christianity. Not long after he released his first album of Contemporary Christian Music. The album was huge! BJ has one of those voices that brings a high level of professionalism to the recording and his talent/success in pop music gave CCM a big boost.
I first heard BJ in concert in Tacoma, Washington. After the opening act BJ came out and it was electric. He sang hit song after hit song. I'd forgotten the huge hits he had had. Then he moved into his new Gospel music. In so doing, he shared his story, his life of success, drug addiction, his death on a flight between islands in Hawaii, and how he'd been brought back again. The nurse standing over him told him God must have something important for him. BJ called his wife, from whom he was somewhat estranged. He didn't know she had become a Christian. But when we went home, she and some of her friends shared Jesus with BJ and Jesus caught ahold of him. In that moment BJ was freed from his drug addiction.
BJ started putting out both Gospel and "secular albums." But his Gospel stuff started taking over. And some Christians weren't all that happy about him singing secular stuff. BJ always maintained he was a singer who was a Christian, not a Christian singer. That God was using him to sing for and talk to people whom the church couldn't reach. It didn't take long, however, before it turned ugly. During concerts a few well-intentioned but clueless Christians would heckle him and yell out--sing about Jesus! I saw this happen several times. One time, in St. Paul, the heckling was so bad that BJ actually walked off stage. It as heartbreaking. He actually received death threats from Christians. Some Christians even bashed in the windows of Christian bookstores that carried his recordings!
The heckling began to sour BJ on Christianity (understandably) and soon he distanced himself from the whole Christian scene.
He fell back into addictions, one time due to a pain med, and went through some tough years.
Many people have an artist they connect with. BJ is that artist for me. Something about his music, something about his voice and his soul always moves me. I can't explain it other than that. In those years I would take every chance I could to stick up for the guy, whether through a letter to the editor of a Christian music magazine or through the radio show Steve and I did.
I kept up with his career as best I could. I took in his shows whenever he was in town. The amazing thing to me was that he still continued to sing some of his Gospel songs in every one of his shows. He often gave a disclaimer to distance himself from the judgmental Christianity he had experienced but he still sang about Jesus in every venue, in every concert.
In the mid-90's I read an article that suggested BJ and his wife Gloria were trying to reconnect with Christianity. So I decided to see if he might be interested in doing a concert at Joy. I called his agent who said BJ would be delighted to do such an event. I said I didn't want a Gospel concert. I wanted him to do what he does! (BJ later told me he didn't want to do it. It was too painful. But his wife explained that we didn't want a Christian concert but a BJ concert and that he should pray about it.)
We booked the concert. Words can describe how excited I was. I knew the people of Joy would welcome him with grace and love. I wanted Joy to hear BJ and wanted BJ to experience at least one Christian place where people would accept him for who he was.
I can't tell you how nervous I was to meet him. Little did I know how nervous he was to be in a church. He came out to a full house, standing ovation. He sang a few songs and the response to him was overwhelming. He jokingly said to his band early on--boy, it wasn't like this 14 years ago! It was evident he was a bit nervous at first but as the evening wore on, he relaxed, opened up, and even had some very emotional moments on the stage. My friend Janie, a BJ stalker, said normally BJ does about 75 minutes of music. If he goes over that, it's a good night. He went 2 hours! One of the reporters who wrote about the event said there were 7-8 standing ovations during the show. As he walked off of the stage for the final time that night he reached down and shook my hand and gave me a heartfelt thanks.
After the show I had the chance to interview him for a small group of people. It was an emotional interview for me (this is my singing hero) and for him as he had had a healing experience after all those years of hurt heaped on him by Christians.
As a result of that first concert, we became friends. An odd friendship as I had to pay to see him all the time, either by going to his concerts or bringing him to Joy! :) But once in a while he'd call. But almost always, when I'd attend his concerts, he'd invite me backstage to chat for awhile. If he knew I was in the audience he would dedicate a song to me. He is a genuinely nice guy!
Once word got out that he had done a few concerts at our church, other churches wanted to have him. But BJ insisted that the only church he did was Joy. I remember one pastor calling me asking about booking BJ. I got the impression they wanted a Christian concert out of him so I did my best to talk the pastor out of it.
One of the big highlights for me came a few years back when he recorded two live, in concert CD's at Joy. One featuring his pop/country hits and the other his Gospel hits. On both BJ albums I introduce him. And on both, he gives a shout out to me. Very cool!
BJ was kind of enough to do an in-depth interview with me for a book I wrote.
Since I left Joy I haven't had the chance to see as much of BJ and we've lost contact a bit. I'm hoping that once we get our new building up I can bring him in once more for all of us oldies to enjoy his unique talent.
My experiences with BJ were among the highlights of my highlights. Having the chance--through Joy--to bring some grace to a guy I admire so much, who had endured so much abuse from a few Christians, and becoming his friend was and is very, very cool.
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--9
Interlude #2--Jaw Dropping Name Dropping
Joy's mission was to create a church where those turned off to the church would want to come to or would feel comfortable coming to. One of the ways we tried to draw people in was through concerts and events. We would book well-known artists and then encourage our members to bring their friends. Since I was the guy booking and overseeing the events, I usually booked people I wanted to meet and see.
Our very first concert, back in 1984, was Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He came with his band, Bodyworks. What a concert. We had Noel back several times over the years and he always inspired us, entertained us, and moved us. There's something magical about folk music--how it sounds, what it says, and Noel knew how to use it. He would do some of this Peter, Paul, and Mary stuff and many of his own songs, which talked about his faith in Jesus--a faith he came to as an adult. Jan and I had many chances to visit with him after his concerts at Joy and when we'd see him with Peter, Paul, and Mary. He's one of those genuinely good guys!
Another biggie, at the time, was Debby Boone. Debby had had a hit with "You Light Up My Life," and had also recorded some best selling Gospel albums. Debby has an incredible voice and a riveting stage presence. She came in 3 times, I think.
One of Walt's all time favorites is Pat Boone, Debby's dad. Walt brought Pat in for the big grand opening of the new worship center at our first campus. We brought him in again to do a concert at a capital fund raising event. I had the opportunity to drive him back to the airport. A few years ago, when I was flying home from seeing BJ Thomas in Nashville, Pat Boone sat in the seat next to me!
Philip Bailey, of Earth, Wind, and Fire, is a deeply committed Christian. We had him in only one time but he was awesome. A very humble but articulate artist.
Dean Jones, actor in many of Disney's biggest hits in the 60's, had done a powerful one-man play called, St. John in Exile, a drama about the author of Revelation. Jan and I had a chance to see him perform it live. Because of the tremendous work it took to do the show, Dean filmed it and then came to churches like Joy and showed the film then shared his testimony. He was a hard living guy, good buddies with Steve McQueen. But God captured Dean's heart.
One year we brought him in for a Letterman-like talk show event. He was downright awesome. One of Dean's early films was Jailhouse Rock so we brought in an Elvis impersonator as one of our "guests." Dean had lots of great stories to tell. One of the memorable ones had to do with a song he had turned down. Backed up by the Good News Band he sang what turned out to be a Frank Sinatra hit, "That's Life!" And he sang it big!
We also brought in Gospel artists to introduce our congregation to some of the great musicians in that field--people like Chris Christian, David Meece, Larnelle Harris (who blew the socks off of us during one of our Evangelism Conferences), Andrus and Blackwood, First Call, to name a few. (Dating myself with those guys but this was back in the '80's and 90's.)
One of the more controversial people I brought in was John DeLorean. (Yes, that John DeLorean, or for you movie buffs, the designer of the DeLorean used in Back to the Future.) DeLorean had just released his autobiography about his career, his legal troubles, and his conversion. Some on the Joy board were a bit miffed that we were bringing that "crook" to Joy. I said that he hadn't been convicted of any crime, that in fact, the judge ruled no crime had been committed and that the government had tried to entrap him. But some of the board said he was guilty and had gotten off on a technicality and he shouldn't be coming to Joy. (I guess we forgot about one of our early heroes, a terrorist and murderer named Saul who had a transforming encounter with Jesus.) But we talked it through and got on the same page. And the event was outstanding. A full house. DeLorean was humble, articulate, fascinating, and interesting. After his 1 hour talk people lined up for 2 hours to shake his hand and get his autograph. The sincerity of his faith in Jesus was profound.
We also invited well known people to our worship services for interviews as a way to draw people into our church to hear about Jesus. So I had the privilege of interviewing sports people, politicians, and business people. People like Ron Wolfley and Garth Jax of the Arizona Cardinals, Mark West and Tom Chambers from the Phoenix Suns, singer Naomi Judd, congressman Trent Franks, basketball great Jerry Lucas, a few Miss Americas, Lisa Welchel (Blair from "Facts of Life),to name a few of the many. One thing I learned over the years, always keep control of the mic as sometimes the interviewee could get a bit long winded.
I also had the chance to meet a lot of great people and actually hang with them for awhile--people like Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, Mayor Elaine Scruggs of Glendale, AZ, Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye), to name a few.
For a kid from St. Louis Park, MN, I've been fortunate to meet some really outstanding people, many of whom I look up to. And of course, because I've met them or know them, that makes me an important person! :)
Joy's mission was to create a church where those turned off to the church would want to come to or would feel comfortable coming to. One of the ways we tried to draw people in was through concerts and events. We would book well-known artists and then encourage our members to bring their friends. Since I was the guy booking and overseeing the events, I usually booked people I wanted to meet and see.
Our very first concert, back in 1984, was Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He came with his band, Bodyworks. What a concert. We had Noel back several times over the years and he always inspired us, entertained us, and moved us. There's something magical about folk music--how it sounds, what it says, and Noel knew how to use it. He would do some of this Peter, Paul, and Mary stuff and many of his own songs, which talked about his faith in Jesus--a faith he came to as an adult. Jan and I had many chances to visit with him after his concerts at Joy and when we'd see him with Peter, Paul, and Mary. He's one of those genuinely good guys!
Another biggie, at the time, was Debby Boone. Debby had had a hit with "You Light Up My Life," and had also recorded some best selling Gospel albums. Debby has an incredible voice and a riveting stage presence. She came in 3 times, I think.
One of Walt's all time favorites is Pat Boone, Debby's dad. Walt brought Pat in for the big grand opening of the new worship center at our first campus. We brought him in again to do a concert at a capital fund raising event. I had the opportunity to drive him back to the airport. A few years ago, when I was flying home from seeing BJ Thomas in Nashville, Pat Boone sat in the seat next to me!
Philip Bailey, of Earth, Wind, and Fire, is a deeply committed Christian. We had him in only one time but he was awesome. A very humble but articulate artist.
Dean Jones, actor in many of Disney's biggest hits in the 60's, had done a powerful one-man play called, St. John in Exile, a drama about the author of Revelation. Jan and I had a chance to see him perform it live. Because of the tremendous work it took to do the show, Dean filmed it and then came to churches like Joy and showed the film then shared his testimony. He was a hard living guy, good buddies with Steve McQueen. But God captured Dean's heart.
One year we brought him in for a Letterman-like talk show event. He was downright awesome. One of Dean's early films was Jailhouse Rock so we brought in an Elvis impersonator as one of our "guests." Dean had lots of great stories to tell. One of the memorable ones had to do with a song he had turned down. Backed up by the Good News Band he sang what turned out to be a Frank Sinatra hit, "That's Life!" And he sang it big!
We also brought in Gospel artists to introduce our congregation to some of the great musicians in that field--people like Chris Christian, David Meece, Larnelle Harris (who blew the socks off of us during one of our Evangelism Conferences), Andrus and Blackwood, First Call, to name a few. (Dating myself with those guys but this was back in the '80's and 90's.)
One of the more controversial people I brought in was John DeLorean. (Yes, that John DeLorean, or for you movie buffs, the designer of the DeLorean used in Back to the Future.) DeLorean had just released his autobiography about his career, his legal troubles, and his conversion. Some on the Joy board were a bit miffed that we were bringing that "crook" to Joy. I said that he hadn't been convicted of any crime, that in fact, the judge ruled no crime had been committed and that the government had tried to entrap him. But some of the board said he was guilty and had gotten off on a technicality and he shouldn't be coming to Joy. (I guess we forgot about one of our early heroes, a terrorist and murderer named Saul who had a transforming encounter with Jesus.) But we talked it through and got on the same page. And the event was outstanding. A full house. DeLorean was humble, articulate, fascinating, and interesting. After his 1 hour talk people lined up for 2 hours to shake his hand and get his autograph. The sincerity of his faith in Jesus was profound.
We also invited well known people to our worship services for interviews as a way to draw people into our church to hear about Jesus. So I had the privilege of interviewing sports people, politicians, and business people. People like Ron Wolfley and Garth Jax of the Arizona Cardinals, Mark West and Tom Chambers from the Phoenix Suns, singer Naomi Judd, congressman Trent Franks, basketball great Jerry Lucas, a few Miss Americas, Lisa Welchel (Blair from "Facts of Life),to name a few of the many. One thing I learned over the years, always keep control of the mic as sometimes the interviewee could get a bit long winded.
I also had the chance to meet a lot of great people and actually hang with them for awhile--people like Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, Mayor Elaine Scruggs of Glendale, AZ, Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye), to name a few.
For a kid from St. Louis Park, MN, I've been fortunate to meet some really outstanding people, many of whom I look up to. And of course, because I've met them or know them, that makes me an important person! :)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--8
Interlude #1: You wouldn't believe where I've been. The cities and towns I've been in...
As the story and mission of Joy began to gain a wider audience so to speak, Walt began to receive all kinds of speaking invitations, many of them overseas. He was gracious enough to invite Jan and me to join him on most of those trips. His graciousness allowed us to do some world traveling that I never dreamed of before.
My first overseas trip was actually a missions trip. Walt, Tom Eggum, and I headed over to South Korea to take in a conference at the world's largest church (they hit 500,000 members the week we were there back in 1985.) Then we headed into China, specifically to Beijing and Shanghai. We smuggled in some religious literature and handed it out on the streets. It was an amazing trip both seeing that huge church in Korea and then seeing China in the early stages of its dance with capitalism. We had the chance to visit a state church (so boring that a woman in the front row fell asleep and thumped into the aisle). But our guide, a non-Christian, couldn't stop talking about the stories he had heard, like the one about a man thrown into a lion's den and how God protected him.
Our first real overseas trip to speak was to England. Walt had been invited to speak at a large conference held in Brighton. So he took me and Jan, Paul and Carol, Tom and his wife, and of course, Walt took his wife Mary. The 4 of us guys spoke about the mission of Joy. And that one hour talk opened up several new speaking engagements overseas.
We spoke in Strasbourg France on a couple of occasions. (Jan and I took our kids one of those trips. I had been out all day and when I got back to the hotel that early evening I found Jan and the kids in bed, absolutely soaked with sweat from sitting in a hot, hot room with no air-conditioning all day long. I thought it was pretty funny. They didn't. On the last night of our time there we were walking through the city when someone yelled, "Jan Wright." There, in the middle of Strasbourg, Jan ran into an old work friend from St. Louis Park, MN!)
We made several trips over to Germany. Usually we were invited by the "Charismatic" Lutheran movement as the State Church Lutherans weren't all that keen on Joy or our mission. Our first invitation was to a major event in Nuremberg which attracted thousands of people. From then on, our speaking opportunities were usually to smaller groups of about 30-40. In those years Willow Creek and Bill Hybels were doing conferences in Germany drawing 5,000-7,000 people. We heard how the Germans flew Bill into Germany in first class and even brought him to one event in a helicopter. Walt and I, and our wives, on the other hand, flew over in coach and drove a rental car. One time we spoke in an old converted palace. As we were dragging our own luggage up 3 flights of very narrow stairs we had a laughing fit about what big potatoes we were. Truth be told, while it's always invigorating to speak to large crowds, the change to speak to smaller groups and hang out is usually more rewarding.
A couple of interesting (to me) notes: We had the chance to go into what had been East Germany. We spoke at a Lutheran convent (yes, Lutheran nuns) in Magdeburg to a group of "East German" pastors. These were men who had been beaten down under communism for all of their lives. When Walt talked about vision and dreaming they had no idea what he was talking about. There was a sense of oppression and hopelessness during those few days. One of the tougher conferences we had been a part of. It was gratifying on the last day to hear some of them begin to dream.
(My daughter often travelled with us. And often she celebrated her birthday overseas. In Magdeburg the nuns put some flowers together for her and did a little mini-concert for her. Very sweet!)
One year we finally had the chance to speak to State Church Lutheran Pastors at a Lutheran seminary in Celle. (We were there when the big train crash happened in that city). This was another tough speaking gig. A few of the pastors were extremely hostile to us. Outside of the conference room was a whiteboard where people could write comments on the conference. As we walked by it, Rudy, our interpreter, read some of them and groaned. We asked him what they said. He didn't want to tell us. Finally we forced it out of him. Some of the pastors were accusing us of being like Hitler. We sensed they didn't really like us! However, the next day the couple of pastors who were angry with us left. The rest of us had a great time. I showed them a video of our opening worship service on our new campus (the one with the Trash can guys). Some of the pastors stayed up until the early hours in the morning watching it over and over again.
We had the opportunity to speak in Norway (what a beautiful country) and Finland. We took a side trip into Russia and brought in some medical supplies. We were crammed into an old fashioned ambulance and driven to the care facility where we had a chance to spend some time with the children there.
We also had a chance to go to Australia. Jan and I actually went 3 times. One of our favorite countries. We've got great friends there. I became a big fan of Australian Rules Football and the Adelaide Crows!
As in Germany, we had our critics in Australia. This time it was the Lutheran Seminary, the control center of the Lutheran church. On our first visit they sent out letters telling people not to attend our events because our theology was so bad (mind you, they'd never met us or talked to us or read any of our stuff!). It didn't stop people from coming, however.
On our second trip over the same thing happened. On our first day there one of the pastors said we had caused quite a stir because I didn't believe in communion. When I laughed he said he was serious. An article, written in St. Paul, Minnesota, had made its way to Australia. The author had used my book to prove that I didn't believe in communion. But he had taken every sentence out of context. (When I got back to the States I found I was the topic of a discussion thread online. Friends of mine were talking behind my back wondering why I had bad-mouthed communion. So I wrote to the author of that article and provided the full quotes from my book which were actually extremely affirming of communion. I sent it off to the discussion thread as well. The author wrote me back and said, "I don't care what you wrote. I know your intent!" Lovely man!)
Finally, Walt and I got to meet with the seminary powers that be. It was such a sad meeting. They were fellow Christians. But no welcome. No prayer. They simply interrogated us for a couple of hours. No apology for making untrue claims about us. No apology for making claims when they hadn't read any of our stuff. Our host was so ashamed he lovingly but forcefully took the group to task for the way they treated us. But in the end, the congregations still came out and we had some great meetings.
Our third trip included a stop over in New Zealand. At the time I told people I was speaking at a seminar for all of the Lutheran pastors in New Zealand. Sounds great but there were only 12 of them. But what a great bunch of leaders. (In the morning I went out for a run down a dirt road when suddenly a huge dog charged me. I thought I was dead. It bared its teeth and barked over and over and over. The "charming" owner stayed in the house and yelled at the dog for about 3 minutes before the dog decided I didn't have enough meat on my body!)
Those overseas speaking engagements were great highlights in our ministry. With a few exceptions we had the chance to hang with other Christians in other cultures and dream together about how to reach our countries and world for Jesus. We met some truly awesome leaders.
Two other opportunities stand out:
Several years ago several denominations came together for a conference on the Holy Spirit with an emphasis on evangelism. We were invited to speak to the Lutheran part of the event. Both conferences (the leaders event and then the general conference) were held in New Orleans. I was asked to speak at another such event in Indianapolis and was able to bring the Good News Band along.
I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the seminal conferences for me was the Robert Schuller Leadership event. Walt spoke at it almost every year. One year he asked me, Paul, and Tom to join him. We had the chance to speak for a few minutes from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, one of the most recognized churches in the world. I was so nervous I could hardly breathe. I told people that for a preacher to speak from that pulpit is like a pilot of a single engine plane getting to fly a 747.
A year later we actually got to model our seeker service during one of the Schuller conferences. It was a memorable experience for me and to the Good News Band, to do our thing at that great church.
Over the years Jan and I have had the chance to go to Israel twice. I never had any big emotional faith experience in Israel. But I can say that the land got into my soul. It became a spiritual home.
And I've been to Rwanda 3 times. Words are always hard to come by when talking about the Rwanda experience. All I can say is I've fallen in love with the country (such amazing beauty) and the people (such amazing spirit!).
As the story and mission of Joy began to gain a wider audience so to speak, Walt began to receive all kinds of speaking invitations, many of them overseas. He was gracious enough to invite Jan and me to join him on most of those trips. His graciousness allowed us to do some world traveling that I never dreamed of before.
My first overseas trip was actually a missions trip. Walt, Tom Eggum, and I headed over to South Korea to take in a conference at the world's largest church (they hit 500,000 members the week we were there back in 1985.) Then we headed into China, specifically to Beijing and Shanghai. We smuggled in some religious literature and handed it out on the streets. It was an amazing trip both seeing that huge church in Korea and then seeing China in the early stages of its dance with capitalism. We had the chance to visit a state church (so boring that a woman in the front row fell asleep and thumped into the aisle). But our guide, a non-Christian, couldn't stop talking about the stories he had heard, like the one about a man thrown into a lion's den and how God protected him.
Our first real overseas trip to speak was to England. Walt had been invited to speak at a large conference held in Brighton. So he took me and Jan, Paul and Carol, Tom and his wife, and of course, Walt took his wife Mary. The 4 of us guys spoke about the mission of Joy. And that one hour talk opened up several new speaking engagements overseas.
We spoke in Strasbourg France on a couple of occasions. (Jan and I took our kids one of those trips. I had been out all day and when I got back to the hotel that early evening I found Jan and the kids in bed, absolutely soaked with sweat from sitting in a hot, hot room with no air-conditioning all day long. I thought it was pretty funny. They didn't. On the last night of our time there we were walking through the city when someone yelled, "Jan Wright." There, in the middle of Strasbourg, Jan ran into an old work friend from St. Louis Park, MN!)
We made several trips over to Germany. Usually we were invited by the "Charismatic" Lutheran movement as the State Church Lutherans weren't all that keen on Joy or our mission. Our first invitation was to a major event in Nuremberg which attracted thousands of people. From then on, our speaking opportunities were usually to smaller groups of about 30-40. In those years Willow Creek and Bill Hybels were doing conferences in Germany drawing 5,000-7,000 people. We heard how the Germans flew Bill into Germany in first class and even brought him to one event in a helicopter. Walt and I, and our wives, on the other hand, flew over in coach and drove a rental car. One time we spoke in an old converted palace. As we were dragging our own luggage up 3 flights of very narrow stairs we had a laughing fit about what big potatoes we were. Truth be told, while it's always invigorating to speak to large crowds, the change to speak to smaller groups and hang out is usually more rewarding.
A couple of interesting (to me) notes: We had the chance to go into what had been East Germany. We spoke at a Lutheran convent (yes, Lutheran nuns) in Magdeburg to a group of "East German" pastors. These were men who had been beaten down under communism for all of their lives. When Walt talked about vision and dreaming they had no idea what he was talking about. There was a sense of oppression and hopelessness during those few days. One of the tougher conferences we had been a part of. It was gratifying on the last day to hear some of them begin to dream.
(My daughter often travelled with us. And often she celebrated her birthday overseas. In Magdeburg the nuns put some flowers together for her and did a little mini-concert for her. Very sweet!)
One year we finally had the chance to speak to State Church Lutheran Pastors at a Lutheran seminary in Celle. (We were there when the big train crash happened in that city). This was another tough speaking gig. A few of the pastors were extremely hostile to us. Outside of the conference room was a whiteboard where people could write comments on the conference. As we walked by it, Rudy, our interpreter, read some of them and groaned. We asked him what they said. He didn't want to tell us. Finally we forced it out of him. Some of the pastors were accusing us of being like Hitler. We sensed they didn't really like us! However, the next day the couple of pastors who were angry with us left. The rest of us had a great time. I showed them a video of our opening worship service on our new campus (the one with the Trash can guys). Some of the pastors stayed up until the early hours in the morning watching it over and over again.
We had the opportunity to speak in Norway (what a beautiful country) and Finland. We took a side trip into Russia and brought in some medical supplies. We were crammed into an old fashioned ambulance and driven to the care facility where we had a chance to spend some time with the children there.
We also had a chance to go to Australia. Jan and I actually went 3 times. One of our favorite countries. We've got great friends there. I became a big fan of Australian Rules Football and the Adelaide Crows!
As in Germany, we had our critics in Australia. This time it was the Lutheran Seminary, the control center of the Lutheran church. On our first visit they sent out letters telling people not to attend our events because our theology was so bad (mind you, they'd never met us or talked to us or read any of our stuff!). It didn't stop people from coming, however.
On our second trip over the same thing happened. On our first day there one of the pastors said we had caused quite a stir because I didn't believe in communion. When I laughed he said he was serious. An article, written in St. Paul, Minnesota, had made its way to Australia. The author had used my book to prove that I didn't believe in communion. But he had taken every sentence out of context. (When I got back to the States I found I was the topic of a discussion thread online. Friends of mine were talking behind my back wondering why I had bad-mouthed communion. So I wrote to the author of that article and provided the full quotes from my book which were actually extremely affirming of communion. I sent it off to the discussion thread as well. The author wrote me back and said, "I don't care what you wrote. I know your intent!" Lovely man!)
Finally, Walt and I got to meet with the seminary powers that be. It was such a sad meeting. They were fellow Christians. But no welcome. No prayer. They simply interrogated us for a couple of hours. No apology for making untrue claims about us. No apology for making claims when they hadn't read any of our stuff. Our host was so ashamed he lovingly but forcefully took the group to task for the way they treated us. But in the end, the congregations still came out and we had some great meetings.
Our third trip included a stop over in New Zealand. At the time I told people I was speaking at a seminar for all of the Lutheran pastors in New Zealand. Sounds great but there were only 12 of them. But what a great bunch of leaders. (In the morning I went out for a run down a dirt road when suddenly a huge dog charged me. I thought I was dead. It bared its teeth and barked over and over and over. The "charming" owner stayed in the house and yelled at the dog for about 3 minutes before the dog decided I didn't have enough meat on my body!)
Those overseas speaking engagements were great highlights in our ministry. With a few exceptions we had the chance to hang with other Christians in other cultures and dream together about how to reach our countries and world for Jesus. We met some truly awesome leaders.
Two other opportunities stand out:
Several years ago several denominations came together for a conference on the Holy Spirit with an emphasis on evangelism. We were invited to speak to the Lutheran part of the event. Both conferences (the leaders event and then the general conference) were held in New Orleans. I was asked to speak at another such event in Indianapolis and was able to bring the Good News Band along.
I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the seminal conferences for me was the Robert Schuller Leadership event. Walt spoke at it almost every year. One year he asked me, Paul, and Tom to join him. We had the chance to speak for a few minutes from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral, one of the most recognized churches in the world. I was so nervous I could hardly breathe. I told people that for a preacher to speak from that pulpit is like a pilot of a single engine plane getting to fly a 747.
A year later we actually got to model our seeker service during one of the Schuller conferences. It was a memorable experience for me and to the Good News Band, to do our thing at that great church.
Over the years Jan and I have had the chance to go to Israel twice. I never had any big emotional faith experience in Israel. But I can say that the land got into my soul. It became a spiritual home.
And I've been to Rwanda 3 times. Words are always hard to come by when talking about the Rwanda experience. All I can say is I've fallen in love with the country (such amazing beauty) and the people (such amazing spirit!).
Monday, February 23, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--7
Community Church of Joy: Moving Day
Joy finished and moved into its new worship center on its first campus in 1983. I came back to Joy after graduating from Seminary in March of 1984.
It wasn't many years later when Walt began to talk about moving. We had about 10 acres at that time and had basically built out the campus when we added the family life center. So in the early/mid 90's we started looking at relocating. We found a piece of land in Arrowhead Ranch. At that time Arizona was in a financial slump. Arrowhead Ranch had been especially hit and parcels of land were being foreclosed on. Walt found a piece of land that would eventually be bordered buy a major freeway. He began to walk it and pray for it. Tucked in the back of the land lived an older couple. Walt eventually learned from them that they had been praying for decades that a church would be built on that land. Eventually, through many twists and turns, including the conversion of the man who picked up the land and then sold it to us, Joy purchased the property. At one point Joy had almost 200 acres of land!
I can still remember some of the initial meetings on that land as we gathered some leaders to pray. I remember Joy hosting a big community event with Robert Schuller, on what was to be the freeway next to the church. The planning, the dreaming, the praying, the preparation was all very exciting.
It was during that time that Lyle Schaller recommended that for the sake of Joy, we create a new entity called the Joy Company. The purpose was to ensure that the ministry of the congregation continued without being too sidetracked by the new campus. So I became the Executive Pastor, responsible for the on-going mission of Joy and Walt and Paul focused on getting us to the new campus.
It was a massive undertaking--to clean out an old campus and move to a new one. And while ministry continued, it was at times quite stressful. But finally the big day came for the move.
On our last Sunday we ended the service by going dark and then leading the congregation out by candle light. Then one of Walt's long time dreams came true--we had a parade/procession from the old campus to the new one.
During the time of the move, my dad had a major heart attack. He was not expected to live. But 11 years later he's still here!
The following Saturday evening, March 7, 1998, was to be our first worship experience on the new campus. Unfortunately, the building was nowhere near ready. Due to el nino, the project was way, way behind. For our first weekend all we had were cement walls and a ceiling. No electricity. No window/doors, no restrooms. But we had to meet there as we had sold the old campus and the new owners were worshipping there on March 7.
There was no way we should have been allowed into that building. But we were. So on that Saturday/Sunday we had generators with power cords and lights all over the place, many of them running through puddles of water. We set up a portable sound system, screens and projectors, and had our first worship experience. Our Trash Can guys started things off and we walked in carrying the two candles that had led us out of the last service on the old campus. Not the best of circumstances, but a memorable experience none-the-less.
Over the next several months we came back to worship each week and a bit more of the worship center and campus was done. I think we finally finished everything in September!
Before moving we expected two things to happen:
1) Within 6-12 months we would see an increase in every area of ministry by about 50%. In fact, our worship attendance shot up immediately but then settled back down to a point higher than on the old campus, but not at a 50% increase. Our adult ed stuff actually imploded on us. We didn't see the anticipated growth in really any areas of ministry even through some experts had said it would happen. Then we heard from a congregation that had relocated as we had done. They told us to expect to actually go backwards for awhile. Some will leave because the drive is too far. Others will leave because it doesn't feel the same any more. And that was our story, too in the early days.
2) We expected the transition to be filled with chaos; that people would have a hard time adjusting to a new campus. But it didn't happen. We expected it in the first 6 months. As we neared our first year and things seemed good we thought we had dodged the bullet. But after about a year it all hit. And for some, it got nasty. We were in a new land, and the old familiar campus and experiences were now very different. Even though worship styles and preaching and teaching hadn't changed, it still seemed different. Rather than realizing it was the campus that was different, many turned it into a spiritual issue saying we had watered down the Gospel. Mind you, these were people who had come to Christ through our particular style of ministry on the old campus. But we weren't in Egypt anymore and some wanted to go back.
While lots of good things happened during that transition, it was one of the more painful times of ministry for me and for the entire staff.
About the time we started hitting our stride Walt had a heart attack followed by a six-bypass surgery. It essentially took him out for a year. We did the best we could holding down the fort but it's tough when the main leader is out of the game for awhile.
So the move was filled with both blessings and challenges. But to keep perspective, the move was massive. And it takes people of massive faith and vision to pull of something like that and to move it through the sure-to-come frustrations. I give huge credit to the Joy faithful who gave sacrificially, prayed unceasingly, and saw the campus as a tool God could use to continue to impact people for the Gospel. And in the end, challenges aside, that's exactly what happened with the campus.
We were able to do things on the new campus we couldn't do on the old one. And it gave us the space to reach new people and launch new ministries, including a new Christian school. That entire adventure of moving to and into the new campus is one I'm glad I was a part of. It was and continues to be a testament to God's faithfulness and the commitment of people passionate about sharing Jesus with the world around them.
In our 25 years Jan and I have been a part of building two campuses so far: We financially participated in Joy's old campus and in the new one. Long after we're gone, people will be worshipping in and doing mission out of those two campuses. Who knows, we may build a third one for Community of Grace in the near future. There are few things more satisfying than knowing we had a small part in mission centers that will impact the world for Jesus for generations to come.
Joy finished and moved into its new worship center on its first campus in 1983. I came back to Joy after graduating from Seminary in March of 1984.
It wasn't many years later when Walt began to talk about moving. We had about 10 acres at that time and had basically built out the campus when we added the family life center. So in the early/mid 90's we started looking at relocating. We found a piece of land in Arrowhead Ranch. At that time Arizona was in a financial slump. Arrowhead Ranch had been especially hit and parcels of land were being foreclosed on. Walt found a piece of land that would eventually be bordered buy a major freeway. He began to walk it and pray for it. Tucked in the back of the land lived an older couple. Walt eventually learned from them that they had been praying for decades that a church would be built on that land. Eventually, through many twists and turns, including the conversion of the man who picked up the land and then sold it to us, Joy purchased the property. At one point Joy had almost 200 acres of land!
I can still remember some of the initial meetings on that land as we gathered some leaders to pray. I remember Joy hosting a big community event with Robert Schuller, on what was to be the freeway next to the church. The planning, the dreaming, the praying, the preparation was all very exciting.
It was during that time that Lyle Schaller recommended that for the sake of Joy, we create a new entity called the Joy Company. The purpose was to ensure that the ministry of the congregation continued without being too sidetracked by the new campus. So I became the Executive Pastor, responsible for the on-going mission of Joy and Walt and Paul focused on getting us to the new campus.
It was a massive undertaking--to clean out an old campus and move to a new one. And while ministry continued, it was at times quite stressful. But finally the big day came for the move.
On our last Sunday we ended the service by going dark and then leading the congregation out by candle light. Then one of Walt's long time dreams came true--we had a parade/procession from the old campus to the new one.
During the time of the move, my dad had a major heart attack. He was not expected to live. But 11 years later he's still here!
The following Saturday evening, March 7, 1998, was to be our first worship experience on the new campus. Unfortunately, the building was nowhere near ready. Due to el nino, the project was way, way behind. For our first weekend all we had were cement walls and a ceiling. No electricity. No window/doors, no restrooms. But we had to meet there as we had sold the old campus and the new owners were worshipping there on March 7.
There was no way we should have been allowed into that building. But we were. So on that Saturday/Sunday we had generators with power cords and lights all over the place, many of them running through puddles of water. We set up a portable sound system, screens and projectors, and had our first worship experience. Our Trash Can guys started things off and we walked in carrying the two candles that had led us out of the last service on the old campus. Not the best of circumstances, but a memorable experience none-the-less.
Over the next several months we came back to worship each week and a bit more of the worship center and campus was done. I think we finally finished everything in September!
Before moving we expected two things to happen:
1) Within 6-12 months we would see an increase in every area of ministry by about 50%. In fact, our worship attendance shot up immediately but then settled back down to a point higher than on the old campus, but not at a 50% increase. Our adult ed stuff actually imploded on us. We didn't see the anticipated growth in really any areas of ministry even through some experts had said it would happen. Then we heard from a congregation that had relocated as we had done. They told us to expect to actually go backwards for awhile. Some will leave because the drive is too far. Others will leave because it doesn't feel the same any more. And that was our story, too in the early days.
2) We expected the transition to be filled with chaos; that people would have a hard time adjusting to a new campus. But it didn't happen. We expected it in the first 6 months. As we neared our first year and things seemed good we thought we had dodged the bullet. But after about a year it all hit. And for some, it got nasty. We were in a new land, and the old familiar campus and experiences were now very different. Even though worship styles and preaching and teaching hadn't changed, it still seemed different. Rather than realizing it was the campus that was different, many turned it into a spiritual issue saying we had watered down the Gospel. Mind you, these were people who had come to Christ through our particular style of ministry on the old campus. But we weren't in Egypt anymore and some wanted to go back.
While lots of good things happened during that transition, it was one of the more painful times of ministry for me and for the entire staff.
About the time we started hitting our stride Walt had a heart attack followed by a six-bypass surgery. It essentially took him out for a year. We did the best we could holding down the fort but it's tough when the main leader is out of the game for awhile.
So the move was filled with both blessings and challenges. But to keep perspective, the move was massive. And it takes people of massive faith and vision to pull of something like that and to move it through the sure-to-come frustrations. I give huge credit to the Joy faithful who gave sacrificially, prayed unceasingly, and saw the campus as a tool God could use to continue to impact people for the Gospel. And in the end, challenges aside, that's exactly what happened with the campus.
We were able to do things on the new campus we couldn't do on the old one. And it gave us the space to reach new people and launch new ministries, including a new Christian school. That entire adventure of moving to and into the new campus is one I'm glad I was a part of. It was and continues to be a testament to God's faithfulness and the commitment of people passionate about sharing Jesus with the world around them.
In our 25 years Jan and I have been a part of building two campuses so far: We financially participated in Joy's old campus and in the new one. Long after we're gone, people will be worshipping in and doing mission out of those two campuses. Who knows, we may build a third one for Community of Grace in the near future. There are few things more satisfying than knowing we had a small part in mission centers that will impact the world for Jesus for generations to come.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--6
Community Church of Joy: Evangelism Conferences
As Joy began to gain some notoriety in the church world, so to speak, especially among Mainline denominations like the Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Church of Christ, we began to get more and more phone calls from pastors and church staff asking us how to do what we were doing.
So in 1988 we launched what we called at that time, The Community Church of Joy Academy of Evangelism and Church Growth. The purpose of the Academy was to offer a 4 day conference once a year where people could come and see/experience/learn about the mission of Joy. I had the great privilege of overseeing that event. It was a big job year after year to book the speakers, set the program, do the advertising, and oversee the implementation of the event from notebooks to hospitality to registrations, and so on. I was fortunate to have a great assistant help me, and of course the Joy staff was a great support as well.
The conference followed a similar format year after year. Monday night: We modeled our more traditional service (since most came from traditional churches we wanted to ease them into the week!) and Walt shared his story of bringing change/transformation to Joy. Tuesday was a long day. A major session in the morning by me or Walt, morning workshops, then another major session in the afternoon (me or Walt speaking) followed by another round of workshops. Tuesday evening, after dinner, we would model our seeker service. Wednesday we did it all over again, only this time, we brought in a well-known church leader to speak at the two major sessions. Wednesday evening we held a concert or comedy event to give people a chance to relax after some very long days. Thursday featured two sessions in the morning by me and Walt, and then, for me, the highlight of the conference: We ended with communion and personally laid hands on/prayed for each person who came to the conference. When we were up to over 600 people, that was a lot of prayer. So many of the pastors were deeply wounded. Many of them had never been prayed for before. It was always a profoundly humbling and sacred moment.
In the early days, there was an almost predictable rhythm to the event. Many pastors came in skeptical, even critical of a church like Joy--it's shallow, it's all entertainment, they've watered down the Gospel, if they're reaching that many people they must have compromised their message somehow, etc, etc, etc. Many came in defensive. But by Wednesday night something started stirring in their souls. By Thursday prayer time they were ready to head back to take the mountain. I can't tell you how many times we prayed for a pastor who had come to our conference as a last resort, ready to quit ministry, only to go back fired up.
Aa time went on and as what Joy was doing became better understood, people increasingly came to the conference like sponges, ready from the opening chord to take in all they could.
One interesting tidbit: Our seeker services, as explained in the previous post, were designed not for the churched but for those not in the church. They were perhaps the most controversial part of Joy's mission. The 80's and 90's were the decades of "worship wars" as people literally fought over worship. Some argued that worship was only for the converted and that evangelism had no place on Sunday morning. Usually these folks argued that worship should also be traditional/liturgical, with organs and robes, etc. On the other side were those arguing for relevancy and using familiar everyday stuff like drama and contemporary music to put the Gospel into language new generations could understand. Joy really tried to stay out of the wars. We said that God was delighted with both. But...that having been said, that there was no Joy in heaven over empty churches. So we needed to do something to reach people for Jesus.
So when we modeled our Seeker service, people came with all kinds of stuff: Some were skeptical. Others curious. Still others eager to learn. But time and again I had people, even those who still weren't convinced about seekers services, say that the seeker service they experienced at Joy was the most spiritually moving "worship service" they'd ever been a part of. My point: When you lift up Jesus, no matter what the venue or language, Jesus will draw people to himself.
Because I was in charge of the conference, I had the great fortune of bringing in speakers I wanted to meet and hear. Many of them ended up becoming friends. I'm not one to name drop :) but here are some of the people who graced our conferences over the years:
Robert Schuller, Bill Hybels, Kent Hunter, C. Peter Wagner, Win Arn, Eddie Gibbs, George Hunter, Bill Easum, Bishop Herb Chilstrom of the ELCA, Bishop David Preus of the ALC (he was in a severe car accident right after he spoke. We almost killed the Bishop!), Lyle Schaller, Kevin Graham Ford, Michael Slaughter, and Leighton Ford, to name a few. We also brought in real pastors to share devotions and highlight their unique ministries which was always inspiring.
Over the years the Academy grew and we added conferences. We did a version of the conference on the East Coast for a few years and then created a new event when we teamed up with Disney World. Disney offered a couple of sessions on imagination/vision and we followed up with sessions outlining implications of the Disney talks for the church. We had the misfortune of moving that event to Disneyland one month after 9/11. The financial hit we took on that event ended that particular conference. Too bad as it was really unique.
One summer, early on in our conference adventures, we took the conference on the road. The Good News Band (the group that lead the Sunday night service and then the Seeker service at Joy) and I did one night worship conferences from here to Minneapolis. We stopped in Albuquerque, Denver, Minden, Nebraska (we drove through cornfields forever to get to it--almost drove past it, but it was the best stop of the tour. They'd never had anything like us come through their little town before. Voted best pot-luck ever by the band. Also home of Pioneer Village), Lincoln, Sioux City, Iowa, Okoboji, and finally, St. Paul. I did a one hour presentation on seeker worship and then the band and I modeled it.
One year we did a conference on story-telling. I brought in a well-respected Hollywood Screenwriter. He was fantastic. But he was rather cynical about faith. By the afternoon the worship center was filled with his F-bombs! Pretty interesting experience--a room full of pastors who want to shape culture with the Gospel listening to one of the primary culture shapers--a movie screenwriter, using language not often heard in a church! It made for an interesting 24 hours. To my delight, with the exception of a couple of people, everyone in attendance loved it.
Eventually the conferences morphed into a full-blown Leadership Center. We not only offered conferences but consulting and resources. We even went international (more on that in another post.)
Out of those conferences I wrote 5 books. Two of them sold quite well. Three of them, not so much.
As the Leadership Center grew I could no longer keep up with all of its demands, nor did I want to. I was content leading the conferences. So Paul Sorensen, one of our pastors at Joy, took the helm and helped guide the Center into its potential.
I loved those conferences. Everything about them. Because I really enjoyed hanging around other pastors and church leaders, dreaming together about how we could do a better job of bringing Jesus to our communities.
It's been over 5 years since our last conference but I still hear from pastors whose ministries were revolutionized by their time at Joy. That's pretty darn rewarding.
As Joy began to gain some notoriety in the church world, so to speak, especially among Mainline denominations like the Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Church of Christ, we began to get more and more phone calls from pastors and church staff asking us how to do what we were doing.
So in 1988 we launched what we called at that time, The Community Church of Joy Academy of Evangelism and Church Growth. The purpose of the Academy was to offer a 4 day conference once a year where people could come and see/experience/learn about the mission of Joy. I had the great privilege of overseeing that event. It was a big job year after year to book the speakers, set the program, do the advertising, and oversee the implementation of the event from notebooks to hospitality to registrations, and so on. I was fortunate to have a great assistant help me, and of course the Joy staff was a great support as well.
The conference followed a similar format year after year. Monday night: We modeled our more traditional service (since most came from traditional churches we wanted to ease them into the week!) and Walt shared his story of bringing change/transformation to Joy. Tuesday was a long day. A major session in the morning by me or Walt, morning workshops, then another major session in the afternoon (me or Walt speaking) followed by another round of workshops. Tuesday evening, after dinner, we would model our seeker service. Wednesday we did it all over again, only this time, we brought in a well-known church leader to speak at the two major sessions. Wednesday evening we held a concert or comedy event to give people a chance to relax after some very long days. Thursday featured two sessions in the morning by me and Walt, and then, for me, the highlight of the conference: We ended with communion and personally laid hands on/prayed for each person who came to the conference. When we were up to over 600 people, that was a lot of prayer. So many of the pastors were deeply wounded. Many of them had never been prayed for before. It was always a profoundly humbling and sacred moment.
In the early days, there was an almost predictable rhythm to the event. Many pastors came in skeptical, even critical of a church like Joy--it's shallow, it's all entertainment, they've watered down the Gospel, if they're reaching that many people they must have compromised their message somehow, etc, etc, etc. Many came in defensive. But by Wednesday night something started stirring in their souls. By Thursday prayer time they were ready to head back to take the mountain. I can't tell you how many times we prayed for a pastor who had come to our conference as a last resort, ready to quit ministry, only to go back fired up.
Aa time went on and as what Joy was doing became better understood, people increasingly came to the conference like sponges, ready from the opening chord to take in all they could.
One interesting tidbit: Our seeker services, as explained in the previous post, were designed not for the churched but for those not in the church. They were perhaps the most controversial part of Joy's mission. The 80's and 90's were the decades of "worship wars" as people literally fought over worship. Some argued that worship was only for the converted and that evangelism had no place on Sunday morning. Usually these folks argued that worship should also be traditional/liturgical, with organs and robes, etc. On the other side were those arguing for relevancy and using familiar everyday stuff like drama and contemporary music to put the Gospel into language new generations could understand. Joy really tried to stay out of the wars. We said that God was delighted with both. But...that having been said, that there was no Joy in heaven over empty churches. So we needed to do something to reach people for Jesus.
So when we modeled our Seeker service, people came with all kinds of stuff: Some were skeptical. Others curious. Still others eager to learn. But time and again I had people, even those who still weren't convinced about seekers services, say that the seeker service they experienced at Joy was the most spiritually moving "worship service" they'd ever been a part of. My point: When you lift up Jesus, no matter what the venue or language, Jesus will draw people to himself.
Because I was in charge of the conference, I had the great fortune of bringing in speakers I wanted to meet and hear. Many of them ended up becoming friends. I'm not one to name drop :) but here are some of the people who graced our conferences over the years:
Robert Schuller, Bill Hybels, Kent Hunter, C. Peter Wagner, Win Arn, Eddie Gibbs, George Hunter, Bill Easum, Bishop Herb Chilstrom of the ELCA, Bishop David Preus of the ALC (he was in a severe car accident right after he spoke. We almost killed the Bishop!), Lyle Schaller, Kevin Graham Ford, Michael Slaughter, and Leighton Ford, to name a few. We also brought in real pastors to share devotions and highlight their unique ministries which was always inspiring.
Over the years the Academy grew and we added conferences. We did a version of the conference on the East Coast for a few years and then created a new event when we teamed up with Disney World. Disney offered a couple of sessions on imagination/vision and we followed up with sessions outlining implications of the Disney talks for the church. We had the misfortune of moving that event to Disneyland one month after 9/11. The financial hit we took on that event ended that particular conference. Too bad as it was really unique.
One summer, early on in our conference adventures, we took the conference on the road. The Good News Band (the group that lead the Sunday night service and then the Seeker service at Joy) and I did one night worship conferences from here to Minneapolis. We stopped in Albuquerque, Denver, Minden, Nebraska (we drove through cornfields forever to get to it--almost drove past it, but it was the best stop of the tour. They'd never had anything like us come through their little town before. Voted best pot-luck ever by the band. Also home of Pioneer Village), Lincoln, Sioux City, Iowa, Okoboji, and finally, St. Paul. I did a one hour presentation on seeker worship and then the band and I modeled it.
One year we did a conference on story-telling. I brought in a well-respected Hollywood Screenwriter. He was fantastic. But he was rather cynical about faith. By the afternoon the worship center was filled with his F-bombs! Pretty interesting experience--a room full of pastors who want to shape culture with the Gospel listening to one of the primary culture shapers--a movie screenwriter, using language not often heard in a church! It made for an interesting 24 hours. To my delight, with the exception of a couple of people, everyone in attendance loved it.
Eventually the conferences morphed into a full-blown Leadership Center. We not only offered conferences but consulting and resources. We even went international (more on that in another post.)
Out of those conferences I wrote 5 books. Two of them sold quite well. Three of them, not so much.
As the Leadership Center grew I could no longer keep up with all of its demands, nor did I want to. I was content leading the conferences. So Paul Sorensen, one of our pastors at Joy, took the helm and helped guide the Center into its potential.
I loved those conferences. Everything about them. Because I really enjoyed hanging around other pastors and church leaders, dreaming together about how we could do a better job of bringing Jesus to our communities.
It's been over 5 years since our last conference but I still hear from pastors whose ministries were revolutionized by their time at Joy. That's pretty darn rewarding.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--5
Community Church of Joy: Worship
From the start I was involved in every aspect of the mission and ministry of Joy. Walt was a fantastic Senior Pastor to work for as he was very aware of his strengths and then hired others to shore up his areas of weakness. We both shared the same passion for reaching non-church going people. But we had some different gifts to compliment each other. So Walt had no problem letting me take the lead in certain areas. I've always told people his ego was big enough (healthy enough) to allow others to do their thing and get the credit. So while I was involved in many areas, the major through-line for most of my ministry at Joy centered around worship. And I don't mean worship from a worship leaders perspective, but worship from the perspective of evangelism.
When I first came to Joy we had 3 services. An ELCA Green Book Liturgical service (about 75 people--and it never grew in all the years we offered it) and two contemporary services (those were the ones that grew). The contemporary services by nature were geared to people who had not been to worship before so in many ways the messages were an "introduction" to the faith.
So, sensing the need for a service geared more to discipling those who were already committed to Jesus, I volunteered to start a new, Sunday evening service. The music was still contemporary, but the messages were more Bible-study oriented vs. the life-application orientation of Sunday mornings. We also included prayer time at the altar at the end of every service.
To get it started, I had to put together a band. So I asked my brother, Jeff, if he and his young family would be willing to move to Phoenix to help. I helped Jeff find a full-time job with Lutheran Brotherhood as Joy could only pay $150 per month. Jeff and his family moved down and in the fall of 1984 we launched the Sunday evening worship experience. It generally ran fall to spring with the summer off.
After about 5 years I started getting the itch to do something more radical in terms of shaping worship for non-church goers. Walt and I flew up to Willow Creek Church in the Chicago area to take in their "seeker" service. It was a service totally geared to those in the seeking mode of faith. The usual "worship" rituals Christians appreciate but non-Christians don't understand were removed from the service. The service was then rebuilt with newcomers in mind. The service downplayed congregation participation as newcomers didn't know how to participate. It up-played a contemporary presentation of the Gospel using performance music by a live band, drama, video, and a message geared to someone who had never heard the Gospel before. It was exactly the kind of service churning in my soul.
So we headed back to Joy and moved the Sunday night crew to a new, innovative, seeker service on Sunday morning held at the Mann Movie Theatre about a block from the Joy campus. Our first weekend we featured Phoenix Cardinals Ron Wolfley. The Cards were to play their first game as the Phoenix Cardinals on Monday night. We had almost 300 people in attendance. But...most of them were Joy people coming to check us out with no intention of actually moving to the theatre. Within weeks we bottomed out at about 30 people. Interestingly, however, many of them were new. They were people who were hesitant to come to a church building. Over the next few months the service began to grow to about 70. Then the summer hit, along with some big blockbuster movies. And slowly the theatre began to edge us out.
So...we moved the service to the Joy campus, replacing the last service with our theatre service. It quickly became our fastest growing service. We are able to hire Terey Summers, a professional actress, who took our drama to a whole new level. We were reaching new kinds of people who wouldn't attend a "normal" worship experience. The whole point of the service was to present an experience in which people didn't have to understand the service in order to understand the Savior. It served as the first part of our 3-part mission: Bring them in, build them up, and send them out.
After a few years of leading that particular service (and for a period of time, the Late Service crew--as we named that service--were also returning Sunday night for that service. That was a lot of work!) I ended up assuming responsibility for the worship life, so to speak, of Joy. We moved from a traditional music director-lead ministry to a team-lead ministry consisting of a drama director, vocal director, band director, video director, etc., and I lead that talented group of people. We always maintained different styles of worship each weekend (for awhile we were up to 5 different services each weekend--that was a killer! :)) but the overall vision was set by the team. In the process we were also responsible for the childrens/youth choirs and major holiday season shows, the Christmas Show being the biggest. On top of that came 8 Christmas Eve services and 5-6 Easter Services with special events thrown in for the fun of it. And it was fun. And rewarding as God used Joy to connect with hundreds of people who might not have been impacted anywhere else.
I enjoyed the chance to think outside of the box; to experiment with different presentations of the Gospel in order to better connect with the non-church going culture. Some things worked well (Stomp-like trash can guys, the Christmas program, weekly dramas and video presentations) some things not so well (we had a few clunkers sprinkled throughout our Sunday mornings over the years--but why dwell on it! :)). But we were always motivated by finding new ways to tell the story of Jesus through the Sunday service to people who didn't know him. And the people of Joy responded by bringing their friends.
Because of Walt's profile in the Lutheran Church and the wider church, Joy began to gain a reputation as a congregation to learn from. That lead to a second through-line in my ministry at Joy: the yearly Evangelism conference.
From the start I was involved in every aspect of the mission and ministry of Joy. Walt was a fantastic Senior Pastor to work for as he was very aware of his strengths and then hired others to shore up his areas of weakness. We both shared the same passion for reaching non-church going people. But we had some different gifts to compliment each other. So Walt had no problem letting me take the lead in certain areas. I've always told people his ego was big enough (healthy enough) to allow others to do their thing and get the credit. So while I was involved in many areas, the major through-line for most of my ministry at Joy centered around worship. And I don't mean worship from a worship leaders perspective, but worship from the perspective of evangelism.
When I first came to Joy we had 3 services. An ELCA Green Book Liturgical service (about 75 people--and it never grew in all the years we offered it) and two contemporary services (those were the ones that grew). The contemporary services by nature were geared to people who had not been to worship before so in many ways the messages were an "introduction" to the faith.
So, sensing the need for a service geared more to discipling those who were already committed to Jesus, I volunteered to start a new, Sunday evening service. The music was still contemporary, but the messages were more Bible-study oriented vs. the life-application orientation of Sunday mornings. We also included prayer time at the altar at the end of every service.
To get it started, I had to put together a band. So I asked my brother, Jeff, if he and his young family would be willing to move to Phoenix to help. I helped Jeff find a full-time job with Lutheran Brotherhood as Joy could only pay $150 per month. Jeff and his family moved down and in the fall of 1984 we launched the Sunday evening worship experience. It generally ran fall to spring with the summer off.
After about 5 years I started getting the itch to do something more radical in terms of shaping worship for non-church goers. Walt and I flew up to Willow Creek Church in the Chicago area to take in their "seeker" service. It was a service totally geared to those in the seeking mode of faith. The usual "worship" rituals Christians appreciate but non-Christians don't understand were removed from the service. The service was then rebuilt with newcomers in mind. The service downplayed congregation participation as newcomers didn't know how to participate. It up-played a contemporary presentation of the Gospel using performance music by a live band, drama, video, and a message geared to someone who had never heard the Gospel before. It was exactly the kind of service churning in my soul.
So we headed back to Joy and moved the Sunday night crew to a new, innovative, seeker service on Sunday morning held at the Mann Movie Theatre about a block from the Joy campus. Our first weekend we featured Phoenix Cardinals Ron Wolfley. The Cards were to play their first game as the Phoenix Cardinals on Monday night. We had almost 300 people in attendance. But...most of them were Joy people coming to check us out with no intention of actually moving to the theatre. Within weeks we bottomed out at about 30 people. Interestingly, however, many of them were new. They were people who were hesitant to come to a church building. Over the next few months the service began to grow to about 70. Then the summer hit, along with some big blockbuster movies. And slowly the theatre began to edge us out.
So...we moved the service to the Joy campus, replacing the last service with our theatre service. It quickly became our fastest growing service. We are able to hire Terey Summers, a professional actress, who took our drama to a whole new level. We were reaching new kinds of people who wouldn't attend a "normal" worship experience. The whole point of the service was to present an experience in which people didn't have to understand the service in order to understand the Savior. It served as the first part of our 3-part mission: Bring them in, build them up, and send them out.
After a few years of leading that particular service (and for a period of time, the Late Service crew--as we named that service--were also returning Sunday night for that service. That was a lot of work!) I ended up assuming responsibility for the worship life, so to speak, of Joy. We moved from a traditional music director-lead ministry to a team-lead ministry consisting of a drama director, vocal director, band director, video director, etc., and I lead that talented group of people. We always maintained different styles of worship each weekend (for awhile we were up to 5 different services each weekend--that was a killer! :)) but the overall vision was set by the team. In the process we were also responsible for the childrens/youth choirs and major holiday season shows, the Christmas Show being the biggest. On top of that came 8 Christmas Eve services and 5-6 Easter Services with special events thrown in for the fun of it. And it was fun. And rewarding as God used Joy to connect with hundreds of people who might not have been impacted anywhere else.
I enjoyed the chance to think outside of the box; to experiment with different presentations of the Gospel in order to better connect with the non-church going culture. Some things worked well (Stomp-like trash can guys, the Christmas program, weekly dramas and video presentations) some things not so well (we had a few clunkers sprinkled throughout our Sunday mornings over the years--but why dwell on it! :)). But we were always motivated by finding new ways to tell the story of Jesus through the Sunday service to people who didn't know him. And the people of Joy responded by bringing their friends.
Because of Walt's profile in the Lutheran Church and the wider church, Joy began to gain a reputation as a congregation to learn from. That lead to a second through-line in my ministry at Joy: the yearly Evangelism conference.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--4
Beginnings...
To be ordained in the Lutheran Church a person needs a college degree (I received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biblical Studies through the Lutheran Bible Institute in 1980--an aside: Jan was pregnant with Alycia so she flew home from Seattle to Minneapolis on May 18, 1980--the day Mt. St. Helen's blew up. Jan could see the cloud from the plane. Exactly one month later Alycia was born.) and then 4 years in a Masters of Divinity program (seminary). I attended my first year of Seminary at Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Bethel is a General Conference Baptist school--a strange place for a Lutheran boy but I wanted a different theological perspective before diving head first into the Lutheran Seminary.
After my year a Bethel I headed straight into Summer School at Luther Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul.
My 3rd year of Seminary, as is generally true in the Lutheran Church, was to be spent on a one year internship, placed in a congregation to experience what it is like to be a real pastor. Since Jan and I owned our own home in St. Louis Park and didn't want to have to rent it out for a year, I put in a request to stay in the Minneapolis area that year. Plus, my internship supervisor recommended that I have a more traditional Lutheran church experience since my church background had been anything but traditionally Lutheran.
In early 1982, a few weeks before I was to receive my internship assignment, Jan's mom called from Sun City, Arizona. Arizona was nowhere on my radar. I was only aware of it because Jan's folks spent 5 months there each winter.
Jan's mom called to say she had visited Community Church of Joy in Glendale. Her good friend's brother, Walt Kallestad, was the pastor there.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was aware of Walt from the days he lead a singing group in the Minneapolis area.
Jan's mom was calling to ask if we might be interested in doing our internship at Community Church of Joy.
A bit of background. Jan's mom was a deeply committed Christian. She had a singing/speaking ministry mainly for Christian women's groups. She was on the conservative side of Christianity and didn't have a lot of appreciation for the Lutheran understanding of the Gospel. She was always a bit concerned about my theology, though I know she deeply appreciated my commitment to Christ and the church. So she wanted to do her part to get me to a good church.
What I didn't know at the time of the phone call was that she had approached Walt after the attending Joy and asked if they would be interested in an intern. Walt, always the optimist, said, Sure! Even though he hadn't thought about it! Jan's dad was a very successful businessman and he and Jan's mom offered to finance our internship.
So...she called that day to ask if we would be interested in Glendale, AZ.
I told Jan, to very politely tell her mom, "I would prefer God to decide where I do my internship, not your mom!"
We ended up in Glendale, AZ. There is one power greater than the power of God...the power of a mother-in-law.
So, near the top of my list of early influencers are Jan's folks, Vic and Phadoris Wallestad. God used them to connect us to Joy! It was the best gift possible!
In March of 1982 Jan and I flew down to Phoenix to meet with Walt for the first time. It was chamber of commerce weather. And Walt and I hit if off immediately, a friendship and partnership that would last 20 years! Walt's vision for ministry and Community Church of Joy were everything I dreamed of since the second grade. I often told people God created me for Joy and Joy for me.
We officially started our internship in August of 1982. My brother, Jeff, and I drove to Phoenix from Minneapolis and arrived on a day when the temp was about 118 degrees! I thought I had arrived in hell! This wasn't the Phoenix I saw in March!
But weather aside, it was a fantastic year. Joy was still meeting in their first phase building, an almost full-sized gym with a couple of small rooms attached. I was officed in trailer. The congregation was close to breaking ground on a new worship center when we arrived.
Walt had been at Joy about 5-6 years prior to my coming. He had gone through a painful transition process with the congregation, moving it from an inward, traditional Lutheran congregation to a outward-looking, contemporary Lutheran congregation. The worship services were vibrant and alive. There was a continual buzz in and around the church day in and day out. And the congregation was growing at a phenomenal rate. Over 60% of those joining were from a non-church going background.
The purpose of internship is to experience first hand what it's like to be a pastor. And Walt was a terrific supervisor. From the first day he let me dive into every facet of ministry from weddings to baptisms and communion to preaching to teaching to counseling to sitting in on board meetings. I essentially functioned as a pastor for that year. It was great.
The other purpose of internship is to begin to discover gifts/strengths and areas for work. Again, my internship was perfect. I discovered I was not a youth director as I lead the youth for two months until the new youth director came on board. I grew the group from 50 to 5 in those two months! I knew I loved preaching and that gift/passion was affirmed on internship. I also discovered a passion for teaching.
While on internship Walt introduced me to a fairly new movement in the church--the Church Growth Movement. The movement focused on how the church could do a better job at reaching those unconnected to the church. I read a bunch of books on the subject while I was on internship. One of the seminal moments in my early thinking was the Robert Schuller Leadership Conference. The Church Growth Movement spoke to my passion for seeing the church becoming the place for evangelism once again.
The highlight of that 12 month experience was the birth of our son, Mike, born March 3, 1983.
The year went far too quickly and we had to head back to St. Paul to finish out my last year of seminary. Because I had taken summer school, I graduated from Luther in March of 1984. In order to be officially ordained, one needs to have been called to a congregation to serve. To my delight, Joy issued me that call. So on March 4, 1984, in a Minneapolis blizzard, I was ordained. On March 5, 1984, we headed back to Phoenix to begin our first year of ministry at Community Church of Joy.
To be ordained in the Lutheran Church a person needs a college degree (I received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biblical Studies through the Lutheran Bible Institute in 1980--an aside: Jan was pregnant with Alycia so she flew home from Seattle to Minneapolis on May 18, 1980--the day Mt. St. Helen's blew up. Jan could see the cloud from the plane. Exactly one month later Alycia was born.) and then 4 years in a Masters of Divinity program (seminary). I attended my first year of Seminary at Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Bethel is a General Conference Baptist school--a strange place for a Lutheran boy but I wanted a different theological perspective before diving head first into the Lutheran Seminary.
After my year a Bethel I headed straight into Summer School at Luther Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul.
My 3rd year of Seminary, as is generally true in the Lutheran Church, was to be spent on a one year internship, placed in a congregation to experience what it is like to be a real pastor. Since Jan and I owned our own home in St. Louis Park and didn't want to have to rent it out for a year, I put in a request to stay in the Minneapolis area that year. Plus, my internship supervisor recommended that I have a more traditional Lutheran church experience since my church background had been anything but traditionally Lutheran.
In early 1982, a few weeks before I was to receive my internship assignment, Jan's mom called from Sun City, Arizona. Arizona was nowhere on my radar. I was only aware of it because Jan's folks spent 5 months there each winter.
Jan's mom called to say she had visited Community Church of Joy in Glendale. Her good friend's brother, Walt Kallestad, was the pastor there.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was aware of Walt from the days he lead a singing group in the Minneapolis area.
Jan's mom was calling to ask if we might be interested in doing our internship at Community Church of Joy.
A bit of background. Jan's mom was a deeply committed Christian. She had a singing/speaking ministry mainly for Christian women's groups. She was on the conservative side of Christianity and didn't have a lot of appreciation for the Lutheran understanding of the Gospel. She was always a bit concerned about my theology, though I know she deeply appreciated my commitment to Christ and the church. So she wanted to do her part to get me to a good church.
What I didn't know at the time of the phone call was that she had approached Walt after the attending Joy and asked if they would be interested in an intern. Walt, always the optimist, said, Sure! Even though he hadn't thought about it! Jan's dad was a very successful businessman and he and Jan's mom offered to finance our internship.
So...she called that day to ask if we would be interested in Glendale, AZ.
I told Jan, to very politely tell her mom, "I would prefer God to decide where I do my internship, not your mom!"
We ended up in Glendale, AZ. There is one power greater than the power of God...the power of a mother-in-law.
So, near the top of my list of early influencers are Jan's folks, Vic and Phadoris Wallestad. God used them to connect us to Joy! It was the best gift possible!
In March of 1982 Jan and I flew down to Phoenix to meet with Walt for the first time. It was chamber of commerce weather. And Walt and I hit if off immediately, a friendship and partnership that would last 20 years! Walt's vision for ministry and Community Church of Joy were everything I dreamed of since the second grade. I often told people God created me for Joy and Joy for me.
We officially started our internship in August of 1982. My brother, Jeff, and I drove to Phoenix from Minneapolis and arrived on a day when the temp was about 118 degrees! I thought I had arrived in hell! This wasn't the Phoenix I saw in March!
But weather aside, it was a fantastic year. Joy was still meeting in their first phase building, an almost full-sized gym with a couple of small rooms attached. I was officed in trailer. The congregation was close to breaking ground on a new worship center when we arrived.
Walt had been at Joy about 5-6 years prior to my coming. He had gone through a painful transition process with the congregation, moving it from an inward, traditional Lutheran congregation to a outward-looking, contemporary Lutheran congregation. The worship services were vibrant and alive. There was a continual buzz in and around the church day in and day out. And the congregation was growing at a phenomenal rate. Over 60% of those joining were from a non-church going background.
The purpose of internship is to experience first hand what it's like to be a pastor. And Walt was a terrific supervisor. From the first day he let me dive into every facet of ministry from weddings to baptisms and communion to preaching to teaching to counseling to sitting in on board meetings. I essentially functioned as a pastor for that year. It was great.
The other purpose of internship is to begin to discover gifts/strengths and areas for work. Again, my internship was perfect. I discovered I was not a youth director as I lead the youth for two months until the new youth director came on board. I grew the group from 50 to 5 in those two months! I knew I loved preaching and that gift/passion was affirmed on internship. I also discovered a passion for teaching.
While on internship Walt introduced me to a fairly new movement in the church--the Church Growth Movement. The movement focused on how the church could do a better job at reaching those unconnected to the church. I read a bunch of books on the subject while I was on internship. One of the seminal moments in my early thinking was the Robert Schuller Leadership Conference. The Church Growth Movement spoke to my passion for seeing the church becoming the place for evangelism once again.
The highlight of that 12 month experience was the birth of our son, Mike, born March 3, 1983.
The year went far too quickly and we had to head back to St. Paul to finish out my last year of seminary. Because I had taken summer school, I graduated from Luther in March of 1984. In order to be officially ordained, one needs to have been called to a congregation to serve. To my delight, Joy issued me that call. So on March 4, 1984, in a Minneapolis blizzard, I was ordained. On March 5, 1984, we headed back to Phoenix to begin our first year of ministry at Community Church of Joy.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Musings on 25 years of Ordained Ministry--Part 3
Early influences...continued:
I could go on and on about significant people in my life who shaped who I am today so I'll try to narrow it down a bit--
In Jr. High we attended an Evangelical Free Church. The congregation was quite conservative but for some reason hired a fire-cracker of a music person named Jere Mae Francis. Jere Mae was the organist (she also played accordion). Not one you would expect to rock a congregation. But she did. She started a music program for Jr. High/Sr. High students, allowing us to do "our kind of music." This was in the early days of Jesus music, or what was to become Contemporary Christian Music. In addition to putting together an orchestra, we started doing contemporary musicals that included music that sounded like top 40 hits combined with some acting. Those few years in the youth choir had a profound impact on my life at that time and really planted the seeds for what much of my ministry would look like today. This was back in the 70's, so this stuff was radically new. And the long-time members weren't all that crazy about it. I had a meeting with the pastor and head deacon, both of whom were upset with the music (I was 15). The deacon said that one of our members had complained about our music because one Sunday he found himself tapping his toe in church! Scandalous. But it was music that connected with my generation and I began to discover the power of music in sharing the Gospel.
I attended a Christian High School. It was a great 4 years. I met Jan there! But one of the most significant influencers in my High School years was my band director, David Hepburn. Dave was a Salvation Army guy who had a deep passion for Jesus. In addition to leading the band, Dave put together a music group of High School students. The music once again was contemporary. I usually played in the band but had the chance to sing occasionally. We traveled around the midwest singing in churches and even did some tours to other states. One year we put on a musical (If My People--a musical written for the 1976 Bicentennial) in the Minneapolis Auditorium. Dave taught me about passion, communication, the power of music and the power of events.
My college years were mainly spent at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle. This was a great preparation for ministry as the whole point of this particular school was to dig deep into Scriptures. The piety of the school was heart-oriented, focused not just on learning, but on being formed by Jesus. I was a part of a music group at that school. I was able to do some speaking as well when we would tour the Seattle area. Two teachers in particular stand out: Pastor Lunder (he was a friend of my grandpa's and always reminded me of him.) Pastor Lunder had a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus and for teaching the Gospels, particularly Luke. He was a help to me when I had to make a decision about my schooling. Pastor Rismiller also had this remarkable ability to make any book of the Bible sing. Imagine making Leviticus interesting. But he was able to do it. All of the teachers and staff at LBI were an important part of my faith development.
Seminary was a very different experience from LBI. Where LBI was a more devotional study of the Scriptures, Seminary was a more theological/rational study. And I loved that experience as well. It's fashionable to bash Seminaries. But my seminary experience was fantastic and gave me a good start into ministry.
Again, there are all sorts of other people who influenced my life. Steve Swanson, my roommate at LBI and best man in my wedding, and I did a radio show for awhile in Minneapolis. Contemporary Christian music was still in it's early stages and we were on one of the first CCM radio stations in the country. We did a one hour show. Our point wasn't to be preachy, but to have some fun and draw in people who wouldn't listen to religious radio, using music that sounded like pop music but with lyrics about Jesus.
Tom Eggum is another guy who helped make me what I am today. Tom is an evangelist who early in his ministry smuggled Bibles into Russia and China. To this day, some 30 years after meeting him, every time Tom speaks God stirs my soul. A part of me has always wanted to be like Tom. Tom and I, along with Walt Kallestad, took a trip to Korea and China back in 1985. It was my first overseas trip. We did a little smuggling of Christian literature into China. I ended up bringing Tom on staff at Community Church of Joy back in the mid-80's.
Many different congregations played a role in my faith life from our little Lutheran church (Ascension Lutheran) in St. Louis Park, MN to the Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park where I participated in Choir school and learned music to Hope Presbyterian in Richfield, MN. Hope was Jan's church when we started dating. It was a large congregation and it gave me a glimpse of what the church can be. Bob Dickson, the head pastor was a great role model as was his associate, Ron Davis, whose preaching had a huge impact on my preaching.
To come somewhat full circle, my grandfather's ministry was a main catalyst for my call to ministry and a shaper of it. Evangelist and Lutheran is an oxymoron. But Grandpa was both. A Lutheran who was passionate about bringing people to faith in Jesus. He was in many ways a Lutheran Billy Graham. His style of preaching, his passion for leading people to "assurance of faith," and the way he did ministry really did set the agenda for my ministry. I used to tell people that the "seeker ministry" we did at Community Church of Joy for so many years was really an updated version of the kind of ministry my grandpa did back in the 60's and 70's. When I was in Jr. High grandpa's ministry (the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement) held yearly youth events in Minneapolis. Thousands of young people would come out for it. He brought in the best speakers and the latest in music (here's this old guy bringing in bands to play for young people!). I got to meet some of my heroes of that time like Tom Skinner and Leighton Ford. It was through one of those events that I met Tom Eggum. And first heard of a guy named Walt Kallestad, who at that time was in a music group singing music we kids loved but older folks...not so much.
I could go on and on about significant people in my life who shaped who I am today so I'll try to narrow it down a bit--
In Jr. High we attended an Evangelical Free Church. The congregation was quite conservative but for some reason hired a fire-cracker of a music person named Jere Mae Francis. Jere Mae was the organist (she also played accordion). Not one you would expect to rock a congregation. But she did. She started a music program for Jr. High/Sr. High students, allowing us to do "our kind of music." This was in the early days of Jesus music, or what was to become Contemporary Christian Music. In addition to putting together an orchestra, we started doing contemporary musicals that included music that sounded like top 40 hits combined with some acting. Those few years in the youth choir had a profound impact on my life at that time and really planted the seeds for what much of my ministry would look like today. This was back in the 70's, so this stuff was radically new. And the long-time members weren't all that crazy about it. I had a meeting with the pastor and head deacon, both of whom were upset with the music (I was 15). The deacon said that one of our members had complained about our music because one Sunday he found himself tapping his toe in church! Scandalous. But it was music that connected with my generation and I began to discover the power of music in sharing the Gospel.
I attended a Christian High School. It was a great 4 years. I met Jan there! But one of the most significant influencers in my High School years was my band director, David Hepburn. Dave was a Salvation Army guy who had a deep passion for Jesus. In addition to leading the band, Dave put together a music group of High School students. The music once again was contemporary. I usually played in the band but had the chance to sing occasionally. We traveled around the midwest singing in churches and even did some tours to other states. One year we put on a musical (If My People--a musical written for the 1976 Bicentennial) in the Minneapolis Auditorium. Dave taught me about passion, communication, the power of music and the power of events.
My college years were mainly spent at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle. This was a great preparation for ministry as the whole point of this particular school was to dig deep into Scriptures. The piety of the school was heart-oriented, focused not just on learning, but on being formed by Jesus. I was a part of a music group at that school. I was able to do some speaking as well when we would tour the Seattle area. Two teachers in particular stand out: Pastor Lunder (he was a friend of my grandpa's and always reminded me of him.) Pastor Lunder had a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus and for teaching the Gospels, particularly Luke. He was a help to me when I had to make a decision about my schooling. Pastor Rismiller also had this remarkable ability to make any book of the Bible sing. Imagine making Leviticus interesting. But he was able to do it. All of the teachers and staff at LBI were an important part of my faith development.
Seminary was a very different experience from LBI. Where LBI was a more devotional study of the Scriptures, Seminary was a more theological/rational study. And I loved that experience as well. It's fashionable to bash Seminaries. But my seminary experience was fantastic and gave me a good start into ministry.
Again, there are all sorts of other people who influenced my life. Steve Swanson, my roommate at LBI and best man in my wedding, and I did a radio show for awhile in Minneapolis. Contemporary Christian music was still in it's early stages and we were on one of the first CCM radio stations in the country. We did a one hour show. Our point wasn't to be preachy, but to have some fun and draw in people who wouldn't listen to religious radio, using music that sounded like pop music but with lyrics about Jesus.
Tom Eggum is another guy who helped make me what I am today. Tom is an evangelist who early in his ministry smuggled Bibles into Russia and China. To this day, some 30 years after meeting him, every time Tom speaks God stirs my soul. A part of me has always wanted to be like Tom. Tom and I, along with Walt Kallestad, took a trip to Korea and China back in 1985. It was my first overseas trip. We did a little smuggling of Christian literature into China. I ended up bringing Tom on staff at Community Church of Joy back in the mid-80's.
Many different congregations played a role in my faith life from our little Lutheran church (Ascension Lutheran) in St. Louis Park, MN to the Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park where I participated in Choir school and learned music to Hope Presbyterian in Richfield, MN. Hope was Jan's church when we started dating. It was a large congregation and it gave me a glimpse of what the church can be. Bob Dickson, the head pastor was a great role model as was his associate, Ron Davis, whose preaching had a huge impact on my preaching.
To come somewhat full circle, my grandfather's ministry was a main catalyst for my call to ministry and a shaper of it. Evangelist and Lutheran is an oxymoron. But Grandpa was both. A Lutheran who was passionate about bringing people to faith in Jesus. He was in many ways a Lutheran Billy Graham. His style of preaching, his passion for leading people to "assurance of faith," and the way he did ministry really did set the agenda for my ministry. I used to tell people that the "seeker ministry" we did at Community Church of Joy for so many years was really an updated version of the kind of ministry my grandpa did back in the 60's and 70's. When I was in Jr. High grandpa's ministry (the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement) held yearly youth events in Minneapolis. Thousands of young people would come out for it. He brought in the best speakers and the latest in music (here's this old guy bringing in bands to play for young people!). I got to meet some of my heroes of that time like Tom Skinner and Leighton Ford. It was through one of those events that I met Tom Eggum. And first heard of a guy named Walt Kallestad, who at that time was in a music group singing music we kids loved but older folks...not so much.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--2
Early influences
I mentioned in my first post that a pastor is really a compilation of all who have shared faith/life with him/her. That's certainly the case for me. Naming some of my early influences assumes that there will be many I didn't name. But these are the ones that come to my 51 year old brain:
*Obviously my parents would top the list. My mom and dad made faith a part of my life from the very beginning when a month after I was born they brought me to the waters of baptism. My grandfather baptized me. At that point Jesus made a promise to be my God--a promise he's always kept. My mom was the church organist so we were always in church. My parents took us to Bible camp each year. They enrolled us in VBS. They got us involved in music and church choirs. They supported our passion for music/ministry by purchasing instruments, allowing us to practice in the house, and supporting us as we headed into congregations to do our thing. They stepped up and lead our Jr. High when I entered 7th grade when no one else in the church would do it. My dad coached our first church "Bible Quiz Team." I know my parents faithfully prayed for all of us kids every day. Their own lives of faith modeled a vibrant relationship with Jesus.
*My grandparents. Grandpa was a Lutheran pastor/evangelist. It was while watching him give an altar call (a rare thing indeed for Lutherans) at Bible camp when I was in second grade that I sensed the call to be a pastor. I had the chance to watch grandpa do ministry for years. I travelled with him a couple of times when he headed out on Evangelistic tours. When I headed to Bible College and was questioning not my faith but my theology, he was always ready to answer my questions. Grandma was a fantastic partner and support to grandpa. During Bible camps she was the "craft teacher." Because mom was the church organist, I often sat in the front row with grandma. She'd help me follow the liturgy or would make little animals with her hanky to keep me quiet (seems a bit gross now but I didn't think about where that hanky had been at that time!). I have deep memories of my grandma and grandpa praying together over meals. Grandpa laid hands on me at my ordination. He also participated in my wedding and baptized my daughter Alycia. My grandpa only got to see me "pastor" at Community Church of Joy once early on in my ministry. He was our "devotions" leader during a spiritual life week. One night after the service he asked us to pray for him. I'd never seen him weep before but he cried as he said he was having a hard time remembering things. Not long after we realized he had Alzheimer's disease. Tough stuff to make your living, so to speak, using your mind, only to lose it in later life.
*I think about pastors who served in the congregations in which I grew up and Sunday school teachers who taught me about Jesus. I remember Mim in particular. I can't remember one thing she taught me but I remember her. She loved kids. And she always gave us a "pink pill" after Sunday School (a pink wintergreen candy). Probably couldn't call it a pill these days but the point is that she, not so much what she taught, impacted me for Jesus.
Jan says I have to leave now and go to dinner to "celebrate" the second anniversary of my mom's journey from this life to her new home with Jesus. So I'll write some more about early influences tomorrow.
I mentioned in my first post that a pastor is really a compilation of all who have shared faith/life with him/her. That's certainly the case for me. Naming some of my early influences assumes that there will be many I didn't name. But these are the ones that come to my 51 year old brain:
*Obviously my parents would top the list. My mom and dad made faith a part of my life from the very beginning when a month after I was born they brought me to the waters of baptism. My grandfather baptized me. At that point Jesus made a promise to be my God--a promise he's always kept. My mom was the church organist so we were always in church. My parents took us to Bible camp each year. They enrolled us in VBS. They got us involved in music and church choirs. They supported our passion for music/ministry by purchasing instruments, allowing us to practice in the house, and supporting us as we headed into congregations to do our thing. They stepped up and lead our Jr. High when I entered 7th grade when no one else in the church would do it. My dad coached our first church "Bible Quiz Team." I know my parents faithfully prayed for all of us kids every day. Their own lives of faith modeled a vibrant relationship with Jesus.
*My grandparents. Grandpa was a Lutheran pastor/evangelist. It was while watching him give an altar call (a rare thing indeed for Lutherans) at Bible camp when I was in second grade that I sensed the call to be a pastor. I had the chance to watch grandpa do ministry for years. I travelled with him a couple of times when he headed out on Evangelistic tours. When I headed to Bible College and was questioning not my faith but my theology, he was always ready to answer my questions. Grandma was a fantastic partner and support to grandpa. During Bible camps she was the "craft teacher." Because mom was the church organist, I often sat in the front row with grandma. She'd help me follow the liturgy or would make little animals with her hanky to keep me quiet (seems a bit gross now but I didn't think about where that hanky had been at that time!). I have deep memories of my grandma and grandpa praying together over meals. Grandpa laid hands on me at my ordination. He also participated in my wedding and baptized my daughter Alycia. My grandpa only got to see me "pastor" at Community Church of Joy once early on in my ministry. He was our "devotions" leader during a spiritual life week. One night after the service he asked us to pray for him. I'd never seen him weep before but he cried as he said he was having a hard time remembering things. Not long after we realized he had Alzheimer's disease. Tough stuff to make your living, so to speak, using your mind, only to lose it in later life.
*I think about pastors who served in the congregations in which I grew up and Sunday school teachers who taught me about Jesus. I remember Mim in particular. I can't remember one thing she taught me but I remember her. She loved kids. And she always gave us a "pink pill" after Sunday School (a pink wintergreen candy). Probably couldn't call it a pill these days but the point is that she, not so much what she taught, impacted me for Jesus.
Jan says I have to leave now and go to dinner to "celebrate" the second anniversary of my mom's journey from this life to her new home with Jesus. So I'll write some more about early influences tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Musings on 25 years of Ordained Ministry--Part 1
On Sunday, March 4, 1984, I was ordained into full time ministry in the middle of a Minneapolis blizzard. Most of those invited to the big event couldn't make it due to the snow. My in-laws almost didn't make it. If nothing else, the snow makes for a great story. During the service, held at Vision of Glory Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Minnesota (a suburb of Minneapolis) I knelt at the altar while Pastor Leland Everson (pastor of Vision of Glory), Walt Kallestad (my soon to be "boss" and partner in ministry for over 20 years) and my Grandpa laid hands on me and asked for God's blessing on my ministry. It was a humbling moment. It was the culmination of a dream come true. I've wanted to be a pastor since I was in second grade. It was also the beginning of the adventure of a life-time. I've experienced things, seen things, met people, and gone places I never imagined back when I was in second grade.
But as it was 25 years ago, ministry continues to be a humbling experience--that the Creator of the Universe would be interested in using me in a small way to bring his grace to the world never ceases to amaze me.
Over the next several days I'm going to share some of my experiences from 25 years of ministry and mission. I've learned that ordained ministry is not really about the pastor. A pastor is really a compilation of all the people who have impacted his/her life with the Gospel. But for my sake, I thought it would be good to "put to blog" so to speak, some of my thoughts on this rather historic occasion. Feel free to read along.
But as it was 25 years ago, ministry continues to be a humbling experience--that the Creator of the Universe would be interested in using me in a small way to bring his grace to the world never ceases to amaze me.
Over the next several days I'm going to share some of my experiences from 25 years of ministry and mission. I've learned that ordained ministry is not really about the pastor. A pastor is really a compilation of all the people who have impacted his/her life with the Gospel. But for my sake, I thought it would be good to "put to blog" so to speak, some of my thoughts on this rather historic occasion. Feel free to read along.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
View from the Super Bowl--3
To state the obvious, being at the big game is different from watching it at home on TV. But even more different than I thought.
For one thing, being at the game live keeps you in the moment from start to finish. We don't see the Super Bowl ads that can distract us for a few minutes from the excitement/tension of the game. We're watching the field waiting anxiously for the game to get going again. My oh my those commercial breaks were long and often agonizing!
Second, we never got to see the replays of controversial calls. Many of the times we couldn't hear the referee so we had no idea what was called and why. Thankfully some of Mike's friends kept texting him with updates.
Third, I was asked the other day if we stood the whole time. I expected to. But here's the weird thing about the Super Bowl. Even though the number of Steelers Fans made it a Steelers home game, in reality, at the Super Bowl, both teams are home teams so to speak. At a home game, you stand and cheer when your team is on defense to try to disrupt the opponents offense. When your team is on offense you sit and try to keep quiet so your team can hear the plays being called. So do you stand or sit at at Super Bowl? In our section, anyway, we all tried to sit when appropriate and stand when appropriate. Though grossly outnumbered by those Steeler fans, we all got along pretty good in our section--though I hear that was not the case everywhere.
So it's a very different experience being at that game--one I wouldn't have missed for anything. It was awesome.
We were on the Cardinals End Zone so we saw the intercepted Warner pass that was run the opposite way for a Steelers touch down. Talk about taking the wind out of the sails. Mike and I were so despondent we decided to skip the Bruce Springsteen concert and head down for some ice cream and walk off some nervous energy. Good plan. Normally half-time is crowded in the food lines and bathrooms. But because of the big show inside the stadium, the bathrooms and food lines were empty.
Even though the interception seemed to be a game breaker for the Cards, they were still in the game. With the odds against them--the half-ending interception/touchdown, the Steelers crowd, the many legit and questionable penalties called against them in the 3rd quarter, they went ahead with 2 1/2 minutes left. What a moment! To be there on the cusp of a Super Bowl victory. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. The D had been playing so well we were sure they could hold the Steelers and win the game. But in the end, we lost. Heartbreaking doesn't begin to describe it. And with all of those obnoxious Steelers fans celebrating! :)
To be honest, in the early moments of the loss I wondered if it had been worth it. As my son and I climbed into our car at Sky Harbor after flying home I asked Mike if he felt it was worth it because he was really, really devastated by the loss. He said, "If they had won, we would have been sick not being there. Those few seconds, when we thought we were going to win--that was worth it!"
The further I get from the game the more meaningful the whole experience is!
After the game we didn't get the Cards take on things like most in AZ got after the game. We didn't see the Monday AZ Republic until Tuesday so we had no idea how the team was doing. Our first flight home was mostly Steeler fans. When we got to our Phoenix flight in Atlanta, we finally had some fellow Cards fans to talk with.
One of the guys said his seats were in section 305. I said that that's where we sat. He looked at Mike and Mike's bright limegreen stocking cap and said, "You guys were sitting right in front of me. I have a picture of Mike on my phone!" So he sent the pic to Mike. Pretty cool. When I looked at my pics I actually have that guy in one of my photos!
It was a game for the ages. One of the best Super Bowls ever (outcome excepted!). And we were there. It was a day filled with every emotion you can imagine and worth every second of it. Our team, as someone said, lost like winners.
For one thing, being at the game live keeps you in the moment from start to finish. We don't see the Super Bowl ads that can distract us for a few minutes from the excitement/tension of the game. We're watching the field waiting anxiously for the game to get going again. My oh my those commercial breaks were long and often agonizing!
Second, we never got to see the replays of controversial calls. Many of the times we couldn't hear the referee so we had no idea what was called and why. Thankfully some of Mike's friends kept texting him with updates.
Third, I was asked the other day if we stood the whole time. I expected to. But here's the weird thing about the Super Bowl. Even though the number of Steelers Fans made it a Steelers home game, in reality, at the Super Bowl, both teams are home teams so to speak. At a home game, you stand and cheer when your team is on defense to try to disrupt the opponents offense. When your team is on offense you sit and try to keep quiet so your team can hear the plays being called. So do you stand or sit at at Super Bowl? In our section, anyway, we all tried to sit when appropriate and stand when appropriate. Though grossly outnumbered by those Steeler fans, we all got along pretty good in our section--though I hear that was not the case everywhere.
So it's a very different experience being at that game--one I wouldn't have missed for anything. It was awesome.
We were on the Cardinals End Zone so we saw the intercepted Warner pass that was run the opposite way for a Steelers touch down. Talk about taking the wind out of the sails. Mike and I were so despondent we decided to skip the Bruce Springsteen concert and head down for some ice cream and walk off some nervous energy. Good plan. Normally half-time is crowded in the food lines and bathrooms. But because of the big show inside the stadium, the bathrooms and food lines were empty.
Even though the interception seemed to be a game breaker for the Cards, they were still in the game. With the odds against them--the half-ending interception/touchdown, the Steelers crowd, the many legit and questionable penalties called against them in the 3rd quarter, they went ahead with 2 1/2 minutes left. What a moment! To be there on the cusp of a Super Bowl victory. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. The D had been playing so well we were sure they could hold the Steelers and win the game. But in the end, we lost. Heartbreaking doesn't begin to describe it. And with all of those obnoxious Steelers fans celebrating! :)
To be honest, in the early moments of the loss I wondered if it had been worth it. As my son and I climbed into our car at Sky Harbor after flying home I asked Mike if he felt it was worth it because he was really, really devastated by the loss. He said, "If they had won, we would have been sick not being there. Those few seconds, when we thought we were going to win--that was worth it!"
The further I get from the game the more meaningful the whole experience is!
After the game we didn't get the Cards take on things like most in AZ got after the game. We didn't see the Monday AZ Republic until Tuesday so we had no idea how the team was doing. Our first flight home was mostly Steeler fans. When we got to our Phoenix flight in Atlanta, we finally had some fellow Cards fans to talk with.
One of the guys said his seats were in section 305. I said that that's where we sat. He looked at Mike and Mike's bright limegreen stocking cap and said, "You guys were sitting right in front of me. I have a picture of Mike on my phone!" So he sent the pic to Mike. Pretty cool. When I looked at my pics I actually have that guy in one of my photos!
It was a game for the ages. One of the best Super Bowls ever (outcome excepted!). And we were there. It was a day filled with every emotion you can imagine and worth every second of it. Our team, as someone said, lost like winners.
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