Evangelistic Endeavor -- 28 (WHAT NOW?)

Well, I'm sitting in the comfort of my living room for the first time in nearly 6 weeks. It feels good. I have a week off before class starts which will hopefully re-energize me for the final 2 months of Seminary life.

Over the next few weeks I'm probably going to blog about my overall reflections on the series. I had to spend a lot of time in the narrative before but now I want to deal with some of the theory and principles that I learned that might lend itself more to discussion and hopefully new practices. There is obviously a lot to write about it and I don't know how motivated I'll be. This whole thing has taken a lot out of me and I'm not sure how much of it I want to continue to re-live but I'm committed to trying to make a difference.

Comments

Life of a Pastor

It was shaping up to be a long, draining Sabbath an Adventist pastor experiences quite often. I got up around 7am and didn't finish the day until 10pm (I did get a chance to sneak a nap in so that helped). Although too long, it provided a lot of thought-provoking experiences that made it manageable. The week turned out to be filled with good news. On Monday, a member had a baby so that was exciting. Another member had back surgery on Tuesday that went well. Wednesday, one of our members' sons was had a very rare and serious surgery. It literally took all day but by late afternoon we got the great news that everything had gone well. So, we were coming to church in a celebrative mood. Then, before Sabbath School started, a mother and daughter-in-law were crying and hugging each other because another daughter-in-law was given bad news about her cancer. The doctors have told her she has two months to live. This actual is quite typical in church. You have people coming full of prais

Four Reasons We Vaccinated Our Kids Against COVID-19

At the first chance possible we took Luke (10) and Zeke (7) to get vaccinated against COVID-19. There are four reasons we made this choice that I hope might encourage other parents to do the same. First, we trust the science and data that has undeniably shown that vaccinations work. They reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 and even if you have a breakthrough case, the chance of hospitalization or even death are drastically reduced. You can see the overwhelming data from California here: https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/#postvax-status Without question, we have trusted our doctors and the regular immunization schedule for school. We get a flu shot every year. We give our kids Tylenol or Ibuprofen when they're sick. They’ve taken antibiotics as prescribed. We aren’t going to stop trusting our doctors now. Second, we’re doing it to protect their grandparents and other adults with risk factors. While the risk of serious complications for them is quite low, it is high for t

The Advent Struggle

I've been trying to write this for literally a month but haven't been able to. Not sure why but it just hasn't flowed. So, here's the attempt: On a regular basis, I hear from or about friends who have stopped going to church. There are numerous reasons why they are leaving but one common thread seems to be a feeling that church has become meaningless. They've felt this for a long time but kept going because they hoped it would get better or just because they'd feel guilty if they didn't. But, they aren't going to play the game anymore. The young adult exodus out of the church isn't news to really anyone but there's something important that I think will make this crisis be more severe. When you examine recent Adventist history, there have been several crises of faith including EGW and Inspiration, Desmond Ford, and Creation/Science (to a small degree). What are the characteristics of all of them? 1. They are based on a doctrinal position and are v

Divergence

Search This Blog