The Pursuit

Athens & Woody Update

Monday, September 8th, 2008 | elder, ministry, overseer, philosophy, prayer, service, testimony | 2 Comments

ATHENS

The past two weeks have been hectic for us. As many of you know we have been in the process of moving to Athens. Well, I was finally able to close on our house August 29th. My wife and I moved from Dublin to Athens August 30th after a horrible experience with UHaul (I will never use them again). To make a long story short, if you reserve a 17′ truck at 8AM in your town, you should expect to get a 14′ truck at 10AM in a town an hour away. We expected to have everything loaded up and be in Athens in the afternoon. Instead, I found myself unloading our truck at 11PM to get our mattress out so we could sleep that night. By the way, I’ve never had this issue with Penske or Budget. But, we’re moved in, we still have tons of boxes to unpack, furniture to move around, and all sorts of things to get situated.

WOODY

Last Tuesday we took Woody to the Vet Hospital for an overnight. He had to have an MRI Wednesday morning. The good news is that the MRI came back positive. His brain is fine, his spine is fine. The bad news is that Woody is still broken and no one knows why. The doctor said that it is probably a genetic condition - pretty much uncurable. They took a urine sample and discovered a high keytone level (which is usually found in diabetics). But he doesn’t have diabetes. So they are sending the sample to California to find out if there are any oddities. We started to change his diet a little to up his protein and we’ll have to probably put him on a multi-vitamin. But basically, unless California finds anything, Woody will remain the same. Of course God could always do something miraculous. I know you’ll all probably laugh at me, but the night I closed I went home and put some oil on Woody and prayed over him. It hasn’t really changed anything with Woody, but I felt like I should at least do it, since we are told to have Elders come and anoint us with oil and pray over us if we are sick (James 5:14). We’ve also been looking into getting Woody some booties so he can grip the wood floors in our house better.

I think that’s all for updates.

Your prayers are always welcome.

The List

Monday, July 28th, 2008 | bible, elder, ministry, overseer, pastor, testimony, tradition | 4 Comments

1 Timothy 3:2-7 contains a list that people usually consider to be qualifications for a leadership role within the Church. The normal practice (at least in Baptist circles) has little to do with determining if their leaders actually meet the requirements of this list, but they often use it if they want to kick their leaders out. I believe this list is there for a question, because they are items that mark true discipline and discipleship for Christ. However, I do not necessarily believe that a Christ-Follower must meet all these requirements to be considered someones leader/pastor/elder (whatever you may call them). The Bible gives us a number of examples of people who were leaders, people chosen by God. In this post I am going to pull out a few key characters and compare their life to this list. Hopefully, it will shed some light on this subject.

*Disclaimer: These strikes are not exhaustive, they are based purely on my and another’s memory. Therefore, there may be more strikes given the lack of historical detail on some of these characters .

Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology Lecture

Friday, April 4th, 2008 | Blogs Worth Mentioning, bible, church, discipleship, elder, fellowship, ministry, overseer, pastor, prayer, preaching, questions, sermon, service, teaching, testimony, tradition, worship | 1 Comment

My pastor and friend, Alan Knox, gave a lecture to one of Dr. Black’s (of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) classes about how his Ecclesiology was developed. He was able to record the lecture and post it to his website. I listened to it, thought it was great, and wanted to share it with you all.

This is taken with Alan’s permission from here.

Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology Lecture
This is a lecture that I delivered concerning how my ecclesiology - my understanding of the church - has changed over the last few years.

Click here to download a pdf version of my PowerPoint presentation.

Click here to download the entire file (52 MB). Or, click the play button below to play the file online.

Click here to read Alan’s post regarding his lecture.

Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story

Thursday, November 15th, 2007 | church, deacon, ministry, money, overseer, pastor, preaching, sermon, service, synchroblog, teaching, tradition | 7 Comments

Today’s post is part of a synchroblog dealing with money and the church. It is a pretty broad topic, and many people are writing about different aspects of “money and the church.” At the bottom of this post you’ll find a list of links of other contributors to this subject. Today, I am going to write about some news I recently heard.

The other day I was speaking to one of our brothers. I asked him how things were going with the church that he met with. He told me about a recent deacon meeting. During the meeting the pastor told them that he was being stretched at all ends and something needed to change. His schedule is pretty cumbersome, he works full-time, he goes to classes (a couple per semester), and he teaches Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Apart from that I am not sure he has many other “duties” required of him by the church, but still doing all those things can be quite burdensome, especially when you have a wife and a few children to take care of.

At this meeting he gave them the break down of all his monthly needs/wants; he even made it clear that he would be willing to get rid of some luxuries to lower his monthly costs. He also made it clear that he wants to pastor this group. The deacons were in full agreement, they want a full-time vocational pastor. At the next business meeting, they’re suppose to bring it for all the members to vote on.

A few questions ran through my mind: Is this where God wants this man? What will happen if they vote against this? Will he leave or stay? Are there any other solutions that will free up his time? Is what he expects as a pastor biblical? Is what the deacons expect from a pastor biblical? Is what the rest of the members expects from a pastor biblical?

Paying this person extra money will allow him to quit his secular job. This will allow him to start doing visitations, more counseling, more studying, etc. From what I currently understand about “church,” I see this as a huge waste of money. As many of you know, I do not believe that pastor’s should receive a salary. Mainly because I do not see the majority of their “duties” in scripture. If we want to pay a person to visit, to counsel, and to study, than fine - it’s a free country - but that is not what makes a pastor.

Here is a recent Job Listing I was given for a “Family Minister/Associate Pastor”:

Description:
Needed at First Baptist Church in *****, NC, located in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina: A loving, passionate and spirit-filled individual who feels called to serve God as a minister for all age groups. This individual will be asked to work with Ministry teams and councils to reach withing the church and greater *****/***** County community by planning, coordinating, promoting and executing a comprehensive program of activities. Enthusiastically develop fellowship, Christian education, evangelistic outreach and visitation.

Requirements:
* Assist the Stewardship Ministry Team in preparing and administering the family ministries annual budget
* Preparing monthly calendar and reports
* Supervision of custodial staff
* Maintain scheduling and supervision of church vehicles
* Oversee construction projects and the furnishing, maintenance, staffing and operation of same
* Attending regularly scheduled staffing meetings and Church Council
* Assisting the Pastor in planning, conducting and evaluating congregational services.
* Must have a seminary degree - be an open minded person with a listening and discerning ear and spirit who is able to take initiative in a Godly way.

I do not think this strays too far from what you would normally find in a vocational pastor’s job description. This particular job is paying “$40,000 to $50,000 (includes housing, insurance, benefits).” The sentence, “A loving, passionate and spirit-filled individual who feels called to serve God as a minister for all age groups,” is probably the only line you will find in there that can be derived from scripture. But aren’t we all suppose to be loving? passionate? spirit-filled? Aren’t we all called to minister to all age groups? If so, why aren’t all the members being paid?

Some questions I thought of when reading this listing: Couldn’t a few people do these jobs for free? Do these jobs need to be done or are they luxury? What could we do with 40,000$ - 50,000$ every year in the community?

What do you think? Is paying a salary for a fulltime position a luxury that the church should forsake?

What happens when you put two taboo subjects together and discuss their relationship with each other? Find out by following the links to this month’s SynchroBlog. Money and Church is the topic. Do you think they belong together? or is it a problem when they meet? Follow the links, and watch the fur fly!

Here’s who’s in so far:

The Check That Controls at Igneous Quill
Pushing The Camel: Why there might be more rich people in Heaven than in your local Church at Fernando’s desk
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz at Hello Said Jenelle
Zaque at Johnny Beloved
Walking with the Camels at Calacirian
Greed and Bitterness: Why Nobody’s Got it Right About Money and The Church at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Wealth Amidst Powers at Theocity
Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story at The Pursuit
But I Gave at Church at The Assembling of the Church
Moving Out of Jesus Neighborhood at Be the Revolution
Money and the Church: why the big fuss? at Mike’s Musings
Coffee Hour Morality at One Hand Clapping
Bling Bling in the Holy of Holies at In Reba’s World
Magazinial Outreach at Decompressing Faith
Money’s too tight to mention at Out of the Cocoon
Bullshit at The Agent B Files
The Bourgeois Elephant in the Missional/Emergent Living Room at Headspace
When the Church Gives at Payneful Memories
Who, or What, Do You Worship at at Charis Shalom
Greed at Hollow Again
Silver and Gold Have We - Oops! at Subversive Influence
The Church and Money at Khanya

What does Paul …

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 | baptism, church, deacon, overseer, pastor, tradition | 2 Comments

Last week I was asked to teach a Sunday School lesson for one of our brothers. They just started going through the letter we call 1 Corinthians and he asked me to teach on chapter 1:10-17.

¹⁰ But I exhort you brothers through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that you all say the same thing and there be no division among you but that you be restored in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by those of Chloe that strife exists among you. ¹² But I say to you that each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ. ¹³ Has the Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I give thanks to God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵ So that no one might say that in my name they were baptized. ¹⁶ But also I baptized the Stephanas house, beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any other. ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ might not be rendered void.

Paul uses these verses to setup everything he is about to talk about in the next few chapters of this letter. The reader should pay careful attention here and keep these verses in mind as they continue to read. I knew no other way to teach these verse but to go through each verse and point out the significance of different words. So in this post, I am going to give a brief summation of what I taught and ask you all to consider what Paul is saying.

10 – Paul is exhorting the Corinthian Christians for four reasons:

1. So they would all say the same thing.
2. So there would be no division among them.
3. So they would be restored in the same mind.
4. So they would be restored in the same purpose.

• Exhorting – to urge strongly, to make a strong request for something. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)
• Division - the condition of being divided because of conflicting aims or objectives. (1 Corinthians 12:22-26)
• Mind – An attitude or way of thinking. (Luke 24:25, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-24)
• Purpose – purpose, intention, mind, mind-set. (1 Corinthians 7:25, 1 Corinthians 7:40)
• Same – has to context of agreeing with one another. He is talking about having unity. (Romans 15:5-6)

11 –

• Strife – Engagement in rivalry, esp. w. ref. to positions taken in a matter. (Galatians 5:19-21)

12 – Paul is referring back to 1 Corinthians 1:12. “So that you all say the same thing” – “each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ.”

• I noticed that some people believed Paul put him first in the list and Christ last because he was trying to show that he is the least (thus furthest) from the most important figure (Christ).
• Paul obviously believes that Christ is superior: “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” – 1 Corinthians 3:22-23
• Why then does he make it seem bad that some were saying “I am of Christ”? In my opinion it was because people were doing it to take part in a faction. They were not doing it because they truly thought of themselves as “of Christ” but because they were competing against the other people and their factions.
  

• What is Paul telling us about leaders in this verse?
• Some answers given in class:
  
• We should not idolize them
• Our relationship with Christ should drive us, not our desire to follow an earthly leader
• …
  
• Can this verse be applied today in any other way?
• Some answers given in class:
• Church unity
• Congregationalism (the idea that I am a member of XXX Baptist Church)
• Denominationalism (the idea that I am a Southern Baptist/Pentecostal/Catholic/etc.)
• …

13 – These questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer.

• Is the Christ divided?
1. Divided – to separate into parts. (Matthew 12:25)
• Paul was not crucified for you, was he? “we preach Christ crucified” – 1 Corinthians 1:23
• Were you baptized in the name of Paul? (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48a, Acts 19:5a)

14-16 – Paul makes it clear that he is glad that he baptized few of them.

• Don’t we see a high number of baptisms as a mark of a successful ministry?
• It seems that being focused on numbers goes against what Paul sees as his focus.
• What does this tell us about our view on baptisms (and numbers)?

17 – Christ did not send Paul to baptize? What then?

• “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
1. There is only one command in the great commission, make disciples.
2. While you are making disciples, you should be going, baptizing, and teaching.

So this pretty much what I taught. There was a lot of great conversation in the class - so I ask you all, what do you think Paul is doing here?

The Truth About Timothy?

Monday, February 5th, 2007 | Alcohol, overseer, tradition | 2 Comments

As many of you know, I thoroughly enjoy the Alcohol debate… that is the debate between people who believe the Bible teaches Christian to abstain versus people who disagree. From time to time my ears perk up when I hear people discussing this issue. Often times it is a preacher or teacher very so subtly inserting a phrase here and there which sheds light to their position - at least for those of us who are paying attention.

1 Timothy 5:23 reads, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. “

The question asked is, “Why did Timothy stop drinking wine?”

The common answer I have heard for this is that Timothy got saved and was living by the higher-standard set for overseers.

There are two problems with this reconstruction:
1) The “standards” (or qualifications) set for overseers is taken from 1 Timothy 3:2-7. Here it does not say that overseers should abstain from Alcohol, rather that they should not be drunkards (or addicted to wine).
2) Even if the “standards” included abstaining from alcohol, they were not given to Timothy until this letter - he would have had to know about the standard in order to abide by it.

Perhaps this is part of the reason Paul wrote Timothy - maybe Timothy thought the “standard” was abstinence from Alcohol and Paul wanted to make sure Timothy was clear that it was drunkenness that God was concerned about.

Here are a list of possible reconstructions to answer the question “Why did Timothy stop drinking wine?”

1) Timothy thought abstaining was the Biblical principle to obey.
2) Timothy was obviously sick and thought it would be better to strictly drink water.
3) Timothy was once an ex-alcoholic and thought he better abstain, just-in-case.
4) Timothy did not “stop” drinking wine, he never drank wine, just did not like it.
5) Timothy had relatives who were alcoholics and was afraid he might succumb to the same sin.

Well, that is all I can think of off the top of my head. So which of these five is it? Who knows. That really is not the point. We do not even know if we are asking a valid question. All we know is what the Bible tells us. Paul told Timothy to drink wine and he told Timothy that overseers should not be drunkards. It seems pretty plain and simple to me.