We have settled down in Seaside, OR (map).  A few days ago I put Oregon plates on my car, which somehow felt very symbolic.  Now we are Oregon residents.  So I thought this would be a good time to records my impressions of this small town in which we are currently living.

Life in a small town

Life is refreshingly different in a small town (pop. 6000).

• At the local DMV I took my number and was helped 10 minutes later.  Quite a contrast to the wait at the Concord DMV.
• People actually slow down to 20 mph in the 20 mph school zone signs.
• Most people are helpful and friendly. At the DMV my number came up before I had had time to finish filling up a form. The employee said to just bring up the form and he would help me to finish filling it out.
• We have a Costco and Staples about 20 minutes away, but for other stores such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s we need to go into Portland (a 1.5 hour drive). So we need to plan ahead for shopping.

It’s great to live in a place with a slower pace of life.

We’re not in Concord any more

Things are a lot different here:

• This is a tourist town, so things really slow down in the winter.  I saw one restaurant in the small downtown area that already has a sign saying “Sorry we missed you, see you in February.”
• It rains a lot here (76 inches per year vs. 20 in Concord).  That’s why everything is so green.
• The back yard of the house where we are staying ends at the forest, so we can literally start hiking from the back yard.  Very cool!
• The beach is only 2-3 miles away.  This is the Oregon coast, so it is often cold and windy.  Great for a walk, but not so good for sun bathing (I don’t enjoy sun bathing anyway).
• The house where we are staying is above the “tsunami line,” so we should be safe here in the unlikely event of a tsunami.

Last Sunday afternoon I spent some time cleaning out my office at church.  The most time consuming part of that was going though my files to decide what to keep, what to toss and what to pass on to the next pastor.  Sorting through the files brought back a lot of memories.  Here are some of the kinds of things I found:

• sermon outlines and teaching materials
• master copies of handouts for meetings and classes
• minutes of meetings
• notes on ideas that were discussed but never tried, and some that were tried and didn’t work out
• documents describing ideas that did work out well, some of which led to key turning points in the ministry

The teaching notes are worth keeping, but the meeting notes are on their way to recycle.  As I went through the files I reflected on the hundreds of hours that I have spent in meetings.  Topics that seemed vitally important at the time look pretty minor in hindsight.  I wonder if we really needed that much time spent in meetings.

The encouraging moments came when I saw the name of a person who had been a participant in a meeting or attended a class and reflected on what that person is doing now.  Obviously I cannot keep track of everyone who have been part of CFC over the past 17 years, but there are plenty who have grown deep in their faith and who are serving effectively somewhere.  In the final analysis, ministry is not about strategy, plans or policy.  Ministry is about people and their growth in Christ (Phil. 1:6-11; Col. 1:9-10).  Sometimes we lose sight of that.

Where do you turn for good material for small group Bible studies?  I confess that I have often been frustrated when looking for good Bible study material.  Many studies are organized by topic and often take verses out of context, with the result that the main point is something that the study writer wants to say rather than letting Scripture speak for itself.  There are some that are inductive studies centered on one main passage, but sometimes they have poorly thought out questions or lack important background information.  Few studies are written by anyone with a knowledge of biblical Hebrew and Greek.

What do I look for in a good Bible study guide?  Here are some things that come to mind.

• Focus on one main passage so that it can be studied in context
• Questions that cause group members to dig into the text to look for answers rather than merely sharing their own opinion or experience
• Questions that go beyond “what” to uncover the “why” and “how”
• Include any background information essential to understanding the passage without becoming overly academic
• Uncovers the main point of the passage and makes that the focus of the study
• A focus on life application that is based on correct interpretation of the passage

I admit to being picky, but I think that it is important to learn how to “rightly handle the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).  My solution has been to  set up a small team of people who love the Word to help me write the Bible study material for our small groups.  Usually each person writes one or two studies each term and sends a draft to the writing team.  We give each other feedback and make improvements.  Then we gather all the small group Bible study leaders for a monthly pre-study in which we run through the studies for that month.  After seeing how the pre-study goes, the writer can make further improvements.  Then we send out the final versions to all the study leaders.  It’s quite a bit of work, but it allows us to come up with some pretty good studies.

I want to share some thoughts about collaboration between churches in creating Bible study materials, but blog posts are supposed to be short so I will save that for next time.  In the meantime, what are your thoughts about looking for good Bible study material?

This year is a time of major transition for myself and my family.  After 17 years serving as the English Pastor at CFC I am going to be moving on to a new ministry.  My wife Joni has been teaching high school science for 9 years and is also ready to try something new.  For a variety of reasons, this seems like the right time for a change. It has been announced at my church and I have told family and a few close friends, but I realized that I should say something here as well.

I have been thinking and praying for several years about a possible change.  My passion and calling has always been in the area of teaching and leadership training.  I have had good opportunities to do that at CFC, but there are many other responsibilities to being a pastor.  I am seeking a ministry opportunity that will allow me to be more focused on what I believe God has called and gifted me to do.

Probably no one is able to serve in the area of their calling and gifting 100% of the time, but if you can reach 70-80% that is very good.  It is really a win-win situation.  Greater joy in ministry, a greater sense of fulfillment, greater effectiveness in ministry and greater impact for God’s kingdom.  I want to be in the right place, doing exactly what God has called me to do.

I’m not really sure what my new ministry will look like.  I am looking into doing some teaching at a seminary or Bible college as well as church based teaching and training opportunities.  I will be available to do training seminars and to advise church leadership teams.  I would like to do some more writing.  It is likely that I will end up doing a variety of things.  The main thing is to sense God’s leading and follow it.  I appreciate your prayers as I look for the way forward.

Later this year we are planning on moving up to the Portland area where both Joni and I have family.  She grew up in Portland and I am from Montana, so we both love the Pacific Northwest.  We will begin our time there with a sabbatical that we both feel is much needed.  We will spend some time resting and seeking God’s direction for the next phase of our lives.  After an initial break I plan to spend some time every day working on finishing my book on English ministry in ethnic immigrant churches. By the end of the year I expect to be moving on to new ministry opportunities, but at this point I don’t know what that will be.  It’s a little like hiking on a path in the woods.  I can see a little way ahead, but beyond that I don’t know where the trail will go.  But wherever the path leads, God is already there.  I’m looking forward to the adventure.

Over Christmas I spend a week in Oregon vising family.  As usual when I am on vacation, I did not listen to, watch or read the news in any form.  I was out of touch with the world.  The amazing thing is that the world got along just fine during my absence.  Since then I have been thinking about how much news I really need.

Imagine a world without news

Throughout most of human history people had very little information about events outside their immediate vicinity.  Think about the situation only 200 years ago.  They had newspapers, but no Internet, TV or radio broadcasts.  The first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.  The transcontinental telegraph line was completed in 1861.  Without any means of electronic communication, messages had to be delivered by a human courier or not at all. The newspapers back then covered mostly local news.  Information from other parts of the world was sparse and out of date.  Before the printing press there were not any newspapers at all.

Try to imagine yourself in such a world.  How did people ever survive without up to the minute updates on world events over the Internet?  How would you?  We are all affected by the nearly universal belief that it is important to be well informed. To an extent I agree, because what happens in distant lands can impact our lives.  What happens in the current Middle East turmoil is affecting the price I pay at the pump.  They didn’t have this problem 200 years ago because they didn’t need oil (the world’s first oil refinery was built in 1854-46).  But the world is a lot more connected now, so we do need to stay informed.

Are we news junkies?

So the real question is, “How much news do you need?”  Is there a point at which we become news junkies whose habit eats up valuable time that should be spend doing something else?  Currently when I am at my computer I keep one browser tab open to my Google home page News tab.  I have widgets that show three headlines each from a variety of news sources from different perspectives: Google’s feed, CNN, Fox, Reuters and BBC.  I usually look at the news page several times a day to see if there is anything new.  I also look over the newspaper each day while I eat my breakfast, and listen to news radio while I am driving around.  So I get plenty of news.

In fact, it is really an illusion of being well informed.  I don’t know what determines which three news story are listed in each widget.  If there is any bias in the selection process, then I am receiving a distorted picture of what is happening in the world.  If I took more time and browsed the articles the web sites of each of those news organizations then I would be better informed, but still limited to what they choose to publish.  To be truly well informed would require several hours a day of news research.  Who has time for that?

But would I be seriously deprived if I checked the news on line only once or twice a day?  What if I looked for a summary of the situations in Egypt and Libya once a week instead of trying to keep up with events every day?  There are other things that I could be doing with the time I spend on the news.  What if I listened to worship music in my car instead of always turning on the news radio?  Maybe I could quickly scan the newspaper, and then read something more substantial.  The point is that every minute we spend consuming news is a minute that could have been spent doing something else.  Since we can’t possibly consume all the news that is available each day, we need to decide where to draw the line.

What do you think?  How much news do we need?

The plight of Christians in Egypt has received scant attention in the press during the recent turmoil there.  The Christian faith has been represented in Egypt since the first century, and currently about 10% of the population there is Christian.  A church was firebombed last Christmas, and the recent turmoil has led to renewed attacks.  Christians there fear that if the Muslim Brotherhood gains power they will face increased persecution.  The Christians in Egypt need our prayers.

I have spent the past week visiting my parents in Montana.  Before I return home later today I wanted to share a few thoughts about my experience this week.

I use Google calendar, which syncs with my Android phone.  Normally I check my calendar every day to see what I have scheduled for the day.  Since my parents are retired they move at a much slower pace of life than I normally do.  It is refreshing to slow down and just not do as much as I usually do each day.  When I looked at my calendar this past week it was a joy to see day after day with nothing listed.

It’s not that I haven’t been doing nothing at all.  Each day we had to make important decisions about things like which day was best for a short hike in Glacier National Park, or which sibling would host our family dinner that night (two of my siblings live in this area).  I had time to do some recreational reading, and have been exploring Toodledo and an Android app that syncs with it called Got To Do.  Of course there has been a lot of time to catch up with family members.

In a few hours i will leave for the airport to return home.  I suppose I should be eager to return to a full schedule, but truthfully I wouldn’t mind a few more weeks of a blank calendar.  Sometime we don’t notice how stressed out and burned out we are becoming.  It is good to slow down once in a while to recharge.  Maybe I should start to take my days off more seriously.