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Home » Prospective Students » The Community at Luther Seminary » Blogs » Student Travel Blogs | |||||
National Pastors' Convention 2006Join Craig Nissen, a Luther Seminary M.Div. student currently on internship who attended the National Pastors' Convention in San Diego.Blog Entries Tuesday - February 14, 2006 To the National Pastors Convention Thursday - February 23, 2006 NPC Day 1 – Among over 1500 participants at National Pastors Convention. General Session 1 Friday - February 24, 2006 First Seminar Report From N.P.C. My second seminar and second general session Anne Graham-Lotz, and "Go, Hawkeyes!" Monday - February 27, 2006 Creating an Outreach Culture Inside and Outside Your Church Tuesday - February 28, 2006 Final Thoughts on National Pastors Convention The Student Blog area of the Luther Seminary Web site contains personal Web logs (online journal entries) of Luther Seminary students. The information and opinions therein reflect individual thoughts, tastes and activities. They do not reflect official policies or positions of Luther Seminary. Tuesday - February 14, 2006 - top To the National Pastors Convention
On Monday, February 20th I'll be leaving for the National Pastors Convention in San Diego, California. The event is sponsored by Zondervan and InterVarsity publishers and Leadership Journal. Thrivent Financial Services offered a grant, through Luther Seminary, for students to attend an event such as this that features a focus on leadership. Information about the convention can be found here: www.nationalpastorsconvention.com My personal blog is here: pepperman.blogster.com (you can post comments). Otherwise, feel free to email comments to me at cnissen@luthersem.edu Here are my thoughts in anticipation of this event: Presently, I'm on internship – a student pastor in a Lutheran (ELCA) congregation. One of the many enjoyable aspects of internship has been the inter-church group in which I (and my supervising pastors) participate. The ministerial association gatherings and projects emphasize, for me, the common ground we all share (belief in Jesus as Christ, call to discipleship and mission, call to serve). This has been refreshing, to ignore the peripheral (to recognize what is peripheral) and deal with core principals, beliefs, and mandates. So, I'm looking forward to this convention as an opportunity to take-in many different views on pastoral leadership. This is an ecumenical event – participants will come from many different denominations – and I hope to encounter a broad scope of variety. While I suspect that the stereotyped 'evangelical' crowd may have large numbers, I hope to meet representatives of older church bodies as well – Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Moravians, Quakers, and other Lutherans! And I believe all types have something to offer, ideas and/or practices that would improve my pastoral leadership. Of course there are well-known authors/professors/pastors addressing the general assembly. Additional people of the same description will be presenting their particular passion or insight in smaller seminars. But for me, the greatest attraction is the sheer volume of people, and the chance to talk with many unpublished, undiscovered, humble, passionate individuals about ministry. No other Luther students are attending the event with me, so there won't be any danger of me sticking with my own familiar crowd. My intention is to strike up a lot of conversation, in addition to careful listening to the presenters. I'm a fairly extroverted person, and from attending similar events I expect that participants will be approachable and eager to engage each other. While I am certain that I am solidly Lutheran in most of my theology, the seminary atmosphere can sometimes feel quite oppressive in regards to being 'right' in Lutheran terms. My preoccupation is more often with being Christian. Though I certainly draw on Lutheran confessions and Lutheran writers (most notably Martin Luther), I am equally comfortable drawing on other sources that fit -- or in some cases – shape my theology. Often my Lutheran mindset (I've always been in the Lutheran church) 'checks' an idea 'at the door,' so to speak. But generally I operate with the assumption that nobody has a flawless theology, and that the Christian experience cannot be (has not been) packaged identically for all people. So I enjoy the fact that I have had a number of close non-Lutheran Christian friends and mentors, as well as authors who have shaped my thinking and helped explore my relationship with Christ. In the coming days I will post about who I meet, what presenters (and others) have to say, and where I find God working/appearing at the N.P.C. I may even get some pictures up! Thanks for reading! Thursday - February 23, 2006 - top NPC Day 1 – Among over 1500 participants at National Pastors Convention. This is an interesting group. You may be envisioning the 25 Lutheran pastors that Garrison Keillor describes on a pontoon ride on Lake Wobegon. These are not those pastors, or at least it is not only those pastors. Keillor is right about one thing – about pastors – there is a lot of eye contact going on. I see people in their 20s all the way through to a few who could be in their 80s, about a third of the group is women. Some are dressed quite formally (nice pants & a tie) others are in sweatshirts and shorts. One staff person at a door to a session this morning seemed surprised to see "Lutheran" on my tag and asked if I was ELCA or Missouri. I have received emails from two Lutheran pastors who found my blog and wanted to let me know they would be here. Early thoughts: ...who are these speakers? Who decides they are the sages for today's pastors? What role does marketing (The Zondervan folks, etc) have? Is it like the music industry, even the Christian music industry, which basically decides who it will make popular? Well, after one day of speakers I must say that the people I listened to had fresh, sometimes innovative, things to say. Granted, some of the innovative stuff may be merely borrowing or bringing back something the church forgot, but then at least it is fresh in its presentation. Not sure what pre-conceived notions you (my readers) might have about any of the presenters I hear at the convention. Maybe you've read somebody's book. And maybe you've made up your mind about whom you are willing to read and to whom you are willing to listen.
Now before I get into the actual speakers and seminar presenters, I've got some pictures to post too. The wife and I did enjoy a little time to ourselves in and around the city -- a good healthy leader initiative, I believe. Thursday - February 23, 2006 - top General Session 1
As I took my seat at the first general (large-group) session the man to my right extended his left hand to me (which I awkwardly shook) and welcomed me. He introduced himself and shared the name and place of his church. I told him I was an intern and where and he had served a church in Iowa, so we were off and talking. After I told him where I was in seminary, he recommended "Here I Stand" a biography of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton. It struck me as ironic and somewhat hilarious that a Baptist minister would recommend a Luther biography to a Luther student. Maybe he just felt that was something he could offer to express openness or common ground. Guess I'll see if I can find the book on Amazon and read what people are saying about it. Since I'm mentioning it on the blog any reader is welcome to comment on that book as well. The general sessions are emceed by Bob Stromberg and Tic Long, and they got us off to a laughing start, which always – it seems to me – opens people up. Of course there was singing, and while I love to sing, it was also wonderful to stop and listen to the singers around me. A room full of pastors, especially a room full of 1500+ pastors & their spouses, can really sing. We believed what we sang, and it made the voices and the words that much more powerful. Will Willimon was our first 'main' speaker. I will not try to relate all he said, but he really spoke to who we are (and who he is). He talked about how we try to manage the spirit, and how the only person to whom Jesus said "you must be born again" was a religious official – Nicodemus. "Somebody who looks a lot like me" Willimon said. "When did you decide to be born? That wasn't up to you." He also alluded to being born again & again – that it's an ongoing reality. Ken Medema was amazing as he spontaneously composed the lyrics for a new song – incorporating Willimon's just completed message, and offered that to us. Friday - February 24, 2006 - top First Seminar Report From N.P.C. My first seminar was presented by Randy Frazee – 'Making Room for Life for Pastors: Trading Chaotic Ministry for a Well Ordered Life.' He is a pastor and author of two books: "The Connecting Church" and "Making Room for Life." The first thing he said, which I really appreciated, was that some of the most interesting people here are not the speakers, but the person next to you. I was glad to hear that from a presenter, right out of the gates. Pastor Frazee is concerned about the burn-out rate of pastors. He said there are plenty of books about how to be a leader, but not enough books about the toll of leadership. He spoke out of his own personal experience. A few years ago, maybe as few as 3, he was forced to confront the fact that his lifestyle (as a pastor) was doing physical damage to his body. There was a night when he couldn't fall asleep, then another night, and another. This went on for 45 nights before he sought help. So he offered this disclaimer about himself, not that he went looking for wisdom about stress, he just wanted to sleep. His doctor told him he would need drugs for certain, at least to begin with, and he might need medication to sleep the rest of his life, or ... He could change his lifestyle. Pastor Frazee decided to change his lifestyle. This was not a quick fix. He told us that it has taken 2 years to adopt, and adjust to, the changes he needed to make. He suggested that the kind of stressful lifestyle he was living with will damage any person, but it might come out in different health problems: hypertension, ulcers, migraines, etc. He and his doctor together developed the Hebrew Day planner, basically he started to begin his 'day' at 6pm. Practically, this meant that work had to be done by 6pm, so he could start his day. It also meant that he could not return to work in the evening. Now I'm just going to rattle off some of the suggestions/points he made. Read his book. This was a great session for me as I think about how to maintain my health and long-term effectiveness in ministry. Of course I don't plan to adopt his changes legalistically for myself, and he doesn't suggest that anyone should, but look at his principles. Principle of global identity – do a check on where your identity comes from. If it comes from crossing the finish line, you're an addict. Do you work to prove who you are, or to express who you are? Shift from doing to being. Relationships have to come first. (Chinese: beginning of wisdom is to call something by right name – compare/combine with idea of beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (right recognition!).) REMEMBER we are not about success but faithfulness – accomplishing the goal is not the number one priority. Have a vision for what you're making room for. a) when the work was done and the boundary line was set, I did not go back to work. b) covivium (feast) slow food movement. We should own/overtake this movement. Start with one slow family meal a week, work toward 7. Remember Christ at the meal, share it with friends and neighbors. (A way to be missional at the dinner table!!!) Share your day. Your kids love it, your spouse needs it. Passing this concept onto congregation: (Unless you utterly disgust people with their lives, they will not make change) In America we never arrive. We are always on our way to another place. c) Discover the front porch. (Missional too!) He began to sit out in his front yard in the evening. He met his neighbors, developed relationships with those neighbors. 1 Sleep, if you reduce it you reduce your effectiveness/productivity 2 Exercise – great stress reliever, even more satisfying as a stress reliever than weight reducer. 3 Principle of goal setting – have a sense of the season, what are the specific things I'm doing to achieve what I'm supposed to achieve. 4 Master the to-do list, very few people know how to do this. Comes off of goal setting. Identify it the day before. What are the right things Friday - February 24, 2006 - top My second seminar and second general session My second seminar selection: John Burke – 'Healing a Broken Generation: Leading the Body to be a Redeeming Force' John Burke is lead pastor at Gateway Community Church, TX, and author of the book "No Perfect People Allowed." Pastor Burke was moved by fact that in Austin, his city, 85% of the people were non-church attending. In his view, the Church has not been offering healing or hope to a very broken generation. He presented statistics on those under 40: how many in 10 have had an abortion, how many have been abused, how many have struggled with addiction, how many buy pornography, etc. When you add up all the groups, pretty much everybody is living with something messy. That's all pretty typical of the generation the church needs to reach out to. Creating Culture for a Healing Body He sited 1 Corinthians 3:6-9. Our responsibility is not to grow, change, or heal people. "I can't even heal myself," he said. But we do have a part to play, we are co-workers. We are involved in preparing soil. That soil is culture – the culture of a church. Culture becomes so engrained that it becomes invisible to group members – it is unconscious so that groups often cannot even identify or talk about the culture of their church. He asked us: "What would visiting people pick up on, about your church?" Burke wonders if we are really, really aware of the disaster that is some people's lives? And are we honest, realistic, about the sinfulness and brokenness in our own lives? He doesn't think this generation really cares about candles, music, or art. They want to know how the community acts/interacts. Speaking of the 'Woman at the well,' he said Jesus starts by valuing her. Then he talks about her deepest needs. Until she had a spring welling up in her, she and everyone else will keep going to muddy wells. When we try to get people to morally approximate themselves to biblical teaching before they have living water, they just dehydrate. Grace needs skin because it is so nebulous At his church, they do point out what is sinful, broken, destructive. But they don't go there first. He said, "If you found a Rembrandt covered with mud, would you focus on the mud or the picture? How would you handle it? What would you do with it?" "No Perfect People Allowed" – they say it over and over again. They tell people not to play the game, not to put on masks. He said we need to tell people, that they don't have to get well to come to church, you come to church to get well. "The people who came in broken begin offering ministry in their area of experience." John presented great priorities for the church, in keeping with the ministry and message of Jesus. He presents a way of being church that incarnationally presents the gospel to people. When he talks about the church as being a redeeming force, he is primarily talking about the culture/environment/community that people experience or perceive when they visit a congregation. In a later session (which I attended intentionally as a different person's take on the same theme) the emphasis was on how church members engage people beyond the walls of the church building. As I listened to Pastor Burke's seminar, I kept thinking that his vision for church was an excellent fit for what Lutheran churches theoretically or theologically intend to be, but which only a very few really are. By that I mean, both Grace Community Church and Lutheran churches define themselves as grace emphasizing communities. However, in practice, most Lutheran churches do very little to imagine or incarnate what grace might actually look like, or how to express it in community. Lutheran churches tend to expect people to look and behave in a certain way, and while we don't often elevate a certain piety or practice church discipline as other denominations, there is a subtle message that if you don't act like us, or look like us, or conduct yourself in worship by the norm, you can't be with us. Friday - February 24, 2006 - top Anne Graham-Lotz, and "Go, Hawkeyes!" First of all, I hope you all understand that my posts are not keeping up with events as they happen. With the flow of the day, it's usually not possible to stop and report on a seminar (in nice way) immediately after it has happened. I'm taking notes on everything, but my notes are not blog-ready. As it is, I think my writing is sloppy, but I hope you're getting the idea of the content of these presentations. Yesterday I almost skipped Anne Graham–Lotz's presentation at the general session. I'm so glad I stayed; she blew the place up, she shook me. I was broken and restored in that session; it was law and gospel, presented powerfully to a room full of pastors. I plan to buy either the CD or DVD recording of that session, to let her preaching of the Word to hit me again. She drew from the first 6 chapters of Isaiah, and Matthew 7. She called us to acknowledge our own personal sin – to be cognizant of the equal standing we have with our congregants as fellow sinners. She called us to name the sins we either try to hide/bury or dress-up. She called us to recognize sin as the root of all evil all problems in the world, the primary issue to be dealt with. And she called us to acknowledge the sin of the church where it has failed to be the people/followers of God. My prayer is that mainline churches like the ELCA do not block out the preaching of ministers such as Anne Graham–Lotz simply because of the label, the anticipation, of what evangelicals have to say. Did she say a couple of things that I don't agree with? Yes, but they were peripheral, and did not distract me from the truth she spoke. I also pray that the 'evangelical' churches do not block out the preaching of mainline ministers who are bold on social justice issues. On a different page... I wore an Iowa (Hawkeyes) shirt today, to see who would give a shout out for Iowa. It helped me meet a few more people. I talked with a Reformed pastor from Estherville, Iowa, a pastor from a free church in Winterset, Iowa, and a YMCA director from Des Moines, Iowa. It was especially cool to discover someone working to get the "C" back in YMCA. Later in the day I also talked with 2 pastors from Brethren churches in California. No Iowa connection there, just a couple of dudes sitting behind me before the start of a seminar. All I need to say about this is that it is good to find so much in common here. Back with another post soon, I hope! Monday - February 27, 2006 - top Creating an Outreach Culture Inside and Outside Your Church My 3rd seminar was conducted by Pastor Kevin Harney: 'Creating an Outreach Culture Inside and Outside Your Church.' This guy really made it easy on us. At the entrance to this seminar there was a stack of prepared outlines on his presentation. Interesting to see the different personalities represented among the presenters. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Pastor John Burke focused on the welcoming atmosphere of the church space – and the people gathered there. Pastor Harney also directed us to examine the conduct of welcome outside the church. In regards to getting people into church who have not been part of a congregation, he offered the following observation of such people in his own church: Out of 32 new member who were new believers or returning to church from time away, 2 came through an event, 30 came through relationships. Of course the 2 who connected with the church through an event were invited there by someone with whom there was a friendship. Harney suggested that many in the audience were there with 'an ear' for their congregation – looking for a program to implement. Instead of this, he admonished us not to impose an idea or program on your church that you have not owned in your own life. "Listen to my presentation through the ear of your own life, not listening for your church." 1 An Outreach Culture Begins on the Inside (deep in our hearts) Harvest is plentiful, workers are few. The harvest is still plentiful, the workers are still few. Where is Jesus saying the problem is? Not with the harvest, it's with the harvesters. His study guide on evangelism (he has published several small group studies on several topics), is always the lowest seller. What do we believe in our own hearts in regard to outreach? We need to be convinced that people who do not know Jesus Christ are lost. Think of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son. "No one comes to the father but through me." We need to preach and teach it if we're going to turn our people outward. Do we ourselves (and the members of our churches) really love people? "I know how a church can consume your life, but if you're going to present it to them, you need to be experiencing it yourself." He asked us to think of people we know who are not involved in a worship community, or have acknowledged a personal stance of non-faith in Christ. I realized I have no friendships with professing non-Christians. I said to myself: I may be willing to interact with non-believers (or perceived non-church 'people') but do I befriend them? Do I come alongside people who are not like me? 2 An Outreach Culture is Created in the Flow of Your Daily Life. This is assuming you have ongoing relationships with lost people, this is assuming the people of your church have ongoing relationships with lost people. (How do we – Lutherans – define 'lost people'?) Harney shared that people in his neighborhood come to their home with good news, because they celebrate with them. He and his wife have been intentional about practicing a discipline of hospitality – but more than hospitality. He asked "Will you commit to be the kind of person who shares people's joy? Will you celebrate with neighbors and acquaintances?" Don't just act like you are; BE JOYFUL for people. Where do people go in moments of pain and brokenness? We go to the throne of grace. Where do people go who do not know Jesus? Could they, would they, go to your (our) house? Do we not only pray for people who don't know Jesus, but do we pray WITH people who don't know Jesus? Pray for the needs in their lives. You can say to an unbeliever, "is there someway I can pray for you" or "can I pray about that for you." Educate your church to see your non-church activities as outreach opportunities. Here he asked us to think of the places where we (could) make connection points with people outside the church. He advocated giving the same stores, restaurants, servi Tuesday - February 28, 2006 - top Final Thoughts on National Pastors Convention This will be my last post about the National Pastors Convention. I'm actually home now; I had to leave before it was over. There were additional presentations and a closing general session (with communion) which would have added to my good experience. The break in routine, the time in a warmer climate, the worship services, the conversations, and the teaching were all great. In a few years I expect to attend this convention again, if they continue to bring together a mix of people and presenters who push pastors. During each seminar time slots there were several offerings, and choosing was difficult. Fortunately the usual recording people were there to offer discs of the sessions we missed. Here are the sessions I ordered:
As my wife and I took our seats on our flight home, the man taking the place next to us in the aisle seat noticed the books we were carrying (stuff from the convention bookstore). All he said was 'looks like good reading.' We said the books were great, but didn't presume to go overboard, so that was the end of it. However, he probably gathered more about us as he heard us talking to each other about our reading in the early minutes of the flight. About 20 minutes into the flight, a stewardess went to the back of the plane with a defibulator, and another asked for a doctor on the intercom. The man in the aisle seat, turned to us and said 'maybe we should pray.' So we sort-of drew together and each of us prayed for the passenger and the possibilities at hand. There was a cardiologist on the flight, the man in the back was fine. Now we began to talk more with the fellow seated with us. Initially I asked if he was departing the same convention we were. Surprisingly (to me) he wasn't. His name was James and he was a Jewish convert to Christianity. He'd had what he called a 'road to Damascus' experience when actually on the road to Damascus, about 10 years ago. He is now the financial 'brains' of a ministry organization, working primarily among Native American populations, led by a Native American pastor. We talked a bit about the business side of ministry and the work of fundraising, and he shared with us an interesting development that he had been wrestling with. He was recently connected with an entity that wanted to make a large donation. "How much" he wondered. 'Around 12 or 15 million' was the reply. Staggered, Jim inquired for more information. The people in question were looking for a way to get back in the good graces of the U.S. administration, and had been advised to give financial gifts to faith based service organizations. The group/entity did not want to be building churches but were agreeable to support humanitarian/service groups that fall under the faith-based heading. The entity in question actually plans (planned?) to give a much higher amount but had been advised to spread it around, as a means to maximize the good impression - get good press. The entity in question? Moammar Qaddafi. He contacted the state department, and everything checks out, and the situation is not going to get him or his organization in any trouble – they were aware of the circumstances. They were not instructed to refuse the funding. So our acquaintance, a Jewish Christian, found himself wrestling |
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