I’ve been everywhere…

At least that’s what I’ll be singing as of Thursday evening. We’re in the process of packing (or will be as soon as the laundry is done) so we can head to Nashville in the morning. We’re on our way to the Tennessee Music Educator’s Association covention with our daughter so she can sing in the Tennessee Treble Choir. We’ll get to the Music City around 10:30 am, check in to the auditions for the solo, hopefully get in to our room around noon and do whatever stuff needs to be done. While in town, we’ll try to get together with some of the gang (Nashville’s home for me), hang at Demos’ and Big River (need those passport points) and just be a proud papa.

Thursday, the performance is at 10:30 and should be over about 11:15 (Central time) then it’s to the car and head for Johnson City (about 5 hrs amd a time zone change away) for weekend #2 of Local Pastor’s School.

Thursday will be rough, but it’ll be worth it.

Oh, I’ll have the Apple with me so I might post Wednesday night or Thursday morning…all depends.

Later.

The effort continues

I just stumbled across the first in a 4 part series of one hour specials by the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The EM:HE crew is heading to the Gulf Coast region that was devastated by hurricane Katrina to do what they can to offer assistance to the communities.

Tonight, they are in Biloxi, MS.

We cannot understand the devastation. From the reports of the people that I personally know who have been to the area, we cannot imagine the reality that these people are facing on a daily basis.

The recovery has begun.

The recovery will continue for years to come.

The recovery will never be complete.

One way to help with the recovery effort will be to volunteer your time and labor in a work team to the area. If you are United Methodist, please check with your conference disaster response co-ordinator for information on how you can help.

Another way that you can help, is by checking the UMCOR website for the latest needed supplies and equipment. Organizing efforts to assemble health kits or flood buckets are great ways to involve everyone in your congregation.

Another way to help is by making a cash contribution to UMCOR advance #982523, Hurricanes 2005 through your local church or online at www.methodistrelief.org.

Whatever you may choose to do, please do it now…and be prepared to continue doing it for some time to come.

Proud Dad Here

My daughter made the Tennessee Treble Honors Choir several months ago. Their performance will be next Thursday as part of the Tennessee Music Educator’s Association conference in Nashville. We found out this afternoon that she is only 1 of 10 kids out of 320 auditions who gained a perfect score! Way to go girl!

The 10 students with perfect scores are being invited to audition for a solo in Amazing Grace. The audition will be Wednesday.

Sweetie, I’m proud of you!

Notes on the car search

We’ve been a one car family since last Thursday and it has definitely been an experience. Luckily, I live only a couple of blocks from the office, so I’ve been walking or riding my bike, which has been fun. What hasn’t been fun is the need to share a vehicle with my wife for those times that one has been needed (and I’ll forgive our associate pastor who suggested I could get a horse to do my visitation rounds).

The search for a new(er) set of wheels intensified today. You see, I’ve fallen in love. The object of my infatuation is a 2000 Volvo S70 SE with 61,000 miles. My wife first spotted the car on Saturday afternoon at a specialty used car dealership. We stopped at the dealer on Sunday. They were closed, but we were still able to get a look at the outside of the car (along with a few others). Of course I noted the VIN numbers of the cars that looked interesting. I ran the requisite CARFAX reports on Sunday night, I also searched the ‘net for reviews and comments on the various models (which included a VW New Beetle…until I saw the reliability report).

I took my first test drive of the Volvo on Monday afternoon. I instantly fell in love. The seats fit me like a glove. The engine purred like a kitten even at highway speeds and when going up and down the hills in the Chattanooga region. It handled like a dream instantly responding to every nuance of the wheel.

Today, I picked up the car to be inspected by a mechanic…a mechanic who works on only Volvo and SAAB. The car passed with flying colors. I told the mechanic that I had never owned a Volvo and I asked him what the ownership experience was like. Forty-five minutes later I knew a whole lot more about Volvos than I ever thought I would…and I found the mechanic who will work on my Volvo.

The time was running late when I finished at the mechanic, so I picked up my wife in the Volvo and ran a couple of errands on the way back to the dealership. Charlene may not be as enthralled with the car as I am, but she thinks it is a good value.

I returned the car to the dealer and told him that I will be back in the morning to negotiate. The asking price is reasonable but I’ll see if I can deal down (oh how I hate the cat and mouse game of buying a car). If all goes well, I’ll be the proud owner of a new(er) Volvo that should easily accompany me on the journey into ministry for the next 200K miles or so.

I’ll let you know the results tomorrow.

UPDATE: I got the car…for less than the Blue Book value.

A novel idea

John the Methodist over at Locusts and Honey used this post to float a suggestion on how to handle failed pastors in the UMC.

John never fails to think out of the box. This post is no exception. Some of the replies are interesting as well.

New Wheels?

Since taking the position at BUMC, Thursday’s have been my day off. Today was no exception. Although it’s been my day off, I’ve worked on the Confirmation Class study of lent (from Claim the Name) that I’ll be leading this Sunday, the sermon that I’m giving on 3/19, reading The Pastor as Moral Guide (one of the texts for the 2nd weekend of Local Pastor School), thinking about the sermon that I’ll prepare and tape as a project for that class and then I went to my daughter’s school as a volunteer working with the 4th grade newspaper club…all of this before 2pm.

Nothing like kicking back and relaxing on my day off.

On the way home from school, I notice the car engine surging. Thankfully, there is a Pep Boys shop on the way. I pull in and drop the car off to be checked and hoof it home (about 1.5 miles…needed the exercise anyway) to wait for the verdict.

The phone rings. It’s the guy at Pep Boys. The head is cracked.

All I can think is thank goodness it got me to/from Johnson City (about 4 hours away) over the weekend.

Now comes the fun part. Do I replace the engine on a car with 98K miles or do I go ahead, bite the bullet and start looking for a new(er) car? Decisions, decisions.

Actually, now that I think about it, with all of the other problems that were beginning to crop up on the car, the decision will be a no brainer…go for the new(er) car. Now comes the fun part…trying to figure out how to afford something decent on my salary.

Ain’t life grand!

Should I be surprised?

I’m not one to usually take these kinds of tests, but this looked intriguing. I guess I’m not surprised to find that…

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93% Emergent/Postmodern 79% Roman Catholic 71% Neo orthodox 64% Classical Liberal 54% Reformed Evangelical 50% Modern Liberal 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Fundamentalist 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

To the Mountaintop

The first weekend of the Holston Conference Local Pastor’s Licensing School has come and gone…and all I can say is WOW!

From the time that we arrived on Thursday until we left on Sunday afternoon, we were in the presence of the Holy Spirit as we shared laughter, tears, prayer and worship together. Our instructors, facilitators and leaders were great. I’ll try to give a synopsis of the weekend.

Thursday was travel and check-in at Buffalo Mountain. We were located in the conference center, which is a very nice facility. After check-in and dinner, we gathered for our opening session with Bishop James Swanson. Now, I’ve been to several events with the Bishop and he’s never failed to inspire and challenge me in some way…and this night was no exception. His challenge to us was to preach the gospel and love our people. Bishop Swanson presided over the Eucharist and imposition of the ashes (ok, so it was an Ash Thursday service), a very emotional service. Our night closed with an introduction to our emphasis of Christian Education as a means of Spiritual Formation and we divided into worship groups for the 3 weekends (I chose Lectio Divina, Taize’ and a small church music emphasis).

The educational sessions were inspiring and full of information for us to process. The worship was spirit filled and spirit led. The fellowship and camaraderie was beyond anything that I would have imagined. We formed bonds that will help to sustain us not only through the school, but through our ministry as well.

Saturday night closed with a very emotional worship service where many of us shared testimony, joys and concerns. But most of all, we shared community. Following the service, we stayed up for several hours of late night conversation and fellowship. We were experiencing a high that we didn’t want to end.

On Sunday morning, we gathered together to de-construct and evaluate the weekend, get our assignments for the next weekend and worship. We opened and closed the weekend with communion. We came as strangers with a common calling and we left as a community in the truest sense of the word.

There have been times, especially early in the candidacy process, that I wondered if I was indeed sensing a call of God. After this weekend, I have no doubt. My call and the call of everyone at the school was confirmed and affirmed many times over as we answered as one voice “here I am, send me.”