Sun City, AZAs you watch this do you root for the bear or the seal?
Polar Bear on a Hunt
Tomorrow (Jan. 4) is National Trivia Day.
The word "banana" comes from the Arabic word for finger. A bunch of bananas is known as a hand of bananas.
First Blackbirds and now dead fish - up to 100,000 of them along the Arkansas River. No truth to the rumor that people heard banjo music just before the event.
At one point in our adult class yesterday I said, "You know what's going through my head?" One of the guys snarked, "I have no idea." For reasons I can't explain people thought that was funny.
It's taking me some time to realize I can record programs and watch them later. I'm so used to missing the second half of Meet the Press I forgot I don't have to, now.
It's called Taco Bell because the chain was founded by Glen Bell. He opened the first Taco Bell in 1962 in Downey, CA.
I don't have any New Year's resolutions, but I do have a specific goal for 2011. I started work on that goal this afternoon.
I grew up in a very, very good church. One of its core strengths was a group of laymen who embodied the term "elder." They were true students of the Bible, several of whom could use the original languages in the process. This explains, in part, why they were effective teachers in the several adult Sunday School classes. When Pastor Peterson was on vacation or out sick one of them would take over the preaching duties and do better than many professionals. They also tended to the care of the flock on a regular basis. Someone from the church in the hospital could count on a visit from one of these men who would minister to them and pray with them. Same if someone was going through a difficult time. It wasn't just the Pastor who ministered to the flock; these men did, too, with care and skill.
There were, from time to time, pastoral vacancies. Sometimes those came as a result of a traumatic event. Pastor Peterson, the founding pastor, after 17 years at the helm began acting strangely. The elders, in the person of their chairman, told him he had to step down until he'd had a thorough physical and was cleared by his doctor. The doctor found a brain tumor which very quickly took Pastor's life. Few things put a greater strain on a congregation than the trauma of watching the only pastor they've had quickly deteriorate and then die from something like a brain tumor. But as difficult as that was, the church got through it with minimal stress because the congregation had spiritually mature men who had specific skills for the work of the ministry.
I want Pathway to be that kind of church. I have no plans to get a brain tumor, but sooner or later something's going to happen. I'm not immortal. And between now and then our church needs committed and skilled men who can do the work of an elder/pastor/overseer. Men who know how to make a hospital call, to minister when there has been a death (incl. conduct a funeral), who can study and then preach/teach God's Word.
Pathway is blessed with good men, three of whom are elders. Beginning at this month's elder meeting I'll begin training them in the same manner I did my pastoral students when I was a prof. We're going to start with hospital calls.
Sunday I began a series in our adult class on the Ten Commandments. Todd is going to take the lesson on #6 - Honor your father & mother. This afternoon we spent 90 minutes learning how to use the tools available for understanding the Hebrew text - Eihnspar's Index, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon of the Hebrew OT, and TWOT. Now Todd will use those tools to dig into the Hebrew text of Ex. 20:12. Then we'll do the same with the Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon of the Greek NT, Kittle, and Vine's so he can study Eph. 6:1-3 where Paul cites the sixth commandment. Then we'll work on taking the relevant information from his studies and forming it into a lesson that communicates biblical truth in a relevant manner.
Take this line out three years and multiply it several times over. Deo Volente Pathway will have a group of men who are both spiritually mature and skilled at doing all aspects of the work of the ministry. They'll still work in their professions (at least I'm assuming such) but they will serve God and the people at Pathway in powerful and effective ways.
I am convinced that I must do this as a steward of the great opportunity God has given me in Pathway Bible Church. But it's also going to be a lot of fun. This afternoon was. They say we're all inclined to overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can accomplish in three.
Lord, per your perfect will, give me at least three years. I want to have some fun.
Polar Bear on a Hunt
Tomorrow (Jan. 4) is National Trivia Day.
The word "banana" comes from the Arabic word for finger. A bunch of bananas is known as a hand of bananas.
First Blackbirds and now dead fish - up to 100,000 of them along the Arkansas River. No truth to the rumor that people heard banjo music just before the event.
At one point in our adult class yesterday I said, "You know what's going through my head?" One of the guys snarked, "I have no idea." For reasons I can't explain people thought that was funny.
It's taking me some time to realize I can record programs and watch them later. I'm so used to missing the second half of Meet the Press I forgot I don't have to, now.
It's called Taco Bell because the chain was founded by Glen Bell. He opened the first Taco Bell in 1962 in Downey, CA.
I don't have any New Year's resolutions, but I do have a specific goal for 2011. I started work on that goal this afternoon.
I grew up in a very, very good church. One of its core strengths was a group of laymen who embodied the term "elder." They were true students of the Bible, several of whom could use the original languages in the process. This explains, in part, why they were effective teachers in the several adult Sunday School classes. When Pastor Peterson was on vacation or out sick one of them would take over the preaching duties and do better than many professionals. They also tended to the care of the flock on a regular basis. Someone from the church in the hospital could count on a visit from one of these men who would minister to them and pray with them. Same if someone was going through a difficult time. It wasn't just the Pastor who ministered to the flock; these men did, too, with care and skill.
There were, from time to time, pastoral vacancies. Sometimes those came as a result of a traumatic event. Pastor Peterson, the founding pastor, after 17 years at the helm began acting strangely. The elders, in the person of their chairman, told him he had to step down until he'd had a thorough physical and was cleared by his doctor. The doctor found a brain tumor which very quickly took Pastor's life. Few things put a greater strain on a congregation than the trauma of watching the only pastor they've had quickly deteriorate and then die from something like a brain tumor. But as difficult as that was, the church got through it with minimal stress because the congregation had spiritually mature men who had specific skills for the work of the ministry.
I want Pathway to be that kind of church. I have no plans to get a brain tumor, but sooner or later something's going to happen. I'm not immortal. And between now and then our church needs committed and skilled men who can do the work of an elder/pastor/overseer. Men who know how to make a hospital call, to minister when there has been a death (incl. conduct a funeral), who can study and then preach/teach God's Word.
Pathway is blessed with good men, three of whom are elders. Beginning at this month's elder meeting I'll begin training them in the same manner I did my pastoral students when I was a prof. We're going to start with hospital calls.
Sunday I began a series in our adult class on the Ten Commandments. Todd is going to take the lesson on #6 - Honor your father & mother. This afternoon we spent 90 minutes learning how to use the tools available for understanding the Hebrew text - Eihnspar's Index, the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon of the Hebrew OT, and TWOT. Now Todd will use those tools to dig into the Hebrew text of Ex. 20:12. Then we'll do the same with the Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon of the Greek NT, Kittle, and Vine's so he can study Eph. 6:1-3 where Paul cites the sixth commandment. Then we'll work on taking the relevant information from his studies and forming it into a lesson that communicates biblical truth in a relevant manner.
Take this line out three years and multiply it several times over. Deo Volente Pathway will have a group of men who are both spiritually mature and skilled at doing all aspects of the work of the ministry. They'll still work in their professions (at least I'm assuming such) but they will serve God and the people at Pathway in powerful and effective ways.
I am convinced that I must do this as a steward of the great opportunity God has given me in Pathway Bible Church. But it's also going to be a lot of fun. This afternoon was. They say we're all inclined to overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can accomplish in three.
Lord, per your perfect will, give me at least three years. I want to have some fun.
2 comments:
We've had DVD for a year or so and now I can't watch live TV anymore. I am addicted to fast-forwarding through the commercials.
Mike H.
Hospital visits? Got any fainters?
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