Thoughts of Resurrection (Andrew Conard)

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Today is Labor Day, of which I did not know the origin until consulting Wikipedia, which reports:

“Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 6 in 2010).

The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.[1] In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands ofthe U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[2]Cleveland was also concerned that aligning an American labor holiday with existing international May Day celebrations would stir up negative emotions linked to theHaymarket Affair.[3] By the 20th century, all 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.”

Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. In any case, I hope you have a wonderful day of labor, rest or a parade (See picture of the first Labor Day parade).

The article, Does a Calling Have to Be Religious?, from the Huffington Post addresses something that has shaped my life – calling. For me it has primarily been God‘s call in my life and a call. Here is an excerpt from the article, that I just couldn’t break into pieces.

“In 1904, Rainer Maria Rilke, writing to a younger man who’d sought his advice, suggested that the authenticity of one’s calling can be found only inside oneself. “[A]sk yourself this: Must I write? Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And … if you can confidently meet this serious question with a simple, ‘I must,’ then build your life upon it. It has become your necessity.” Substitute work with the poor, forestry, law enforcement, the stage, the military, religion, painting, banking, coaching, law, politics, teaching, or another pursuit, and the answer remains the same: If you can live a full, satisfying life without doing it, it’s not “your necessity,” it’s not your calling. Not even if you’re really good at it. Not even if your parents, their friends, your friends, teachers and religious leaders all want you to do it and think you ought to do it and would be nuts not to do it, would it be wrong not to do it — not even if you think you should want to do it but in fact don’t. Rilke might agree that the presence of any language of obligation would be all the evidence you would need to differentiate the true calling from the false. To say I must because I shouldimplies an obligation, not a calling. I must because, if I don’t, I’ll die inside is quite another matter.”

This is a powerful description of calling. I believe that each one of us may be called by God in multiple ways throughout our life. It may be a career, relationship, an ethnic group, rural life or any number of things that can significantly shape one’s life.

At this time in my life, I feel called to serve as an ordained elder in a local United Methodist church. I pray that I will be attentive to God’s continued call.

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I was inspired by Craig Groeschel‘s post, The Death of the Five-Year Plan.

“Instead of planning for specific buildings, campuses, staff roles, and outreach, I’m planning to be prepared for opportunities that I can’t name today. We are creating margin and planning to respond quickly to ideas that we don’t yet have.

Speed, agility, flexibility, and financial margin are far better than a detailed road map.”

This is a great articulation of what I believe will be most helpful both at Resurrection Online and at any of the churches that I will serve in the future. It is not helpful to become captive to a vision of the future that includes tangible specifics more than five away. So are you ready for it?

Here is Resurrection’s Online five year plan:

• Build a Christian community where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians.
• Share the gospel of Jesus Christ using the latest technology and tools that are effective in connecting people.

This is a video of highlights from the 2010 Ordination and Commissioning Service at the Kansas West Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. It has been edited to highlight my ordination. Thanks to the Kansas West Communications team for their work in producing the entire service.

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I appreciated some of the concepts presented by The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Here is a sample from the article:

“As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real. If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it’s easy or trendy or popular. It’s because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It’s because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It’s not because we want more of the same.”

I resonate with the desire to experience a faith community that is real and not cool. It doesn’t even have to be cool, if it is real. A local church should strive to be real and authentic. Represent who the community actually is in any communications, remind people of who you want to become in every gathering of the people and always seek to become like Jesus.

Image by Ben Ramsey via Flickr

I have been inspired by Kevin Watson’s series of posts about the Methodist Class Meeting. It was part of what made the Methodist movement powerful. I have hoped to use the following series of posts as a guide for leading class meetings when I am the lead pastor at a church one day.

• The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century
• The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century: The Foundation
• The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century: Why Classes?
• The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century: Who Is This For?
• Top Ten Ways to Guarantee that Your Class Meeting will Fail
• Is the Class Meeting Judgmental and Exclusive?

Then I thought, what about now? I am leading Resurrection Online and hoping to create opportunities for people to worship, grow, give and serve. Isn’t this one of the powerful ways that the Methodist movement grew in faith and size? Would a class meeting work online? What are your thoughts, feelings or opinions about this possibility

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• “Falling with Style” Still a Goal – I hope to be able to fall with style as well.
• My District Superintendent is blogging a return trip to Vietnam after 40 years away at The Year of the Metal Dog.
• Why Innovation Thrives at the Mayo Clinic could be replicated in churches.
• Brilliant work at Internet Campus Volunteer Training Blog from Saddleback.
• 5 Ways to Integrate Stories Into Your Social Media Marketing speaks for itself
• I am not worried about using something NIH – More at The Peculiar Way We Reward Innovation.
• Pray 40 is an opportunity to “pray for the next generation of Christian leaders as they head to college and university campuses.”

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It seems that this question has most to do with how one interprets the Bible. Scripture is inspired by God and paints a picture of God’s character, God’s action and God’s people.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” 2 Timothy 3:16-17, TNIV.

Scripture is the written Word of God that reveals the personal Word of God, Jesus Christ. The good news and truth of scripture can be a source of faith. As such, scripture becomes authoritative and normative for the Christian life.

So what does this mean when it comes to Jesus’ miracles? I believe that Jesus miracles are true and historical fact. They point to the reality that Jesus is God in the flesh and that He has control over all creation. However, my faith does not rest on the historicity of Jesus’ miracles.

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Jesus, the one who died, lives! Belief in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is one of the central beliefs of Christianity. Jesus resurrection is true and historical fact. Paul addresses this question in 1 Corinthians 15:12:

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all others.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a human being. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

I agree with what my current senior pastor, Adam Hamilton says in response to a question about whether he really believes in the resurrection, I don’t just believe it. I’m counting on it.

There are some things which one needs to believe to be a Christian. They are what makes Christianity distinct from other religions, systems of belief or unbelief. One of the most basic guides to the Christian faith is the Apostles’ Creed. This is a statement of faith that helps to set the guidelines or the boundaries of what it means to be a Christian. While one may not understand the entire text, belief as outlined in the Apostles’ creed is necessary to be a Christian. The text of the creed as found in The United Methodist Hymnal:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

You do not have to agree with all of the beliefs and positions of The United Methodist Church to be a United Methodist. However, you do need to agree upon some of the central issues of Christian faith. The founder of Methodist movement, John Wesley, preached a sermon titled, Catholic Spirit, in which he addresses this question. He asserts that if believers are of one mind about a few things, there is room for disagreement in others. Beliefs that are to be held in common include:

• Belief in God
• Belief in Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection.
• Love of God with heart, soul, mind and strength
• Desire to do God’s will
• Service to others out as a result of one’s  love of God.
• Love of one’s neighbor as oneself.

One of the hallmarks of being a United Methodist is that we seek the good on both sides of any number of issues that face the church and world today. United Methodists are of one mind about the above list and hold in tension those more trivial idea about which there are disagreement.

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Resurrection Online has experienced 38% growth in year-to-date average weekly worship attendance over last year. This is really exciting and has also lead to some challenges. We are looking at how to continue to provide the best possible experience for those that worship online, offer opportunities to grow, give and serve as well as launching multiple micro churches.

I have appreciated the guidance from both 3 Mistakes Made in Scaling up New Ventures and The Pain of Growth. I want to share a few concepts from those articles and apply them to Resurrection Online.

• Recognize that first users are not the same as scaling users
  • At Resurrection Online, I have witnessed this in practice. Some of those who first began to connect with the online community have not continued. Even those that are connected today may not be the ones who will continue to worship with Resurrection Online as we begin to offer additional opportunities to be in community. It will be interesting to see how this community continues to develop.
• Anticipate that first products are not the same as scaling products
  • I have sought to anticipate what will not be able to scale as Resurrection Online grows and avoided starting to implement the opportunity. It is much easier to introduce a new opportunity rather than remove what no longer becomes sustainable. There are likely still things that we are doing today that will not be able to sustain as growth continues, however I hope that number of those things is small.
• You will have to be as willing to stop stuff as you are to start stuff.
  • This is connected to the above point about scaling products. There have already been some things that we have stopped which were offered in the beginning. As part of Resurrection Online‘s commitment to roll out features as soon as possible and listen to feedback from the users, we will necessarily stop doing some stuff after it has begun because it just won’t make sense with actual congregants.
• You will have to drive up the level of excellence. … As you grow, so will the expectations of your guests.
  • This will continue to be true. There are aspects of Resurrection Online quality with which I am not satisfied today. Increased numbers of people connecting with Resurrection Online will mean that quality will need to continue to improve.

I believe that campus ministry in Kansas is a critical part of renewal within The United Methodist Church in the state. I am excited to share the Cat-Hawk Challenge with you. From the website:

You are invited to this year’s Cat-Hawk Challenge. The purpose of this challenge is to encourage United Methodists to become Partners- in-Ministry with Wesley KU or K-State Wesley. The Cat-Hawk Challenge offers a fun way to learn about the vital ministries of these two United Methodist campus ministries.

In what ways are campus ministries supported close to where you live?

One of the latest waves in social media is location based services like Gowalla and Foursquare. The concept is to use your mobile device to “Check In” to locations that you visit and use it as a tool to connect with people and places. Gowalla recently released an application programming interface (API) to allow other applications to be developed that link to data from Gowalla. The guidelines for using the API, from the website, are:

• Check in where the user actually is
• Don’t encourage checking in where the user isn’t
• Never check in without permission from the user
• Encourage social behavior, discourage bot-like behavior
• Rapid, repeated checkins are not tolerated
• Use the API responsibly

These were first brought to my attention from  this article on TechCrunch, which summarizes the API Guidelines in this way, “Or to put it more succinctly: authenticity.” You have to actually be at a location to check in. I can’t check in to a location in St. Louis if I am in Kansas City.

Authenticity.

This is why the church should be more like Gowalla – connect real people in real places with a real God.

I am glad that Chris Brogan had a good experience with church online at LifeChurch.tv. Chris is a well known social media practitioner and has a good deal of influence in some circles. He wrote about his experience with worship online at Digital Church.

I am glad that more people are spreading the word about church online. Resurrection Online (www.rezonline.org) is still in its infancy and has room to grow. A rising tide lifts all boats.

It was a great blessing to work with Bill Gepford this summer at Resurrection Online (www.rezonline.org). Today he is headed back to seminary at Perkins School of Theology.

This summer, Bill pioneered online marketing, built community online each week, equipped simulcast worship locations and launched additional worship times throughout the week.

Most of all, I appreciated the spirit with which he engaged in the task and his sincerity in following Christ.

I pray the best for him in the days ahead. You will want to follow him as I believe God has great things ahead in his life.

• http://billgepford.wordpress.com
• http://twitter.com/billgepford

• Would Wesley create itineracy today? Read more at United Methodist Ordination – Pt. 2.
• A potent reminder at Forgive & Forget.
• I sometimes forget – Wherever You Are…Be Fully There.
• Park Launches a New Media Player – I appreciate both the design and willingness to share.
• Any churches have a community manager? I am intrigued by Fire Your Marketing Manager and Hire a Community Manager.
• Quality reflections at 5 Years of Service :: Institute 2010 :: God’s All Stars.
• Echo Conference :: Day 2 Notes are the second set of beautiful notes on what looks to be a great conference
• I am excited for the series of posts about The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century.
• My first view of a moving video at Friday Inspiration for July 30, 2010.
• For a great look at social marketing, check out The Story of a Church Making the Impossible, Possible.

The initial story - The $600 billion challenge.

The results – The Giving Pledge.

You can read the pledge letters in this PDF.

This is absolutely amazing.

Last week at The Global Leadership Summit I heard about Engage, which is (from the vide0) “an online experience and guide to help you personally. Engage is like your personal spiritual coach.” From the promo text at the Summit – “A web-based church-wide people development system where spiritual formation, technology, and social media converge.” You can find more information at www.willowcreek.com/engage. Here is the promo video:

Isn’t this spiritual direction?

I will be happy to look at a product when it can be used in a local church.

I recently came across the proposal for a Twitter Communion service and its subsequent cancellation. As Pastor of Resurrection Online, I have spent a good deal of time considering how sacraments are made available for those that worship online. I am still working on articulating clear guidance for Resurrection Online attender.

This proposal is particularly intriguing to me as it is from a British Methodist, who shares a similar theology and founder in John Wesley. Here is a video of the proposal.

What are your thoughts, feelings or opinions about this Twitter Communion?