PECULIER PUB
My friend Bill Clark and I meet every Thursday at the Peculier (yes, it's spelled wrong on purpose) Pub on Bleecker St. to talk about life, culture and ministry. Bill is a professor at NYU and is a pretty big authority in the field of political science. He is brilliant when talking about the church.
One thought he brought up that stuck with me was how our job as pastors is not to do the ministry but to empower other people to do ministry. The people in the church should be doing far more "ministry" than the pastors. I feel like many churches that I have experienced do not create the chemistry to produce this mindset. The mindset is, "well, you should talk to the pastor" or "let's get some interns to cover these job roles." The jobs that interns are taking here in NYC should be being done by members of the church rather than people we hire from different parts of the country. The two leadership journey interns we got for college ministry are really taking roles that shoudl have been filled by people in the church. But now these people are getting ripped off because they are having their opportunities to participate in ministry minimized.
When people decide to do ministry they think of becoming pastors when really pastors do less ministry than people that work regular jobs. We spend less time with people outside the church (mostly due to other people having jobs outside of the church). The question pastors should be asking is not "how can I do ministry in this church and community?" but rather, "how can I help these 200, 400, 2000 people to do ministry in this church and this community. 2000 ministers go a lot further in the community than 4 or 5 pastors can. It makes sense that some smaller churches don't grow because the pastor won't let it. He's made the church think that he is the one who does the ministry and a church can never grow past how many people this man can know. Any thoughts? Man, the things you can think of over a cold Belhaven Scottish Ale. MMMMMM.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
This week we have had two mission teams from Texas here helping us out at Mosaic. I wish I could say that I enjoy that part of my job but I honestly dread every day of it. I think most of it has to do with so much work and so little response to anything we do. How many hundred dozen Krispy Kreme donuts can I hand out with teams in the morning before we see ONE person come to a service? Praise God this is my last summer working with mission teams because i'm worn out. Today one of the men brought a bull horn thing that he used to make stupid comments as they handed out donuts such as "Donuts are free and so is Jesus." Man, who are these people? Didn't take long for us to take his batteries. It's not that they don't have a good heart and are sincere with their actions but you just can't make them understand NYC culture quick enough to not alienate people. Which leads me to rule #1 - NO mission teams from the deep south, it's just not worth it.
I know we need supporters and this is a way to plug people into our church but these are things that people the church should be doing, not people from around the country. I just think that when a man from Texas offers a donut to a Wall St. Exec, "Y'all want a donut." it may just be turning more people off to Mosaic than getting people interested. This leads me to rule #2 - NO mission teams after the official launch of my church plant East Village Junction.
This week we have had two mission teams from Texas here helping us out at Mosaic. I wish I could say that I enjoy that part of my job but I honestly dread every day of it. I think most of it has to do with so much work and so little response to anything we do. How many hundred dozen Krispy Kreme donuts can I hand out with teams in the morning before we see ONE person come to a service? Praise God this is my last summer working with mission teams because i'm worn out. Today one of the men brought a bull horn thing that he used to make stupid comments as they handed out donuts such as "Donuts are free and so is Jesus." Man, who are these people? Didn't take long for us to take his batteries. It's not that they don't have a good heart and are sincere with their actions but you just can't make them understand NYC culture quick enough to not alienate people. Which leads me to rule #1 - NO mission teams from the deep south, it's just not worth it.
I know we need supporters and this is a way to plug people into our church but these are things that people the church should be doing, not people from around the country. I just think that when a man from Texas offers a donut to a Wall St. Exec, "Y'all want a donut." it may just be turning more people off to Mosaic than getting people interested. This leads me to rule #2 - NO mission teams after the official launch of my church plant East Village Junction.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Saturday, June 12, 2004
THE DECEMBERISTS! WOW!
Last night a new friend of mine Adam and I went to see The Decemberists at Bowery Ballroom. It was one of the best shows I have seen since I have been here and I have seen A LOT of shows. They are incredibly unique musically. I have never heard a voice like Colin's before nor heard music involving that many instruments. They had everything! Accordion, steel guitar, upright bass, flute, a big band bass drum and a woman drummer. You don't see too many of those. If you haven't heard The Decemberists, check them out. I would listen to their EP first which is just called Five Songs. And then check out Castaways and Cutouts. I'm not trying to be a music snob because that is just irritating but it's sad to see a band so talented musically not be commercially succesful and then you watch TV and see bands like Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Matchbox 20, bands who just started playing instruments when they decided, "Hey it would be cool to start a generic rock band." What a sad day but at the same time if bands like The Decemberists were commercially successful on a large scale I wouldn't get to see them in a venue that only holds 500 people either. So I guess it works out for me, it's just unfortunate for them.
Last night a new friend of mine Adam and I went to see The Decemberists at Bowery Ballroom. It was one of the best shows I have seen since I have been here and I have seen A LOT of shows. They are incredibly unique musically. I have never heard a voice like Colin's before nor heard music involving that many instruments. They had everything! Accordion, steel guitar, upright bass, flute, a big band bass drum and a woman drummer. You don't see too many of those. If you haven't heard The Decemberists, check them out. I would listen to their EP first which is just called Five Songs. And then check out Castaways and Cutouts. I'm not trying to be a music snob because that is just irritating but it's sad to see a band so talented musically not be commercially succesful and then you watch TV and see bands like Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Matchbox 20, bands who just started playing instruments when they decided, "Hey it would be cool to start a generic rock band." What a sad day but at the same time if bands like The Decemberists were commercially successful on a large scale I wouldn't get to see them in a venue that only holds 500 people either. So I guess it works out for me, it's just unfortunate for them.
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