brent(inWorship)

ht:Brewster, Alex

When Christians react to elections with despair and panic, they [demonstrate] that their faith is in the wrong place…Salvation is not something that Caesar holds in his hand, whether to give or withhold.
— Douglas Wilson

ht:Joshua Blankenship

Today, I look around the blog world and I see lots of thoughts, arguments and pictures.

Halloween…

What is it to you? I am not interested in whether or not this is a day Christians should or should not celebrate. I am pretty convinced for myself that I will be celebrating it.

But, what are you doing today? What are your favorite or worst memories of halloween?

For me, it’s all the great horror movies. I’ve grown up with them and love them. I watch them all month long. October is fun

So…now you…

When do we know we have done enough? Do you ever feel done?

I’ve felt this way in my position as a Worship Pastor. On one hand, ministry never ends. It’s never complete. It’s a journey. On the other hand, there are tasks I handle that have a deadline or a finished product.

I am a person that like to accomplish something. I loke to have a finished product. Yesterday and today I have been painting and moving into a new office. It feels good to near the end of this task. Although this task is quite insignificant.

Here’s where I have to balance. Ministry, is about the journey. It is about people. It is not about process. Sure, process and procedure is great, but only 1 part in loving God and loving people.

I need to continue, in every aspect of what I do, to evaluate. Am I only focused on getting the job done? Or am I enjoying the journey?

What do you think? Can you go through life without placing an expected accomplishment on your relationship with Christ?

Tomorrow I leave town for 3 days. Two other Pastors and I are headed up to Portland to attend a simulcast of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. I am looking forward to a couple of days out of town with friends as well as the opportunity to catch up with Tyler and others in Portland. The conference is set to be an incredibly challenging time as well.

I have some posts set up to go up on Thursday and Friday. I will do my best to follow up on comments, but if I don’t, feel free to hijack the blog and enjoy yourself

Are any of you attending the conference? If you are in the northwest and are headed to the Portland simulcast, drop me an email. I’d love to say hey. We are meeting Thursday evening at McMenamins.

You can follow me on Twitter as well and enjoy the trip with me. I’ll be posting updates and pics.

As I prep a post for more discussion on “Christian’ entertainment, I want to give you a spot to discuss the most recent thoughts. The comments in the last post have headed down a different road that I was headed, but I would say they have many similarities. I think they should be discussed.

Should a Pastor be paid?

I guess you would have to define a Pastor and their role first, but I don’t have time to do all that. The Bible speaks clearly to elder’s in the church. To leaders. To those who are equipping the church to go out and minister. They do minister to the church, but they are more focused on equipping. There is my simple definition of a Pastor.

So, should these people be paid? On one hand, the Bible tells us not to worry about where we will sleep or eat, God will provide (Matthew 6:25-26). It also suggests that we should not force these Elder’s to find their own food, but instead should financially take care of them so they can focus on their duties. It even says they should be paid well, some translations say…double the going wage (1 Timothy 5:17-18).

So what is it? Often the line is divided between the “simple” church and the “Mega” church because of their practices. Not sure that line should exist, but I do believe that line allows for some great thoughts and questions that hold us accountable.

(I am gone for the AM running a soccer camp for our church…I will be back early afternoon to jump in)