Why I gave Newt Gingrich 10 bucks... (less political than you're expecting)

No really, I promise... this isn't a campaign post.

A couple of weeks ago, sometime late at night, probably after watching a little too much Hulu, I gave Newt Gingrich 10 bucks. Why, besides the fact that I have a serious lack of judgment late at night, would I do that?

Simple.

I think Newt is smart, a good communicator, has detailed answers...

and probably isn't going to win.

Don't get me wrong, there's some Newtmentum going on out there. He made a big deal few days ago when he moved into 3rd place... 7 percentage points behind 2nd place... 15 percentage points behind the leader... in a single poll. Needless to say, there's still time in the race but there's he's going to need a lot more Newtmentum if he actually wants to be a contender.

So, if he's such a long-shot, why donate the money?

It's easy. I spend money on what I believe in.

I believe in Newt $10 worth.

Just take a step back and look at where your money goes... What do you believe in?

You can fully believe in something that you don't give your money to. I believed in my local Congressman a lot more than I believe in Newt but I've never given him a dime. I have canvassed the streets for him on two occasions (both times in flip flops... bad idea.) but never given him any money.

That's just to say that this isn't a hard and fast rule, but like Matthew 12:35 says "A good man brings good things out of the good stored in him and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in him." In other words, in the long run your actions (including your spending) will reflect what's going on inside.

I don't know about you but if I looked at my bank statement I would have to say that the thing I believe in the most... is myself.

And that needs to change.

Leading Without Being in Charge

So, this week I start working at Panera Bread. I realized this afternoon that this is my first job outside of a specifically Christian environment since I was 16. Even that job was a restaurant owned and made up of a majority of Dutch Christian Reformed folks and was closed on Sunday. Since then I've either worked with all Christians in a business owned by members of my church, at a Christian college or at my church itself.

This wasn't the plan.

I went to Moody so that I could work in youth ministry. I'm going to seminary so that I can work in youth ministry more effectively. There's a part of me that feels like working at Panera isn't fulfilling that calling very well. It feels like a misuse of stewardship of gifting. Misstewardship?

Things don't always go to plan though. Actually, it seems they rarely do.

What this job at Panera is, if I actually step back and look at it, is a blessing. I will be able to work well in an environment that isn't made up completely of believers. This can only put me in a better place to do evangelism, of building relationships with people and hopefully, by the grace of God, point people closer to knowing Christ. It is a job. It will bring in money. And I really love the broccoli cheddar soup. Especially with a discount.

The real issue that this raises is what to do about ministry? The beautiful thing is that God has called all believers to be ministers, not just the ones paid to do it. I'm still waiting on a church to get back to me about a position but at this point I'd rather deal with the situation I have than hypothetical situations in the future. The opportunity then to, after spending a few years doing youth ministry, after completing a degree in youth ministry, go into a youth ministry setting and not be "the boss" that I was applying to be presents some unique benefits:

1. It's God's ministry, not mine.
One of the biggest traps that someone in vocational ministry can fall into is when they start to think of a ministry as "theirs." Don't get me wrong, a pastor has responsibility for care for those under him. The danger of thinking of a ministry as our own is that it makes it seems as any of the fruit, any of the growth is our doing. Faith is a gift from God and so although it is an honor to be a tool in the process of seeing people come to Christ, we are not the ones that brought them there. The humbling experience of going and continuing to work under someone else in youth ministry will hopefully amplify these truths in my life.

2. If I stick in youth ministry, I'll always have a boss. (besides God)
Youth Pastors, by the nature of the job, are not the ones in charge. They are almost always working under a senior/lead pastor who has the final word on most big decisions. The senior/lead pastor has others that he is (hopefully) responsible to but the youth pastor (and other pastoral staff) have the specific responsibility to submit to the senior/lead pastor's leadership. This trait of submission is hopefully something that will continue to be cultivated in my life as I continue to submit to another youth pastor's leadership.

3. If I ask for God's leading, I need to be willing to be led.
I often pray for God's leading. I believe that God has ordained the steps that I'm taking but I want to be taking them in obedience. It's funny that a lot of times I'm really consistent about praying for God to lead me in His paths and then I am angry/grumpy about the paths that He seems to be leading me down. I'm not actually praying for God's leading, I'm praying for God to implement my leading. The plan was to find a youth ministry position. For reasons that are clear to God and not to me, He sent me to Panera instead. I pray that I will learn to submit more fully to God's plans and that I'll look for the opportunities and relationships that He is sending in my life both at Panera and at whatever youth ministry I start volunteering for.

The sanctifying process of looking for a job...

I'm not a big fan of rejection. I know, I know... few people are.

Unless you're a previously established superstar in a specific field, looking for a job is full of rejection. You give someone your resume, you lay out your experience, you try to make an impression and then more often than not they say "Thanks so much for your interest..." (That happens to be the worst opening line of an email to read. It's like asking a girl out and as soon as she responds "I'm really flattered..." you know that you're toast.)

Part of the problem is that interviewing for jobs seems to go completely against what we hold to be true the rest of the time. "Be humble!" and yet interviews seem to be centered around self-promotion. "Think of others higher than yourself" and yet job searching seems to be a process of looking out for yourself rather than others.

Is it possible to look for jobs and still be Christlike?

Well, here's the best answer I could up with.

Keep in mind that it's not like I've actually been successful in finding the job. :p

1. Represent yourself accurately but positively
This is a tight rope for me. I have a hard time trying to make a case of why I should get a job without straying into exaggerations of experiences and skills. The truth is that more often than not I actually undermine my giftedness, skills and experience in an attempt to not come across as full of myself. It isn't a sin to be accurate about those things though. Confidence in who God has made me, the things He's allowed me to do and the skills He's given me to do them is not the same as self-confidence or over-confidence. It's confidence in God's calling.


2. Keep the glory of God as the motivation
This is the easiest to say and the hardest to practice. God's glory is much more motivating than looking for a job out of necessity or because I'm looking for acceptance. Even when I'm hit with the dreaded "We're going in another direction" response I can take joy and satisfaction out of a job pursuit done to please the Lord. If I am truthful in my self-representation and faithful in my taking advantage of the opportunities that I am presented than I can find satisfaction in God and His love for His children.


3. Remember that God is the one who creates jobs
That's right, I can't blame President Obama or Congress because they are just the tools that God uses to do His Will. While I am responsible to go and pursue job opportunities and go to interviews, it is God Himself that provides the job. I can't count on my fingers how many times I have really wanted something only to realize later that it would have been terrible for me. While it would be really nice to be cashing paychecks already I don't necessarily want to be given everything I want. I want to want what God wants for me.

Like #2, this is easier said than done. There really is sanctification found in realizing that I'm at wit's end and need God to provide my needs though. I can't do this myself. I spoke to a youth group last week about clinging to God in the midst of hard times and it is a blessing to say that I need to preach that truth to myself.

Like David in Psalm 13 I'm not sure why God hasn't worked in the way that I need Him to yet. In spite of that though, I can cling to Him and praise Him for all of the ways that He is already blessing me and trust Him to continue His good work. Even when His timing isn't what I'd like it to be, knowing that He is there and that He cares is more than enough for now.

After Ahnuld: Politics in the Era of the Recall

In 2003 the voters of California voted to remove their governor, Gray Davis, and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger. If I was telling you this in 2002 you would probably think I was crazy. In fact, I did tell someone prior to the recall election and they did think I was crazy. I couldn't see the future but even at the early stages of the recall I knew that the chance to put the guy who played the Kindergarten Cop in office was not something the people of California would miss out on. This isn't to demean Californians... it was a novelty that I'm not sure many people would have turned down (see Minnesota and Jesse Ventura) It was a crazy time. I mean seriously, the Game Show Network took the craziest candidates and had them "debate."

Enough about the history of it. If you want to know more, there's a Wikipedia article about it. It's where I got most of that info. The point is that outside of the novelty was that Gray Davis was being recalled because people were upset about the price of their electric bills. Basically. Someone who actually lived there during that time could probably give a better reason but the bottom line is that he hadn't committed any serious crimes, he was being recalled because people were unhappy with his job performance.

In recent history that hadn't been the case. Leaders had been removed for crimes or serious ethics violations. They still are *cough* Kwame Kilpatrick* cough... *cough*Blago *cough* but since the successful recall in 2003 we live in a different world...

In this world, recalling of elected officials is becoming more and more common.

In Michigan, an effort led mostly by teacher union members is afoot to recall the governor because of his budget cutting process. What they don't realize is that in Michigan the Lt. Governor would take over if he was recalled and he was put on the ticket because conservatives didn't think the Governor was conservative enough.

In Wisconsin, six state senators are facing recall today over their policies regarding collective bargaining rights. Plans are also underway to recall the governor but under Wisconsin law they have to wait until he's actually had the job for a little bit longer.

The common thread between these two situations is that it is purely over ideological differences that they are being recalled. They have not broken any laws they are simply implementing policies that some people do not like.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that conservatives don't like some of President Obama's liberal policies. In the same way, liberals will not like conservative policies. It makes sense. That doesn't give people the right to demand that the elected official step down though. What it does is put us on the slippery slope that only ends with politicians who, even more than they do now, choose to do what is popular rather than what they believe to be right.

Politicians without conviction.

You might argue that we're already there but if that's true we shouldn't go and recall them anytime they do show conviction, on either side of the aisle!

I've got two pieces of advice. One for everybody and one specifically for my brother and sister Christians.

First, let's stop this era of the constant threat of recall and let democracy work. Even if someone is elected that isn't from your party, that has a different ideology than you do, they will be up for election again. It's the natural way the government is set up to remove politicians that we don't like because of their policy choices. Politicians should be able to focus on governing, not fighting an extra election in August after only a year of being elected...

Secondly for Christians, we need to do better at submitting to our elected officials. Romans 13 tells us that the government is God's servant for our good. And Paul was talking about Roman emperors when he wrote that! We aren't subjecting ourselves well and we are not spreading the name of Christ very well if we are constantly berating the politicians we don't like. If we are posting hateful things about them on our Facebook, how can we be submitting to them? Yes, it's ok to have a political point of view. If you have a problem with how things are being run, then contact your representative with your displeasure... that's what you're supposed to do in our system of government!

Being so caught in up how you think the country should be run so that people know more about your politics and the way you feel about specific politicians than they do your faith is a tragedy.

It would be much better for the state of politics in America if we'd stop recalling... and started praying.

Marriage: The "Unwritten" Requirement in Ministry

I'm still planning on heading to grad school in two weeks but that doesn't keep me from looking at what Youth Pastor jobs are out there. I mean, you never know, maybe there's one where they don't care that I'm going through school and in fact want to pay for it, supply a free house and still pay me enough to satisfy my Starbucks addiction. One can hope.

I was looking at job post a few months ago and saw one in Pennsylvania that seemed like a good church. I read the expectations and felt like I could meet most of them. I read the doctrinal statement and was glad that we were on the same page of the essentials. Finally, I went through the job requirements: bachelor's degree- check, a call to youth ministry- check, be married- uh, not check.

Seriously... "be married"?

I tweeted this after I read it and almost immediately got some support from a friend that's youth pastoring while single. The subject had already been something in the back of my mind for awhile though. While in my first year of college, a roommate asked if I planned on getting married and I replied "Yeah, but we'll have to see." His response was "Well, don't you plan on working in a church?" At the time I took him to just be a bit extreme but a couple of blogs that I had read a few months prior to this job posting brought up the same issue. Both were responding to a New York Times article on the subject but one was from a single pastor and one was from a seminary president. The pastor wrote about how his church had really come around him and learned to appreciate his singleness. He wrote that he'd like to be married but that it hasn't happened yet. The seminary president wrote that he tells students that, whether it's right or wrong, they'll have a harder time getting a job in a church if they're single.

While this made me angry, he's probably right.

A lot of churches operate under the impression that the reason their pastor or youth pastor needs to be married is that there's no way they could minister to both men and women, guys and girls if they aren't married. You know what, that's probably true in some cases!

There is a barrier there when there's an issue that should be dealt with by a girl speaking to a girl or a guy speaking to a guy and someone who is single doesn't have that spouse there to step in. On the other hand, singleness is a gift... not a curse. Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 7 that the unmarried are able to focus more intently on ministry. There's less to worry about. It's not that singleness is better than being married because it's clear that, on the whole, we were not meant to be alone. Both are gifts, however, and both have their limitations.

All of that being said, I don't write this as someone who intends to be unmarried for the rest of my life.

I write this as someone who doesn't want to get married just to get a job.

In an age where so many are constantly fighting for the Biblical definition of marriage, it just doesn't make sense to view marriage a job requirement rather than understanding it as a gift that God gives at His own discretion. (This has nothing to do with the need for guys to initiate and everything to do with God's sovereignty.) Marriage is so special and unique that it's what God uses as a picture of His relationship to His church. We cheapen it by simply viewing it as a needed skill set for ministry.

So, this is a call for those in a position to hire people into ministry. Marriage is good. It is not a job requirement though. Let's stop treating singleness like a disability and start treating it like a time in life that God has placed people to be able to serve Him with a single focus.

I also pray that when I am married... I do not forget what it is like to be single.

Link to my sermon on Romans 6

Just thought I would post the link to the sermon I did last Sunday on Romans 6: "Living Like You're Dead to Sin" in the rare case that someone sees this that doesn't know me on Facebook....

http://www.hbckentwood.org/downloads/weekly/2011/08/july-31-2011

Friendship according to Winnie the Pooh

The following is a review/analysis of the topic of friendship in the movie Winnie the Pooh. If you do not want the story ruined, you should see it first. I imagine this may be the kind of story that is still enjoyable if you know what's coming... but still, go see it.

So last Thursday I went with some good friends to see Winnie the Pooh. For those of you that are only familiar with "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" or "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" you might wonder why we went to go see a "kids movie." The truth is that when Disney wants to stick a little closer to the actual Pooh books, the stories are actually really funny and clever. This was the case for the movie on Thursday.

Besides laughing and general enjoyment, I felt something I didn't expect during the movie. Anger. I was not happy with Owl. Owl is someone who I looked up to as a kid, probably because I could relate with his love of books and because Pooh just isn't bright most of the time. (He's a bear of very little brains.)

Owl, as it turns out, is actually someone who acts like he knows a lot more than he does. He is obsessed with himself. Basically, he's the perfect hipster. (Maybe if he was a little more fashionable.) He is so focused on covering his lack of knowledge that he sends his friends out on missions that he doesn't seem to need to take an active part in. You can't really dislike him fully because he really is oblivious to what he's doing.

Contrast that with Winnie the Pooh, though. Pooh spends most of the movie focused on honey (or hunny) and has a hard time focusing when he hasn't quite had lunch yet. He even goes into a large honey-induced hallucination. He struggles to keep his mind off of honey and on their quest to find Eeyore's tail. Eventually, by the end of the story, Pooh just needs his honey. He stops by Owl's house, rings the bell that looks suspiciously like a donkey tail and goes inside for a small, smattering of honey. After Owl describes where he found his new door bell rope, Pooh realizes that it's Eeyore's tail and immediately leaves to give it back to him. Owl asks "Don't you want to stay for some honey?" and Pooh responds "I would very much but I have a friend who needs his tail back."

Pooh's wants were less important than his friend Eeyore's needs. If you know anything about Pooh and Hunny, you would know how important Pooh's friends are to him. Contrast Owl's constant talk about himself and his willingness to get others to do what he is not willing to do with Pooh who is willing to set aside what he desperately wants for his friends and I think we can see easily what the admirable quality in friendship is.

May I be a little less like Owl today,  a little less focused on myself and a little more like Pooh, willing to fulfill the needs of my friends even if it means I miss out on something that I want.

PS Owl's not so bad. He's just insecure.