Apple determines that 400,000+ evangelicals and Catholics who signed the Manhattan Declaration are anti-gay and anti-choice, and the company pulls the Manhattan Declaration app from the iTunes store. Sigh…
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Links to Your World, Tuesday November 30
DC Talk reunite, to their dismay
This artist is installing a camera in the back of his head and will record everything it sees for a year as an ‘allegorical statement’ about what we don't see and leave behind. If you’re teaching on Philippians 3:12-14 anytime soon and need a sermon illustration, you’re welcome.
FCC Updating 911 to include text and even video from cell phones. (story) Maybe this will keep Chief Wiggum from getting confused.
“American Exceptionalism”? I’m mostly with the proponents on this one, though more comfortable with Abraham Lincoln’s reference to America as God’s “almost-chosen people.”
Tournament Bass Refuses To Talk To Reporters After Tough Day Getting Caught
The TSA Is Falling For You (Peter Jeffrey):
If from machine thou wouldst conceal
Thy silken realm of dew-kissed skin,
Then let mine own eyes and rubber'd fingers
Make the voyage of discovery.
For I do love thee, traveler,
With a rapt and aching ardor.
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
Men and Women and Home and Church
“As if heaven and earth depended on them”
Monday, November 29, 2010
Gratitude Is Good For You
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, researchers have found that “adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not. . . . They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.”
[In] a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2003...researchers divided people into three groups. Over a period of 10 weeks, one group had to list five things per week for which they were grateful, another kept track of five things they found annoying each week, and the third just listed things that had happened in their lives. The results? “Those who listed blessings each week had fewer health complaints, exercised more regularly and felt better about their lives in general than the other two groups,” the Journal reported.
Dr. Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis, was one of the leading researchers in that study. He’s quoted as saying that the act of feeling gratitude requires “self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humility to realize one’s own limitations.”
Saying Grace
These days, 44 percent of Americans report saying grace or a similar blessing almost every day before eating; 46 percent almost never say it, leaving just a statistical sliver in between, Putnam and Campbell report in their recently published book, American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us. “We are hard-pressed to think of many other behaviors that are so common among one half the population and rare among the other half...,” Putnam and Campbell write.
From a Religion News article. Putnam and Campbell add that the more often you say grace, the more likely you are to identify with the Republican Party, and the less you say grace, the more likely you are to identify with Democrats.
What to Do About Leavers
“Christians often have one of two opposite and equally harmful reactions when they talk with someone who has left the faith: they go on the offensive, delivering a homespun, judgmental sermon, or they freeze in a defensive crouch and fail to engage at all.”
That’s from Drew Dyck’s CT piece, “The Leavers: Young Doubter Exit the Church.”
This is an excellent piece, and will probably be adapted for one of my LeaderLines in a few weeks.
Dyck explains 3 reasons why we should not simply assume that young adults who depart church involvement in college will return once they’re married and have kids. He also explains that we should not simply assume that the reason churchgoing teens are not becoming churchgoing young adults is simply because of moral compromise. It’s that in many cases, he suggests, but it’s more, too. He suggests that many have left a watered-down Christianity that doesn’t have the inclination to engage with them in their faith doubts.
Men and Women and Home and Church
The NY Times introduces “complementarians” and gives some reaction from “egalitarians” in a Molly Worthen article.
Don’t know what those labels refer to?
Frankly, I can’t imagine that such clunky terms ever became mainstream, but the unfortunate nomenclature refers to two different ways that Christians view gender issues. Complementarians see men and women as equal in worth and distinct in roles—they “complement” each other in the home and in the church. Egalitarians see no difference between the roles that men and women can play in the home and the church.
We lead toward complementarianism at Hillcrest.
I’m not sure why the NYT editors entitled Worthen’s piece “Housewives of God,” considering that the article really isn’t about “housewives".” And I share some of the same quibbles with the piece as this GetReligion post. Still, its interesting to read a NYT “take” on a worldview we take for granted. At the least, it helps us know how we’re coming across—and where we need to spend extra time explaining our perspective. Take a moment with it.
Skeptical of the Skeptics
“Yesteryear's scholars who touted the Bible as a factually accurate account of the David and Solomon story may be vindicated.”
Best line from the National Geographic article, “Kings of Controversy,” about digs and debates among archaeologists regarding the reign—and even existence—of David and Solomon. The article will give you some introduction to how (1) the science of archaeology moved from trust in the Bible as a reliable source of history to (2) deep skepticism that anything in its pages could be true to (3) a re-evaluation today of how well-founded that skepticism ever was.
Walking in Circles
We walk in circles when we’re blind to guidance. Resisting the urge to make a pastoral point. Resisting, resisting….
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
“As if heaven and earth depended on them”
In Colossians 4:3, Paul writes, “Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word.” Why ask God for something he’s on record as wanting anyway? Andree Seu--
If we are not corrected or fine-tuned by such verses we may end up sagging in our duty for the simple reason that we do not think it is so very necessary after all. God is advancing His kingdom, and it is an unstoppable juggernaut, we may say to ourselves (which is the true part). So I do not have to knock myself out much in prayer (that is the false part).
Someday we may understand more fully why the Lord seemed so urgent about our prayers, as if heaven and earth depended on them. Who knows? Maybe it is his way of making us feel fully engaged in the process, body and soul. In the meantime, this SOS from Paul to Colossae to form a prayer circle and not let up is much needed oxygen for my prayer life. If this is the way the Lord wants it, so be it. Let’s do it His way.
Winning Ways: Inspiration Leads to Perspiration
The books and seminars on leadership like to distinguish between “leaders” and “managers.” It’s a false distinction.
We are told that “leaders” are visionary, big-picture people who have little inclination to deal with the details of implementing their ideas. By contrast, we are told that “managers” are those who focus on the nuts-and-bolts of a project, making sure that the whole operation runs smoothly. Leaders launch bold new ideas and managers implement them.
As I said, it’s a false distinction. “Leaders” who can’t execute their ideas are as useless as “managers” who can’t inspire people to adopt their ideas. We need to know how to launch and follow through.
And this is especially important to know if you want to be a person of influence.
Each Sunday in November we’ve been in a series called “Leave Your Mark.” It’s for parents and coaches and teachers and managers and civic leaders and anyone else who knows the importance of influence. You can catch up with the series on our website.
This Sunday we’ll discover that after inspiration comes perspiration. In other words, after casting a compelling vision for those we lead, we have to help them implement it.
In this sermon series, we’ve walked with Paul on his first missionary journey as recorded in Acts 13-14. When Paul wrapped up that journey, it’s interesting to see what he decided to do. If all he wanted to do was return to Antioch, there was a much shorter route than the one he chose. Take a look at a map and you’ll see it. He could have headed west through the Cilician route to Paul’s boyhood home of Tarsus, and then south to Antioch. Instead, Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps back through the towns where they had preached, “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith” (14:22). It’s all the more remarkable that Paul chose this route home when you recall all the hardships he faced in these towns in the past.
But Paul knew that he had to do more than just get people to sign up for the Christian life. He had to reinforce their commitment. So he returned to the towns where he had preached and he strengthened them, appointed elders for them, and prayed for them.
This has been a helpful series for me personally, and I hope it’s been useful to you, too. Join us this Sunday @ 10 for our last look at how to “leave your mark” as an influencer.
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Links to Your World, Tuesday November 23
“Studies show that grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships. They are more forgiving and supportive than those who are ungrateful. They are less depressed, stressed, envious, and anxious. In fact, high levels of gratitude explain more about psychological well-being than 30 of the most commonly studied personality traits” (Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, in a worthwhile reflection for Thanksgiving Week)
“Without even knowing it, movie soundtrack makers appear to mimic the sounds of animals in distress.” Wired reports.
Do we really know enough to govern ourselves?
Pastor, worried about infidelity, tells church leaders to quit Facebook or resign.
Ah, yes, “Music for Washing and Ironing.” And just in time for Christmas:
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
LeaderLines: How to Handle Charitable Appeals in Your Group
“Is it an event worthy of an evangelical's time?”
Austin Civic Orchestra and Symphonic Band
Thursday, November 18, 2010
LeaderLines: How to Handle Charitable Appeals in Your Group
We get so many appeals for worthy causes to support, especially in the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But how can Sunday School teachers and other church leaders promote generosity without overwhelming the people who attend our programs?
Your missions leaders and staff have done the research and have recommended certain causes that our congregation has decided to identify with. So, we ask that when you’re gathered at a Hillcrest event, focus on things we’ve agreed to support as a church.
Following this principle accomplishes three things:
- First, it frees you as a leader from having to make a judgment on which charities will and will not be promoted in your class or group. If one of the members wants to circulate brochures or take up a collection for a certain cause, you can simply say, “Let’s submit that to the missions committee first and see if they want to recommend that to our church.”
- Second, following this principle will increase our church’s impact. There’s power in channeling our energies and gifts into a few charitable causes instead of scattering our efforts into any and every cause that we hear about.
- Third, following this principle will keep members and visitors to your group from being overwhelmed. We want to limit appeals to only a few special offerings beyond the unified budget so that people can come and bring their friends without being inundated with constant requests for help.
Of course, people should feel free to talk about their favorite charities to other participants in a class or a meeting at Hillcrest. But promoting and collecting for those charities needs to be done outside of Hillcrest events. For example, imagine a family that funds several missionaries who are not part of the missions agency our church supports. Let’s say they invite several of their friends to come to their house to learn about the missionary work and to join in supporting it. While we wouldn’t want the family to use Sunday School time to hand out brochures and pass the plate for their cause, it’s certainly appropriate for the family to invite Sunday School class members to their home for this purpose.
As a class leader, see how you can tie in to the causes we’ve already researched and we’re already promoting as a church. If you have another cause you’d like to see us support, follow the process we’ve set up to work together as a congregation. Submit the idea to our missions committee, who can research it and recommend its adoption.
Certainly, there are exceptions to this general rule. For example, one of our Common Ground groups collected items to restock a family’s food pantry after a flood. Praise God for their quick and generous response to an urgent need!
If you have any questions about whether a certain charitable cause should be promoted in your group, contact me or Herb Ingram. Help your Hillcrest Family meet our twin goals of promoting generosity while protecting people from being inundated with requests!
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
“Is it an event worthy of an evangelical's time?”
When you set up a conversation in which conversion is never a real possibility, and yet in which genuine and respectful love is clearly evident—well, is it an event worthy of an evangelical's time?
Mark Galli, covering Bob Roberts’ Global Faith Forum in which he invited representatives from Islam and Judaism to join him in a discussion of the differences, similarities, and misunderstandings among the Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Sound familiar? Galli’s close:
To many evangelicals, Roberts's work feels as if it might be compromising evangelical faith. Then again, you have to wonder what has happened to our faith when we think that loving people in a way that makes them feel loved makes us think we have stopped following Jesus.
A One-Way Ticket to Mars
I don’t think retirees are going to go for this:
"To Boldly Go" is the work of Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University professor, and Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona State University. It urges the United States to accelerate its plans to colonize Mars by sending up two-man teams of space explorers.
There's just a tiny little hitch: There wouldn't be a return trip back to Earth.
"You would send a little bit older folks, around 60 or something like that," Schulze-Makuch said.
"The astronauts would go to Mars with the intention of staying for the rest of their lives, as trailblazers of a permanent human Mars colony," the study said.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Austin Civic Orchestra and Symphonic Band
One of our orchestra members, Stephanie Black, is performing in this concert. Check it out by clicking on the image:
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Winning Ways: Influence Isn’t a Popularity Contest
In the New Yorker essay, “The Defiant Ones,” Daniel Zalewski reviewed picture books for children—and found a world of hand-wringing parents. “The parents in today’s stories suffer the same diminution in authority felt by the parents reading them aloud (an hour past bedtime),” he wrote. “The typical adult in a contemporary picture book is harried and befuddled, scurrying to fulfill a child’s wishes and then hesitantly drawing the line.”
From Ian Falconer’s best-selling Olivia series to the new Constance series by Pierre Le Gall, to Victoria and Elizabeth Kann’s Pinkalicious, Zalewski observes that the parents in these stories simply can’t endure the tension their discipline creates. In David Shannon’s best-selling “No, David!” for example, David, after playing baseball in the house and shattering a vase, is made to sit in the corner. A single tear appears. The mother can’t stand it. “Davey, come here,” she says. “Yes, David…I love you!”
The reality is that good parenting and constant popularity cannot co-exist. This is true of other positions of influence, too.
Each Sunday in November we’re looking at what it takes to become a person of influence. The series is called “Leave Your Mark,” and it’s a look at Paul’s first missionary journey as recorded in Acts 13-14. It’s for parents and coaches and teachers and managers and civic leaders and anyone else who knows the importance of influence. You can catch up with the series on our website.
This third Sunday in the series, we’ll look at Acts 14, where some people saw Paul perform a miraculous healing and concluded he was a god. When he wouldn’t let them worship him, they tried to lynch him instead. It’s a vivid picture of how fleeting popularity can be. No matter the reaction, he continued to teach the Word.
As influencers, there are going to be times when people bless us and other times when they blast us. The pursuit of the one and the avoidance of the other cannot be our goal if we want to leave our mark in the lives of others. Instead, our job is to faithfully hold up a vision worth pursuing and call people to it.
This has been a useful sermon series for me to prepare for you. I hope it’s had an effect on your leadership and parenting as well. Join us this Sunday as we continue to learn some important truths about leaving our mark in the lives of others!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Links to Your World, Tuesday November 16
World’s Highest Rock-Climbing Wall:
“A new study suggests that the high school students who spend the most time texting or on social network sites (or both) are at risk for a host of worrisome behaviors, including smoking, risky sex, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and absenteeism.” (NYT. Not sure if this is causative or correlative, but it’s interesting.)
“A wandering mind is linked to low mood…. In contrast to mind wandering, being able to focus on the present is thought to boost happiness.” (Time reports on the study).
Training for Ironman Triathlons at Age 70.
Adults sharply underestimate how much parents’ own stress is affecting kids, or how much stress their children face. The WSJ explains.
Do pets go to heaven? Focus on the Family explores the question.
“In Twenty Years Chocolate Will Be A Rare Delicacy.” I better eat that chocolate in the pantry tonight, just in case.
Wired explains how to score big at Chuck E. Cheese. Just what I needed to know.
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
Free Resource for Intelligent Conversations About Faith
LeaderLines: In the City, For the City
Winning Ways: The Most Important Word You’ll Learn This Week
Monday, November 15, 2010
“In all the smallness and sameness, God works”
In the grand scheme of things, most of us are going to be more of an Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8) or Phlegon (v. 14) than an apostle Paul. And maybe that’s why so many Christians are getting tired of the church. We haven’t learned how to be part of the crowd. We haven’t learned to be ordinary. Our jobs are often mundane. Our devotional times often seem like a waste. Church services are often forgettable. That’s life. We drive to the same places, go through the same routines with the kids, buy the same groceries at the store, and share a bed with the same person every night. Church is often the same too — same doctrines, same basic order of worship, same preacher, same people. But in all the smallness and sameness, God works — like the smallest seed in the garden growing to unbelievable heights, like beloved Tychicus, that faithful minister, delivering the mail and apostolic greetings (Eph. 6:21). Life is usually pretty ordinary, just like following Jesus most days. Daily discipleship is not a new revolution each morning or an agent of global transformation every evening; it’s a long obedience in the same direction.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
“The savior of the world saw fit to toil in working-class obscurity for thirty years before embarking on his cosmos-changing mission”
Young evangelicals should humbly consider the example of our Lord: If the savior of the world saw fit to toil in working-class obscurity for thirty years before embarking on his cosmos-changing mission, it probably won’t hurt you to spend a bit more time forming your intellect and character before you’re ready to make your mark on the culture.
Free Resource for Intelligent Conversations About Faith
I'm enjoying Mark Mittleberg's "The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask." A good resource to talk faith with skeptical friends.
Did I mention its FREE? The e-book version can be downloaded free at http://ow.ly/376qM. You don't need a Kindle. I'm reading it on the free Kindle iPhone app. You can also read it on the free Kindle program for your PC.
Did I mention its FREE? The e-book version can be downloaded free at http://ow.ly/376qM. You don't need a Kindle. I'm reading it on the free Kindle iPhone app. You can also read it on the free Kindle program for your PC.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
LeaderLines: In the City, For the City
There’s a phrase being adopted by a lot of Austin-area churches across denominational lines. It’s a phrase that captures a vision of what we are meant to be—all of us in every congregation—as the Body of Christ in Austin.
“In the City, For the City.”
I spent today with about 150 church leaders who hope to make a “Greater Impact for Greater Austin” through the combined effort of believers in the city. I’ll tell you more about how Hillcrest can join in these efforts in the months ahead.
In “A New Kind of Urban Christian,” the remarkable church leader, Tim Keller, says, “The relationship of Christians to culture is the singular current crisis point for the church. Evangelicals are deeply divided over how to interact with a social order that is growing increasingly post-Christian.”
Some recommend we interact with our culture primarily through politics and protests. Others say that culture is changed one heart at a time, through personal evangelism. Others call for certain degrees of accommodation to the surrounding culture, sometimes at the expense of biblical faithfulness. Keller says that there’s a better approach.
First, he says, more Christians should make a commitment to live long-term in cities. Why? “As the city goes, so goes the culture. Cultural trends tend to be generated in the city and flow outward to the rest of society. People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing, the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture.”
Second, once in cities, Christians should be a dynamic counterculture. “It is not enough for Christians to simply live as individuals in the city. They must live as a particular kind of community.”
Third, Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the city as a whole. We should especially pay attention to the needs of the poor as we look for ways to serve the city.
Fourth, Christians should be a people who integrate their faith with their work. Keller says, “If Christians live in major cultural centers in great numbers, doing their work in an excellent but distinctive manner, that alone will produce a different kind of culture than the one in which we live now.”
Keller has refined and applied his strategy through nearly two decades of ministry in New York City. I think there’s merit in his challenge for the church to have a dual focus: We need to be a vital alternative community determined to serve the good of the city.
Augustine said the same thing 1600 years ago in The City of God. He said that Christians live in two “cities” and we're to faithfully serve them both. We are citizens of the city of God called to serve the city of Man.
We are a community within a community—but more than that, we are a community for a community.
We are in the city, for the city.
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To learn more about the alliance of churches wanting to make a “Greater Impact for Greater Austin,” click here.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
“The aim of our charge is…”
Just what is the ultimate goal of the doctrinal enterprise we are engaged in? What is the purpose of our buying that new plot of land, and rounding up a board of directors, and launching a capital campaign, and building that new seminary, and cutting the ribbon, and teaching that course in New Testament, and handing out those diplomas?
You might well have answered, “To safeguard the truth”—and that would have been a very fine answer. Or you might have waxed eloquent and said the purpose is “The glory of God.” No topping that.
But Paul here [1 Timothy 1:5] sums up the goal of theology and doctrine as (drum roll) “love.” “Love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
Winning Ways: The Most Important Word You’ll Learn This Week
Maybe you read about the South Korean woman who was just granted her driver’s license after 950 tries. Her tenacity has given new meaning to a popular Korean term: sajeonogi.
It’s the most important word you’ll learn this week. But first, the driver’s license story.
In September, the New York Times wrote about Cha Sa-soon, a 69 year old widow who lives in a remote village in South Korea. She wanted to learn to drive so she could take her grandkids to the zoo without relying on the bus system. But Ms. Cha had limited reading skills, having begun school at 15 only to drop out for lack of funds a few years later. So, her biggest obstacle was the 50-minute written test consisting of 40 multiple-choice questions. She failed this exam 949 times, at a cost of $5 for each try.
The NYT piece says she’s become the embodiment of sajeonogi—and that’s the most important word you’ll learn this week.
It’s a conflation of four words that capture a proverb on perseverance: Sa means four, Jeon means “to be knocked down,” Oh means “five” and Gi means “to rise.” So, sajeonogi means to rise five times when knocked down four times. The idiom became popular after Korean boxer Hong-Su-hwan won the 1977 super bantamweight championship by a knockout after being floored four times.
You’ll need a commitment to sajeonogi to leave your mark in this life.
Each Sunday in November we’re looking at what it takes to become a person of influence. The series is called “Leave Your Mark,” and it’s a look at Paul’s first missionary journey as recorded in Acts 13-14. It’s for parents and coaches and teachers and managers and civic leaders and anyone else who knows the importance of influence. You can catch up with the series on our website.
This Sunday we’ll discover that no one makes an impact on the lives of others without perseverance. Paul faced many setbacks in his efforts: a co-worker abandoned him, his health broke down, and he met with hot opposition. Still, he never gave up, and so “the word of the Lord spread through the whole region” (13:49).
Join us at 10 a.m. each Sunday morning in November for this important series!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Links to Your World, Tuesday November 9
5 Things Your Kids Should Know About Their Online Reputation
Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds: His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
Thabiti Anyabwile has an important post regarding abortion: “How I Would Talk About Abortion and Slavery to an African American Audience Were I a White Man.”
A simple, factual explanation of how Obamacare expands abortion coverage in the United States:
If you’re a pro-life evangelical who voted for him, what are you going to do about it?
Links at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
LeaderLines: The Search for Our Next Minister to Students
No, You Are NOT Having a Bad Day. THIS is Having a Bad Day
Monday, November 08, 2010
Intelligence Squared
You should be listening to Intelligence Squared. I listen in the audio podcast format during my exercise routine. A motion is stated, and 2 people argue for it while 2 people argue against it. The audience is polled before and after the debate, and the team that shifts the greatest number to their side wins the contest. Just got done listening to the debate on the topic “Big Government is Stifling the American Spirit.” Last week I listened to two sides debate “Islam is a Religion of Peace.” Surprisingly, the New York audience agreed with the first and disagreed with the second.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
LeaderLines: The Search for Our Next Minister to Students
The search for our next Minister to Students is officially underway! The job description and qualifications have been prepared through consultation with the staff, the youth leadership team, and the Personnel Committee. We are now collecting resumes.
How can you help? First and last, you can pray. You can pray for God to quickly send us the one he has prepared for this important work. You can pray for God to prepare us for new leadership. You can pray for God to work in a powerful way during the interim time through our youth leaders, our parents, and our students.
Second, you can spread the word. Forward this information to anyone you think should consider this position. Also, forward this information to any church leader you know and ask them to think about those who might know of candidates we should consider.
Below you will find the job description, qualifications, and instructions for submitting a resume. This information can also be found on our website at:
http://hillcrestaustin.org/studentministrysearch
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Minister to Students
Job Description
Knowing that sixty-thousand children and youth live within a 5-mile radius of our facility, an organized ministry with middle school and high school students (grades 7-12) is an essential part of the work of Hillcrest Baptist Church. We need a Minister to Students (MS) with the skill, experience and training for the following:
Teaching: Our Minister to Students will teach and equip others to teach in structured settings and informal counseling opportunities. This includes identifying the subjects that need to be covered, preparing lessons, as well as recruiting, training and supervising adult volunteers for the teaching team. Teaching opportunities for the MS and his/her team currently include Sunday morning Bible study, classes in the Hillcrest Institute for youth and sometimes for parents, a midweek program, and retreats. The MS and his/her teaching team should also be prepared for those counseling opportunities that arise to encourage and advise students and their parents individually.
Activities: Our Minister to Students will lead and equip others to lead activities designed for a variety of purposes such as fellowship, missions, outreach, and family enrichment.
Administration: Our Minister to Students must have administrative competence in areas such as planning the annual program calendar, working within a budget, submitting deposits for activities, collecting permission forms, and so on. Good administration also includes effective communication of these plans with the students and their parents.
Outreach: Our Minister to Students will recruit prospective students to the discipleship of Hillcrest. This includes identifying prospective students for the program and following up on visitors to the program (including interacting with their parents, who often have an influence on the student’s participation). This also includes training and motivating active students and youth leaders to join the MS in outreach. A review of numerical growth in the MS’s program will be part of the annual review.
Music: Our Minister to Students will have the musical competence to participate in leadership with our worship music program on Sunday mornings under the direction of our Minister of Music. We believe this will send a strong signal to youth and to their parents that our Sunday morning worship service is designed with them in mind. In addition, the MS will lead (or at least supervise) the praise band for youth events.
Other Duties: Our Minister to Students will be regarded as an associate minister whose focus is on student ministry. This means that the Senior Pastor may give the MS some tasks that will not relate exclusively to youth ministry, but can benefit our overall church program.
Qualifications
We are seeking a man or woman with the following qualifications:
- Education: The candidate must have completed at least a bachelor’s degree program. Seminary training will be considered a plus.
- Experience: The candidate must have 3-5 years experience in youth ministry leadership, preferably in a Baptist church.
- Convictions: The candidate must be in agreement with The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which can be reviewed at the “What We Believe” section of our website (www.HillcrestAustin.org).
- Chemistry: The candidate must demonstrate experience at working well with others. He or she will be leading a team of lay leaders in the student ministry, as well as coordinating with the Minister of Music in worship planning, with the Minister of Education in Sunday School planning, and with the Children’s Ministry Leader in the work of Club 56 (our ministry to fifth- and sixth-graders).
To apply for this position, please send a resume as an email attachment to Pastor Tom Goodman at tom@hbcaustin.org. For more information on Hillcrest Baptist Church, check out our website at www.HillcrestAustin.org.
No, You Are NOT Having a Bad Day. THIS is Having a Bad Day
I found this old story. Saved from the This is True website back in 2005:
Tim Brender was getting ready to move and "knew he needed to start getting things organized," said his wife, Lani. The Madison, Wisc., man went to the basement of his rented townhouse to start packing. He moved a table, which knocked over a can of spray paint, which landed on a hammer on the floor. The can was punctured,and it started to spray wildly, shooting paint into the water heater.
The paint fumes were ignited by the pilot light, which ignited a cushion, which spread to stored gunpowder. The ensuing inferno destroyed everything in the home. "You couldn't set up this scenario to happen," Lani said. (Madison Capital Times) ...Fire investigators believed that, since the couple wasn't insured.
This is True for April 24, 2005
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Winning Ways: Leave Your Mark
The movie Mr. Holland’s Opus tells the fictional story of Glenn Holland, a man with hopes of being a great composer. He takes a job as a high school music teacher, but it’s just to pay the rent while he works on his true goal. Nights and weekends he’s busy composing one memorable piece of music that can leave his mark on the world.
But life keeps interrupting his plans. One year at the high school becomes two, then five, then fifteen. And then one day the school board shuffles old Mr. Holland out for early retirement. He packs his desk. His wife and grown son come to fetch him.
Walking down the school’s wide, empty hallways, he hears a sound in the auditorium. He investigates.
And there in the auditorium are hundreds of his students from his years of teaching—many now old themselves—dozens of his colleagues, both current and former, hundreds of friends, fans, and well-wishers: The room is packed. All have gathered to say thank you.
On the stage, waiting for him, is an orchestra made up of Mr. Holland’s students through the years. Unbeknownst to him, they’ve been preparing to perform Mr. Holland’s Opus—the composition that, across four decades, he hammered out and tinkered with, polished, discarded, recovered, reworked, but never finished.
They play it now.
But of course we all know by now what Mr. Holland’s opus really is. It isn’t his composition. It’s the people he impacted: Students and colleagues and family whom his passions and convictions have helped and shaped.
Who will be playing your opus?
This Sunday we’ll begin a four-week series called “Leave Your Mark.” It’s about becoming a person of influence. It’s for parents and coaches and teachers and managers and civic leaders and anyone else who knows the importance of influence. As I’ve studied Paul’s first missionary journey in Acts 13-14, I’m reminded of what it takes to impact others.
This Sunday we’ll begin the series with a look at 13:1-12. Here we discover that influence requires us to deal with whatever can interfere with our influence. Whether its peer pressure upon your teenager, or self-doubt within your team, or the dark forces of spiritual oppression surrounding a family member, your positive influence has to come to terms with this negative interference.
Join us at 10 a.m. each Sunday morning in November for this important series!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Links to Your World, Tuesday November 2
A new study suggests that a decline in religious participation, and an increase in shopping opportunities, could be making us miserable. (HT: Carol Moreno)
New Amazon species found every 3 days.
Why sisterly chats make people happier.
WSJ: Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims
Reader’s Digest suggests “15 Harmless Folk Remedies Worth a Try” and “15 Weird and Wacky Folk Remedies You Shouldn't Try.”
Infertile couples call it “Facebook envy”: The regret they feel for the jealousy of seeing news that a friend is expecting. A touching WaPo story.
“People who see themselves as active participants in their faith are less susceptible to depression. But for those who feel alienated from their religion, it makes them more likely to be clinically depressed.” (From a Utah Valley University study)
RNS: Survey: 6 in 10 Protestant pastors disapprove of Obama
Early-life experiences could cause permanent changes in the DNA you pass on to future generations. (Newsweek)
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
Oh, THAT’S what the “medical” means in “medical marijuana”
Pastor Wayne’s Latest Deacon Meeting Could Have Gone Better
Of Anti-Gay Bullies and Super Bowl Louts
"...that we may see and remark, and say Whose?"
LeaderLines: Two Secrets of Successful Multi-generational Churches
Winning Ways: Trusting in our Abundant God
“This is separate from my life, it won't affect how I view the world”
Monday, November 01, 2010
“Should it bother anyone that those who stress so loudly that the winners wrote the histories are the ones now writing the histories?”
Why just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Haven’t other ancient "gospels” been found, providing accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching very different than the biblical account?
Charles E. Hill says that a growing number of people, at least in the West, think they know the reason. It’s because of a well-organized ecclesiastical conspiracy.
It has been told in recent best-selling books, novels, and in theaters. Recently, I heard it from a man on a plane and my son heard it in a university classroom. Here is the basic story line.
Gospels about Jesus once flourished. As one scholar has recently put it, they were "breeding like rabbits." Each of the varied Christian sects pushed its own version(s) and competition was lively. This "free market" for Jesus literature meant that, for many years and in many places, some now-forgotten Gospels were at least as popular as the ones that now headline the Christian New Testament. Gradually, however, one of the competing sects was able to gain the upper hand over its rivals. And when it finally declared victory in the fourth century, fully 300 years after Jesus walked the earth, it decreed that its four Gospels were, and had always been, the standard for the church Jesus founded. The "winners," supported by the powerful emperor Constantine the Great, then got to write the histories -- and make the Bibles.
The familiar story doesn’t get the actual history quite right, though. Hill has a caution:
Should it bother anyone that those who stress so loudly that the winners wrote the histories are the ones now writing the histories? Let the reader judge ... but also be aware of conspiracies.
I have Charles E. Hill’s new book, Who Chose the Gospels?, on my to-read list.
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