Last Friday a judge acquitted three NYPD detectives of all charges in the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Bell who was killed by 50 bullets fired outside a Queens strip club on what would have been his wedding day in November of 2006. It was a tragedy for all involved. There were no winners in this case.What does it mean for New Life Fellowship Church as we find ourselves in the midst of this crisis? In fact, a father of one of our young adults told me his son actually was the one who introduced Sean Bell to his finance and that he attended the funeral. We have police officers in our church that will probably be guarding the picket lines for the protests this week. We also have members who will be marching in protest. So we have Christians protesting and Christians guarding the protest. Apparently some of the Bell family knew Christ. Read more.
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I am in the middle of working on a draft of a rule of life for our membership and annual meeting on June 1st. Over the past year we have developed a “Rule” for our elders and pastoral staff which is quite extensive. However, I have been pondering what a devotional yet focused Rule might look like for New Life, one that would drive people to seek Christ above all else and articulate our unique calling as a local family. It should be interesting! Right now I have about 15 points that I believe get at the unique charism of who we are and am about to begin getting feedback from others. Here is a small portion for your perusal. Remember the nature of a Rule: The purpose of this rule is to keep us faithful to our unique “charism” and unite around it. It affirms who we are.This rule serves as. Read more.
Geri and I have been leading a research and development small group on emotionally healthy skills (or practices) that we have been writing for the past year. So we invited 15 people, singles and marrieds, from a variety of ethnic and age groups to gather in our basement and be our “guinea pigs” Last Sunday we did our 12th practice (triggers that cause us to react immaturely rather than pausing in order to maturely respond). The power of this small group and transformation continues to both astound me and raise theological/pastoral issues for me. Every time Geri and I lead one of these experiential skill groups, people truly are changed – deeply. What is it? We also did a pre-conference on emotionally healthy skills at our pastors/leaders conference last week and that too was very impactful for them. A former rabbi once told me sermons are like dropping a drop of water from the Empire State Building and. Read more.
The theme for what God is seeking to do in me can be summed up around the work grounded. I am so easily pulled away, seduced into what is easy and popular — like speaking, new projects, getting overextended, doing the easy (be active) rather than think and do the best. Today I am headed for 24 hours alone with God (something now in our Rule of Life as pastoral staff at NLF that we are all to do 1x a month) at a nearby retreat center. They have a hermitage that is both simple and lovely. I have taken it very slow this week, working minimally to compensate for the heavy previous week with the EHS conference. I am feeling refreshed physically and emotionally. Yet I can feel the weight of demands pressing around me — sermon on Eph. 6:10ff for Sunday to prepare, staff issues, running NLF, and the numbers of people. Read more.
We just completed our pastor, leader and spouse conference here at Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. It was a whirlwind of preparation, people, meetings, and speaking. We added a preconference on the skills Geri and I have been working on since September. People came from South Africa, Eastern Europe, England, Mongolia, Canada as well as from around the USA. It was wonderful and, of course, a great output of energy from us. Between that, our regular two day conference and then preaching on Sunday, I was quite spent and am taking it very slow this week. Something major, however, happened in me this weekend. I followed Christ and took a next step in my spiritual journey with Him by showing up LATE for church on Sunday. Yes LATE – for the first time in 20.5 years as Senior Pastor at NLF. Like slowing down for silence, Offices and Sabbath can feel like one is. Read more.
ANOTHER BLOG? YES, BUT UNLIKE AN ARTICLE OR TRAINING LESSON, THESE ENTRIES INVITE YOU INTO MY WORLD, MY EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY SPIRITUALITY JOURNEY. OFTEN, YOU HEAR THE INSIGHTS OF AUTHORS OR SPEAKERS FROM THEIR BOOKS AND SEMINARS. YOU WONDER, “WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON IN THEIR LIFE AND WALK?” “HOW ARE THEY LIVING OUT THEIR OWN MESSAGE?” IT IS WITH THESE QUESTIONS IN MIND THAT I HAVE CHOSEN TO DO A BLOG. My hope for this Blog is to invite you to join with me and participate on this journey into Emotionally Healthy Spirituality that God began in my life over twelve years ago. It has been an incredible journey that continues to unfold in significant (I am tempted to say “dramatic”, but “surprising” may be best) ways – for my personal life, marriage with Geri and the local church I pastor here in Queens. Since I take Fridays as my day off and Saturday. Read more.
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