Fall header
November 7, 2007

 

 

 
In this Edition:
Vervent Video
To the Point
Practitioners: Jay Coon, Auburn, WA
Talking Back: Dressing for Church
Resources & Ideas
Calendar of Events
Vervent Video
Sherman McCormick on making worship inspiring

McCormick video.
To the Point:

"'Sugar-coated, MTV-style youth ministry is over,' Time Magazine reported.  The current trend that is now packing teens in the pews: bible-based worship.  Youth ministers have tried to engage teens in the Church with a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging, to initially attract the young crowd.  The approach has successfully drawn large number of youth to the pews, but it has failed to keep them there.  The sugar-coated Christianity that was popular in the past few decades, was found to be causing growing numbers of kids to turn away from youth fellowship activities and the Christian faith altogether, according to Time magazine.  They compromised their values and capitulated to what the kids want.  What they wanted was entertainment, a good time, fun and games, rock music, no work, no demand, and certainly no standards.  Youth groups that are entertainment based are destined to fail.  One thing is certain; now certified by this research, the entertainment, 'give'm what they want' youth ministries are woefully, tragically, deficient failures."
-Pensacola Christian College Magazine, The Update, Fall 2007

Quote thanks to Adam Hendron. Got a favorite quote? Send it to BestPractices@ameritech.net. 
Jay Coon
Practitioners:
Jay Coon, Auburn, Washington
Most of us are taught that the key to being a good pastor is evangelism. But what's the role of Christian service? Jay Coon is taking ministry directly to the people of Auburn. LGS

After coming to Auburn Adventist Academy Church in 2001, I found myself completely immersed in the life of the campus. While I enjoyed my interactions with students and church members, I realized I had no involvement in the larger community. That fall, I received a letter from the mayor of Auburn inviting me to a meeting with other pastors and city officials. I didn't read the letter carefully. It sounded like a prayer breakfast. It offered some contact outside the Adventist circle. So I went.

The meeting at the fire department was hosted by the mayor, police chief, fire chief and head chaplain for the city. Twenty to thirty pastors showed up. The city officials invited us to consider becoming chaplains with the police and fire departments. There would be no pay but it would give us opportunity to touch people in times of crisis.

On the way home from the meeting I phoned my senior pastor and my wife to tell them I thought this was God's call. I attended a week long class at the Criminal Justice Training Center (Washington State's police academy), filled out forms and went through the interview process. Finally, I was certified as an emergency service chaplain.

The work of emergency service chaplains has two foci: The first is to respond to calamities and care for those in crisis. This frees the emergency personnel to give their undivided attention to the victim(s). This crisis care often leads to on-going pastoral care for the families affected by trauma.

The second role is to become friends with the emergency personnel and to provide low-key pastoral care to them. I began doing "ride-alongs" with the police and have developed deep friendships with many of the officers. As a result, I've been asked to do several weddings. Recently, I was asked by the police department to conduct the funeral for one of their officers. I was in Illinois on vacation. The department flew me back for two days to conduct the service. The funeral was held in the Academy Church and was attended by the mayor, the city council, the police department and about half the fire department. This is not the first time that my chaplain's work has led the community to view my church as "their church."

If you're looking to touch your community, call your police or fire department and ask if they are looking for chaplains. You'll touch lives for Jesus and connect your church with the real world.

Contact Jay at jecoon@hotmail.com. Auburn Adventist Academy church also has a website. There's also an organization for police chaplains where you may get more information.

Are you or a colleague doing something especially interesting and innovative in ministry? Tell us about it at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
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Talking Back:
Dressing for Church
Thanks for all the responses! Most Best Practices readers believe that proper church apparel is about context. LGS

The important thing is not how much we look at each other but the extent that we look to and at God!
Tim Garrison

I couldn't help be a bit amused at your article on wearing a robe. Customs are funny things. Choirs can wear robes but preachers can't? Hmmm. I have sung in church choirs but I discarded the robe when I got up to preach. Why? I don't know. Just habit and tradition, I guess. I don't suppose the suit and necktie has any great spiritual advantage over a robe.
Mike Leno

I make a case for going "indigenous"--that which fits naturally in a particular context, environment or region.
Raj Attiken

I think our dress should reflect our target audience. If all I have coming are Seventh-day Adventist then a suit or sport coat is expected and proper. But if I have guests coming from our community then I believe it's better to step it down a bit.
Dave Livermore

Hedy's article was rightfully granted a Green Weenie Award [by The Wittenburg Door Christian satire magazine]. I doubt that it would even get printed today.  Things have certainly changed in the last 25+ years since it appeared in Ministry. Nowadays there are no one-size-fits-all approaches to dressing for the pulpit. As for me, I just want to keep my wife happy, so I'll be wearing my dark gray business suit to church.
Dan Martella

Last winter I frequently wore a black mock turtleneck with a black suit coat and pants. Someone in my congregation accused me of dressing in priest garb and being a Jesuit!
Victor Marshall

Clothes are tools. Currently I pastor in the suburbs of Seattle, home of grunge, city of the least ironed clothes according to a survey I read somewhere. So I wear business casual--no tie, no coat. If our concern is to be maximally effective in our job, then the job (and the job site and the "customers")  will determine our wardrobe.
John McClarty

John the Baptist was dressed for success.I don't believe dressing like the Pharisees would have helped his message get across.
Bryan Dulan

I feel that what we wear to lead worship says something--regardless of what we wear. So, in the past 7 or 8 years I've wondered, why the uncritical adoption of everything associated with corporate America. Why do our pastors not think twice about a business suit? I wear slacks and a dress shirt with no tie, occasionally a jacket. I have worn jeans on occasion. I've worn a tie on occasion. But I still kid with a few of my colleagues that when I grow up I want to be like an Episcopal priest and wear those gorgeous vestments!
Ryan Bell

Why should we shock people and give them the opportunity to criticize?
Jean-Guy Tremblay

When I visited a certain country in the tropics, I wore a tie but left my jacket at the hotel. When I got to the church I was told that I had to wear a jacket to preach and so borrowed one from one of the pastors present. No one in the audience wore a jacket!  But to stand behind the sacred pulpit you had to wear a jacket.
David Newman

I have searched Ellen White's writings on this topic and the best I could come up with, as far as a principle, is that we shouldn't be wearing our farm-work clothes to church.  We should be wearing our best and cleanest clothes. For me, I am determined to wear the clothes of the audience I am trying to bring to Jesus.  My best guess: Jesus wore clean peasant clothes because he was seeking to reach the peasants.
Gary Walter

Robes? Having had the opportunity to use them years ago at the seminary when going out to preach with the "Black Preaching" class, I learned to to really enjoy their freedom. But being white and preaching where most of the churches were more of a country church type I've had to forgo that. I've discovered over the years that it's easier to be heard if the family can focus on the word and not what I'm wearing.
Michael Cook

You will find that a great number of our Black brothers in the southern and eastern states wear robes while preaching. I wore suits for preaching until I saw a beautiful black and red velvet robe, and when ask by a parishioner what I would like as a gift, I chose the robe. I wore it sparingly, mostly for weddings. I was afraid to wear it for preaching, but it was accepted when I did. Now that I am in Hawaii I wear the Filipino borong. A number of the brethren here wear the aloha flowered shirt to preach, but I can't bring myself to.
Arthur Bushnell
Resources, Reflections, Ideas
from Loren Seibold, BP editor

  • Just got a note from Byron Dulan in the NPUC that he and fellow regional conference leaders are planning a conference on Local Church Evangelism Using Technology and Communications Broadcasting. This is an emerging field, one a lot of us are interested in, and I wish I could have told you about it sooner! It will be on the campus of Oakwood College, November 29-December 2. Write Byron for more info. I'll pass along a website as soon as I get that.
  • The Vervent Worship Conference in Denver went well, according to Dave Gemmell. I'd love to hear a review from a pastor who attended. Would you recommend it to others?
  • We've seen some great NAD/Vervent conferences in the last year--worship conferences in Baltimore and Denver, the Innovation Conference in Columbus, among others. Here's another idea: any interest out there in an event just for pastors and leaders of small churches? Let's talk about it.
  • I just got back from the NAD committee meeting. It's sort of like an old-fashioned workers' meeting for conference presidents. A little business (of the most boring kind--sifting through policies and bylaws) but mostly pumping up conference leaders on the NAD's priorities, so they'll go home and pump up pastors. Met a lot of nice people and saw old friends. Elder Schneider is consistently entertaining and inspiring.
  • It's interesting to see a new set of conference  leaders showing up at these meetings, very dedicated and thoroughly Adventist, but who come to the job with a slightly different paradigm than the older generation. Theirs is still not the voice you hear most at these meetings, but I think it bodes well for the future.
  • Two items from this meeting that will affect all of us:
  • First, we voted that conferences increase the defined contribution matching to 100% over the next 5 years or so. That means that the amount the conference puts into our VALIC accounts is going to increase, and the amount we'll have to put in to get the match increases, too. This is, in my opinion, needed and welcome. The proportion also increases from 2.25% to 3%.
  • Second, the NAD is planning 2009 to be the Year of Pastoral Evangelism. You'll be hearing a lot about this soon. The expectation is that each pastor will do two evangelistic meetings in 2009, and all the administrators will do at least one. Elder Schneider recommended that we do whatever is necessary to get the money for these, even if it means decreasing conference staff.
  • We're not talking about anything new or unusual, just good old-fashioned evangelistic meetings.
  • Last weekend Carmen and I attended the Association of Adventist Women's conference in Silver Spring. I was absolutely astonished by the accomplishments of the Seventh-day Adventist women who were honored. I'm not exaggerating when I say they run rings around the great majority of us ministry professionals. I wish that more church leaders had been there to recognize them.
  • paradigm_shift is a series of 10 short illustrative video clips designed for use in sermons, small groups, Sabbath Schools and so on. Based on the principles in Micah 6:8, "to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly", these clips use humor and real life situations to talk about daily Christian living. View samples online at www.youtube.com/tedmedia, click on "SHIFT". This series is released by tedMEDIA productions, a small group of Adventist filmmakers working for the Trans-European Division in partnership with the Centre for Secular & Postmodern Studies at the Adventist Mission Office of the General Conference.  A limited quantity of DVD's are available in the North American Division by contacting Sarah Asaftei at sarah@reframe.info. Each DVD comes with 10 video clips and costs $50 USD, or $5 per clip.
Got a tool, resource, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
Events
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NAD Church RESOURCE Center
Best Practices is an e-publication of Vervent
NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER
Editor: Loren Seibold
Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church