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September 10, 2008

 

 

 



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Best Practices Sermon

Best Practices Video
Mike Elias
To the Point:

     Prayer is the answer to every problem in life.  It puts us in tune with divine wisdom which knows how to adjust everything perfectly.
     So often we do not pray in a given situation because from our standpoint the outlook is hopeless.  But nothing is impossible with God!
     Nothing is so entangled that it cannot be remedied.  No human relationship is too strained for God to bring about reconciliation and understanding. No habit is so deeply rooted that it cannot be overcome.  No one is so weak that he cannot be made strong.  No one is so ill that he cannot be healed.  No mind is so dull that it cannot be made brilliant.
     Whatever the need or desire, if we trust God, He will supply it.  If anything is a cause of worry or anxiety, let us stop rehearsing the difficulty and trust God for healing, love and power.
 - EGW, R&H, Oct. 2, 1865 (Thanks to John Glass for this quote)

No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.
  - Bertrand Russell

I am a Marxist - of the Groucho tendency.
 - Anonymous

There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.
 - Robert Byrne

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
 - Abraham Lincoln

I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
 - Orson Welles

Got a favorite quote? Send it to BestPractices@ameritech.net. 
Loren6Editorial
Learning from the Gentiles?
Loren Seibold, BP Editor

Years ago I attended an Adventist-sponsored conference on leadership for pastors. One of the speakers - not of our denomination - was known to be somewhat controversial. We knew that going in.

That's why the sponsoring organization invited him, and that's why I wanted to hear him. I wanted to experience the kind of "out of the box" thinking we keep talking about, but rarely do.

It was a mind-expanding presentation. Did I agree all of it? Absolutely not. But I was energized by his lectures. As a mature adult I had no trouble keeping my spiritual footing in spite of his occasional heterodoxies. And it was well worth the effort.

The desire to root out heresy is strong among us: when a few of our Adventist folks (largely lay, but a few pastors, too) heard about the speaker, they hit the wall. I say about because they never actually heard him before the fur began to fly. The presenter was well-known enough that it wasn't hard to find angry critics on the internet.

Just copy, paste, and e-mail to all your friends.

I was amazed at how easily a few were able to agitate a large number, in how short a time, with how little true information. They didn't even have to accuse anyone of believing what they heard. They only had to accuse them of hearing it.

How dangerous is it to listen to or read something you don't agree with 100%? I read books by Christian authors, books about the emerging church and new ways of thinking about pastoring and church life, and some contain ideas we'd not endorse. I'm pretty sure you do, too. I listen to preachers of other faiths, and I'm stimulated  and uplifted by them. I'm not compromised just because I don't agree with everything they say.

A conference president way back in my internship refused me permission to attend a seminar by another conservative Christian organization. "Why should we go to the gentiles to learn anything?" he scoffed. Do we know all we need to know? Nothing to learn from other Christians? Our church fathers and mothers didn't think so: they read writers outside the Adventist community, even incorporating the writings into their own books.

Said Paul, "Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free."  There are those, often themselves spiritually in secure, who don't trust your judgment. They're frightened of freedom - yours, and their own.

Except the freedom to criticize. That one, they believe in.

Thoughts on this topic? Write BestPractices@ameritech.net.
Reading for Pastors
by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold

What's the nexus of controversy in your church or conference setting?
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Events:
The National Conference on Innovation
Columbus, Ohio, October 5-7

I attended two Vervent events in the past year that I thought were especially good. One was the Worship Conference at Andrews University. I'd recommend it to anyone, lay or clergy, who leads worship. (Unfortunately, their 2009 schedule isn't posted on line yet, but it will happen at the seminary at AU March 26-28, 2009.)

The other was the 2007 National Conference on Innovation in Columbus, OH. Hearing Dr. Philip Jenkins alone was worth it.

This year promises to be even better. Take a look at the line-up: Robert Wuthnow, Leonard Sweet, and Kelly Monoe Kullberg (author of Finding God at Harvard, a book I read some years ago). Julius Nam from Loma Linda University is going to be here, with a presentation called "Adventism 3.0".

As always, the focus is on the need for innovation in the changing religious landscape, and how innovations can occur at the intersection of insight, invention and faith.

The event coordinator told me today that this is the highest registration so far. The special-rate rooms set aside for us at Embassy Suites are good until September 14. So if you want to come, register now.

 - Review by Loren Seibold
Resources, Ideas and Events
by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold

  • A note from Efrain Paloche: "At Huntsville, Alabama every year more than 1500 pastors from around the world come to join talents, learn new methods and take materials and ideas to enhance their ministry at the Ministerial & Evangelistic Council. The Spanish track this year will be presented by the worlwide evangelist Alejandro Bullon." Oakwood University, December 7-10, 2008.
  • Innovative Impact:On November 11 - 12, several hundred pastors, ministry teams and key lay leaders converge on Nashville, TN for two full days dedicated to helping leaders experience their deepest longings in serving the Lord in ministry. There's a great slate of speakers. Keynote speaker will be Sam McKee of the Epikos Church.
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Got a tool, resource, site, article, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
NAD Events
Do you have an SDA-sponsored event that you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Tell us about it at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
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