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 But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
- Abraham Lincoln |
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A DISTORTION OF REAL LIFE
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 Third of three articles about Facebookby Pablo Gaitan, Senior Pastor, South Gate church, Southern California Conference
You all know that Facebook has amazing social influence. Facebook and other social media venues have the ability to build relationships, and also destroy them; to tear down friendships, or build them up. I've met a lot of people with life-changing testimonies about how a single post, a 140 character twit or a status update, has had a significant influence in their lives. Bible verses, quotes, testimonies, prayer requests are everywhere found within the Facebook aquarium. Yet, as pastors and leaders, we need to be aware of the communication distortions Facebook creates, or we will be distorted by them. First, many of your "friends" will confuse your timeline wall with who you truly are. That would be a terrible mistake for their part. Yet, you can not prevent that from happening. Second, Facebook smoothes our self at home, work, office, soccer field into a single generic extruded product. We know that life is not as straightforward as a Facebook timeline. It has many more facets than that. Finally, Facebook conveys a precise stiff, crude prototype of what people are. It herds everybody into the same oversized room with only one kind of relationship: friendship. We need to have these three distortions in mind before tapping the "share" button on our IPhones. I do believe that just as social media has the power to destroy, it has the power to create and empower. The results of our relationship with social media depend totally in our hands. In the end, it will be a part of our lives whether we want it to be or not. Though Mark wants you to share, I suggest that pastors need to carefully and thoughtfully care what they share for it is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation. To paraphrase the preacher of Ecclesiastes, "Better is a good reputation than"... a pretty timeline. Discuss this topic on our Facebook page. 
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HOW MUCH MILITARY IN CHURCH?
|  by Loren Seibold, Editor, Best Practices for Adventist MinistryWe Seventh-day Adventists have nurtured a carefully nuanced relationship with the military. Some of you may remember, as I do, when military service for Seventh-day Adventist young men was a necessary evil: you never, ever joined voluntarily, and you always opted for conscientious objector status. At the same time, we've always been patriotic people - flags in our churches, and patriotic songs in our hymnal. Pathfinders even had a touch of the military to it: when I was young, we dressed in military-style uniforms, right down to the caps and shoulder patches, and practiced marching. One place this has come up for me is Memorial Day, when veterans and others in the congregation want to remember those who have given their lives for our country. It is appropriate to honor our fallen, of course, as well as to pray for those who are serving. But how? I've seen a military honor guard (sans guns) marching down the center aisle of the church as the service began. That made me a little uncomfortable. Another question that has occurred to me in more recent years: how meaningful is this kind of ceremony to those in a congregation who are immigrants or migrant workers? Our pioneers weren't pacifists, though they did seem to be as aware of the sixth commandment as of the fourth. Jesus didn't condone violence - quite the opposite. Also, you may not be convinced that every war that our country enters, where youth we know may have to sacrifice their lives, was necessarily a good and moral decision. Do you have the right to say that? And if a pastor can't, then who can? Doesn't our eschatology demand that we question the actions of earthly governments - especially since we don't expect them to be on our side in the end? Yet these topics are politically charged to some people. Plus, you undoubtedly have church young people who you love very much serving in the military, sometimes in combat. Who would ever want to discourage them or their families? It's an interesting question, one that probes the relationship between us Seventh-day Adventists and the world we expect to leave soon. What do you think? How do you celebrate Memorial Day in church? How much patriotism do you bring into church? Can you discuss patriotism without being political? Discuss this topic on our Facebook page. |
IS ORDINATION SCRIPTURAL?
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Darius Jankiewicz, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary presents his preliminary findings concerning the history of the rite of ordination at the 2012 Women Clergy Conference. View his presentation where he states that there is no Biblical foundation for the rite of ordination and that the three fold ordination as practiced in the Adventist church has its roots in the Roman Catholic faith. Currently the world divisions of the Adventist Church are giving study to the meaning of ordination as requested by the 2010 GC session. The NAD began their study commitee this last week.
Discuss this topic on Facebook.
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READING FOR PASTORS
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I predict you're going to hear this again: ROWE, or Results-Oriented Work Environment, where flexibility and self-motivation trump putting in office time, according to Jennifer Vander Molen. Of course, you need actually to show results. And how do you measure those in ministry? Christians and Muslims can agree on something? In the Philippines, it's that they don't like pop singer Lady Gaga's sacrilegious lyrics! (How about moving on now to work together to oppose violence and war?)
Does analytical thinking destroy religious belief? That's what one study says. Quote: "Religious belief is intuitive - and analytical thinking can undermine intuitive thinking. So when people are encouraged to think analytically, it can block intuitive thinking."
Abortion is still our most politically polarizing issue - and becoming more so, not less. Quote: "[It is] a marker in the rise of the politically potent Christian Right, for which many say abortion has become a proxy for bigger divides in American culture." Korea is debating taxing pastors and churches. Quote: " Under the current law, those engaged in religious service are exempt from paying income tax, while some voluntarily report their earnings and pay taxes."  If you've used Logos Bible software, you'll appreciate this story about this aggressive and expanding Christian company. Now they're translating previously-unavailable Thomas Aquinas books! Even while we debate spiritual formation and other spiritual methodologies, spiritual directorship is a growing field. Quote: "Driving the growth are millennials ... who are more apt than previous generations to identify as 'spiritual but not religious.'" Is Christianity the most discriminated-against religion? This opinion piece says so. Quote: "I would argue, and I believe that the evidence is overwhelmingly on my side, that Christianity is the main, central, most common, and most thoroughly and purposefully marginalized, obscured, and publicly and privately misrepresented belief system in the final decades of the 20th century and the opening years of the 21st."
Clergy killers: Toxic congregations take a big toll on pastors' mental health. Quote: "Ministers who were forced out of their jobs because of congregational conflict were more likely to experience burnout, depression, lower self-esteem and more physical health problems, the online study found. In addition, more than four in 10 ministers forced out of their jobs reported seriously considering leaving the ministry."
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TO THE POINT: MEMORIAL DAY
| On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! ~Thomas William Parsons
With the tears a Land hath shed
Their graves should ever be green.
~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland
The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men.
~Minot J. Savage
The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. ~Thomas Campbell
Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays.... The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms. ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen,
Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
~Richard Watson Gilder
I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did. ~Benjamin Harrison
The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem. ~Aaron Kilbourn
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. ~William Penn |
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IDEAS, EVENTS, RESOURCES, ANNOUNCEMENTS
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From Loren Seibold: I always like to meet Best Practices readers, wherever I go. Next week I'll be in Lincoln, NE at the Iowa-Missouri campmeeting, 5/30-31. The last week of July I'll be at Redwood Campmeeting in Northern California. Please look for me! I want to meet you and find out what you're doing in ministry.
Peter Roennfeldt is an exciting thinker in the area of church planting and growth. Check out his website here, and sign up for his newsletter.
Andrews University Leadership Conference, July 20-23, 2012. Pre-conference
sessions Friday evening and Saturday morning, keynote address by Richard Blackaby, followed by a series of pre-conference workshops on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Session keynote speaker, Sunday 7 PM, will be Daniel Goleman, the best-selling author of the book Emotional Intelligence, with more than 5 million copies sold in 40 languages. Beginning on Sunday at 7:00 pm, For more information call the Leadership Department at 269-471-6580, or go to www.andrews.edu/grad.
Allan Martin continues his GODencounters series across the division:
- June 1 and 2, "GODencounters: Jesus, All or nothing," will take place in conjunction with the Iowa-Missouri Camp Meeting at Sunnydale Adventist Academy. Pastor Chris Jones will be presenting from Galatians and recording artist, Chris Picco, will lead worship as well as be featured in concert.
- August 30 through September 1, GODencounters returns to the Southwestern Union hosted at the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church in Texas. "GODencounters: Be Present" is the theme Chaplain Sam Leonor will explore with young adults from across the DFW Metroplex. The Younger Generation Church Worship Band will lean in and lead those who gather in musical praise of Christ.
The New PlusLine Website: Now you can visit just one site to find the resources and information you need for your ministry. PlusLine has moved under the AdventSource website umbrella, providing you with a true one-stop destination for ministry. The information you are used to finding on PlusLine is now available on AdventSource's website and can accessed at www.plusline.org or by going to www.adventsource.org and clicking on the PlusLine tab. Event registration has also moved to the AdventSource website.
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A MASTERS DEGREE WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR DISTRICT
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Do you know any pastors who have not completed a masters degree in ministry yet? Walt Williams, Associate Director NAD Ministerial, wants to let them know that InMinistry offers two master's programs that will help give greater depth to their ministry. "Pastors less than 35 years of age who wish to stay in their district can enroll in the InMinistry MDiv degree delivery where up to 1/3 is offered as intensives. And for pastors over 35, the entire MA in Pastoral Ministry is also offered as intensives in each NAD union allowing a pastor to remain in his/her ministry site. Best of all, the MA tuition is pre-paid by the union for its pastors." Click here for more information on how to enroll in the July intensives.
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Best Practices for Adventist Ministry is published by NAD Ministerial. Editor:Loren Seibold . Managing Editor: Dave Gemmell. Copyright 2012 North American Division Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. v(301) 680-6418
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