Pet Peeve

Alright, I know it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but I just saw one of my pet peeves.  On Facebook, no less.  Shocking, I know, who would ever be annoyed by something they see on the internet?  But anyway, it was a little ad that bugged me.  Now, I don't mind the Facebook ads.  If you've seen "The Social Network" I definitely side with Eduardo on this one, and not Sean.  But this ad got to me.  Clearly reading my likes and posts etc. the ad was "Get to know Christ - Become a Pastor".
Now, I'm all for both of those things.  I really do want people to get to know Christ.  I'm starting a new church because I really, really want to reach people who don't already know Christ.  And, I'm a big fan of becoming a Pastor.  My Dad was a Pastor, My Father-in-law was a Pastor.  I'm a Pastor.  I hope at least one of my kids becomes a Pastor (any bets on who you think it will be?)  But it really bugs me when those two things are linked as such.  Get to know Christ by becoming a Pastor?  Honestly, I would caution against that.
Because being a Pastor is awesome, it's fulfilling, and it's wonderful - most days :).  But it is a job.  And what I've found is that a lot of people, particularly new Christians, get really saddened/turned off by the "job" aspect of being a Pastor.  It's not all Spiritual.  And, again, I'm at a good place with that.  I actually love the job aspect of ministry.  God made jobs, He thinks they're important, and so I would think this job is even more important than most.  But it's still hard.  Business decisions are sometimes just that.  Conflict over mission and direction happen.  Staff choices need to be made.  Ministry is a Business, and the Pastor is usually the lead for that Business.  And it often takes pretty mature Christians to be able to see the Spiritual forest thru the business trees on that one.  I wish that weren't always the case, but the longer I've been around this (most of my life, I suppose) the more I see it.
So, get to know Christ.  I think that's a great thing.  And, if you ever feel called to be a Pastor, I'd love to talk to you about that.  But don't think that the one should directly lead to the other.  There are lots of great ways to get to know Jesus.  Becoming a Pastor to do it may not be the best way.
But when it's the right thing for you. . . It doesn't get any better :)

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Praying for Politicians

So, I don't know about you guys, but I have been crabby lately.  I try to be a well informed guy, watch the news, read up on things in the world, etc.  But the dealing with our national debt and debt-limit crisis has been really tough to watch.  I know I've yelled at the TV a lot, and I've agreed with Jon Stewart a lot.  And, in general I've been breaking one of my personal rules.  And that's to simply pray for my politicians.  If you're a Christian, I'd be curious as to where you stand on the issue of prayer for politicians.  For me, I try to practice what I preach, and this is to simply pray for all my elected officials.  And not to pray to change their mind, not to pray that they might agree with me more.  But simply to pray for their health, their safety, and their work.
I know most of us have pretty tough jobs, tougher than most on the outside would realize.  But being a politician today is really tough.  And, perhaps I'm naive, but I really believe that the vast majority of politicians get into the "biz" in order to serve others.  However now, perhaps more than ever, that's a tall request.  It seems that as soon as you get into office at least half of your constituency immediately is angry that you're there.  Not just disappointed, but angry.  And the half that isn't angry (yet) wants to see you fix all the things that were done wrong by the previous guy/gal or they'll get angry.  In the meantime, you have to immediately begin raising a ridiculous amount of money if you ever want a chance of being elected to your position again.
And in the midst of this, there's a huge pool of Christians throwing out to God a whole host of prayers about you.  And I want to include myself in that mix.  But, because of the nature of their jobs, and I think because of the nature of mine, I hope my prayer is heartfelt and simple.  I want to offer a prayer of care, love, and kindness.  No agenda, no politics.  Just prayer.  And, part of my hope is that if I'm doing this in my prayer life, I might be a little more gracious and loving in my day-to-day life and thoughts and conversations about said politicians.  That's where I've been failing lately.  My words about some politicians recently has not matched how I want to pray for those politicians.  Granted, these have been extraordinary times in the political world, but really, isn't it always an extraordinary time?  Isn't there always a crisis?  Isn't there always a time to choose kindness and civility in our words and in our prayers?
Anyway, as I'm writing this it's likely that our current political crisis is nearly over.  And in the aftermath, we'll talk about winners and losers, and who we'll never vote for again.  And, if you're a Christian, I hope you lift your leaders up in prayer.  Not with an agenda, not with malice, or with an attitude.  Just because some men and women spent a great deal of time at one of the hardest jobs in our world today.  And they need our prayer for it.

Don't go to church, Be the Church
Bill