Spring Participation Survey
Sunday, November 29th, 2009The Spring Participation Survey is now available online.
Archive for November, 2009
Let’s Start With Jesus
Thursday, November 19th, 2009I have found myself repeatedly mentioning an article in Leadership Journal that I read last summer. It’s by Scot McKnight, who was a prof at Trinity Seminary when I was there. It’s an interesting analysis of reaching the current generation of 20 and 30 year olds for Christ.
Comments welcome.
Here’s the Link
Mike Rice’s Ordination
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Mike Rice’s Ordination
Gail and I had the privilege of going to Minnesota this past weekend (October 31st to November 2nd) to participate in the ordination of Mike Rice.
Mike and Vanessa attended Trinity from abut 1998 to about 2000. I call Mike my clone, because we have so many circumstances of our lives in common. Here’s a brief excerpt from my ordination message that explains:
So I’m sitting in my office at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Clear Lake City, Texas. I think this was in early 1998. The phone rings and I find myself talking to a guy who’s asking if there is a good evangelical seminary in Houston. At the time there really wasn’t, but I naturally asked why he asked. He said his company was moving him down this way, but he was seriously thinking about going into ministry, and wondered if he could do both here.
This is where the clone part starts. I asked him what company, and he says ‘Exxon,’ which is the company I worked for before going to seminary. I asked him where he worked, and he said Florham Park, New Jersey, which is where I worked before Exxon moved me to Texas. Somehow the conversation got into where he went to college, and it turned out he went to Stevens Institute of Technology, which is where I went to college. And he was heavily involved in the Stevens Christian Fellowship, as I was. And he was mentored there, partially by a guy named Varoujan Mazmanian, who has discipled students at Stevens for almost forty years.
Same school, same mentor, same company, same initial location, same move, same desire to serve the Lord in ministry. Do you see why he’s my clone? It seemed inevitable that Mike and Vanessa would come to Texas and get involved at Trinity. Shortly after they did Mike asked if he and I could meet for discipling and accountability. And we did, at a Denny’s, most every week. At the same time Mike and Vanessa got involved in our ministry, especially in worship and youth. My oldest daughter Bethany considers their ministry to be one of the highlights of her high school years.
So I got to play a bit of a mentor role in Mike’s life, and it’s been a joy to watch the Lord lead him through the same seminary I went to, and then to this wonderful ministry.
Mike and Vanessa are ministering to a wonderful group of people at a church plant in St. Paul, Minnesota called CrossCultural Evangelical Free Church. After more than five years of ministry (which is fairly typical) Mike completed all the requirements for ordination in the Evangelical Free Church of America. And it was a privilege and a joy to be asked to do the ordination. Sometimes ministry can be discouraging, but it feels like it’s worth it when you sense that you were able to make a difference for someone.
On top of all that, Mike and Vanessa have two sweet little boys, and it was wonderful to spend the weekend enjoying them, enjoying our friendship, and enjoying the cool fall weather in Minnesota. What a blessing!
