My Hajj to Huntington— Introduction

On of the five pillars of Islam is the Hajj, or pilgrimage that every faithful Muslim must make to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Well, I am not a Muslim, I am a Christian who belongs to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. So where do I go for my pilgrimage? The Vatican? Jerusalem? Lourdes?

None of those. I find myself, a guy from the Ohio hills in the middle of flat Indiana. Now I need to say upfront that this trip is not a requirement of my faith. Nor am I visiting any shrine other than perhaps the Bishop’s office. I don’t even get an indulgence.

You see, for us United Brethren, Huntington is the closest thing we have to a shrine. Nothing super spiritual about the place, it is just the HQ for this branch of the universal Army of Christ. I was invited to leave my home in SE Ohio for a few days in Indiana. Flat. This hillbilly has a hard time adjusting. (Where do the kids sled in winter?)

I didn’t come on a pilgrimage for forgiveness. But to me this is kind of a pilgrimage. You see, I am on a search for answers. Not about heaven but about my life before going there. I am on a fact-finding mission. Where am I supposed to be right now? Am I supposed to stay at Eden for the rest of my life or does God have other plans for me? What do I need to do to be in the center of God’s will? Am I being disobedient in my life and ministry? Am I following God’s plans or my own?

I haven’t written for this blog for a long time, but I want to document my “hajj.” Not only for others to read but also that I can reflect and have resolve that God has and is directing me. So join me as I take the plunge into discovering God’s will for my life. I’ll be blogging about the entirety of my pilgrimage to the Holy See of Huntington.

Mothers' Day-- Why Not a Week Later?

I am excited for this Mothers' Day! That said, I wish it was a week later. This past week, I have spent much time in prayer and meditation on God's Word. And I am sure that the Lord has given me several great messages to share with the congregation. As I was contemplating each message's application a thought dawned on me. I had completely forgotten that this Sunday is Mothers' Day! I mean, this is tantamount to forgetting the Apostle's Creed, especially since I still am living with my parents!

So, I have spent the past two days searching the scriptures like the Bereans, looking for something I can use that is different than the past three MD sermons I've given. I thought I had it when I came to Proverbs 31:10-31. Most Christians are at least familiar with the passage. But then it hit me. We need to be emphasizing Christian Women, not just wives and not just mothers. We have a number of women in our congregation who are not mothers, in the biological sense anyway. It is my belief that Christian women everywhere can and should be people of influence for the Kingdom of God. We have a lady in our congregation who has one son but she is a spiritual mother to most of the kids that ever enter the door of our building. She is what larger churches would call "Head of Children's Ministries". In our church, she is the children's ministry! I think that she deserves more recognition that for just being a biological mother. It is the same with men & father's day. The Lay Leader of my congregation has no kids, but he is definitely a spiritual father.

So what is the point of this ramble? First, Mothers should be celebrated every day, not just on the 2nd Sunday in May. Secondly, all Women of Faith need to be celebrated and encouraged to keep up the fight for the Kingdom. Lastly, I need to work on my sermon instead of blogging!

Revs on Revelation

For a long time now, I have struggled with the book of Revelation. It is not that I find it unbiblical. The problem is that it is scripture. All Scripture is God-given and God-breathed. What is the problem then?

The problem is that I have no idea what I believe will happen in the "end times". I believe that Jesus is coming back in power & glory & in a physical way. I do subscribe to the pre-millennial view. Just which one?

I am not amillennial. I believe that there are good Christian people who hold this view. I am not one of them. I think that to assume this view, you have to stretch application of certain verses and take others out of context. Plus, this view didn't really exist en masse until the 5th Century. That, to me is important.

I am not post-millennial. The way I see it, things are getting worse, not better. The universal c Church is having less of an impact than it was 100 yrs ago. This was a view held by some early christians, but as time went on, Jesus' prophecies made on Mt. Olive and those elsewhere in the New Testement led people to believe that this world is going somewhere in a handbasket, and it is not to "Glory".

I am pre-millennial. Pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib? I don't know. I am fairly certain there will be a "rapture". Am I dispensational? I say yes, but not to the degree that others are.

Last night, I heard Rev. Jim Blaine (my cluster leader) preach a sermon on Daniel 9. He is doing a revival series at Mt. Hermon UB on the 2nd Coming of Jesus. He did a marvelous job. I am not sure I agree with him on everything, but that is okay. Do I believe Jesus is coming back and back soon? Sure. I'd even take a bullet for that. But I am not going to take a bullet on where this all fits into a timeline or is the rapture pre-trib or mid-trib. That's not what I call bullet theology. Others would take a bullet for this belief, and I salute them. I'm just not one of them.

I wish I had firm convictions like other pastors do regarding the end times. For now, I will just have to preach the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ by explaining all views and giving some evidence or critique of each one.

3 Focuses For Adam Will

Last week, I attended the "Hit The Bullseye" conference in Lima, Ohio. It was worth going! I am a big believer in continuing to learn all you can about your passions and vocation/calling. While there, I got to spend some time with my Bishop, Ron Ramsey. He is an incredible inspiration to me. I told him of some of the situations I find myself in as pastor of Eden UB Church. He gave me three things to focus on in the few weeks and months:

1. Sunday Morning Worship/Sermons- Have the best worship services possible and work hard on my messages.
2. Sunday Night Service- Transform our Sunday night service from a worship service to a Bible Study. This will take some getting used to, but will help develop and grow people in their walk with Christ much more than the current situation.
3. Wednesday Small Groups- We already have a Wed. night group. But we are going to transition them into a small group ministry, focusing on community. By going to curriculum, this will save me a great deal of prep time and enable others to teach the group.

So, there you have it. I am going to be working hard on each of these 3 things and not worrying so much about the other stuff. By making some of the above changes, I should lighten my work load and free up more time for studying, vision casting, and personal work.

I am tired and I am going to head off to bed. Maybe I'll have an even better picture/vision in the morning.

Good Night!

Up Late, Thought I'd Blog/ Accepting Resposibility

So it has been almost two months since I have "blogged". Wow... I haven't intended to be so prolific! Ha! I reall do wish that this would be a regular habit for me. Good disciplines are hard for me to establish. Blogging is not the only area I struggle with. I also struggle with keeping an in-depth prayer life and daily Bible readings. I have read all the Spiritual Self-help books to no avail. I guess I just have to buckle down and do it!

I find that we as humans have a very hard time accepting responsibility for our lives. Not only do we have a hard time accepting responsibility for worldly/secular things, but spiritual things as well. We argue over who was supposed to take out the trash, why the lawn wasn't mowed, why no one called Grandma, nobody fixed the sink, and a million other things. We try to find excuses fo why our churches aren't growing. "We've been overwhelmed by all the work days." "We don't have enough youth." "We couldn't find the right music or the right program." We need to accept our responsibilities. I should have been the obe to take out the garbage, call granny, fix the sink, and invite my neighbor to church. Oh, by the way, I should be the one who makes myself begin my day with prayer to my Father. It's up to me to read my Bible, not just devotionaly, but to study it and learn God's Word.

So maybe this whole blogging thing has taught me one thing I didn't expect it to: I can only blame myself for not following through on the things I start. It is up to me to grow in my walk with Christ and up to me to make my life all that it can be for His glory!

My Goals For "Out of Eden"

I know that this is something that I probably should have done when I first started this blog, but I didn't so here it is.

I have come to the place in my life where I realize if something has no purpose, then I have no use for that thing. Therefore, I need to set some goals for this blog and describe what the purpose of my typing away is

My Goals for "Out of Eden" are

• A Record. By writing this blog I can keep a record of my thoughts and things that happen without trying to look for that composition notebook I try to journal in. The net is here and here to stay. Also, I can look back over time and see what God has done and how I have grown and (hopefully) matured.
• A Communication Device. Now I realize probably only 5 people at Eden have even been to a blog before, but hey, that is nearly 15% of the congregation! I hope that as Eden grows and has more tech and web savvy people that this blog will be a method of keeping in touch and keeping people informed. Just because we have blogging people at Eden doesn't mean they will read my blog. One can hope, right?
• An Outreach. I know, I know. You're thinking, "Outreach?!" I realize Reedsville is not exactly silicon valley and that the percentage of homes with reliable web access is relatively small. Yet I think that this gives people an inside look at our congregation at Eden, as well as a chance for Christians to be encouraged and hopefully inspired. I'm not talking a full-fledged on-line ministry, but whatever works.
• A Kingdom Thing. I know I don't show it enough, but more that anything I want my life to give glory to God. If this grows the Kingdom or encourages my spiritual brothers and sisters, great. I think that we should do everything as unto the Lord and He gets glory in it all... Including blogging!

It's Been Awhile

So I haven’t “blogged” in a month… wow… I was hoping that this would be a regular thing and a way for me to expand Eden and stay in touch. Kinda dropped the ball on that one! Anyway, I do seem to have a problem writing down my thoughts. Christina gave me a journal for Christmas and I was doing really well; writing every day until around Jan 25! Having said that let me list some of the things that have happened over the last month:

• Eden went to a new music system on Feb 24. We are now singing to CD’s. This makes it so much simpler, in that I don’t have to practice the piano/organ for hours and we can learn some newer songs. We also are now projecting the words to the songs on the wall. People were a little uneasy at first, but now it seems that the congregation rather enjoys it. People are using the hymnals less and the singing is much better. Singing along with people helps too.

• Christina and I celebrated Valentines Day. What a weekend! Her birthday is the day right after valentines, so I naturally spent way too much money in just a few days time. But we had a good time together. Each day I am amazed that God has brought us together. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.

• We had Wednesday night Bible Study maybe two times 5 weeks. The snow didn’t fall on the weekends, just on Tuesdays. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

We started our first men’s group at Eden! Praise the Lord! I really believe that the more men there are who are living out God’s plan for their lives, the more people will come into the Kingdom of God.

I plan to write about all of these things in the next several posts, so bear with me.