@mclanea #MoodyPC is primarily intended for #pastors. #refocus #refresh #equip church leaders. Praise God for other conferences #Heprovides
— Moody Conferences (@MoodyConference) May 15, 2013
11 years ago this week I graduated from Moody Bible Institute. The moment of walking across that stage, shaking Joe Stowell’s hand, and knowing that I had done it, goes down in history as one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
I had defied every odd stacked against me.
I’m always impressed how much retail space exploits psychological advantage to prepare people to spend money. I can run into a corner store and quickly grab the 5 items I need. But the same 5 items in our local grocery store? It’s at least 15 minutes as I walk from end to end of that building.
I think most would agree that the church is one of the last places around that you’ll still see the primary/sole mode of teaching/transformation be a lecture-style sermon, monological preaching. Folks in education have been experimenting with different forms of pedagogy for years, and have moved past the “talking head” format for quite awhile now. Sure, there are times in a large lecture-format course where it still makes sense to give information that way – but most students would probably tell you there are more engaging ways to learn and actually have the information stick, than listening to a lecture.
Yet, it’s a safe bet that you can show up at church on a Sunday morning at your typical church, and expect, for the most part, to sit back, listen, hear and be a passive recipient of a worship service, particularly during the sermon.
While I totally miss being on staff at a local church– there’s one thing I don’t miss at all.
I don’t have to filter my interactions with students through the grid of “what I’m supposed to say because I work at this church.”
With St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday, I’ve been reflecting on Patrick’s life and deeds.
While all manner of silliness is now done in Patrick’s name as Americans pretends to be Irish enough to live out a drunken stereotype and wear colors they’ve not thought about for a second– Patrick really did live an incredible life of faithfulness.
Enslaved as a child, he escaped Ireland only to be called back to the land of his captivity where he spent a lifetime building the Christian church. Legend has it that Patrick planted 1,000 churches. Take that church plant gurus!
I sat my jetlagged, cold-suffering self down in front of the television on Monday. My heart swelled with civic pride as I prepared to watch Barack Obama, a man whose skin color long prevented individuals like him from having a serious shot at the nations highest office, be sworn in for his second term as President of the United States… on Martin Luther King, Jr Day.
