paper work....

Sometimes we get bogged down by all the paper work. It seems like there is a little excitement about something that is going on at work and the buzz is alive and everyone gets excited about it and then the heavy lifting kicks in and tons of paper work starts needing to be filled out and all of the sudden what once was excitement turns into frustration, despair, and frankly "work". What happened to the passion and excitement that once was? What happened to the reason that we fell in love with it in the first place? Did life happen? Did time happen? Or was it a lack of remembrance?

We see this kind of thing happen in work, relationships (marriages), involvement in church, spending time with God, etc.... I wonder if it is a part of every human being's make-up? (And yes even the guys who don't wear make-up)

We find this kind of problem in the Bible all over the place, from the Church in Ephesus in Revelation who lost their first love to all the many times that God's people rebelled and chose a different path than what God was carving out for them.

Have you lost your first love? When as the last time you loved what you were doing right before reading this blog and what you will do right after it? When was the last time you loved waking up on the first day you had to go back to work?

Well, in a way the honeymoon has been over for a while now with The Waters. The excitement is not as glowing from everyone I talk to, but people still say they are excited, and then add a "but" after that statement. And to tell you the truth, even if we all know fully that this was going to be a long term commitment and it would not be easy, it is still bogging down sometimes, and so that is why I constantly am reminding people to make sure that serving God in The Waters is fun!

WARNING AHEAD:

If reading this blog becomes an obligation, or serving God in The Waters ever becomes something you have to do instead of get to do, or if helping with this ministry stops being "fun", then let’s talk.

I (and Jesus for that matter) never said it would be easy, but even the junk times of it can be survived as long as we remember that God is with us and we remember the reason why we were excited in the first place.

We need to remember the anticipation and excitement that it is to serve and give!

Ma, I love you, and this amazing experiment of ministry! It is already transforming lives as you read this and that is exciting...and tons of fun! :)

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Yesterday I met with Bryan (my "coach" for The Waters) I have known Bryan for several years and he is a great friend and accountability partner, and he works with several other wonderful people @ Spiritual Leadership. They are helping several United Methodist Conferences all over the US and coaching not only the Bishops and District Superintendents, but also pastors and congregations as well. Bryan has agreed to come aboard and coach me in leadership’s roles and also come alongside the possible future OG discussion leaders and help us form a core leadership team for The Waters. Yesterday we met and talked about "the paper work". Heh.... even though I have never been the type of person who enjoys paper work or even typing anything. I am actually excited about dog this because what I will be doing is helping me become better organized and focused about who we are becoming and the direction God is leading me to lead others! So this is exciting times to be doing the heavy lifting. They say the hardest part is just starting and it should either start rolling or at the very least move one rock out of the way to prepare for the roll, heh heh.

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The website guys @ Design District have told me they will have several logos up and ready for us to give them our idea of what we like best and once that is done then we ca go from there and get a better idea about The Waters' website! So that will be very exciting. And I will let you all know about that as soon as I know.

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I have been invited to be a part of another blog that is all about the emerging discussion in worship in the United Methodist Church as a whole. And I must tell you...it has been a wonderful way to discuss what we are doing and getting a wonderful Biblical viewpoint of what we are looking at and doing. These are really amazing discussions and everyone is getting excited about what God is doing differently and re-shaping how we worship God! It really does consume a lot of my time thinking about and dreaming about The Waters and its place in universal church's traditions and the Biblical theology of it as well! Of course we thought about these things, but I hope the discussion never stops and we continue to form and be shaped by God's moving among us!

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It is my hope that I can spend more time developing relationships with those who are tribe less. As I do my paper work. (Ma, I wish I had a laptop) It is funny how Tiffany and I were talking about how we really do not like the terms that people have come up with for non-Christ followers. They either build up an "us/them" (i.e. "seeker", pre-Christian, etc...) mentality that really could hurt the possibility of developing a relationship with "them", or they are negative in nature (i.e. "non", "not", "un", etc...). I did like Jim Henderson's phrase, "people Jesus misses most", but that is just too long to say in conversation.

So, I asked Bryan yesterday and he loved what Leonard Sweet calls "non- Christ followers"........."Normal". Ha HA HA....oh man I love that and think it is right on! It not only pokes fun at the lie that Christians are perfect; it also is never looking down at people who are different that Christians. It is a very good term to use in conversation with normal people and can help open up the dialogue of discussion where relationships can form and love, hope, grace, and community can be experienced!

So, therefore, I will intentionally attempt to start using this term "normal" when talking about anyone that is other than "Christian". This is making me desire to read Leonard Sweet's stuff.

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Also, we are going to have our second Organic Gathering made up of those interested in possibly becoming OG Discussion leaders on the 11th! We will have our "party" as breakfast and then start into the 8 week commitment, and then we will invite Bryan to come in and grow us even deeper in community and leaders, and help us form what could possibly be a core team of supporters and lovers of The Waters!

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Well, a lot is going on @ The Waters! Our first OG had its fist of the 8 week gatherings and the discussion is still going from last Friday online! This discussion is exactly what we desired to happen in the lives of those joining the gatherings, so it is very exciting to be a part of The Waters!

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Also, Gary and I were interviewed by the Cinci Enquirer to possibly do a story about Florence UMC and The Waters. And the reporter said that she might stop by our Friday night OG to take some pictures and interview a few of us! It is good and exciting and I hope that the reporter has fun as well! The only thing is that for these to be organic that we really desire for her to not print where we meet, even though several people might recognize the place, of well, it sounds funny to tell a newspaper to not give us free advertising, but for each of these gatherings to be organic and natural when it comes to relationships, it just would not work...but I am sure we can develop some in a quick time, heh....Thanks be!

So until next weeks update...God bless yall, take care, and KUTPs!
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The Book: Vogons. They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious, and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the ravenous Bug-Blatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, lost, found again, queried, subjected to public inquiry, lost and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighter.
--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This is a quote that was talking about a race of people that were the galaxy's government, poking fun at anyone who is in government...but sometimes it is so true of anything that is polity oriented, or sometimes just paper work. ha ha ha.