Category: Ministry

Posted in Ministry

Last week’s conference

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Last week, from Tuesday through Thursday, I attended the annual English District professional workers’ conference in Detroit, Michigan, close to where the district office is. I’ve faithfully attended many such events over the years, even though I am rarely thrilled by the program put together by the conference committee. I’ve learned I will always find a few bright spots that make going worthwhile.

First, the main speaker, Dr. Andy Bartelt, from the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis faculty was great, speaking about Isaiah 6 and 60. I especially liked his image of the breathing in and breathing out, that is, the church gathering around word and sacrament, then going out in to the world.

Second, I got to catch up with many of my friends from around the country, who I only get to see once a year.

Third, I got to meet some new people. This year, I got to know some of the guys doing inner city ministry in Milwaukee, WI, who are discovering other ways of funding this kind of work through grants and partnering with other church. I also met some men in their first year of ministry planting churches in inner city San Diego. Imagine starting from scratch, in a community of mostly agnostics and atheists, some homeless, some upwardly mobile professionals. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, so I learned a lot from our conversation. With nearly twenty-five years of pastoral ministry behind me, I’m learning to appreciate the next generations coming up, doing kingdom work, and making an amazing difference in a world that so much needs our Lord’s love.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

Confirmation

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today was confirmation day at our church. Those who grew up Lutheran might wonder how I arrived at the last Sunday in April. I do like Palm Sunday, one traditional day for confirmation, but it often falls during spring break so some years that doesn’t work well. I love Pentecost, too, but when Easter is late in April, that sometimes occurs after school is out in Florida, so that can be difficult, too. So I’ve done the first Sunday in May for a long time, except for this year when I feared that my daughter’s college graduation might be that Sunday. So adapting to a multitude of secular conventions, we went for it today.

And it was great. I love teaching middle schoolers, confirmation classes, and the rite of confirmation. If no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3) then days like this are very powerful. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not so much about what they know, although we cover a lot of material with the Small Catechism. It’s more about who they are. I always pray that emerge from the confirmation experience realizing that they are children of God, who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:15). I also pray that they’ve developed a relationship with a pastor and a church, so that no matter what else changes in their lives, they can always go back and find the unchanging, unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this is a special event for me because I vividly remember my own confirmation nearly forty years ago. At the time, it seemed like I had arrived. In retrospect, I was just getting started. When I got to the seminary and we began to review Christian doctrine, I realized a lot sounded very familiar to me. My pastor, the late Rev. Donald Sallach, had done an excellent job of teaching me the basics. I only hope that to some extent, I can do the same.

Posted in Life, Ministry

An old friend

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few weeks ago I received an invitation to the 50th anniversary of Luther Memorial in Tinton Falls, NJ, the church I attended when was living in New Jersey and working for Bell Labs before I went to the seminary. It’s been twenty-eight years since I’ve been there, so I am flattered that they remembered me and sent me an invitation. Unfortunately, the celebration is on Palm Sunday, and I am working. But I took a few minutes to write with my my greetings and record a few memories for them.

Just out of college, working my first job, living in my first apartment, I decided to search out a church in Monmouth County, NJ. The first one I tried didn’t even notice I was there. The second one, Lutheran Memorial, embraced me as one of their own from the moment I stepped in the door. The first Sunday there, someone took me to lunch. The next week, they got me involved with the choir and playing trumpet. The third week they invited me to help teach the high school class. And from there, grew to love ministry much more than my profession. The love of that congregation propelled me towards the pastoral ministry in a big way. And for that I will always fondly remember and thank God for my time with them.

Posted in Life, Ministry

All the time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Do you know what I forget sometimes? I forget that not everyone’s life revolves around the church. Conversely, I’ll bet a lot of people don’t even realize that most pastors’ live do. Revolve around the church, that is.

Here’s what I mean. An average member of the church who attends say twice a month, may only actually think about the church a couple of hours on those two days. That’s it. Another member of the church, who serves on a committee, is a member of a small group, are part of a music group or participates in a community ministry may think about church a couple of hours each week. Some in positions of leadership may spend as much as 3-4 hours a week with church responsibilities. If you have a job and a family, I wouldn’t expect much more.

Enter the pastor. I think about the church every day. I think about the church most of my waking hours. I’m not always doing church stuff, but even when I’m not, I’ve got sermon thoughts running around in my head, I’ve got people on my mind who I need to talk to or visit, and I’m always wondering how those in the hospital or recovering at home are doing.

I’m not saying this is bad. After all, it is my job and it’s not yours. I just think the extremes are interesting. There was a time when I wasn’t a pastor and wasn’t thinking about church all the time, but that was a long time ago. It’s hard to remember. And those outside the role (and the family) have no idea what it’s like to be immersed in it all the time.

Wouldn’t it be interesting (and probably healthy) to walk in each other’s shoes once in a while?

Posted in Grace, Ministry

It takes time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It takes time. In my morning devotions I just began the gospel of Mark. Before this I was in Luke. What a contrast. While Luke takes his time getting through the birth of Christ and extensive teaching, Mark moves things along very quickly. In just three quick chapters of Mark, Jesus has attracted not only crowds of followers, but also plenty of opposition and they are already plotting to kill Jesus. After three chapters in Luke, Jesus is just getting warmed up for his public ministry.

In many ways, I think we come at the church and ministry from Mark’s perspective. We expect things to happen quickly. Whatever ideas, projects, and programs we implement, we look for quick results. This may not be true everywhere, but in my experience, it takes quite a while to see things develop in the church. In our own congregation it has taken many years to move from talking about missions to actually going and doing mission work. It’s taken many years to develop some of our music programs, community involvement, and teachers for classes.

So I’ve learned that you can’t force these things to happen. You can’t rush them. And all those months when it seemed like absolutely nothing was happening, something was happening. God was working to prepare his people for ministry. Note to self: when it seems like not much is happening, relax. There’s actually a whole lot going on.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Looking for my voice

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Looking for my voice. Today I barely croaked out the second sermon as the laryngitis I knew was coming mercilessly set in. As early as Friday I knew it would be a tough morning. I could feel a little soreness in my throat and I just had a feeling that Sunday morning would be a challenge. Saturday morning didn’t start out too badly, but as the day wore one my voice was strained and even though I drank gallons (at least it seemed like that much) of water, I knew Sunday would be a struggle. Sure enough, I woke up with a sandpapery voice that got a little better after a hot shower. I didn’t sing any songs and really took it easy the first service, but I wasn’t at 100%. Fortunately, this is the service we record and post online. Bible class wasn’t too bad, but at the beginning of our second worship service, I knew it would be tough. I did get through the second sermon, but had to ask one of my elders to finish up the end of the service for me.

About 18 years ago, I was singing with a choir in another church and developed a really serious case of laryngitis. Ever since that time, a cold or some pine pollen or any throat irritation can set it off. It’s kind of like my Achilles’ heel, which as you might imagine isn’t good for a preacher. It happens about two times a year, and there’s really not much I can do about it. I had a sermon I was really looking forward to preaching, too. And since I don’t write out my whole sermon but kind of put together a storyboard, I couldn’t just pass off to an elder.

To tell you the thuth, I don’t like being vessel of clay (2 Cor 4).  But these kind of days remind me I am, and that God just might be able to communicate through a guy who can only croak out a sermon.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

How strong do you have to be?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

About a week ago, I left early in the morning to meet someone at the hospital who was having surgery that day. As we sat down to talk and pray, she said, “I’m sorry for being such a wimp.” And I thought to myself, “Why do we feel like we must be strong all the time?” When you are about to have surgery and face some of the realities and unknowns of cancer, isn’t it OK to be scared, be weak, and cry? Of all times to feel vulnerable and mortal, this would seem to be one of the most appropriate.

Yet we don’t like to let on that we feel that way. It seems this is especially true of Christians. We’ve convinced ourselves that our faith means we will not be scared, we will not worry, and we will not feel weak. Even if we read numerous Psalms reminding us that God is our refuge and strength, we’d rather dig deep into our own resources rather than have to tap into his. It’s not easy to say that God is your strength and mean it, because it means you are weak, and probably a wimp, too. It’s OK to sing, “I am weak but he is strong” when you’re a kid, but not when you’re grown up.

The apostle Paul figured it out: “When I’m weak, then I’m strong.” Perhaps we need to learn how to be better wimps.

Posted in Ministry

Making some noise

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Yesterday in church, during the sermon, I challenged the congregation to make some noise. The lead is was that the praises of Revelation 4 and 5 aren’t polite golf claps, but deafening praise for our Creator and Savior. I had sent out an email on Saturday, telling them to be ready to make some noise and to even bring noise makers with them on Sunday. Since we are usually pretty reserved on Sunday mornings, I didn’t expect much. Boy was I wrong. They were primed and ready and just waiting for the command. They brought whistles, drums, and some healthy lungs with them. And when I called for some noise, they let loose, much more than I had anticipated. Our early service did well. Our second service is a little more traditional, but those folks did even better. You can hear it at at the very end of yesterday’s sermon. I wonder why we sometimes hold back our praise, as well as some of our other emotions. Why pretend we’re not sad, happy, or angry? I’m pretty proud of the way everyone responded yesterday. Nice job, folks!

Posted in Grace, Ministry

A little more time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Yesterday, I needed more time. More time to get things done, get to all the places I needed to be, and more time to spend with people. As the day began (my days typically begin at 5 am, feeding and walking the dog before my devotional time), I knew I’d never get everything done I needed to get done.

I dropped my neighbor off at the restaurant where we have our Thursday morning men’s bible class, went down to the hospital to pray with someone about to go in for surgery, headed back to the restaurant for the rest of the class, picked up my daughter after a doctor’s appointment and took her to school, and then got to church. After that I had two early afternoon appointments, some errands to run, another bible class to attend at night, supper to prepare in-between, and I really wanted to go over my sermon for Sunday. Yeah, one of those days. It’s not like that everyday, but it happens.

Here’s the cool part. I got all that done and had some time left over. It is as if my day had more than 24 hours in it! How did I do that? I guess I could share my secrets in my next best-selling book. But to tell you the truth, I’m not sure I have the answer, other than to give God credit for a day that seemed a little longer than usual.

Now it could be that I overestimated how long some of my tasks would take. Traffic wasn’t too bad, the line at the store wasn’t too long, and I knew the guard at one gated community, so entrance was fast and easy. So I had two chunks of time to go over my sermon, was able to make a few phone calls, didn’t have to rush through dinner with my wife, and had a few bonus conversations with people along the way.

I believe that just as God provides other resources, like wealth and abilities, he can provide some time, too. This should be a surprise, because he did it for both Joshua and Hezekiah in the Old Testament. I never expect it to happen to me, and it doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it’s pretty cool. Thanks, Lord.