Posted in Life

Walking with the wise

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I came across these words of wisdom in Proverbs this morning:  “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise” (13:20).

Sometimes I need to hang out with wise people. People who have insight, who have had some experience, who I can learn something from, who can get me thinking, who can challenge me. All I need to do is find some.

Here’s where I’ve found some wise people to walk with:

Online. Blogs, newsletters, sermons and teaching.  The web gives me a chance to walk with people I never would have met otherwise, and people I’ll never get to know, but are a source of wisdom.  It’s not unusual to find little nuggets on Facebook and Twitter.

Books and periodicals. Besides walking with the Lord in his word each day, I can walk with the wise through may kinds of literature, recent and ancient.

Family and friends. The real thing.  Real people to walk with who can see things from a different perspective.  Definitely a gift from God.

People at church. Yes, even members of the church.  When you see church and life and ministry through the eyes of a pastor for a while, you forget what it’s like to have “lay eyes.”  It’s good to have a few trusted sets of those to keep you grounded.

I know where to find foolishness.  However, I’ve always got my radar on for someone with wisdom.

Posted in Ministry

When I was at the seminary…

Posted on by William Douthwaite

With my son Adam just about to complete his first semester at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, my mind was wandering back to when I was at the seminary.  It was a different seminary:  Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN.  It was also a much different time to study for the parish ministry (I attended from 1982-1986).  It doesn’t seem that long ago.  But when I was at the seminary…

No one had a computer.  (The original PC was just being conceived.)  Everyone I knew typed their papers on typewriters.  You did all of your research in the library, where you had to look things up in a card catalogue.

No one had a phone.  We used a pay phone in the dorm to make or receive calls.

No one had a debit card.  Many places took a check.  Or you could cash one at the business office.

The financial aid program was this:  buy the cheapest Lutheran Brotherhood life insurance policy, and get a student loan through them.

I worked for a market research company, and actually went door-to-door trying to get people to test toilet paper, Wheat Thins, and soda.

Everything I owned I could fit in a 1980 Volkswager Rabbit diesel, which got 50 mph.  I could drive to my parent’s house in Philadelphia on one tank of fuel.

The NIV was the first new translation of the bible to come along since the RSV.  That, and the King James, were about all you had to choose from, unless you were a paraphrase kind of person and liked that oldie but goodie Good News for Modern Man.

Dr. Voelz’s book on Greek Grammar was printed in the Seminary print shop, with hand-written Greek letters in it.

I met my wife, Lisa.

And my son Adam was born.

 

Posted in Life

Veteran’s Day

Posted on by William Douthwaite

On this Veteran’s Day, I’m recalling my dad’s service in the Army Air Corp from about 1942 to 1945.  He was trained as a tail gunner in a B-17.  He spent some time in the Philippines after they were occupied by U.S. forces, but never saw any action.  Had it not been for the surrender of Japan after the atomic bombs, he may have been part of the invasion of Japan, and it’s possible that I might not be writing this today.

I never served in the military.  I was just turning 18 when they closed down the draft board offices in 1975, so I never even had to register.  I’ve gotten to know quite a few vets, though, and have often wondered how my life might be different had I given a few years of my life to military service.  What kinds of things would I have learned or experienced?  It’s an impossible question to answer.  The men and women I’ve talked with had such a variety of experiences, both very good and sometimes extremely bad.  It can go either way.

I was a little too young to understand or be aware of the way that Vietnam vets were treated when they returned home in the 60’s and 70’s.  In the past decade especially, I’ve seen each and every man and woman who has served in any capacity has been honored by so many.  From the uniformed I’ve seen in airports to older retired vets, I’m just one of so many who take the time to say, “Thank you.”  And of course, that’s the way I believe it should be.

Posted in Ministry

Storyboarding

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’m not writing out my sermons.  At least, not lately.  I’ve gotten into “storyboarding,” just like they put together movies or commercials.  I’m not sure where I picked up this idea, but it forced me to be more visual in the way I put together my sermons.  I have to come up with an image or a description for each point rather than just an outline.

This is totally different than how I was taught to put a sermon together.  My sermon preparation professor, Dr. Gerhard Aho at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN, made us thoroughly outline everything.  And that is how I approached every sermon for years, as if he were watching over my shoulder.  It was a good foundation that made me think through my text, points, transitions, and illustrations.

Lately, though, I’ve used a storyboard approach.  I try to put a picture with each part of the sermon that supports that one point I’m trying to get across to people.

How’s it going?  Well, my personal reviews are mixed.

It consumes less time than outlining and writing out a whole sermon.  I used to spend hours writing and rewriting.  Then I realized no one was actually reading these sermons so a manuscript wasn’t really important.  I didn’t even read them; I always preach without notes.

It’s easier to memorize.  Rather than trying to remember all the paragraphs I’ve written, I’ve got 8 to 12 images to recall, which bring to mind that part of the sermon.

But it’s a little nerve wracking, knowing that everytime I preach, I am composing as I go.  Kind of like jazz improvisation.  I’ve worked hard to learn the chords, and then work from there.

No one knows I’ve changed my approach except me.  Until  now.  Now all of you do.

Posted in Ministry

A lack of leaders

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It’s that time of year when our congregation has to nominate leaders to serve in the coming year.  With nearly two hundred active families, you wouldn’t think it would be so hard to come up with two dozen or so leaders that comprise a church council, board of elders, and a church properties committee.  Yet every fall, we come up short.  I know we’re not the only church that struggles with this challenge.  The basic mood seems to be “I’ll help out, but I don’t want to be in a position of leadership.”

When did leadership become something to avoid?  Granted, not everyone is cut out or qualified for leadership.  But many with those gifts hesitate to step into leadership positions in the church and probably in many volunteer organizations.

Some of it has to do with the consumer mentality that some bring to church with them.  Just as they stop by a restaurant for a meal, they stop by the church for a spiritual meal.  It would never occur to them to actually work there, though.

Some of it must be fear, the fear of having to do it all yourself.  This isn’t a rational fear, for each leader is supposed to recruit a board or committee to carry out different ministries.  No one should be doing it themselves.

Some of it has to do with the retirement state of mind in our area.  They did these jobs when they lived elsewhere.  Now that they’ve retired, someone else can do this work.  “I’m retired.”

When Jesus called disciples, he really didn’t give them a choice.  He gave them authority.  He gave them power from above.  And he sent them out.   Have at it.  Make more disciples.

Having said that, maybe that’s where we fall short.  Perhaps we make more members than disciples.  I have to think about this some more.

Posted in Life

Malware

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Endless popups.  False virus alerts.  Yes, that’s right, some malware got into our desktop at home.  How?  I’m not sure.  We’ve got enough antivirus and antispyware stuff to keep everyone but the nerdiest hackers out.  This one was tough.  I had to get on my laptop, research how to get rid of it, then download software to do it, burn a CD, run it and disinfect the desktop.

Frustration.  Aggravation.  Anger.  The blame game.  Plenty of emotional response to the whole episode.  I wonder if someone, somewhere, is getting some joy out of knowing that they’ve caused someone to waste part of their day trying to recover their computer.  Why would someone even bother to develop “malware” anyway?

Is there always someone trying to screw with your life (or your computer) in some way?  I guess the answer is yes.  I’m not going to get all theological, but I guess that is the problem after all.  Someone’s constantly hacking your life.  Hope you backed up sometime recently.

Posted in Ministry

Nobody called

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ve made a lot of visits with families who have visited and are interested in our congregation in the past few weeks.  One comment that’s stuck in my mind is, “No one called.”  No one called when they stopped attending our previous church.  No one called when they said they might need to check out some other churches.

Immediately I was convicted because there are a number of people I haven’t called lately.  How many of them may be saying the same thing somewhere else?  I don’t always do it intentionally.  There are some I didn’t realize I haven’t seen for a while.  Having said that, maybe I avoid some calls, either because it never seemed to make a difference in the past, or I just didn’t want to address whatever issue might come up.

Do some people have a need to be missed?  Or do they just use that to justify their next step?  When some connect with a church, do they bring the expectation that there will be ongoing contact?  Or does that expectation develop later on?

Over the years, I’ve learned that people will come and people will go.  People will join, and people will go elsewhere.  And much of the time, you can’t blame yourself or take credit for what happens.  It just happens.  So you can’t beat yourself up too much.

But I guess I could call.

Posted in Life

Powerwashing

Posted on by William Douthwaite

After years of borrowing my neighbor’s power washer, I finally got one of my own.  I had to.  His hasn’t been working and my driveway was getting mildew-y.

I got a medium-duty model at Home Depot, got it together and running without any problem, and a few hours and a bottle of bleach later, my driveway and front sidewalk are looking pretty nice.  Next time I have a half-day free, I need to tackle the soffits around the house.  They’ve been dirty for a while, too.

My wife called it my new toy.  I don’t consider it a toy, since I have to use it for work, but I do get a certain pleasure out of cranking up a small engine and powering stubborn dirt into oblivion.  Growing up, we never powerwashed anything.  Now you powerwash everything.  I don’t even know if they had powerwashers back then.  The oil stain under dad’s car was a permanent part of the driveway.  Everyone had one.  I guess everyone leaked some oil back then.  It was no big deal.

The biggest surprise was when I turned it off and the engine backfired a few times.  It made the dogs across the street start barking.  It ran OK other than that, so I’m not sure what’s wrong.  Faulty spark plug?  Maybe.  Anyway, it looks good sitting in the garage.

Posted in Ministry

What numbers are important?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

numbers1250985368So here’s my question today:  what numbers are important?  We love to talk numbers at church.  Unfortunately, most of them mean very little.

“How big is your congregation?”  I can tell them.  Sort of.  We keep track of our membership.  But we have a good number of people who attend worship on a regular basis who aren’t members.  Then we have those members who for whatever reason don’t attend worship.  Plus, some people are only here part of the year.  What number would you like me to use?

“OK, then how many do you have in worship?”  We keep track of that, too, at least an average number for each Sunday.  However, most people seem to attend worship about twice a month, so no one week gives an accurate picture.  A few years ago we had zero in worship on a Sunday when a hurricane was passing through town.  Do I have to count that week in my average?  On Easter Sunday, our attendance is double what it normally is.  Should I factor in that week?  What number should we use, and what does it tell us?

“Show me the money.”  How are our offerings doing?  It depends on the week.  Are we paying our bills?  Yes.  Could we use more?  Of course.  Do we support missions?  Yup.  Our monthly financial report is over 15 pages long, a literal sea of numbers that sucks you in like a rip current.  They never taught me how to interpret that at the seminary.  I can read some New Testament Greek, though.

“How many lives have been changed?”  No way to tell.  Everyone who worships here may be out affecting other lives where they live and work and study.  I am certain their prayers make a difference in the lives of many, too.

In the initial years of my ministry, numbers meant a lot.  My level of confidence rode the peaks and troughs of attendance, offerings, and new members.  Now they don’t mean so much, probably because I’ve seen God do some of his best work in a meeting with just one other person.