Pursuing your passions

I'm confident that we're better servants of Christ when we out of passion rather than obligation.

Take, for instance, my service with my local church. I think that for the last three years I've been volunteering more out of obligation than out of passion. What's the difference? If I'm serving out of passion, I'd be excited to serve; if I'm serving out of obligation, I'm excited when my schedule conflicts with my volunteer commitment. If I'm serving out of passion, I dream up new projects to drum up support and involvement; if I'm serving out of obligation, I refuse involvement in anything other than the bare minimum. If I'm serving out of passion, I go to as many of the events as I can and talk to others about it freely; if I'm serving out of obligation, I contribute enough to get by and talk about it with grimaces and groans.

Last night Clay and I were talking with Pastor Greg about our Spiritual Gifts, and my gifts are predominently in Discernment, Wisdom, Artistic Craftmanship (especially handicrafts), Leadership, Administration. They are not in Teaching, Pastoring, Mercy (as they are with Clay). It suddenly makes so much sense why I jump at the chance (oftentimes dropping my responsibility of the moment) to help Clay prepare a sermon or edit his parent newsletter or run a volunteer meeting while at the same time, I'll throw a fit when he asks me to teach Sunday School or fill in for a missing small group leader. The Discernment, Wisdom, Leadership, Craftsmanship, Administration is a natural part of who I am and the Teaching, Merciful, Pastoring side is painfully stressful.

The conversation with Greg and thinking about these gifts and thinking about my passions has renewed a desire to pursue these passions in the context of helping my local church become a church that I would love to be a part of. The exciting part is that there are two opportunities to do so:

1. Yesterday, I was offered the opportunity to speak at Women's Retreat in February. I've been desiring speaking opportunities, but have not pursued them. I'm excited to invest the time, energy, and prayers into encouraging and challenging the women of our church...and I'm excited to introduce them to a Heather that they do not know...because the one that they know is "the youth girl."
   
   
2. This morning, I talked to Pastor Greg about doing a showing of Amazing Grace at the church coupled with a presentation on modern-day Human Trafficking. He was excited about it, fully behind it, and told me to pick a day and time when we could schedule it. The purpose of it would be to educate our church body on the human trafficking that's going on around us (and worldwide) and compel some members of our congregation to join me in action. He pointed out this is particularly fitting with the Free Methodist church, which has its foundation rooted in abolitionist movements.
   
   

The point of sharing all of this is not just to tell you about my passions. Yes, I'm going to make a concerted effort in 2008 to be living out my passions in my daily actions...but I also want to invite you to join me.

New Year's is coming up...you can make your resolution more than a self-centered, "fit into my old jeans" goal! What is the dream you totally desire to live out? What is it that you're passionate about that you can actually do something about in 2008?

Boycott the Golden Compass? Yes or No

So, there's a lot of hubbub going around in Christendom saying that I should actively boycott a movie I know very little about. In fact, the only reason I now know anything about The Golden Compass is because I receive emails saying I should boycott it...and there seem to be about 500 groups on Facebook dedicated to not supporting it.

I really hate jumping on an "anti-this or anti-that" bandwagon before I know anything other than something's "anti-God." It certainly is wise to check into things before tromping off with the whole family to see a film like Narnia only to discover you're closer to Dimension X. At the same time, it's also wise to know something about something before you start boycotting it.

I've never read the books...the trailer looks interesting enough...and I certainly am not worried I'll lose my Christianity by going to see it. I'm guessing I'll probably see it on DVD and I'll probably read the first books--if not the whole trilogy--at some point, because I like epic fantasy good vs. evil flicks...and it's a bit fascinating to think about watching a side of the story where good doesn't win...and think about what that would look like.

My question is why is it so many Christians' response to boycott something the minute they hear it may be anti-God? Is our God so small that He cannot overcome an anti-Him movie? And why is it okay to forward hate-mail about a movie you're never going to see based on a book you've never read? What's going on here?

Are you going to go see the movie? Why or why not.

Willow Creek Apologizes

So Willow Creek Church is definitely one of the most influential churches in America. In October, Bill Hybels, their pastor, comes out and says, "We made a mistake."

Apparently Willow Creek has built their ministry on making programs and measuring people's participation in programs. The assumption they operated under was that if people are active in Bible studies, weekly meetings, and other programs, then they're growing spiritually. A recent survey indicated this is not actually the case, and Willow Creek is now going to completely start over.

You can read about Bill Hybel's interview here.

My response to this is two-fold:

1. I am so thankful that a Christian leader is able to confess to the church, "We made a mistake." It's so refreshing to have that kind of raw honesty and humility from an "influential church leader."
   
   
2. I am glad to hear someone acknowledge that program attendance does not equal spiritual growth. There are so many churches out there running to keep up with the big guys and develop cool and attractive programs, that the church spends more time trying to keep people entertained involved than actually helping them develop a deeper relationship with Christ.

It challenges me to openly acknowledge my own weaknesses, because my confessions have the ability to minister to others. It also challenges me to be in immense prayer about the decisions I make in leadership--knowing that we can be boldly leading others down a less-than-ideal path.

The Irresistible Revolution

A Recommended Read: The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.

I picked this read up at SPU's bookstore a few weeks ago while visiting Lizzy, one of my graduated YD students. I found purchasing it--well--irresistible.

Shane spoke at the YS National Youth Worker's Conventions last fall, and I got to see this akward, earthly, passionate man share with us the simple way that he lives his life in order to bring glory to God and be Christ to people. This means he hangs out with homeless people, lives with few possessions, and is immersed in trying to minister to the "least of these."

Clay and I have taken to reading the book aloud on Thursday nights, and last night, in Chapter Three, something spoke so directly to me. (I've left the book at home, so it's missing the exact page reference and citation. I'll correct this as soon as I have my copy of the book.) Something on the order of, "We made a decision to stop complaining about the church as it was and started trying to become the church we'd all dreamed of."

The church I dream of is definitely active, moving in ministry, not just talking about it...and the church I dream of is honest and vulnerable, openly confessing the screw ups. I guess if I want to become that church, I have to do one of two things--actually take actions to serve others, and be confessional and humble about my weaknesses and screw ups.

What's the church you dream of? How can you live it out?