Caleb Henry

I am currently going through Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" in preparation for a sermon series which will begin sometime in August at my church. In my reading, I stumbled upon a passage in which Bonhoeffer explains the relationship between prayer and work...

   Caleb Henry

For the next couple of weeks I am going to spend some time going through J.R. Daniel Kirk's "Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity"

The main reason I want to do this--along with the reason I bought the book--is that I am deeply interested in how to reconcile Jesus, as portrayed by the Gospels, with Paul, the writer of the majority of the New Testament books.

You probably have heard that Caleb Henry, our youth pastor, will take on my preaching responsibilities as of July 1.  I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about that decision by our Board of Servant Leaders!  From the time I first saw Caleb’s resume and talked with him on the phone, I knew that he would be a great addition to Faith Community’s staff. 

Caleb has a great education (Master of Divinity, Princeton) the same degree that David and I have from Asbury.  Anyone who knows Faith’s pastors well knows that he is our resident theologian and reads more than the rest of the pastors combined!  But Caleb’s not an “ivory tower academic” – he is a great communicator of deep truth in ways that connect with our daily lives.  Caleb already is part of the team that plans sermons here, so you’ve heard his influence in many things that David and I say. 

Caleb will have the same United Methodist ordination status that I had when I arrived (Local Pastor), which means that he cannot be moved to another UMC without his permission unless God calls him to a different ordination track. 

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“KISS”…Keep It Simple Saint!  Gotcha, didn’t I!?

I can tend to complicate life, when it really is simple.  There are a few things that matter…at the end of it all.  I know that, but practice it less than I wish I did.

 I’ve been soaking in these verses for the past couple of weeks:

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” God's so good at using the foolish, weak vessels to build the Kingdom. This is great news because that means someone like me has a decent resume for the job!  I often feel like the “ask” of God’s call is so much greater than my ability to deliver. ...

 Honestly, I am more a person of evolution than revolution.  Interesting since I have given my personal life and vocational life to Jesus who led a revolution.  Sometimes I think I am a revolutionary kind of guy, and sometimes I think I am supposed to be a revolutionary kind of guy.  I mean, isn’t that what the Christian life is?  A revolution, a revolt, against the ways of the world?  But, when I look at actual behavior, I am most often leading evolutionary changes.  For example, this new Pastor Blog you are reading.  This is the first one Jon and I will write.  I asked to do the first one because I believe it has potential to communicate to a new audience and to create some interesting dialog with this tool.  However, the tool of blogging is not revolutionary.  Nor is the idea that blogging would be the next step for me in redeeming technology for godly purposes.  I use a lot of technology.  For example, me attempting last fall selling a couple items on eBay.  A next natural evolution step for me who loves to...