Mc Musings

as good as promised

2005-12-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

on friday evening amy, gabrielle and i went to see the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. given all the ruckus regarding how explicitly "christian" it is, one might think the film would get lost in all the hoopla. it doesn't. this is a great film. while not staying word for word with the book, (a practice that would be almost impossible, not to mention boring) the film does faithfully capture the intent of the book. the story is fantastic, and the humor is british and well-done. gabrielle loved it, and as her dad, it was fun to see her face the first time aslan made an on-screen appearance. seeing the movie with her put an exclamation point on what is our favorite daily time together: reading the chronicles and rubbing feet before bed time. it is rare to find anything that is actually as good as advertised, but narnia certainly is.

my two cents

2005-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

it would seem that the evangelical blogger nation is much ado about the decision of several megachurches to cancel their weekly pep rallies on Christmas Day. david wells of gordon-conwell theological seminary has given probably the best assessment of the whole issue, but sadly one that will not end the megabytes being consumed in this conversation. "This is consumerism run amuck. This is the church not wanting to inconvenience anyone."

second on the list of blog conversations is the premier of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. disney has offered a cash reward to one lucky pastor who mentioned the film in his/her sermon. i am anxious to see the film, largely based on my aforementioned conversations with my filmmaker friend and because i've always loved the narnia series. easily the most engaging and edifying piece i've found so far has been leland ryken's article at reformation21.org. aside from being phil ryken's father and a stinkin' nice man, dr. ryken is a professor of english at wheaton college (home of the wade center, a repository for all things "inkling"). read dr. ryken's article. it's a wonderful exercise in literary criticism that actually aids in one's enjoyment of the book.

finally, a friend of mine recently returned a book i had loaned him. peter robinson's how ronald reagan changed my life is a great read, even if you are not a gop'er. as i was thumbing through it, i came across a passage i had marked some months earlier. in the midst of all the blog critiques and handwringing, robinson's words were a nice return to usefulness. I can perform my work as well as I can, hoping to provide my readers with sturdy, enjoyable prose. I can remain loyal to my friends and a loving husband to my wife. And I can remind myself every day from the moment of their birth until the very end of time, I'm the only father my children will ever have.

from jack's book to a (post)modern film

2005-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

a good friend of mine works in the film industry. as kids, he and i read many of the same books together and would discuss stories of mutual interest. our film maker/pastor discussion regarding the place of authorial intent in movie adaptations has been extremely interesting. chris would, i think, characterize my understanding of faithful adaptation as being somewhat narrow. this is entirely understandable given that my working definition of expositional preaching is that the point of the text must be the point of the sermon. he also raised a great point about the other narnia books: they may not be as visually interesting as the lion the witch and the wardrobe.

i raise our conversations because i read an interview with the director of the narnia film in world magazine. the director changed the dialogue between father christmas and the pevensie girls because it was, in his words, "amazingly sexist". what was this sexist dialogue? father christmas does not give the girls weapons of war (susan gets a horn and lucy a cordial of healing medicine) because, "war is horrible and nasty and not for girls at all". the director changed the dialogue to fit our current egalitarian worldview - a worldview c.s. lewis certianly did not share. war is, most certainly and famously, hell. why is it sexist to want to spare the most sublime of God's creation from such grief, pain and horror? it would seem jack lewis's sentiments are not sexist, but the height of chivalry.

saint peter's

2005-12-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

one of the must see stops of any trip to rome is the vatican. amy and i spent two days there, one without the family and one with them. the vatican museum is really incredible - and the sistine chapel is all it's cracked up to be. st. peter's basilica is absolutely huge - you could literally play football in the central nave of the church.

while the building is impressive in it's sheer size, it is also a bit troubling. st. peter's is a shrine to the papacy. everywhere you turn in the interior, there are huge marble statues to deceased popes. the secuplcure underneath the basilica is no exception, the tombs feature huge marble reliefs of the departed sees. even the tomb of the apostle peter - he who did not think himself worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ - is a gaudy, grotesque shrine. if you can be upset in heaven, then peter is looking for an excuse to deny the designer of his "shrine" entrance throught the pearly gates. there is one exception: the tomb of john paul II is simply a marble slab with his name on it. my friend rob speaks of jp II as the reason for his embracing "evangelical catholicism". the humility of his tomb was in stark contrast to it's neighbors. it makes me wonder what evangelical american catholics think of the design of the geographical head of their church. it also cast the necessity of luther's sola deo gloria in a new light.

the most ironic moment during our time in vatican city? being able to purchase a shot glass with the seal of the papacy from a nun at the gift shop on the roof of st. peter's. amy did not find it as funny as i did.

as the four of you who read this regularly know, i do have great respect for the american catholic tradition. notre dame is a great school, and i hold theodore hesburgh in high regard. richard john neuhaus is an eloquent defender of orthodox christianity, and chesterton's orthodoxy should be read by every serious christian. i simply found the dissonance between st. peter's and the witness of the aforementioned folks to be striking.

european vacation

2005-12-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

amy and i arrived back from rome late on tuesday evening. we had a great nine days with my family - we spent two days in the tuscan town of montepulciano and five days in rome. italians are wonderful people and most of them know at least some english. if you ever get the chance - just go and tell them kyle sent you. if you don't like good food and great capaccino, well, then italy is not the place for you.

on our way to rome we had a 9 hour layover in philadelphia. what sounds like a pain in the butt was actually a great blessing. we got to spend some time with friends of ours from seminary. aaron and allison planted a church in the philly area and played tour guide for us in this great city. better though than seeing the sights was the chance to fellowship with some old friends. allison and amy get along smashingly - obviously coming from the fact they married obnoxious ex-athletes who now labor as pastors. our time with them, seeing independence hall, the liberty bell and pat's (a south philly landmark and the birthplace of the cheesesteak) was absolutely refreshing. friends are absolutely a gift from God.

Gearin' up again

2005-11-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

sorry it has been so long since i've written anything. we do have those periods when the output overwhelms us and we hit a dry patch. i think i've been through one of those. sermon prep, getting ready to preach a wedding, some funerals - all of it has just been gut-busting lately. blogging fell to the wayside because - well, i didn't have much to say (true, i really never did) and the discipline of writing seeming burdensome. hopefully, this period has passed.

as i wrote last, i performed a wedding in the little town in north central nebraska that we spent 6 years in. the town has actually changed quite a bit, as has my perspective. i remembered my junior high school as being a huge brick structure - it isn't. some things, however, have stayed the same. i remember loving the rolling prarie and the sense of openness. i still do - in fact, when i left nebraska in 1988, wild horses could not have kept me there. now, i find myself wishing the Lord would open the door for a way to go back.

the people who were dear to me as a boy are dear still. friends are a wonderful gift and a reminder of God's grace to us. very few people in this world could get away with calling me "kamymle" (pronounced: kuh my mul). still fewer could say it as a term of endearment. the gotschall clan can do so and do it well. i was also able to catch up with a friend i've known for the last 25 years. i am torn in our friendship - chris has been a good and loyal friend when i did not deserve such friendship. he came to his sister's wedding with his partner of 8 years. my love for my friend is conflicted by my knowing that his lifestyle is, well, sinful. love for the sinner and hatred for the sin is a sticky wicket to be certain. hopefully, my friend and wise mentor mr. anonymous will have some sage words of wisdom on this issue.

just checkin' in

2005-10-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

the past couple of weeks have been crazy. we are in an interim period at our church - trying to find a minister of music. the only thing harder than finding a good part-time minister of music is finding a good interim. however, i think God has been gracious and we have a sound guy in place.

as i write this, i'm sitting in my dad's office in fremont, ne. this past weekend was spent in atkinson, ne preaching a wedding and handling the sunday morning chores at the church in which i was baptized. the sandhills were gorgeous (with all due respect to willa cather who proclaimed that nebraska was "not a country, it was the raw elements with which one could form a country"). it was good to see folks i'd not seen in 20 years. i've been thinking much about my time in ne this weekend - future blogs will probably be spent on those reflections.

tomorrow holds the promise of 13 hours in the vw passat. my mom bequeathed us with focus on the family's Chronicles of Narnia on cd. hello penvise children! looking forward to spending the day with aslan's crew.

"how college made me homeless"

2005-09-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

a very kind member of our congregation gave me a gift subscription to touchstone magazine. i knew of the publication, but had never read the thing cover to cover. now, i'm beginning to wish i had not.

my sentiments have nothing to do with the content or theological stance of the magazine - rather, an article that has me somewhat disquieted in spirit. d.g. hart has a wonderful piece entitled, "education and alienation: what john henry newman could learn from wendell berry." the thesis is roughly as follows: if a true liberal arts education makes it impossible for one to return to their local culture, then it is doing an act of violence upon the community that fostered the individual. the definition of liberal arts education comes from newman, the concern with local culture comes from berry.

as i was thinking about this piece, i was called to be with a family in our church who had a family member dying. this is nothing out of the ordinary in pastoral ministry - but the deceased happened to be the mother and grandmother of church members and good friends. while i was standing in the hallway outside the icu unit it struck me: i've preached the funerals of three of my grandparents - but i've not been there with any of them as they passed away. my education and calling mean i've never lived closer than 12 hours to eastern nebraska.

our family is preparing to go back to north central nebraska in a few weeks to perform the wedding of a young woman i've known since she was 3 mos. old. i'll also preach at the church in which i was baptized. it's been over 20 yrs. since i've set foot in that church. the community in which i learned to read and write, treat others with kindness and fairness and live and die with the big red has not benefitted one bit from anything they have taught me.

some of my angst may be unique to the culture that reared me. as willa cather said, "the prarie leaves an indellible mark on one's soul - both for good and for ill." perhaps also troubling to me is the fact that the agrarian, poetic society i grew up in is rapidly disappearing. not that my laboring in that community could somehow slow down that change - there are market forces working that are more despotic than a baptist preacher could turn back. it does, however, seem wrong that the very people who encouraged a young boy's love of books should never have reaped the fruit of the love they helped nurture.

in luke 18:29,30, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." i take some comfort in knowing that my living away from the community that raised me was not entirely by choice, nor is it what berry would call "mercenary". my living in a far country is, i think, an act of obedient following to the One who called me. i don't question whether or not obedience to God is worth it - i just wish it didn't hurt so badly some times.

expanding our vision

2005-09-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

this past weekend was critical in the life of our church. we held our first ever missions conference. our two guests are intimately involved in the work with our adopted people group. as our congregation was confronted with life and ministry in central asia, you could see the light go on for some of our folks. two areas in particular caught our congregation's attention.

first, in a "closed" country missionary visas are not given, nor is it legal to openly preach or seek to prostelytize. in the minds of many southern baptists, this means that missions is impossible in those countries. if we cannot pass out tracts and invite folks to a graham-style crusade - well then we're not "doing missions". our friend from central asia painted this picture of life and ministry, "we're just seeking to plant our lives in that culture, to do good work among the folks and let our light so shine before men that they glorify our father who is in heaven." in that context, the folks who comprise our adopted people group ask questions and lots of them. spiritual conversations are not taboo in their country and the gospel can be shared - repeatedly. missions can be done, but in an incarnational and relational way. so much so that one of our members commented to me, "pastor, that's the same thing we try to do here. trying to live consistently and present the gospel to our friends, family, co-workers and neighbors." our congregation is beginning to understand that evangelism, and the discipleship process that follows conversion, must be relational.

second, our folks are beginning to understand that this is not about building southern heights - this is about building the kingdom. there is a profound difference. some time ago, a large sbc church in our area sent a team to iraq. following their return, the news and pictures of their trip were in just about every associational and state publication you could think of. it was a pr trip as much as a gospel trip. we must at some point make the decision that what God is doing is more significant than what He is doing in our church - that the kingdom extends beyond the four walls of our congregation. thankfully, shbc is coming to see this.

may God grant us the grace to be focused on His kingdom and not our own.

a good couple of days

2005-09-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

i write this, not from my study with our beautiful view of shbc's parking lot, but from a seat in my friend bailey's domain: heine bros. for those of you who are unaware - bailey is the mayor of heine bros. a job he takes quite seriously if his presence in the building is any indicator. i must admit i share his love of both the locale and the coffee.

dwight and i are here on our annual deacon/staff retreat. the staff comes to the 'ville a couple of days early to read, pray, plan and get ready for the arrival of our lay leadership. we then take the time to evaluate the past year in light of seeking to be word, worship and witness-centered as a congregation. keeping the main thing the main thing can be difficult, especially in a domain as fickle as congregational life. being good southern baptists, food and fellowship play a central role in a retreat such as this one. this is just one of many trips to see the good folks at heine bros., and before all is said and done the irish rover and genny's diner will have felt the wrath of the diaconate. the table fellowship is fun - and, strangely enough, meaningful.

aside from missing amy and the poopsies, the time away has been good. being in an interim music position means you have to prepare ahead of time as much as possible. the preaching calendar has been updated and revised for the remainder of 2005. the dates i'll be out of the pulpit have been revisited and pulpit supply has been secured. if we're not careful, we may give the impression we know what we're doing. something to ponder over my next iced mocha.

"There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?" -Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

excited about ccm

2005-09-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

i really don't like contemporary christian music (ccm). this is strange, since i grew up trying to listen to ccm as opposed to the "secular" alternatives. while this did not keep me from developing a love for springsteen, it did mean i listened to amy grant and michael w. smith as well as russ taff while everyone else was cranking madonna and the purple rain soundtrack. from time to time i will still put in medals, the mws project or unguarded and enjoy an old friend.

i find the current installment of ccm to be musically boring and lyrically superficial. there are exceptions, but sadly they are exceptions and not the rule. for example jars of clay's redemption songs is a wonderful reworking of some old hymns. almost anything jennifer knapp does is really good both musically and lyrically. my friend ricki bailey reintroduced me to over the rhine and they are superb. there is reason for hope.

sarah groves has a new album coming out in october, and it sounds awesome. now, granted, my wife would accuse me of being a sarah groves groupie - and that's not really a good thing. but her music is honest, well-played and theologically sound and rich. there is an organic feel to her music that makes you think you just popped by and she sat down to sing at the piano in their living room (ala derek webb). for those reasons, i encourage all four of you who regularly read this to pop over to www.sarahgroves.com and give it a listen. yes, i guess i am excited about ccm.

rainy days and mondays

2005-08-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

the music of the carpenter's is enough to send anybody into a full-blown manic/depressive episode. that said, there is a shred of truth to rainy days and mondays always getting me down. yesterday was both.

on top of being a rainy day and a monday, i got two pieces of bad news yesterday - both involving friends. a good friend, lifting partner and church member informed me that his wife had a miscarriage yesterday. this was their first child. the really sad part is that the monster's will make great parents.

i also learned that a pastor friend of mine resigned his church for health reasons. my friend is in his early 30's, and a former college athlete. apparently the stress of pastoring had affected him more than even his wife knew. he is a good preacher and a faithful pastor. we organized a minister's fraternal together and i cherish the hours of fellowship we spent together.

corrie ten boom once said that when God asks us to travel a rough road, He gives us stronger shoes. my prayer for the padgett's and arens' is that those shoes fit well. i also pray for wisdom and discernment to know when to speak and when to shut up. for now, as i told them both, we love you and are praying for you. that's about all anyone can do, isn't it?

remodeling

2005-08-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

i will never be confused for bob villa or tim "the tool man" taylor. do-it-yourself is a code around our house that roughly translates: "amy's dad will have to come fix it later." since becoming a home owner, i have had to stretch my home improvement comfort zone. while i do not have mad skills, i can deconstruct things with the best of them. to alter a quote from eddy murphy in coming to america, "when you think of demolition, think of kyle."

i say all this to set the stage for the following announcement of insanity in the mcclellan home: we are remodeling our kitchen and family room. paint, new countertops, painting the cabinets and a new floor are on tap in the kitchen. the gig sheet for the family room includes a new sliding door, a hardwood floor and paint. while i realize ty and paul from extreme home makeover could knock this out sans bullhorn, it will take my father-in-law and i more than a couple of days to do all this. tearing carpet out is fun - putting hardwood in may not be so much. this will require a significant amout of sweat equity on our part.

i began a series thru genesis this week. it will take us a couple of years, probably, to get through all 50 chapters and still take time for advent and easter. as i was ripping out carpet last night, genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24 and 26 came to mind. while God was creating everything - he simply spoke. "and God said" becomes a central motif in the creation narrative. while marduk and the gang needed the dead body of apsu (the enuma elish) and athiestic evolution needs time, chance and matter that mysteriously appears from nowhere, God only needs to speak. when my frustration with the week in and week out task of preaching grows, this is a welcome balm to a tired pastor: God's Word is infinately powerful. by speaking, He creates all that is out of nothing.

too bad our remodeling project cannot follow a similar line. it would make my father-in-laws life much easier.

rob and merritt

2005-08-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

one of the great things about our time in nw iowa was the chance to reconnect with some old friends. when i say old, i mean when reagan was president, and brittany I (aka madonna) ruled the radio old. back in the days when peg-leg jeans were cool, and i still had hair i met rob and merritt.

merritt and i grew up together in the same town in nebraska. we even went to the same church. his older sister was my younger sister's best friend and maid of honor at her wedding. he went on to play football for the huskers and gain two national championship rings for his trouble. he is now a teacher and coach in an even smaller town than fremont in ne nebraska. the day he wed his lovely bride was the first wedding i ever did. i still haven't had the heart to tell them i'm not a real reverend - that may have negative implications for their four kids. merritt is younger than i am, so much so that we never played football together, but we did play softball in the summer. our team was made up of guys who were, for the most part, good guys. however, once we went on the road for a tournament, they suddenly thought of themselves as players (properly pronounced "plaay-uz"). merritt was never that way. we would remind each other in the on-deck circle (he hit 4th, i hit 5th), "hey, who you playing for?" it was always a helpful reminder that you were trying to crush a softball to the glory of God. i miss my friend - i miss the encouragement to be a godly husband, father and man.

rob is entirely a different story. our extended families' paths have crossed many times over the years. it was his great-grandfather's preaching at the old omaha gospel tabernacle that got my grandparents out of a liberal, dead lutheran church and into the c&ma. my dad played against his uncle in high school, the list goes on. rob and i met at okoboji, and with a couple of holiday exceptions, our relationship has been focused around the conference. rob is one of the few really smart guys i know. he graduated cum laude from harvard law. he now teaches law at a catholic university in the twin cities. as we got caught up this summer, we talked about how a kid from a good c&ma church ends up enmeshed in popery. two things stood out to me: first, my friend rob is a committed follower of Jesus; second, i guess i'm not a very good southern baptist if i count an evangelical catholic among my friends. (i guess i'll have to specify that i'm a timothy george/david dockery kind of southern baptist). rob is a great encouragement to me as well, though differently from merritt. my friendship with him reminds me that ideas matter greatly - that the christian intellectual tradition will stand up to all comers. i also reminds me that as a pastor i need to be preparing our folks to engage this world of ideas. to keep before them the utter necessity of being transformed by the renewing of their minds. it challenges me to ask, "why do so many evangelical pulpits reject the world of ideas for a world of pragmatism?"

God willing, my friends and i will continue our conversation face-to-face next year.

one more for lefty

2005-08-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

finally. one of my favorite golfers, phil mickelson, won his second major championship. my wife is a tiger fan, and i fear she has shared that sickness with my five-year old. my friend bailey is always rippin on phil for his "man-boobies" (ok, so maybe he does need a bro, or manzeere). regardless, at the end of monday, it was phil's name on the trophy. cub fans everywhere are rejoicing - if phil can win his second, then maybe this is their year? nope, i'd say ted kennedy at an nra meeting has a better chance than the cubbies. go chisox!

gearin' up

2005-08-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

i like the first days of august. i didn't used to - when i was a kid it meant back to school time (usually ushered in by the purchasing of toughskins jeans). that changed when i got old enough to play football, it meant the hard work of the summer was about to come to fruition. once i got to college, it meant packing up the '84 dodge aries k car and heading 12 hours east to upland to reengage college life. it also meant early camp in a new and draconian fashion.

now it means fall is right around the corner. college football is so close i can taste it. living in lexington, it means another year of the futility (or overrealized eschatology) that is uk football. in church life it's time to gear up for another year. as our staff thinks about a new year, and as we prepare to send two of our pastoral assistants off to the "real world" (bobby returns to union and adam is off to sbts), i came across a wonderful synopsis of what we want our congregational life to be. it comes from matt schmucker (also known as chief jay strongbow, but that's another story for another day) and the folks at 9 marks ministries:

worship services - the congregation arrives early, ready to worship and eager to respond to God. God's preached Word is the centerpiece of the gathering and people are engaged, taking notes and reflecting on the message.

fellowship - the hour after services becomes a time of deep conversations and accountability. friendships are built around what God has done and is doing and not just around shared interests, sports and business.

adult conversions - evangelism is communicated powerfully through the life of the congregation. adult non-believers recognize the unmistakable arome of Christ when they attend services and are convicted and converted.

prayer meetings - gatherings are well-attended "family times" in which prayer concerns go beyond health issues. members ask the family to intercede on their behalf for ministry opportunities in church, evangelistic opportunities at work, personal involvement in missions, and other matters of Christ's universal church.

leadership - leaders in the church are appointed for their fruitfulness in ministry rather than their seniority or outside accomplishments. leaders demonstrate humility by regularly giving and receiving godly criticism and encouragement.

matt closes by adding, "pray with us as we labor to fill in this picture and see Christ and His church built up."

greetings from nw iowa!

2005-08-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

this week we are recovering an old mcclellan family tradition: the okoboji lakes bible and missionary conference. founded in 1935 by dr. r.r. brown, the conference has been a part of our family as long as i can remember. it's a chance to be together as a family, and when you hail from colorado, nebraska, arkansas, iowa and kentucky that is no small thing. i got to play golf with my brother, spend a day on the lake with the whole family and have a tavern at bob's drive-in.

okoboji has had some giants preach in past years: a.w. tozer, r.e. letourneau, harry ironside, and harold john ockenga. recent years have seen ravi zachiras, josh mcdowell, richard allen farmer and franklin graham. i'm thankful for a few days to get away and get recharged. i'm thankful for 71 years of God's people meeting in this place.

a proper view of the pulpit

2005-07-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

i'm making slow progress on my project for the summer. i'm trying to read five different works on spirituality in conversation with one another. i've gotten about 53 pages into peter adam's "hearing God's words", the plan is then to move to francis schaeffer's "true spirituality" followed by david larsen's "biblical spirituality", then paul stevens and michael green's "living the story" with eugene peterson's "Christ plays in ten thousand places" hitting clean-up. i would probably also benefit from re-reading j.c. ryle's "holiness".

while perusing through the book shop at our local episcopal cathedral, i came across peterson's "under the unpredictable plant: an exploration in vocational holiness". let me quote peterson:

"it was once in fashion in silesia and bohemia of eastern europe to build pulpits in the shape of an upright whale. in order to take his place as a preacher, the pastor or priest had to enter the interior of the pulpit at the base, climb a ladder through the belly and then come into the open mouth and deliver the sermon."
"the architecture is precisely accurate. every true gospel vocation is a resurrection vocation that arrives after a passage through the belly of the fish."

we recently got a new pulpit in our church. it's a big, wrap-around pulpit that matches the wood in the sanctuary. the company that built it specailizes in custom-built furniture, so they measured me and built it from there (6'2", 275 in your program). it's a big pulpit. the last one was plexiglass and moved (the wheels are pretty good) whenever you put your hands on it. i hated it. there is the old j. frank norris legend that says he went to a church with a small pulpit and proclaimed, "there's a man here now. when you ask me back again, make sure you have a man's pulpit". i'm not there. i don't like our new pulpit because it's big - i like it because it's an honest to goodness, real pulpit.

i find some of the current evangelical emphasis on "communication" to be a bit troubling. can you imagine the ruckus at your church (or mine) if we installed the kind of pulpit that peterson describes? can you see ed young, jr., or joel osteen climbing through the belly of the fish? not on your life. apparently how the "audience" perceives the speaker has become as, if not more, important than the message. what if we had to focus hard on the words we speak as opposed to the style of our presentation? what if our message was shaped more by the reality of the resurrection than by demographic sampling? what if God gave us the grace to be prophetic again?

the beast

2005-07-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

i spent yesterday with our youth group at king's island. for those of you who have never been, king's island is an amusement park in cincinnati. it has also, for the last 25 years, been home to the 5 min. 15 sec. long "beast". the beast is the greatest wooden roller coaster in the world (officially so, i'm told). any coaster enthusiast's resume is incomplete without taking on this sucker - it's one seriously wicked ride. i find myself enjoying it more at 35 than i did at 18.

i also, for reasons i do not yet understand, strapped myself in with one of our youth and rode "the sky flyer". they attach you by a cable to a body harness that drops you 155 feet, reaching a speed of 60 mph and coming within six feet of the ground before you graceful fly in an arc. it was both terrifying and cool.

one last king's island note: if i were king of the world, i would officially declare brittany spears the anti-christ and outlaw abercrombie and fitch. some would complain at first - but seeing the thong of 13-year old girls is ridiculous and a public menace. taste, morality and common sense must somehow return to the american consciousness.

mendacity

2005-07-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

when i was in college, i saw "cat on a hot tin roof" for the first time. it was the movie version (burl ives, angela landsbury, paul newman and elizabeth taylor) and not the play, but i was dating a girl who was an english lit major at the time and this was her attempt to convert her defensive end boyfriend to the arts. what i really liked about the film (aside from a young elizabeth taylor)was the performance of burl ives as big daddy. big daddy loved to walk around and proclaim, at the top of his lungs, "bull"! there is also a wonderful scene where he and paul newman are in the basement of the house talking about living in a world full of mendacity.

for those of you who are new to the word, mendacity is defined as: "untruthfulness". in the movie, it was used in a way to call out those who were pretending to be something they are not - a putting on of airs. everyone in the movie was living what amounted to a lie, and yet they were a pillar of their southern community.

today was chest/bicep/tricep day. there is nothing like the feeling of serious weight looming over your body to wake you up (we lift at 6:30 am). seriously, it's just you and the weight - there is no pretentiousness and there is no gray area. either you lift the friggin' weight or you are a wuss. pretty simple.

i realize i just lost the four of you who read this regularly - but here's the connection. living in a fallen world means we will be confronted with mendacity on a daily basis. when it comes from other people it makes us mad, when it comes from within it leaves us fearful. pastors have to deal with mendacity in a critical area. if a church member is living a lie, fails to repent and responds with greater mendacity it gets amazingly frustrating. pastors should respond by speaking the truth in love - and the "in love" part is where it gets hard. i know what i want to say and i know what i should say. to that end, lifting has become a means of grace to me. the part of me that fuels the side that wants to say what i want to say (voddie bauchum calls him "bad voddie") - that side can be turned loose for an hour 3 times a week. the frustration of having to put up with mendacity can be taken out on the iron. no lies, no b.s. just you and the weight. lift it, or be a wuss. there is no mendacity in the gym.

grace comes to us in mysterious ways.

ode to RAM

2005-07-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

my friend and former parishoner steve mccoy recently posted a blog on "10 reasons i love al mohler." he also mentioned young guys who were spit on by those who didn't like the changes al made at sbts. since i is one of those guys, and since i responded on steve's blog, i thought i would add my own two cents.

al mohler is a rarity in the sbc. he is a theologian who works from an historically informed perspective. for all the good revivalism has done the sbc - i think the long-term effects will be (and have been) devastating. a church historian and good friend of mine argues rather persuasively that we have lost the last two generations of pastors. by that he means the biblical/theological/historical grid from which they work is woefully deficient. expository preaching is used to describe any number of random thoughts set forth from the pulpit. we have surrendered centuries of strong baptist theology for silly and unbiblical jingoism (i.e. "God voted for me, satan voted against me, and i cast the deciding vote. that's election."); and that evangelism is something you do in the last five minutes of any expository sermon. we also seem to think baptists magically appeared in 1845 in augusta, ga and that missions didn't really begin until lottie moon (i think the wmu is responsible for that one).

our current sbc president is worried that theologians will ruin the denomination. my fear is just the opposite: the lack of theologically, biblically sound pastors will ruin the sbc. i am grateful for guys like al mohler, david dockery and danny akin - guys who understand we need some light with all the heat the bus is generating. do i agree with everything dr. mohler has done? no (does it matter? no.). do i respect the man? yes.

the baton passes

2005-07-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

bellevue baptist church has been one of the flagship churches within the southern baptist convention. the pulpit giants r.g. lee and adrian rogers have served as senior pastor of that historic church. both men have made a name for themselves with their memorable rhetoric and ability to turn a phrase. lee's daughter once accused her father of using words that were too flowery and ornate. he told her that the greatness of the gospel demanded he use the finest words he could. lee's sermon "payday someday" was for many years the standard of revivalistic, southern pulpiteering. rogers is so well respected that he can get away with saying things like, "if the sbc voted that pickles have souls, then across our convention in our seminaries, professors ought to teach that pickles have souls." such silliness, however, did not preclude rogers from becoming the primary architect of the 2000 baptist faith and message.

who would succeed pastor rogers at bellevue has been highly speculated. the speculation ends now as steve gaines has been called as the new pastor. in a bp article, gaines was quoted as saying, "you can have all the new techniques, all of the state of the art media and technology. you can have all the bells and whistles and still not have a healthy church in the eyes of God. we need to stop talking about church growth. we need to talk about church health. a healthy church will grow." if gaines' ministry stays true to this philosophy then reform-minded southern baptists have reason to be hopeful. in a denomination dominated by nickels, noses and purpose-driven mentality, here is the pastor of a major sbc congregation talking about biblical health - not a get on the bus, go, go, go, lift 'em up drive to get 1 million people to give mental assent to a particular message that may or may not be the gospel (i'm sorry but a presentation that does not clearly speak of sin and God's righteous judgment is not the gospel). let us watch and be hopeful.

this week

2005-07-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

this week promises to be interesting. we begin a seven-week bible study this evening by c.j. mahaney entitled, "this great salvation". it is intended to be a contact point with several of the younger couples in our congregation - a chance to build some relationships outside of the four walls of our church. i do miss the one-on-one interaction that comes from leading a small group bible study. while i enjoy preaching, there is much to be said about teaching in a small group context - there are elements that are missing in preaching before the congregation as a whole. i have found that teaching sunday school, followed by preaching on sunday morning is a brutal schedule. whoever dreamed up multiple services on a sunday morning did not have the preaching pastor in mind when they began that enterprise. hopefully, this sunday/monday morning schedule will be the best of both worlds.

on wednesday i'm travelling with one of our interns and his wife to louisville to visit my alma mater, southern seminary. much has changed in the seven years i've been gone. my education occured during a time of great transition. to illustrate, i had the first semester of the theology survey class with e. frank tupper and the second half with danny akin. some of my peers and friends are now current faculty and some of the professors i've had have retired (john polhill and bob stein come immediately to mind). my ot and nt survey professors (john d.w. watts and harold songer) would not be admitted to the faculty now. while i understand and am sympathetic with the reasons why - i cannot help but be thankful for the kind of education i got at southern when i was there. you read both sides - not only because you had to but because you were encouraged to (not by everyone, but certainly by watts and songer). we read higher criticism, but we also read r.k. harrison and etta linemann. karl barth was balanced by reading carl f.h. henry and james leo garrett was offset by millard erickson. we did not read many surveys, but quite a bit of the primary source material. this is, i think, a preferable model of theological education and one i hope our intern will be confronted with at the new sbts.

ain't no livin' in a perfect world

2005-07-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

yesterday was a good day. after three months in various icu/hospital/rehab hospital rooms my friend ben got to come home. i think it will eventually hit me - but one thing is crystal clear: God's steadfast love endures forever. i realize that a three month period does not qualify as forever, but it would take all day to bear testimony to all that God has done in ben, lonnie(his wife) and chase's (their son) lives. God has shown His goodness, and His sovereignty and providence have been on center stage.

yesterday was also a bad day. if indeed it was an al-queda group who was responsible for the attacks in london - well the war on terror has just cranked up a notch. more importantly, people lost their lives and there are dads and moms and sons and daughters who did not come home yesterday, and never will. may God's grace and comfort be on those who are grieving. may God's wisdom be given to any leader humble enough to ask for it.

planning corporate worship

2005-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

this week i find myself having to do something i haven't had to do for quite sometime - be the sole planner of our corporate worship services for this weekend. we are in the midst of an interim period and our regular interim is out of town. the gentleman who is filling in is out of pocket until friday evening and the worship bulletin needs to be at the printer by friday morning. so, the pastor gets to step in and plan.

i understand again why so many churches have gone the seeker sensitive route - it is easier. asking what your target demographic wants to hear is much easier than balancing the biblical tension of immanence/transcendance (my own service would include springsteen, van halen, dwight yoakam, allison krauss and union station and of course, johnny cash). having to combine theological concerns with issues of flow, organic authenticity (i.e. it won't be cheesy, jerky or bransonesque) all the while keeping in mind that you cannot lose the congregation of worshippers (musically or otherwise) is not easy. to top it all off, our current interim does a great job of combining all these things and makes it look easy. leading God's people in an experience of joyful reverence is not an easy thing.

ending abortion?

2005-07-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

with the retirement of justice sandra day o'connor, the summer gets really interesting politically. while i have friends who eat, breathe and sleep this stuff, i find it interesting, amusing, and at times depressing. i fear this summer will bring all of those emotions to the forefront as the confirmation hearings heat up. i am interested to see who president bush will nominate, it will be amusing to read the headlines as the various news outlets betray their ideological bias (the difference between the ny times and fox news is usually very telling). depressing because i'm sure ted kennedy will take the opportunity to speak out as the moral voice of the dnc (as he has already done). ted kennedy lecturing anyone on what ought to be done is laughable. the man has made a career of mainstreaming what people want to do - not putting forth what they ought to do.

still, there is the chance that some forms of abortion may be overturned depending on the makeup of the new court. while i am fully aware that one cannot legislate morality, giving legal permission to perform a partial birth abortion is complicity to an act of murder. "life" was one of the things the founding fathers thought an unalianable right, but we have taken "the pursuit of happiness" and made that the byword of our culture. that is not a "right" sinful humanity is likely to give up easily.

a friend of mine likes to say, in times like these, "our God is still in His heaven." martyn lloyd-jones used to say that we need to "talk to ourselves instead of merely listening to ourselves." while it would seem that getting a solidly pro-life judge appointed is nigh to impossible, nothing is impossible for God. we need to remind ourselves of that fact when the buzz of the media creates a firestorm that makes Bork's 1987 hearings seem tame. some trust in chariots (or the g.o.p.) let us trust in the name of the Lord our God. perhaps God will be gracious to us and we will see an end to at least partial-birth abortion.

are you kiddin' me?

2005-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

a fellow blogger by the name of imonk has recently lamented the rise of a "theologian class" within the sbc. he laments the rise of such a class and worries that it will take away from our newly found emphasis on being missional. this theologian class will create space for itself by forcing southern baptists to become more and more sectarian on theological issues that heretofore had been matters of conscience. thus, the convention spends more time debating minutae and less time impacting our world with the gospel.

there is, i must admit, some danger here. if our primary concern is that everyone be as orthodox as we are (as we define orthodoxy) then there are real issues. however, anyone who attended this year's sbc would not accuse us of having too much theological depth - probably the opposite would be true. theology also comes into play as we confront a postmodern (pomo) world with the absolute truth claims of the gospel. John 14:6 is an absolute claim. the exclusivity of the gospel is a cardinal doctrine that has profound implications for being missional - be it here in lexington, in chicago, in london or in pakistan.

my prayer for our convention is that we would not see theological engagement as an either/or proposition. rather, i pray that God would graciously allow us to see it as a both/and. strategic, missional ministry combined with a passion to know the God of the Bible as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

the ridiculous

2005-06-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

as i stated earlier, this year's sbc was a mixture of the okay, the ridiculous and the alarming. seeing as the alarming has to do with how some imb missionaries are taking the gospel to the muslim world, and our congregation is invested in the muslim world, and i have dear friends serving in a closed country and there are very real security risks in that part of the world i will not comment further. as a friend once said, "if i talk too specifically about what we're doing people die." suffice it to say, syncretism is not the gospel.

as for the ridiculous, my friend and former church member steve mccoy has dealt in depth with the goings on at this year's sbc (one of our pastoral interns thinks steve has five computer geeks following him around 24/7). he seems to have missed southwestern seminary's booth (easy to do seeing as it was camouflaged). our current president must have lunched at swbts' booth prior to all his whoopin' and hollerin'. as if the bus wasn't ridiculous enough, we are boldly going where no denomination has gone before.

i am concerned that theology and doctrine have taken a back seat on the "everyone can bus". the guys i see as being the greatest hope for the convention are being pushed to the margins. the lecture david dockery gave at 2004's "baptist identity: is there a future?" conference at union university is very much the way forward - yet unless you stopped by the uu booth, you heard nothing from d-squared at the convention. in much the same way, al mohler is viewed with caution because of his calvinism (which, as every good southern baptist knows will kill evangelism and missions). the thoughtful approach these men have laid out is the way forward - but they apparently have no seat on the bus. yup, blow the horn and pass the dead frogs. or, as john madden used to say, "call off the dogs and pee on the fire. this one's over boys."

last week

2005-06-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

for the four of you that read this regularly, i apologize for my lack of productivity lately. life has been a little crazy. it began on the 18th with my first ever trip to a nascar race. the meijer 300 in sparta, ky was pretty cool. nascar is somewhat like hockey: boring on tv, but cool as heck in person.

the next morning as i was getting ready for church, my mom called to wish me happy father's day and tell me that my grandmother had passed away. grandma was 83 and had been in poor health the past couple of years. after wishing i could be in omaha for the huskers trip to the cws, my wish was granted in a rather macabre way. we also left that afternoon for the southern baptist convention in nashville. four of the folks in our car had never been before, and like me, they experienced a blend of the ridiculous, the okay and the heretical. i'll devote future blogs to each of these, but it was a rather forgetable convention - especially if you were there during the controversy. it was however, good to see old friends and have a few days away with my bride.

thursday morning had me leavin' on a jetplane bound for omaha. today was my grandmother's funeral - which i preached with the help of an old family friend who pastors in the chicago area. grandma lived a good life and was a godly lady. she was the only person on the face of the planet who could use my full name and have it sound nice. she could say "kyle david" and it was sweet - not the precursor to getting the people's elbow dropped on you by a parent. she was the last of my grandparents to pass away. it is a new and not particularly comfortable stage in life. my grandpa and grandma carlson lived at 1315 north 50th avenue for over 50 years. more than any other place it was home. we really are just sojourners.

hangin' with the chica poopsie

2005-06-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

upon our return from church last night, gabrielle (age 5 - starting school in the fall) and i sat up and enjoyed our favorite group performing on austin city limits. while we were disappointed that allison krauss and union station did not do "baby, now that i've found you" (gabrielle's favorite) it was rather nice to sit on the couch and snuggle with my daughter. i know there is a day coming in which she will find snuggling with her father "gross", so i'll gladly take it while i can. i suppose if i were going to be truly pastoral at this point i should make some sort of pietistic comparison to snuggling with our heavenly father, but i must confess that chapel at taylor university in the late '80's and early '90's ruined me on this point. i will say this, i am grateful for the gift of children and time to spend hangin' with a stinkin' cute little girl, who sadly, will not stay little forever.

ode to ponch and john

2005-06-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

two interns are blessing us with their presence this summer. both feel called to ministry, and both are members of our congregation. their names are adam and bobby respectively, though they are known lovingly around the office as ponch and john (we experimented with laverne and shirley, but in the spirit of landover baptist we felt that whole thing lack a certain fundamentalist machismo).

they are both bright, capable and godly young men - though adam's putting catsup on steak and bobby's hesitancy to spit game at available females (he is single, no swaggartesque funny business here) has allowed a certain amount of doubt to creep in their pastor's mind. they have a dislike of all things '80's - apparently the lasting heritage of slick willy is that all who came of age during his presidency cannot appreciate the nuances of the decade of the last great american president. i'm sorry, but dave matthews and jessica simpson cannot hold a candle to the boss and the material girl (otherwise known as brittany I). not to fear, i trust that God will use prayer and a firm hand to convict them of their foolishness. for all their youthful waywardness, i will miss them when their time with us is over. i've learned it's better to say it early and often as opposed to later.

a burden and a joy

2005-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

yesterday was an interesting day. in terms of the preaching of the word, it was fairly lackluster. some days you feel a particular freedom in the pulpit, other days you are just grinding - or as my preaching professor in seminary put it, "you're on the fast track to flunkersville". yup, that was yesterday.

yesterday reminded me of what my friend kent hughes calls the great paradox of preaching. as kent has said, "preaching is both my greatest joy and my greatest burden." it is sheer folly, as paul pointed out in 1 corinthians 2. in fact, if preaching was not the means God ordained for proclaiming the glory of the cross, we would totally be wasting our time. yesterday reminded me of that truth. God is pleased to use the foolishness of preaching to bring lost men and women to faith in Christ and to stregthen His church. our task is to be faithful. that task is indeed a joy and a burden.

on to rosenblatt

2005-06-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

even though nebraska football has stunk the last couple of years, this year the other sports are turning in performances worthy of the big red nation. case in point: the husker baseball team defeated the hated miami hurricanes (think orange bowl '84) two games to nothing to advance to the college world series at rosenblatt stadium in omaha.

my sense of joy is tempered when i realize there is not a snowball's chance in hell i'll get to see a game in person. this was not always the case. growing up 45 minutes from the blatt meant the cws was an annual event. we would go into town early, have dinner at johnny's and get there in time to see bp. both my parents are from omaha, so any trip into town was a trip back to my roots. we would often see someone we knew - or someone my dad grew up with, etc. as i got older, i would go with my friends merritt nelson, ryan hanson, eric taylor and eric's dad bob. we saw the likes of roger clemons and robin ventura, had a good brat and enjoyed ourselves. not so anymore.

there are things i like about kentucky and a calling to ministry. this time of year is not one of those things. this time of year i miss my home and my friends. i miss the zesto at the bottom of the hill from the blatt. i miss the never ending speculation about how the huskers will do this fall that was part of every summer. i miss thunderstorms on the great plains and the taste of good sweet corn. for all the blessings obedience to God's calling brings, there is a cost as well. Jesus knew this when he spoke of those who leave behind parents, family and lands for the sake of the gospel. i am thankful for the blessings - but today, i miss those things i left behind. sojourning in a far country has a cost. so, since i cannot be there i hope bo nelton and ted get good seats this year, and i pray jake comes home safe from iraq. i hope the huskers win the whole thing - even if i can't be there to see it.

greetings from bullitt county

2005-06-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

this evening, we hopped in the car following the last night of vbs and made the 1 1/2 hour trip to shepherdsville. amy's folks live here, and it is a nice chance to get away from things and be reminded of other things. unlike my parents, this is the house amy lived in when she and i met. the first time i walked in the door, i was just a visiting seminary student/preacher coming to sunday lunch. now, i'm a son-in-law with two of jr and freda's favorite people in tow. funny how 11 yrs. changes things. it is nice to be able to come to a place and put the pastor title away - even if just for a brief period. paul was correct when he wrote of his concern for the church being the most overwhelming thing he had to deal with (2 cor. 11). if it were not for Christ's headship over His church and God's sovereignty, i think i would quit the ministry and go to work selling widgets. i also think it's friday night and i'm tired - in the words of uncle buck, "it'll be better in the morning. it always is." rest well friends.

a good day

2005-06-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

for all the complaining pastors are prone to doing, there are times in which the basic goodness of our calling is overwhelming. take today for example - my coffee is made (the aroma of which fills the gilded cage i call a study) the chocolate syrup blended nicely with my cup o' joe in a way you'd think they were made for each other (of course they are). yo-yo ma is playing brahm's cello concertos nicely and 1 john 4:1-6 is kickin my tail. there is something right about the whole thing.

i spoke with my father last night on the occasion of his 59th birthday. both of his parents are gone (1982 and 2001 respectively) as is the brother closest to him in age. i was surprised to hear my dad comment that he had been reflecting on the fact that over half his life was gone - but he was overall pretty satisfied with the way things had gone. please keep in mind, my father started as a football coach/history teacher and is now a nutritional consultant for feeder cattle (a nutritionist for cattle). i had a front row seat as a kid for the transition and it wasn't pretty. so to hear my dad voice satisfaction with his life signified a significant work of grace over the last 22 years. funny, one might think paul knew what he was talking about when he said God works all thing for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. may God grant all of us the grace to look back and say the same on our 59th.

one last thought, i grew up a braves fan. living in the sandhills of nebraska meant cable was a must if you were going to have any tv reception at all. that meant dale murphy, bruce benedict and bob horner were regular guests at the mcclellan home - usually at 6:35 central time. i still like john smoltz and bobby cox, but i hate the franchise. my loathing took new heights after the darren erstad/johnny estrada collision. one of the braves whined, "he could have gone around him." what a bunch of weenies. perhaps lace should be added to complete the uniform. you are paid more money than most of us will see in a lifetime to play a game - and you're complaining cause one of your guys gets knocked over and ko'd by a former kicker and punter (albeit a husker)? please.

wednesdays

2005-06-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

with all due respect to the carpenter's, it's not rainy days and mondays that always get me down, but days like today. i'm wiped out emotionally and physically. it's always been harder for me to discern why i get drained emotionally - probably something about the "if you can walk you can play" mentality a coach's son grows up with. it's probably also because men like my grandfathers went to work and busted their hump regardless of how they felt (my grandpa mcclellan was a heavy diesel mechanic who lost half his foot jumping a train as a young man - yet he still went to work every day). the physical side is easier to discern. this week is vbs at our church, so aside from a full day, we also have a full evening. i play basketball on tuesday evenings at a local church and being old, bald and fat does take a toll as you haul your behind up and down the court (that being said, i can still set screens and rebound with the 20-somethings i play with). i also realize we are whole people, and in the words of the great vince lombardi, "fatigue makes cowards out of the best of us". jodee mussina is right, there are just days when, "my give a damn's busted".

why write this? it's not to gain the sympathy of the four of you who read this blog - nor is it an exercise in pastoral navel gazing. rather, i am reminded of paul's admonition that we are not to grow weary in doing good (2 Thess 3:13). faithfulness in ministry (cf: yesterday's blog) is easy to speak of when you feel refreshed and relatively care free. sadly, those days can be few and far between. God requires faithfulness from us on all days, even the ones we don't feel up to the task. strangely enough, this is a good thing. paul also reminds us that when we are weak, then we are strong. how is this? the superabundance of God's grace - a grace that is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:1-11). this is freeing for us - for on the days in which we feel our worst, our best work can be done. the days in which we feel least adequate, we are actually the most usable. and all God's people said - Amen.

what gives?

2005-06-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

in talking to some of my younger friends, i have been reminded of an old problem that seems to always be resurfacing. to quote alistair begg, "w.e. sangster wrote in the early 20th century, 'preaching is in the shadows. the world does not believe in it.' sadly, we can now say at the beginning of the 21st century, 'preaching is in the shadows. the church does not believe in it.'" many professing christians find preaching to be unnecessary and overrated. music and drama are the good stuff - preaching is not.

in pondering this issue, two ideas of biblical responsibility immediately confront me. the first is the responsibility of the preacher. (granted, i am a preacher and i am aware that an accusation of being self-serving is expected). paul commands timothy in 2 timothy 4 to preach the word. peter reminds those serving as elders to shepherd the flock of God among them (1 peter 5). anyone who has spent time in a rural area knows that the first order of business in caring for livestock is to see that they are well-fed. Jesus reminds us in the course of his temptation in the wilderness that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (matthew 4:4). as christians, our food is God's word. as pastors, our task is to proclaim that word faithfully, doing so in season and out of season.
to quote alistair begg again, "the reason preaching has such a bad name is because there is so much bad preaching." when pastors understand the primacy of the preaching task, they ought to prepare with great earnestness and prayerfulness. faithfulness to the One who called and commissioned them ought to be the first order of business. meeting the felt-needs of a target demographic group is utterly unbiblical and ought never to enter our minds.

the second area of responsibility rests with the listener. in our day and age of "the consumer is always right", many within the congregation seem to forget that the purpose of preaching is to equip them with what they need - not to give them what they want. sadly, there are a myriad of options when it comes to church attendance and more than one has catered to a consumer-centered approach to religious "goods and services". at the heart of the issue is this question: if you profess to be a sheep (i.e. a follower of Jesus) why don't you like sheep food? if our Lord Himself reminds us that we live by the Word of God, why is our appetite for that Word so pathetic - or in some cases non-existent? if indeed the bible is preached faithfully at your church, and the preaching leaves you cold - how is this not a heart issue?

what to do with this musing? i would suggest three things: first, pray that your pastor would see the faithful preaching of God's Word as job one. second, encourage/hold him accountable. pastors expect notes telling us of our shortcomings, but do us a favor and make the criticism biblical: you may actually be right in your critique. please also remember that we are blessed beyond words when folks tell of their thankfulness to God for the preaching of His Word. finally, cultivate your own appetite for sheep food. if preaching leaves you cold, examine your own heart. ask God to create in you the hunger for His Word that you know you ought to have.

home again

2005-06-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

it's good to leave and it's good to come home. chicago was wonderful. the weather was great, the company was excellent, the chisox beat my indians (Lord, why do the wicked prosper?), and the food was outstanding. all in all a good trip and a safe one at that (never a given driving in chicago).

twice now our congregation has had opportunity to interview young men who have spent time at college church in wheaton. both have interned and sat under the ministry of the word for two years or more. to say that both were impressive would be an understatement. their understanding of gospel ministry and the practical implications of the Word of God as the center of the fellowship of God's people was clear and concise. they are both bible men and both have seen clearly what a congregation that is committed to the centrality and authority of God's Word ought to look like. my prayer is that we as southern baptists would be humble enough to learn from a non-sbc yankee church that has it right and does it right.

heading north

2005-06-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

tomorrow i head north to that most blessed of yankee cities: chicago. though my pastoral assistant claims the perma-frost lurks mere inches from the surface, i love chicago. the book stores, the cubs, the sox, deepdish pizza and really good hot dogs makes the windy city a place i love to visit (yes, i know that list is pitifully shallow).

the purpose of this trip is to scout out a potential minister of music candidate. our time together will include a visit to moody church, where i fully expect to pay my respects to the memory of the great h. a. ironside. aside from having a cool name, dr. ironside served as pastor of moody church from 1930-1948. though i would disagree with his dispensational view of the bible, ironside was an "all-around bible preacher". the early years of his ministry were spent traveling as an evangelistic preacher to independent brethren congregations, often accepting invitations to preach with no money for travel. as warren wiersbe commented regarding ironside, "his preaching style was conversational and his approach was to teach verse by verse through an entire book of the bible, explaining and applying the scriptures as he went along, always with telling illustration." may God be pleased to raise up an entire generation of preachers, who, like harry ironside are bible men first and foremost.

my rebuttal

2005-06-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

in case you could not tell, my last posting was not really my last posting. a friend hijacked my heretofore thoughtful and engaging blog in a crass display of internet piracy. i know most of you recognized that the prose was more banal than usual - and as such a dead giveaway.

seriously, with the exception of the nauseating and horribly overrated eagles' lyrics, almost all of what was said regarding my friends was true. if anything, they downplayed their contributions. ben has done way more than raising the level of my pitiful espanol and moving me to the outfield. his combination of wit and pastoral common sense has brought some much-needed balance and perspective. what he taught me in ethics at sbts continues to impact the way i do hospital ministry among our congregation. thunder thornbury really did serve as a tutor in the life of the mind. greg has challenged me not to separate what God has joined together - namely true christian piety and a commitment to sound propositional theology. heather is a joy to fetch cokes for, and the well-being she has brought to my friend house is something for which i continually thank God (though she would certainly have corrected that last sentence). house has been obi-wan in a number of ways. as i have said before, outside of my dad, no male has had more influence on me than he has - i shudder to think where i would be had God not brought him into my life. bailey, in spite of the fact that my continued association with him has tarnished my reputation, is as good and faithful a friend as one could hope for. i only wish that he could see, as i have, that chocolate syrup is not harmed when added to coffe - only enhanced and perfected. as paul has noted elsewhere, you do not make friends like these. God gives them to you.

as for the family side of it - all i will say is that amy, gabrielle and nathaniel are a constant reminder of God's grace to me. if i can be as good a husband and father as they are wife and children, i'll count myself blessed.

in praise of my Friends

2005-05-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

memorial day is a time for remembering. so, i must recall that apart from God, there are several people to whom i owe my very existence. since i blog so infrequently, i can only mention a few, who to me soar like "eagles" (Is. 40:31). though they are family not friends, i must give due gratitude to my parents, (big) dave and judy mcclellan. to my siblings, i offer nothing. i was right all along, you can't hide your lying eyes. to amy, my wife and the mother of my children, you give me a peaceful, easy feeling and i know you won't let me down because we're already standing on solid ground.
my knowledge of spanish is a gift from ben who lit a fire (en mi pantolones). it is to ben i owe the desire to do more than play third base on a softball team when i go on mission trips. without him, my understanding of missions would be just another tequila sunrise. heather instilled a longing to two-finger type efficiently and effectively (albeit without capital letters). to her, all i can say is, "does anybody need a coke?" greg taught me how to think. more importantly, he taught he how to play football, like a hammer. to you, greg, i say, "you're great!!!" to richard, i owe all my knowledge of the internet and blogosphere. you gave me the password to a productive life. you're not the "hack" some people are claiming. last, but certainly not least, to paul, my vaterdoktor (loosely translated "Obi Wan"), i say thanks for moving the intellectual bucket from under the window. you are the wind beneath my wings.

get off me!

2005-05-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

a friend and fellow blogger (whose continued assocation makes me anathema in most respectable circles) was flippin' me junk about a once every three week posting not really being considered blogging. what he does not seem to understand is that we do not all have the luxury of spending our days patronizing heine bros., the irish rover and "working" on our dissertations while our wife keeps the wolf from the door with her endless labors (she should be on the fast track for sainthood). some of us are pastors, and as such the one day a week we do work means we have only six days to work on our golf games and enjoy and endless stream of lunch meetings. if blogging impedes my work on my short game - well, blogging just has to wait, doesn't it?

now, if you will excuse me, my 11:30 lunch appointment beckons.

over and back again

2005-05-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

last week was a good week. my friend ben continues to improve, to the point that the doctors tell his family he's "out of the woods as far as life or death". this news came as our two staff guys and i were in chicago for the simeon trust preaching workshop that's held every year at college church in wheaton.

let me see if i can unpack what a great week it was. on tuesday we made the trip up to the frozen tundra of chicago, stopping first at the book stores in hyde park (university of chicago). from there we had lunch on taylor street in little italy. the day was completed by spending some time with a good friend who teaches at teds (a campus possessing a great bookstore) and having dinner at a great place called flatlanders (the prime rib is really good). upon our arrival in wheaton, our days were spent considering the task of preaching, enjoying starbucks (they are on the other side of town here in lexington), foundering ourselves on deep-dish pizza (both gino's east and giordano's) and walking around the beautiful city of wheaton. i really do love chicago - even the suburbs.

the living of these days, pt. 5

2005-04-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

as my friend ben continues to recover, i am wrestling with the most difficult aspect of God's character. i am not worried, as noted earlier, that God was somehow caught off guard with this entire situation. i find such notions to be unhelpful at best and unbiblical at worst. God is fully in control of all that is going on in His universe. such an affirmation does not make me doubt God's goodness, either. the difficult aspect for me is phrased best by shadrack, meshach and abed-nego. after refusing to bow to the golden idol nebuchadnezzar had set up for himself, the three hebrews are called before the furious king. the three are told by king n that failure to bow would result in their certain death. and who is the god who will deliver you from my hands? (Daniel 3:15).

their answer is where the difficulty lies: we have no need to answer you in this matter. if that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, o king. But if not. . . the but if not is where the rubber meets the road. God can deliver my friend's life - ben could get up this minute and be fully restored to health - God could do it. but, what if He doesn't? what if God is pleased to call ben to Himself? the answer is this. . . none of these scenarios change Who God is. the things that were true of God before ben's accident remain true after. He is constant and faithful. our prayer is for the grace and wisdom to live with the "but if not". if we cannot glorify God during the "but if not" times, we cannot claim that our worship of Him is authentic and genuine (cf: Job). may God give us the grace to trust in His goodness and faithfulness.

the living of these days, pt. 4

2005-04-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

my friend Ben had his left arm amputated below the elbow. the infection had advanced to the point of having nothing but mush under the elastic bandage. the doctors could have saved the arm, at the risk of costing Ben his life, but it would have been a useless appendage even if saved.

i am reminded of the need for lament in the christian life. we live in a fallen world, and unspeakable things happen to those we love. i would wholeheartedly agree with the emerging church conversation - don't make church a show and don't give slick, cookie-cutter answers to difficult questions. thankfully, God is not overwhelmed by our lament, nor is He as shocked as we are when difficult things confront us. i wonder when we will cease making sunday mornings a well-packaged, "up with people" event and get back to a time of serious, biblical community. how greatful we ought to be that God both hears, and knows and acts. or as the late carl f. h. henry said, "the God who speaks and shows".

the living of these days, pt. 3

2005-04-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

"the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." when news of ben's accident came to our congregation, people dropped what they were doing and came running. for the next couple of days, everything centered around the icu waiting room, then something else happened - life. the 24/7 routine that cannot be escaped entered back into the picture - kids needed baths, help getting ready for school, bills needed to be paid and stomachs that had been abused by bad hospital food were ready for home cookin'.
when churches, or pastors at least, enter crisis mode priorities are reshuffled. this is necessary, but it can also be detrimental. God created us to glorify and enjoy Him. in this life, my love of God and my growing in grace are fueled by the reading of His Word and prayer. God has given us the spiritual disciplines for our benefit and we neglect them to our own peril. crisis times are perilious times for one's soul. the disciplines that nurture and feed us are put on the back burner. the truths we need to be reminded of so badly go unheeded - not because they are untrue, but because we have neglected them.
in the 1920's a self-styled managegment consultant finally secured an interview with charles schwab, then the president of bethlehem steel. the consultant counseled schwab to make a list of the things he needed to do the next day and them number them in terms of priority. "do nothing until you have finished the first priority for that day. when it is done, move to number two and so on. try it for a few weeks and then send me a check based on what you think our time was worth." two weeks later, schwab sent the man a check for $25,000 (an unheard of amount of money in the '20's).
in times of crisis, pastors need more wisdom, discernment and grace than ever. it is the height of stupidity to neglect the means God has given us to fellowship with Him because we are too busy. may God forgive me for not keeping the main thing the main thing. thankfully, the Bible tells us, that by His grace, He will.

The Living of These Days, Pt. 2

2005-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

my friend ben is still not well, or as the nurses in the icu unit say, "he's very sick". his kidneys are not working properly and now his liver is acting up as well. when you've been given over 50 units of blood as well as "big gun antibiotics" certain organs will not respond well - organs such as your kidneys and liver.

as i said yesterday, through ben and his family's struggle, i have been remided of and find myself clinging to particular truths regarding God and the world he has made. here is the second of those truths.

God is our refuge and strength. A present help in time of trouble. we live in a fallen world. genesis 3 pretty much ruined the party for all of us. we often think of this truth when confronted with big picture things: slavery, genocide, the aids pandemic in africa, pornography, child abuse and exploitation, and the historical benchmark: the holocaust. pastorally, i am confronted more often with this reality in more local ways. divorce, marital infidelity, cancer, alzheimer's - the crummy things that bring families to their knees if they do not destroy them altogether.

while in seminary, i rented the movie priest. i saw immediately why conservative catholics hated it - and i was reminded of a crucial distinction between catholics and protestants. the title character (an actively homosexual priest) is wrestling with the knowledge that a teenage girl within his parish is being raped by her father. confronted with incest, and bound by the confidentiality of the confessional, the priest turns an angry eye towards a large crucifix and asks, "why don't you come down from there and do something?!"

sadly, i harbor that question when confronted with situations like ben's. it is then that, by God's grace, i engage in martyn lloyd-jones wise admonition to "talk to one's self instead of merely listening to one's self". God has done something - and Christ is no longer on the cross. God is with us presently and a help to His people. God resurrected Christ from the tomb, and we now have a Mediatior and Advocate sitting at the right hand of God the Father. God has not left us to fend for ourselves in a fallen, crummy world. families are not left to be battered to and fro by the storms of life. He is not silent. He has acted. there is hope.

The Living of These Days

2005-04-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

two weeks ago today, a good friend and member of our congregation was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. the accident occured four doors down from his home and was witnessed by his six-year-old son. as i write, he remains in the trauma icu at uk medical center. needless to say, this has been a serious blow to our congregation, and to their pastor personally. ben is a good man and a good friend. seeing him fight for his life and sitting with his family through the ups and downs is wearisome to say the least.
through all of this the Lord has been faithful. God's goodness has been evidenced in many ways and i've been trying to keep some sense of those ways. here are the five i've been thinking about thus far. i'll give the first today.

gabrielle and i have been reading the chronicles of narnia at bedtime, and we are currently working through the silver chair. puddleglum, pole and scrubb find themselves sliding down an underground cavern having just escaped the giants of harfang. when they finally stop at the bottom, they are confronted by the warden of the marches of the underland and his hundred earthmen in arms. the warden commands them to get up and come with them to the queen of the deep realm. lewis then writes, "there was nothing else to be done. the three travelers scrambled to their feet and joined hands. one wanted the touch of a friend's hand at a moment like that."

God gives friends and church family for any number of reasons - but i have grown particularly grateful for the touch of a friends's hand. ben's family has been hugged, cried with, prayed for and taken care of in practical ways as well. God's people have given this family a hand to hold on to. for that i am grateful - pastors do not always have the privelege of pastoring kind and good people. in fact, i've pastored some who were mean, and as we all know: mean people suck. our folks have bestowed love and grace upon a family who desperately needed it. they have a history of doing that, and by God's grace it will continue.
i have personally been thankful for friends as well. pastors are expected to know what to say at all times - and quite honestly there are times in which we can't find the words, or not the right ones anyway. friends have been gracious and come when i needed them. the bonds and the baileys came on a sunday in which i did not want to preach, but knew i needed to. friends from alabama, tennessee and chicago gave love, prayer and godly counsel. a friend in louisville covered a funeral we were to preach together. our pastoral staff and pastoral assistant have been faithful ministers and friends. of as my friend paul house has said, "you do not make friends like this, the Lord gives them to you."

the ec conversation, part deux

2005-04-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

while attending southern seminary, my wife and i had the privelege of serving in the campus guest house. vip's of various stature would come through, stay a night or two and then keep on truckin'. we had the opportunity to host james merritt, alistair begg, elizabeth elliot (you get the picture) as well as trustees and state association folk. our favorite guest was easily carl f.h. henry. dr. henry was the founding editor of christianity today as well as the author of God, revelation and authority. aside from being the most prominent evangelical theologian of the 20th century, dr. henry was the most genuinely nice man i've ever had the priveledge of knowing. i wanted to hear about his meeting karl barth and martyn lloyd-jones, he'd rather ask amy what gifts God had given her for the building of the kingdom and enquiring as to the "intellectual commitments of the baptist student union" - he was genuinely saddened to hear there weren't any.
i know, you're asking yourself, 'what does this have to do with the ec conversation'? when my friend greg thornbury asked dr. henry what he thought of theologians who denied a propositional basis to theology, henry's reply was telling, "i think that's an interesting proposition." one such theologian was the late stan grenz, a man much admired in the ec. i long for the day the sbc turns away from its' idolatry of numbers and bransonesque worship styles. i pray we will recover substance in the pulpit and meaningful "life together". i wish we could get over this notion that baptists magically appeared in augusta in 1845 and draw from two milennia of history and tradition. to that end i find the ec engaging and helpful. what is not helpful is an approach to theology that is self-negating - the kind of approach the ec seems to be much enamored with at the moment. it is true that doctrine divides - sometimes legitimately, sometimes foolishly. equally foolish is to succumb to the notion that since doctrine divides, we'll dismiss it altogether. i pray the ec conversation as it relates to the sbc will produce a generation of pastors and churches who embody the graciousness of the coversation - while at the same time retaining a propositional approach to theology. wouldn't it be novel if the sbc contributed something to evangelicalism other than the mega-church?

the ec conversation

2005-03-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

the emerging church is all the rage now, or so it seems. my introduction to the conversation was not through the writings of brian mclaren, but rather through an article in by faith magazine, the publication of the pca. before sharing what caught my eye, some background is helpful. it has been my good fortune to pastor two churches that were in a "bermuda triangle" of sorts. on both occasions, within ten mintues in any direction there was a mega-church (where we currently are, they number 8,500; 2,200; and 2,700 respectively). many of our folks have children or grandchildren who attend these congregations. the sheer volume of programs such churches can put out is staggering, and a church of 250 cannot in any way, shape or form hope to "compete" programatically (nor i would argue, should we - but that is another blog for another day). on top of our geographic challenge, i serve in a convention that suffers from the idolatry of numbers. when was the last time a convention sermon was delivered by a pastor who did not hail from a mega-church? nickels and noses has become the new baptist faith and message.
so, when i read the following in the jan/feb 2005 issue of by faith you can understand why my radar was geeked for this. "led by mega-church pastors, popular authors, and a band of well-intentioned christian brothers seeking to re-invent christianity in a new, relevant form, this movement resulted in a de-historicized christianity that often lacked substance, and appealed to its consumers by imitating culture rather than creating it. Within these (emerging) churches, one is apt to see a focus on the Trinity and God's transcendence (it's not about me), a fondness for mystery (don't pretend you have all the answers), a desire for honesty (don't make church a show), space for lament (i need to know God hears my cries), the language of story (don't give me more principles . . show me how i fit into God's story), and a craving for community (size isn't proof of God's presence; love is).
are there problems with this conversation? yes. more on that another day. however, for young pastors tired of being told by their convention that they really don't matter 'till their congregation reaches a certain numerical range, this is a much needed breath of fresh air. for a generation tired of being marketed to, especially in church, the ec presents a return to a biblical model of living the life of faith together. slick music, demographically targeted programs and preaching are replaced by an authentic, "rumble in the barnyard" approach to gathering with God's people week by week. may God grant us more of that.

saying goodbye

2005-03-29T09:07:00.000-08:00

the first pastor i ever worked for passed away this weekend. he had preached both sunday morning and evening and returned home to watch the end of the uk basketball game. his wife/pda of many years heard him fall in the bathroom, but could not open the door. the paramedics arrived at about the same time as his eldest son. there was nothing that could be done for him.
there will be a mess of preachers speaking at his funeral. some of them will have helpful things to say - some will just be moving hot air and blessing us with 'shuckin and jivin' - pickin' and grinnin'. i have not been asked to say anything, so i will say it here.
bro. ferrell was not a perfect man - none are. yet there was much that was good about his ministry. first, he thought ministry ought to be about caring for people. everything i learned about hospital visitation i learned from him. our staff experimented with rotating hospital visitation - every time i showed up, the first question asked was, "where's the preacher?" second, all of his pastorates were long term. he only pastored three churches in 40 years of ministry, with 22 of those at carlisle avenue (where i knew him). it takes patience, love and a large measure of grace to stay in a place that long. third, ferrell believed the bible to be the inspired, inerrant word of God. his preaching did not always reflect this conviction - but his personal interaction with his staff and congregation always did.
only one life - 'twill soon be past
only what's done for christ will last.

rest well bro. ferrell, i pray you have heard, "well done - well done"

A typical week

2005-03-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

this week has been typical. preparing to preach and teach, attending a very good conference on preaching at sbts (monday), attending the funeral of a members' mother (tuesday), business meeting (wednesday evening), preaching a funeral (thursday), meeting with a young man preparing for ministry and needing some direction (scary that it comes from me, i know) and yes, my birthday is tomorrow. good thing pastors only work one day a week.