Thankful for the Lessons

I'm coming up on two years as pastor of Living Hope Church. I love this church and am so grateful for the opportunity God has given me to lead such an incredible bunch! All my previous ministry experience was as a staff member serving under another pastor. Today I was thinking about all the pastors who shaped me and helped me become the pastor I am today.

From my Dad, I learned pastoring isn't always easy and pastors can be normal.

From Brad Utley, I learned to "try anything" and I learned forgiveness.

From Floyd Sullivan, I learned joy and justice.

From Jim Harris, I learned I wanted to be a pastor.

From Milburn Wilson, I learned encouragement and comfort.

From David Fasold, I learned leadership and that church can be fun.

From Joe Wilson, I learned passion and the art of dreaming God-sized dreams.

Today I offer up thanks for each of these men and the impact they had and continue to have on my life. They trusted me, encouraged me, tolerated me, let me lead, helped me clean up mistakes, invested in me, and much more. I have a degree in theology and have read hundreds of books, but it was the process of doing life and ministry with these guys that made me the pastor I am and will be.

Who shaped you?

The Hole in Our Gospel

This book seriously messed me up!

Richard Stearns in the president of World Vision US. In THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL, Stearns tells how he came from being a high-earning CEO to be the president of World Vision. He also masterfully shares the greatest problems/needs around the world and does a great job discussing why the world at large tends to ignore those in the greatest need and what we as the Church should be doing to help.

If you want to carry on with life as usual, the DO NOT read this book! This book will increase your heart for missions, increase your compassion for "the least of these", and will cause you seriously re-evaluate your own lifestyle of consumerism.

One of the most inspiring parts of this book is when Stearns details how he came to Christ and then wrestled with God's calling to lead this non-profit. It's an honest story of doubt and the the "chasing" that God often does when we resist his purposes for our lives. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

It Lives!

After a 3-month hiatus, I've decided to resurrect the ol' blog. I've been itching to start writing again, but I believe my focus will be different this time. Not so much pop culture -- heavier on the spiritual journaling, thoughts about faith/church/pastoring/leadership, and book reviews. I really want to get back to the fearless "wide open" style that made this interesting for me to begin with.

I haven't decided how often I'll post. Probably a couple times per week or so. Not going to stress about it too much. When I feel the itch, I'll scratch it. So renew your subscription or check back here occasionally. Can't wait!

Goodbye Cruel World

After considerable thought, I've decided that this will be my last blog post. I just can't devote the time to it that I used to. If I can't do it well then I'd rather not do it.

Lately I've found that Twitter is a more concise/quick way to communicate, and Facebook keeps me in touch with tons of old (and current) friends. Plus, it seems that they're pretty much taking over the world.

I want to thank all of you who have visited regularly for reading and allowing me to figure things out or vent in a public way. I've thoroughly enjoyed the blog experience. Please stay in touch by following my twitter feed (pastorjeffmyers) or friend me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pastorjeffmyers).

I might return to it someday, but for now I need to focus on other things and scale down my social networking. In fact, my Facebooking is going to scale back quite a bit as well. This page will stay up but this will be my last post.

Go With God!!!

Jeff

Lemonade

Check out this trailer for a new documentary called Lemonade. It highlights the lives of people in the advertising world who have lost their jobs in the current recession. (WARNING: There's a little bit of crude language in this, and some of the life-choices are not necessarily God-honoring.)

I just find it interesting from several different standpoints:

• how often a personal crisis can result in drastic choices that bring greater fulfillment in life.
• how often a personal crisis can result in drastic choices that take lives in an unhealthy direction.

Church leaders/members: I wonder how much we are helping people turn their lemons into lemonade? When we hear of someone getting handed a lemon, are we encouraging them to take God-honoring risks, or are we letting them flounder without any support/encouragement?

Social Networking Burnout

I'm experiencing something that I'll just call social networking burnout. I currently have my blog, a Facebook account, and a Twitter account. I love them all!

I've been blogging for about 4 years now and I find the writing fun and sometimes therapeutic.

I've been on Facebook for almost a year and I love how Facebook keeps me connected with people that I would otherwise lose touch with. It's been great reuniting with people from high school, college, the Army, and the different churches we've served in. Also, making those Facebook connections proved to be invaluable when it came to raising support for our upcoming mission trip to India. Probably the majority of our support came from Facebook friends. However, it has the potential to be a big time-waster.

I've been on Twitter for about 6 months or so and I really love it. If I'm honest, I probably enjoy Twittering more than Facebooking. I like giving and receiving the 140-character updates without all the hassle of the Facebook quizes, games, poking, pillow fights, food fights, and other such nonsense that I always ignore.

However, I've noticed that since I started Twittering, I haven't been updating my blog as much. Things I normally would have blogged a few paragraphs about, I can now reduce to 140 characters or less and keep it concise. But I start feeling guilty when I go several days without blogging (like now). I've thought about getting off of Facebook, but I'd feel guilty disconnecting from so many old friends. I've thought about getting off of Twitter, but I really like it and sometimes it proves to be useful and informative. I've thought about not blogging anymore, but that just makes me sad and I think the longer writing form is good for me.

So the last few days as I've been pondering all this, I hit burn-out and didn't post much to any of the 3 mediums. I think something, or a few somethings, needs to go. I can't make up my mind which, though. I'll probably come to a decision within the next several days.

Genesis 48-50

These last 3 chapters serve as a sort of epilogue to the book of Genesis. They deal primarily with the final blessings and death of Jacob and the death of Joseph. In Jacob's blessings of his sons there are some rich foreshadowing of the coming Messiah, Jesus. Especially in the blessings of Judah and of Joseph.

One thing that I want to point out is actually 8 verses after our study ends.

Exodus 1:8 (ESV)

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

Although Joseph is certainly remembered even today, there was a point after his death that his actions and position were forgotten and didn't do the Israelites much good. They were oppressed and enslaved despite his high position in Egypt.

There will come a day that all of us will be forgotten by the communities and kingdoms of this world. It doesn't matter how much good we do, one day we will die, and life will march on without us. Kind of depressing, huh?

Here's the lesson, though. When you live your life the way Joseph and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham lived their lives--knowing that it's not really about us, but about God. Then we will leave a legacy that will outlive any memory of our existence. A legacy of Jesus. I don't care one lick if people remember me when I'm dead, I just want to make sure the legacy of Jesus Christ carries on. What Kingdom investments can you make today or this week or this year that will leave a lasting legacy of Jesus Christ to the generations who come after you?