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Gavin Richardson

on being “methomergent”

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jay has a good reflection on what it means to be methodist & emergent. we jokingly brought out the methomergent name a few years ago, but since others have come out with presbymergent and anglimergent, i really hope that methomergent doesn’t stick.

Being methomergent in a traditional setting often means deep longings,
cries and groans of wanting to be something different while also
recognizing that folks invested in the traditional structures need the
grace of God as well. For some, it means being “in-between,” neither
fully traditional or fully emergent, and that in-betweenness drives
them crazy. For others of us (and I consider myself in this camp) it is
about a self understanding of the minister/pastor as interpreter.

the “manly” influence of boys : a different way

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i have been wanting to post on this topic for awhile. i just never had enough to say. so i wanted to find and show this video. well, it wasn’t on the internet, so i had to find my copy of the video and get it uploaded. this is joe ehrmann, a former nfl player and now coach. he has a unique way and perspective on how we poorly build boys into men. this is well worth your time to catch a glimpse of a different way of raising men.

it reminds me that rethinking youth ministry highlighted this "hard as nails" ministry. in watching that i was taken back to some further thoughts. the idea being, what kind of men are we making for the kingdom.

months back i was intrigued in hearing about coach rush propst, the former head football coach from hoover high school (star of mtv’s two a days), resigning (read between the lines, fired) from his position mid-season.

i had an interest in the show partly because hoover high school, wasn’t created at the time, but would be my high school alma mater if our family stayed in birmingham. i would have actually graduated from berry high school, which is now one of the hoover middle schools. i would have been part of one of the final graduating classes from berry, before people moved into hoover.

watching two-a-days, i didn’t like coach propst, i thought the methods of getting a winning team and the way he treated parents and kids was just awful. so i wasn’t upset to see him go, but i wondered, why do we have so many "men" who are allowed to treat boys in such ways under the guise of "making them men?".. this cannot be good for the kingdom. being a man is not about being macho, unlike what mark driscoll dressed in his metro-sexual stylings would like you to know. being a man is not about being tough stuff.

Christ never put down, beat up, demeaned, yelled at, forced participation, or threatened in order to share the vision of the kingdom. why do we put up with people who go against those practices so actively? is it because we spend money on travel teams or our youth’s sports? we hope our child to grow up and be successful professional athlete? we live out our real dreams through our children and this person is considered a ‘gatekeeper’… i just don’t know..


note: this is a trimmed version. a full version with bryant gumbel’s reactions, which are good, can be found here.

like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our tennessee conference

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26008dool
jay has an excellent post breaking down the recent letter from the conference director on the change of staffing at the conference office. leave it to him to go rooting through the annual conference journals to uncover what was or was not said. if you need all the back story, just go to yesterday’s posting of the letter with the links to all my chatter on the proceedings.

note: i would like to welcome all the middle tennessee folks who are stopping by to read ye ole’ blog. it is nice that when you search ‘gavin richardson‘ in google i am number one, i am kinda flattered by it. if you are taking time to read all this, give a little more time to speak up. we are all friends here.

tennessee conference reponds : terminating successful ministry

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Masthead

this is the first official response to the terminations of the children’s and youth director positions. prior thoughts to think-tank,  what focus on, listening, white boy asks why, reminded of, hearing voices, letter too, the timeline, petition

Beyond the Walls-Restructuring of the Conference Council on Connectional Ministries (CCOCM)

By Loyd Mabry,
Director of Connectional Ministries

Our theme for the 2008 Session of the Tennessee Annual Conference is Beyond the Walls.  This concept is taken from Adam Hamilton’s book entitled,
Leading Beyond the Walls.  He will be a guest speaker and presenter on Tuesday of Annual
Conference.  The emphasis in his book is developing congregations with a heart for the unchurched.   It is my hope that this theme and emphasis, Beyond the
Walls, will become a driving force for us in the Tennessee Conference. 

In 2007 the Annual Conference approved the report of the CCOCM Task Force.  The Task Force presented a change in the way the CCOCM functions.  The new model is based in four words-Engage, Receive, Equip, and Send.  We are called to engage the community around us.  We are called to offer them Christ and receive them into our midst.  Our calling continues as we equip persons for the ongoing ministry of the church and theses equipped persons are sent out to engage their communities.  The cycle is to continue.

To pursue this direction, a restructuring of the CCOCM staff resulted.  For the conference to change direction, to reach different people, to minister in different ways, to reach out beyond the walls changes in job
descriptions became evident.  The result is restructuring of the CCOCM staff and the way it
functions.  These changes in staff are not related to job performance.  The CCOCM program staff fulfills their present job descriptions.  With a changing job description and direction, it was felt that staff changes were necessary.  The infusion of new ideas, methods, and styles of ministry is needed for us to fully engage the world around us.  Again, let me say that the change in staffing is a result of changes in job descriptions not job performance.

Our calling as God’s people is to make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. 
Connectional Ministries is charged with the responsibility to empower, equip, and enable local churches, districts, and the annual conference in fulfilling this calling.

To accomplish this calling we must go beyond the walls and reach out to the people around us.  Jesus
said "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with your always to the end of the age."    

what do you think?

my thoughts. it at least keeps some credibility of beth & susan’s
work. still, it never approaches the way that this vision never took
into account to talk to the people who are invested in the ministry or
the whole change of jobs was never properly communicated.

a few sentences that are interesting. "With a changing job description and direction, it was felt that staff
changes were necessary. The infusion of new ideas, methods, and styles
of ministry is needed for us to fully engage the world around us."

i
ask who is supposed to come up with these new ideas? and who is
supposed to facilitate them? why new ideas had to result in stifling
current effective ministries? i have the bishop in spoken record and
email, that he doesn’t know how to reach these unchurched youth and
children, so then why don’t you talk to those who might have an idea? to his credit, the bishop has been speaking with me and others and has been apologetic and assuming responsibility for the changes, but as we know, the bishop works on assumptions that others are doing their work to communicate for his office and communicate to his office thorough information.

we
still need to know why those who are invested in these ministries, and
know those who are "unchurched" were never included in conversations. i
think too, it needs to be brought to attention that if we are to reach
"unchurched" does that forgo "making disciples of all people" that i
thought our church was working under for many years.

do we need to ask
that much of any church growth comes at the loss of members of another
church? most churches are not reaching new converts in any statistical
mass, only recycling people who have left another church body. maybe
our adult ministries over the conference needs new ideas and all that. we eliminated our associate position as well, no one seems up in arms about that one because the position holder was pretty much known to say "i don’t do anything" but we have a new description and the person who is waiting in the wings to be hired for it, a former DS. it is pretty much
accepted that she is going to take over that position. i have that on
good account from  a not so secret rumor and confirmation with a friend in the personnel
committee. does she have new ideas? i don’t see these new ideas
expressly reflected in her job posting. 

we have two meetings scheduled for conversation and planning. one by our ccym & core design team members, the other with our cabinet, personnel committee, director of connection ministries, our bishop, youth council, children’s council, camping committee, and young adult council as well. how do i expect that to go?