08 May 2006

Vocation Issues

A few weeks ago I went to CRCDS for an Alumin/ae Executive Council meeting. There I met some alums I never knew, heard some great stories and was assured that the school is doing well. I want CRCDS to suceed. When you are a liberal Baptist it is truly our only school to call home. I am one of those snobs who believes all other ABC seminaries are bible colleges. The new president seems like a great guy and one who I truly think will be able not only to turn the school around but also able to lead it to a healthy place.

While at the meeting I met the pastor of this church. I was inspired by his vision of his church and the work he is doing in central Florida. I came back to L. R. and thought our vision for the church was too small. I thought we needed to expand our expectations. I laid out four goals.
1. increase to an active worshipping community of 200.
2. concentrate on evangelism for 18-40 year olds.
3. tithe our budget for local and global missions.
4. cant remember the fourth one, hmmm.

Then last week I had lunch with this guy. I like John he is a great guy who has a calm soul and wise counsel. It has been about a year since we got together for lunch. I looked forward to our conversation but at the same time I knew being around him would remind me of deeper issues of vocation: mainly my call to contemplative life.

Sure enough after about 10 minutes we got t' talkin' about prayer and inner life stuff and I left thinking what was going on with me, why do I bounce around like a ping pong ball?

Then after the dust settled I began to remember my true feeling of evangelism and contemplation. I think there is a real place for this in my vocation as an ordained clergy. A great friend of mine, Chad, gave me great resources from Thomas Kelly on this very subject. More on this soon.

1 comment:

Jonathan Malone said...

Hey - ANTS is not a "bible school" we only read ABOUT the Bible, so there are at least two "liberal" schools