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Think Hard Before You Go to a Christian School

August 31, 2011 in Articles, Church Planting, school, seminary, The Church with 15 Comments

I used to work with high school students. Every fall as kids went back to school and seniors settled in to their new role atop the hallway pecking order, the issue was the same: “Where should I go to college?”

There were some, of course, who had known they would fulfill their dream of going to Georgetown since they were 10, and others who had planned on following in the Husker family footsteps for as long as they could remember, but for many, they had no idea. The pressure of choosing a school was significant, especially for those Christian students who thought there might be just one “right” choice that God desired for them, and many other wrong choices.

That was my story. As a student athlete, I knew that I wanted to compete at the highest level in a quality program. And yet, I also felt a strong sense that I would be serving in vocational ministry and thought going to a Christian school to get a ministry degree just made a lot more sense. Boy, was I wrong. Continue Reading…

Church Planting w/ Erwin McManus & Co. (pt 3)

July 24, 2009 in Church Planting, L.A., Leadership, Mosaic, seminary, The Church with 0 Comments

This is the 3rd and final installment of my notes from last week's church planting class at Fuller Seminary with various leaders from Mosaic.

Octavio Martinez:

I am at a place
where I just don’t care what people think of me unless they’re a non-believer.

I love my Christian
brothers and sisters. But I just don’t care if they are worried that I am
slipping from the faith, not focused enough on soul formation, or praying for
me (or my demise) because I am meeting with a non-believer at a local bar in
Whittier.

The church will
actually become a reflection of you – your DNA, your virus, etc. You cannot ask
people to do something you’re not doing. They are going to watch how you live.
That is their only frame of reference. So you may be able to talk a great game
about being missional, but if you’re not living it, it doesn’t matter.

Church Planting w/ Erwin McManus & Co. (pt 2)

July 22, 2009 in Church Planting, Leadership, Mosaic, seminary, The Church with 0 Comments

This is 'part 2' of my notes from last week's church planting class at Fuller Seminary with various leaders from Mosaic.

Erwin McManus:

You cannot inspire
passion when you start from a narcissistic core. It can’t be about your need to
feel important, your need to be valued, your need to lead, etc. It has to be
about what this tribe needs.

Passion and
excitement are different. Lots of communicators can generate excitement. It is
all about the moment, like fireworks. Passion is generated by sustained risk.
Passion is generated by people watching how you live, what you are willing to
risk.

When people sense
that you are risking greatly for your own good, they might be willing to risk
for their own good. But when you risk for the good of others, they will begin
to risk for the good of others.

We need to stop
asking what kind of church we want to plant, and start asking about the kind of
world we want to create.

Church Planting w/ Erwin McManus & Co. (pt 1)

July 21, 2009 in Church Planting, L.A., Leadership, Mosaic, seminary, The Church with 0 Comments

This last week I had the chance to be a part of a church planting class at Fuller Sem with various leaders from Mosaic. It was beautiful in that the spirit of the conversation all week was, "This is what we've done, doing and trying to do and what we have learned along the way. It isn't necessarily right, this is just us." There was really a spirit of humility and it was very conversational all week. It made me proud to be a part of Mosaic.

Interestingly, however, there was some real hostility towards Erwin when he taught on Day 2 – had a couple walkouts, some angry questions and probably lost 1/3 of the class by the end of Day 3. This was especially interesting given both the spirit of humility and the fact that Erwin was far more gentle and accommodating than normal. Seeing such a lack of teachability and such a resistance to creativity and innovation in the church only served to reinforce my lack of faith in institutionalized Christianity and its ability to change. The class itself was a great illustration of precisely why we need new faith communities (and why having a seminary education in no way qualifies one for ministry).

I have had a few people ask for my notes from class, so I thought I'd share some of those here. Unfortunately, there is some great material that I didn't take notes on because I've heard it so many times in the last year. So what you are getting is bite size nuggets that stood out to me personally. I'll be rolling out my notes in 3 parts by presenter – Chad Becker, Erwin McManus and Octavio Martinez. Hope that they prove as helpful for you as they have for me.

Go Time

July 20, 2008 in Daily Musings, Photo Blogs, Reflection, seminary with 1 Comment

Wow, there is a lot going on in our world right now. Here are some of the biggies:

* This last week I had surgery on my knee.
I am thankful this op was less intrusive than the last one. No opening me up or replacing anything. Just a scope removing 50% of the meniscus in my left knee. I spent most of the last week hopped up on hydrocodone playing Super Tecmo Bowl and watching Planet Earth. I found myself barely awake and drowsy during the days, and lying awake in bed itching during the nights. It made for a long and unproductive week. The weird blessing in all of this was that the meds actually helped me to relax a little and the idle time spent lying in bed allowed me to spend hours in prayer – something I haven’t done in a while.

* We found an apartment! This was one of those pink elephants that has been hanging over our heads for a while. We were looking, but everything we pursued seemed to fall through. But yesterday, we finally received word that we had landed a place in Pasadena. It is much bigger and nicer than we anticipated – and it is just over a mile from both the Mosaic offices and one of the couples in the Protege program that are willing to watch Paige! Here are some pics of our place:

* Speaking of Paige, her birthday is a week from today! My mom is making her a birthday cake that sits up and looks just like a teddy bear. I doubt anyone other than parents and grandparents ever really care about these things, but I will probably post a video of her demolishing it anyway.

* Headed to Bethel! About a month ago, I asked the-powers-that-be to consider allowing me to go to Bethel, instead of Golden Gate while I do the progete program. Initially, they didn’t like the idea so I conceded to go to GG. However, through a number of circumstances that could never have been orchestrated by human hands, I asked again and they are going to allow me to go to Bethel! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this! I feel like I am getting the best of both worlds – a great internship with an innovative, missional, leading church AND the program I wanted to do more than any other from the school I wanted to go to more than any other! Lord, you are too good!

* Final preparations. Megan and I are officially down to crunch time. We both work our final shifts in less than a week. Then we’ve got a going away shindig downtown, Paige’s bday party, and then we’re out of here. Today we said some of our first ‘goodbyes’. It is getting to be about that time and I think we are both just as scared as we are excited. We are leaving some tremendous family support here in Lincoln to raise our little girl on our own. We know just a couple people in the L.A. area. We still don’t have jobs. I am about to embark on a 2 year unpaid internship while simultaneously starting a pricey seminary program. Needless to say, the stress levels are high. But the reality is, on a practical level, there is no way the next couple years could be more difficult than this last year was for us. We both have been working so hard and so much over the last 12 months that it was not uncommon for us to go without seeing each other three days out of every week. Subtract Paige from this last year and I’m not sure we would have made it as long as we have. We both love to work and to work hard – but we also love to play – and we haven’t done that near enough this last year. We are anxious to stop working ridiculous, unhealthy amounts of time on opposite shifts and get back to doing life together and playing often.

On a spiritual level, we both know in our hearts that this is the right thing to do. No guarantees of an easy ride, but assurance that God is leading us into this. We really can’t ask for any more than that. One by one things have fallen into place. So much of what has transpired over the last several months has been crazy and unforeseen. But in hindsight, we can see God leading us step by step. And that is really all we can ask for. This last week we received an encouraging card from some loved ones that included a check that will help cover all of our moving expenses and then some! This was such a huge blessing and it just reassured us that God is going to continue to take care of our needs in unexpected ways as we seek to honor him with our lives.

crazy + hectic = crazectic

July 4, 2008 in Daily Musings, seminary with 4 Comments

I think I am finally coming to terms with the fact that this season of life is just way too crazectic to be able to write nearly as much as I’d like. Thoughts, ideas, abstractions, lessons and poetry seem to come and go like farts in the wind. Although I’d love to explore and record them all, it seems that right now I’ll just have to settle for a whiff here and there. The one thing I can do, however, is record my journey along the way. And since things don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon, I guess it’ll have to do for now.

So it is official, in less than four weeks me and the fam are picking up and moving out to L.A. to partner with Mosaic as part of their protoge program!! The whole seminary-choosing process has been long and grueling, full of ups and downs, twists and turns. But after all of it, I couldn’t be more pleased with where we are headed. I mean, theology and biblical studies classes taught by Golden Gate profs, ministry and leadership classes taught by Erwin and Company, all while serving with Mosaic? Come on!

Now that we finally know where we are headed, we have been scrambling to get ourselves ready to make the big move in just a few weeks. Some of it has been exciting. Some of it has been hard. And most all of it has involved some level of stress. Here’s the low down on what we’ve been up to:

#1 – After 6 months of no luck, we decided to pull our house off the market and rent it to my sister and her husband. (Not being able to sell and still being able to leave? Big blessing! Having a house in Lincoln and an even more expensive apartment in CA? Big stress!)

#2 – Moved out of our house and into our temporary home for the next few weeks – my parent’s basement. (This allows us to save up some money to help cover moving costs. One question though: how many times can you move back in with the rents before you’re officially a mooch?)

#3 – Gave Romeo away. (Alright dog-lovers, please don’t hate us. This was really hard for us to do. But there was just no way we were going to be able take him with us. And he went to a great family with four kids – our neighbors. Reality? He will play more frisbee and get more attention in the next week than he did in the last year combined!)

#4 – Got my knee taken care of. (Wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, but as of Wednesday, I am scheduled to have knee surgery on the 14th – just two weeks before we move! Cutting it a little close? Probably, but hey, at least it is just a scope this time!)

#5 – Got Yakima rack installed. (Any idea how much it is to rent a UHaul one way from Lincoln to Los Angeles? Try $1200+! Oh, and that not does not include gas or mileage! So instead of going for broke, we decided to only take whatever we can cram into our Honda. I love it. And I’m glad we own a couple good cots – thanks RSI!)

#6 – Finish undergraduate degree. (Still got some work left here, more than I want to admit: need to read a few books yet, one major paper left, two other assignments, two exams and some final grad requirements. I’ll get’er done though.)

#7 – Find jobs and a place to live. (Um, nadda happening here yet. Should I be worried?)

My Trek to Mosaic

June 12, 2008 in Photo Blogs, school, seminary, Videos with 1 Comment

This last weekend I had the privilege of heading out to L.A. to check out Mosaic and interview for their protege program. It was a great trip. I got to connect with my old friend Julia the night I flew in, hit up three Mosaic worship gatherings and tackled three interviews the next day, and then enjoyed that night bonfiring on Huntington Beach with my buddy Kurtis before flying out early the next morning. It was packed couple days, but it was great! After following Erwin and Mosaic for the last five years or so, it was a huge blessing to be able to be out there and experience the community first hand. I love their heartbeat and the culture of creativity, love and passion that has been nurtured there. If God would see fit to make it possible, I would love to be able to serve, train and grow alongside Mosaic
for the next couple years. Megan and I continue to pray about where God will have us this fall. And we hope to FINALLY make a decision really soon!

Here’s a look at Mosaic’s downtown campus which meets at the night club pictured above:

While I was there, I managed to get some video of a crazy thirty minute performance done at Mosaic. They are currently going through their core values. This last week was: "Love is the Context for all Mission." The performance was pretty unreal in scope and content – check it out. (Also, if you get a chance once the message gets posted, the message Erwin preached was powerful!) Enjoy!

seminary reject

March 17, 2008 in seminary, The Church with 5 Comments

It’s true. This last week I found out that my application to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School was rejected. That’s right. I am officially a seminary reject. I guess they didn’t like my essays – Why Everyone Should Be An Open Theist, Doug Pagitt: A Prophet & My Personal Hero and perhaps my best work ever, I Guess I’ll Try Seminary Because I Have Nothing Better To Do, But Don’t Expect Me to Finish. Whatever the case, it turns out that I’m just not TEDS material.

To be honest, the news is sort of bittersweet. On the one hand, it was cause for much celebration! As I’ve said before, I really wasn’t too thrilled with what I saw and experienced at TEDS. I didn’t want to go there. But due to financial circumstances, I felt obligated, even pressured to seriously consider it. To make matters worse, I wanted to go to Bethel Seminary just as much as I didn’t want to go to TEDS. So when I got the rejection letter in the mail, I immediately busted into some vintage Michael Jackson-esque dance moves on our kitchen’s hardwood floors accompanied by a passionate shout out to Jesus.

On the other hand, I am deeply saddened by what I believe it says about our denomination‘s seminary.

(Before I proceed, let me just say that I don’t write any of this out of bitterness. I try not to take myself too seriously. So my ego wasn’t crushed by the school’s decision. In fact, word of my application’s rejection was the best news I’d had in weeks – an answer to prayer even! And so I write this not out of spite, but out of genuine concern and heartfelt sadness for our denomination and its seminary.)

Allow me, if you will, to take a moment to make a case for myself. Now I will be the first to admit that I am not a great student – I mean, I’m not bad, nor phenomenal, just average – but there are some specific things that I believe make me a pretty good prospective seminary student – particularly to TEDS. Here are some examples:

My personal recommendations include: two former recipients of the EFCA Church Planter of the Year Award, one bible professor and TEDS alumnus, a leadership and management professor from another school and seminary, and an additional EFCA pastor.
In my sixth year of ministry now, I’ve got enough experience to suggest that I’m in ministry for the long haul while still being young enough to exhibit teachability. At the very least, I obviously won’t be ducking out of the pastorship within two years of graduation, as some sources cite is now the average.
Although I limped through my first year and half of college with a meager 2.75 GPA before dropping out for a while, I have earned nothing but A’s (okay okay, and one B+) over the last two years in my current program.
I had already been personally chosen by both the EFCA Midwest District Superintendent and Associate Superintendent for Church Planting to receive this year’s Church Planting Scholarship at TEDS.
Lastly, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a pastor and elder in an EFCA church plant that has grown to an attendance of 300-500 people – one that is regarded by the district to be one of its biggest success stories of the last three years.

If the seminary exists to serve the global church by developing its leaders, as it claims, then I would consider myself to be a pretty ideal candidate. But I was rejected and the only reason I was given was that the school I am graduating from lacks proper accreditation. So this wasn’t a character deficiency decision, a spiritual issues decision, or even a lack-of gifting or calling decision. This was solely an academic decision. That makes me sad.

It makes sad because it confirms some of my initial concerns regarding the school. It reveals that TEDS really doesn’t exist to serve or empower the church, but to develop Christian brains. While I do believe we need talented men and women representing Christ in academia, what makes me sad is that #1, TEDS doesn’t acknowledge this as their mission, and #2, the school flies the colors of our denomination. As a result, impressionable young men and women desiring to go into full time ministry are mistakenly being sent to TEDS from EFCA churches around the country.

My experience reveals that (in the selection process) TEDS cares more about academic performance than they do about Kingdom-impact. If this is their primary criteria for selecting students, then it also says a lot about their priorities in the kind of faculty they employ and the kind of programs they deliver. And this, in turn, directly affects the kind of men and women they are producing.

Let me be clear that I am not suggesting that TEDS change. They are very, very good at what they do. And as I’ve already mentioned, producing scholarly Christians that are able to thrive in academia is a good thing and a needed thing. What I am advocating, however, is that

the school get honest about their mission and confess that they really don’t exist to develop leaders in the church, but instead, exist to develop Christian scholars.
they surrender their post as the EFCA "flagship school" so that young pastors-to-be in the EFCA can be sent to schools that have their best interests (and The Church’s best interests) in mind.

On second thought, the second action might be better taken by the EFCA itself. We should be investing our time, our money, our resources, and our people in a school (or schools) whose primary aim is to further Christ’s Church by building into men and women who will shape its future. The world (and the church, for that matter) can do without more scholars. But neither can afford to go on without more Spirit-filled, Christ-following, Kingdom-bringing leaders.

seminary road trip #2

March 3, 2008 in Daily Musings, Reflection, seminary with 3 Comments

Welp, we’re back! Apart from our car breaking down and being temporarily stranded in Chicago, our trip to check out Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Bethel Seminary was exactly what we needed. The car troubles actually extended our trip by a couple days and forced us to just sit and relax in our hotel. It also prompted some conversations with people that wouldn’t have otherwise taken place – conversations that revealed some possibilities for the future that definitely play into our seminary decision. I think the whole car breakdown (although expensive) was really a blessing in disguise.

On our trip we also got to spend quality time with so many good friends; my brother Josh and his wife Kindal in Chi-town, old friends Amy and Al and all 13 of their kids (yes you did read that right) in north St. Paul, our dear friend Emelia (minus her second half, Brad), and of course our beloved Dave & Laurie in SW Minneapolis.

And perhaps most importantly, the trip shed a lot of light on our seminary decision. Megan has said all along that she felt that we’d end up at TEDS. This is significant because I really haven’t sensed God’s leading one way or another. Selfishly, I’d love to go to Bethel, but I couldn’t really say that I felt led there. Add to that the fact that I’ve got a scholarship waiting for me at TEDS and you’ve got a rather interesting situation – especially considering the fact that I really don’t want to go there. This poses for us a tough question that we’ve been trying to find an answer to for a while now:

Do I spend the majority of the next few years studying at a school that I really don’t want to go to because it will cost me close to nothing, OR do I pay (or rather, go into debt) to go to the school that my heart really wants to be at, where I feel I can really grow and thrive?

It was our inability to answer this question – and our fuzziness on God’s desire in it all – that led to seminary road trip #2, this time, however, I brought my second half. So we show up to TEDS on a Sunday night for the kickoff of their "taste of trinity" event and within 15 minutes Megan has decided its not the place. Very interesting. (Her experience the next day confirmed her sense.)

We spend the rest of the next morning and early afternoon on campus hearing about the school, asking questions, and meeting faculty and I have to admit that it was a good experience. (The students & staff I met this time around were MUCH warmer and accessible than last time.) But I gotta admit, by this point I felt I had a pretty good feel for TEDS and was really looking forward to getting to Bethel and getting Megan’s feedback.

So we hop in the car to road trip it from Chicago to the twin cities and the car breaks down. Bummer. But like I said, I think it was a blessing in disguise. And after a bunch of frantic calls, we determined we’d still be able to make it to Bethel a day or two later.

When we finally made it up there, I was struck again by difference in atmosphere. After visiting each school twice, studying materials from each, meeting with staff and faculty, and speaking with current and former students of both schools, here is generally what I see at each school: TEDS is unapologetically academic. Bethel is unapologetically spiritual. TEDS seeks to graduate Christian scholars. Bethel seeks to graduate Christian leaders. Steeped in academia, TEDS gives off a vibe of superiority and inaccessibility. Smaller and less assuming, Bethel gives off vibes of connection and authenticity. TEDS seems willing to sacrifice a certain level of relevance for the sake of scholarship. Bethel seems willing to sacrifice a certain level of scholarship for the sake of relevance.

I had a couple great conversations while I was at Bethel – one with a staff member and one with a professor about Bethel’s past and future. I found out that the school was almost closed down in the 90′s when it diagnosed itself as being ineffective in empowering people for ministry. Ultimately, they decided to not close down the school but rather, bring in new leadership and change directions. From what I can gather, it seems that ever since it has become progressively, well, progressive in its approach to seminary education. One staff member communicated to me the noticeable shift in ethos in just the last 5 years. As a futurist, I find this terribly exciting. While some might gravitate towards the history or stability of a school like TEDS, I find myself drawn to environments and organizations that are more fluid than static, where change is embraced and participants play a role in shaping its future.

As if its not already obvious, my heart is really with Bethel. However, we continue to wait and pray for God to lead us to wherever he desires us to go. (I once heard Erwin McManus say, "When we are walking with God, we can trust our desires." If that’s true, Megan and I both know where we’re supposed to be.) We’re waiting now for our house to sell, for our financial aid package from Bethel, and for our admittance to TEDS. We are really hoping to make a decision soon.

1500 Miles & 2 Seminaries Later…

November 15, 2007 in Daily Musings, seminary with 4 Comments

I got back yesterday from a 4 day and 1500 mile road trip to visit Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago and Bethel Seminary
in St. Paul. It was a really good trip. I am really glad that I made it
happen. It gave me a lot of insight into both schools, though I am not
any clearer on where I want to go.

Trinity, on the one hand, is a rigorously academic school. They take
great pride in this. And it is reflected in both the faculty and the
students. The professors are highly esteemed in their respective
fields. They seem to be kind and courteous, but they are very
professional. One building has a large glass case that is filled with
books written by current faculty. It is rather impressive.

The students are intelligent. The ones I met seemed to be aware of this. I spoke with a couple of them who were
finishing their MDiv’s in 3 and 3 1/2 years, respectively. At 25,
neither had any previous ministry experience, but were looking forward
to go intern somewhere. Unfortunately though, it seemed they were more
excited to talk hermaneutics than ministry; more concerned with church
history than church future; more interested in starting their careers
as professional clergymen than getting out and loving people. On my way
to Minnesota, I called my buddy Eric (a friend and graduate of Trinity)
in hopes that he would tell me that these students were the exception,
not the norm. "You just described the typical Trinity student," he said.

As I left Trinity, I concluded that I liked the school. The level of
study, although daunting, excited me. I felt that it could really be a
season of growth and challenge for me. But I also concluded that if I
attended there, Megan and I would need to have life, friends and
community outside of the institution. Because I am not going to connect
with most of the student body. But I figured this would probably be
true of any seminary I ended up at.

Bethel, however, would prove me to be wrong.

I almost didn’t go to the Bethel open house. That afternoon I had
met with an old friend named Dennis to talk about a potential
Residential Director position opening up at Bethel College. Meeting
with him was a big reason that I took the trip. Working with college
kids sounded like fun, and it would afford me free tuition for
seminary! But after our meeting, I concluded that I had no interest in
the position. (Even if I had, he estimated receiving 160+ applications
for the single opening! Crazy.)

I found this to be devastating. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I had
been secretly counting on taking the job and going to school for free
in the twin cities – a place Megan and I both love – where we have dear
friends that we greatly miss. Perhaps I felt like working for Bethel
College would somehow makeup for my never getting to go there or
graduate with so many friends who attended. Whatever the case, I felt
like I had reached the end of a promising road abruptly and
unexpectantly. I felt disappointed. And I felt really lost.

Ultimately, i did decide to attend the Bethel Seminary open house. I
figured that I might as well since I had driven so far. As soon as I
walked in the door I sensed something very different than what I sensed
at Trinity. The spirit was different here. If Trinity felt like an
institution, this felt like a family. It felt like home.

The students were real, personable, and sincere. In conversation, I
found them to be passionate about their relationship with the Lord and
in their desire to serve Him with their lives. I found the same to be
true of the staff. I found the whole experience to be inspiring. I left
feeling rejuvenated and energized. I was filled with hope again…for
seminary and for my future.

That being said, I still don’t know what next year has in store for
us. As much as i loved Bethel, I may not be able to afford going there.
(Ironically, this is precisely why i didn’t do my undergrad there.) I
have a sizable scholarship opportunity to Trinity, but not to Bethel.
In addition, Megan just so happened to manage an event put on by
Trinity in Lincoln a couple days ago. After which, my wife was
unofficially offered a position with the school! So although I loved Bethel, do I take this as a sign of God’s
direction?

I don’t know. I’m not sure how to translate all of this. There is definitely much praying to be done.

I’m not stressing out about it…but it certainly is consuming my thoughts.

@mosaicpastor

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