The Eve of the Climb

We've had a fairly uneventful day. I needed to be no prophet to predict that my back would need attention at some point during this adventure. Today was the day...and chiropractors are more difficult to find in this area than moose. An inquiry at the general store (the only store) here resulted in a phone number of a local "doc" that didn't keep office hours, but was available if called. Sure enough...a phone call and trip up the mountain to his basement offered a stiff table and an adjustment. What a hoot!

We are hoping that the "fix" allows us to rise and be on the road by 3:00 in the morning. Three hours up the logging roads puts us at the southern entrance to Baxter State Park and the trails that lead to the summit of Mount Katahdin. (I'll search for a pic to attach.) If all goes as plans, ten hours of hiking/climbing will allow a summit and return. We'll see. The loons won't have to work hard to lull me back to sleep...if loons do anything at 2:30 am. If I have any energy at all tomorrow evening, I'll report on the day.

Prayers requested.

(Just heard from Brooke Hodnefield. She has been officially accepted as an M.Div. student at Luther Seminary and member of the new online cohort of study. Prayers of thanksgiving abound!)

The Moose...Demythologized

The attached image is an AP picture taken over Moosehead about a week ago. It is this sun that has awakened each of these recent mornings.

The great Moose myth is no more. I am now a believer. A lengthy, guided boat ride this evening through the marshes of the northern end of the lake proffered for us one galloping moose. We saw more lake spray than mammal, but t'was enough to testify to a sighting. Even had we not succeeding in locating our goal the trip alone was extraordinarily beautiful, filled with loons, osprey and other fowl. Then, on the way back from the marina, we spotted a cow moose just feet off of the road. We stopped and chatted awhile, though she trotted off before I could secure the camera. All in all, a good moose day.

There was a different sort of "Son" that greeted us this morning at the Community Church of Rockwood, a small United Church of Christ congregation meeting at a log cabin in town. This beautiful, rustic building (that appeared on a cover of an old Christmas Edition of "The Saturday Evening Post") was nearly filled when the forty or so worshippers found their pews. Worship was predictably traditional and familiar. About half way through the service there was a time for worshippers to stand and share joys and prayer concerns. I was introduced. It is the sort of setting in which I have often been invited to "come up and say a few words." Thankfully, this morning I could just worship. It was a treat.

There was a little time today to crank out one more report. Three down...six to go.

We are beginning to renegotiate the next few days. While I appreciate the electronic suggestions, we have opted for a third direction that had not occurred to us until now. About three hours (by private dirt road) to the northeast is Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine and the northern termination point of the Appalachian Trail. It just sits there begging to be hiked. So...likely on Tuesday we shall head in the direction prepared to scale it. I'll know more after some web research this evening.

My thoughts and prayers were with Atonemenites this day. This time away has been wonderfully re-creating, but I am eager to get back to Kansas. Frankly, I'm a little tired of explaining where our wonderful state is to these northeasterners.

God's richest blessings to you!

Rip Van "Bul"Winkle

We were "up and at 'em" early this morning hitching a pontoon boat ride over to the island that is Mount Kineo, situated in the middle of Moosehead. (Borrowed a web picture to post.) A 4 1/2 mile round trip hike (or climb) places one at the top of the mountain and the base of an old forest service tower which is also very climbable. Great trip, especially after a few days of being sedentary and scholarly.

After returning to the cabin I took an unintentional and apparently much needed two-hour nap awakened only by the thunder of one of the more violent storms I've ever experienced. I swore that two of the lightening bolts traveled right through the upstairs room of the cabin. The storms canceled the Moose hunting boat excursion planned for late this afternoon. Our hosts, not to be dissuaded, offered another car venture following supper...but the great "Moose Myth" is perpetuated yet another day. No sightings.

The writing has begun and two of the books which I have read are now accounted for in reports.

I understand that worship tomorrow morning will take place in a cabin church just up the road. Holding about forty souls or so, it promises to be filled this time of year. Eric, our host and member of a previously served congregation, is scheduled to solo. T'will be a treat, for sure.

My prayers and thoughts shall be of Atonement.

The "Moose Myth"

Last evening's 20-mile journey down a darkened, secluded, washboarded, spruce-lined private road in search of moose produced only one suspicious set of eyes. Our hosts were incredulous...but persistent. "We will try again, by float plane if we must," they have promised. I'm pulling for the plane.

The reading is complete ahead of schedule! A by-product of cabin fever. Spiritual Leadership was disappointingly generic. But it is done. And now I dedicate the next days to reporting on this pile of books (most of which is still stacked in the front room of my folks' place in NC). It must all be ready to hand in on the first day of class. There will be 40 hours of class time in Pasadena and then an integrative paper of 40-50 pages due six months after class. There go my days off for the rest of the year.

I was invited this morning to preach two services this weekend at the local parish of undetermined denomination. The pastor was looking for a last-minute trip away...somewhere. I was honored, but declined, deciding to use the sabbatical as ...well... sabbath and find an opportunity to be fed as opposed to feeding. My staff would be proud.

The next big decision regards the trajectory of our final leg of this adventure. We either head into Canada to explore Quebec City, only 1 1/2 hours west north west ...or... we venture out to the Maritimes or the Maine coastline, about the same distance in the opposite direction. We'll flip a coin this weekend, but I'm open for suggestions on the comments section.

Peace to all. You remain in my prayers this weekend. I apologize that there will be no Maine pictures for a few days as the equipment here lacks USB ports or convenient ways to transfer pic files. Perhaps I'll inundate you later.

"Cabin Fever"

The loons sang us to sleep last night. The sun awakened us not long after 4:30 this morning. The temperature reached 90 today and thought the county was going to shut down. The world is strangely and wonderfully different "up here."

Realizing that I was a little behind in my reading I spent the day chained to the couch, alternating between two very different books, i.e. The Future of Leadership (a conglomeration of essays and offerings from various business experts on the topic) and Spiritual Leadership, by Henry and Richard Blackaby. I have plodded to the midway point of both, the last two books on the required reading list. With these completed I then turn to the task of writing/reporting on each of the books I have read. I have the awkward sense that this should've been done 'along the way' instead of 'after the fact' of reading. I also realize that the majority of the books are still back on the farm in NC, presenting another writing challenge. Perhaps the preponderance of writing will happen en route back to Kansas or on the way to Pasadena...or as Pastor Stephen and I are reminiscing. Well...likely not the latter.

We've just been invited out for another edge of dusk boat ride...or...a car excursion in search of moose. I have vowed not to leave here without at least one sighting. Oh, but that the moose where as prolific as the hummingbirds, which I have watched during each reading break this afternoon.

Given the equipment here I am still struggling to find a way to post pic's on this site. Will press into service all my technical savvy and then some.

Peace to all!

Wish You Were With Me Today in Paradise

We left Greensboro, NC yesterday morning at 6:00 am and were in Portland, Maine before my folks were out of bed. The trip was not without adventure, including a race across LaGuardia to change concourses, carriers and planes. We made it just before the doors shut.

We landed in this marvelous state and were greeted my mist and 62 degrees. By the time we traveled to Moosehead Lake, 3 1/2 hours into the northern timber country, the sun had broken the skies and the mercury was topping out in the lower 80's. We stopped for directions at the local country store were the Mainers were wiping their brows and complaining, "We only get about four of these days a year! Can you stand it?!" I chuckled, but only to myself. folks really talk funny up here.

We reached the Olson's cabin in time for a late supper. They were astonished that we saw no moose along the way and promised a dozen or so sitings before we leave. This morning was spent (as was yesterday's plane trip) engaged with The Missional Leader, a marvelous book that chronicles the style, gifts and approaches necessary for successfully leading a congregation through discontinuous change. I knocked the book out at a couple of sittings, mostly because it was so compelling. Kudos to the authors. (Note that I have added to this site the link for Missional Leadership Institute.)

This afternoon was spent lunching with our marvelous hosts aboard their pontoon boat in the middle this nearly 800 square mile lake. It is immense! ...and just as beautiful as it is large. (I will work to attach pictures to this blog but am struggling with the dial-up service here. Eric says that we can venture about 20 miles into town where someone he knows has a faster computer for rent...cheap. I passed.) We caught a lake salmon that looks postured for the grill here momentarily. The Olsens are members of my former congregation in North Myrtle Beach, SC where they winter beginning in October, just before the lake here begins to develop what will eventually become over a yard of ice. Go figure.

God was surely in a more artsy and creative mood when He fashioned this part of the vineyard. This evening we will spend on the deck overlooking the lake, talking about old times, ministry, our congregations and the way God is working in our respective lives. They will be good times, the stuff that memories are made of. And all the while I shall be thinking of my congregation back in Kansas, wishing that I could share this first hand. Who knows? Maybe a congregational retreat next year?

May the kind of peace that passes the world's understanding be with you this day.

Even The Very Best Laid Plans...

I wrote yesterday that this day would be spent largely traveling in the air and through airports. We experienced only the 'airport' part. When arriving at the check-in counter for Delta (after having scrambled frantically to negotiate traffic and a 45-mile drive) the attendant informed us that the flight had been cancelled due to storms in the New York City area. Surveying our options, we elected to try again in the morning at 6:00 am. So we recollected our baggage and the car from remote parking and decided to reboot our effort in the morning.

Eric confirmed our decision. Talking to us this evening from our cabin destination on Moosehead Lake he said, "Yeah...you don't want to tangle with the moose up hear after dark. Coming in the light of day is better." And so we shall.

So...weather and equipment permitting...we depart Greensboro tomorrow morning and stopover quickly at LaGuardia before traveling on to Portland. After breezing by BJ's electronics store to change out a cell phone (more technical problems) we are off up scenic highway 201 towards the great timber country of northern Maine.

I will scramble now to collect the reading that I had intended for 35,000 feet. I had hoped to have read ahead so that we would have more time to enjoy Maine, so I'll make the most of the this evening.

Blessings! And for those who offered travel prayers....pray harder tonight!

Going Home to Church Again...for the First Time

Mom was beaming today. Her regular pew, the pew at Bethel Lutheran Church in which the Crowthers have sat as long as the pew has been a pew, was once again full of Crowthers. All the boys were home and at worship. Even the pastor commented about this in his announcements. The congregation laughed. My folks were proud.

It is odd to go home again. Jesus discovered this. It is never the same...not as one remembers home. Problem was, at Bethel everything was the same.

I decided to turn this morning's worship into a bit of an experiment, attending as a visitor. But not just any visitor. This morning I attempted to worship as someone who had never before worshipped in a Christian church. Sometimes we call these visitors the "unchurched." I've never really cared for this term. Sounds a little like a retro soda commercial. I resonate more with a term used in some of my current reading, i.e. the "sought." This morning I was one of the sought, one to whom God's heart is particularly inclined.

As one of the sought I quickly noticed how difficult the bulletin was to understand and navigate. Even I was a bit uncertain as to what the page references indicated in this new cranberry hymnal (but 10 credit points for having the new hymnal). Worship was staid...but familiar. The head dude up front in the funny white robe seemed to run the show. (As his colleague and son of this congregation I know him as a pastor...as one of the sought I see his garb as cultic and strange). I listened to music from an instrument I hear nowhere else, except Kauffman Stadium. I notice that the children (and myself) are fidgeting and parents are fighting to keep their attention focused towards the front. As soon as the show is over, they literally explode with energy and run out the doors. But during the service, they just fidget. I don't understand the symbolism or the purposes for many of the actions of those around me, and I feel uncomfortable and unusually self-conscious.

As a member of this group's extended tribe I am comfortable with all that took place this morning. As one of the sought, there is little that happens that is comprehensible to me. And if anyone from Bethel is following this blog, fret not. I am describing most any mainline Protestant congregation these days. Don't take this personally.

But it is time for all of us to take this seriously. If God endeavors to seek the sought (and if you have doubt about this pull out your New Testament again), then it would behoove the church and benefit the kingdom for each of us to visit our home congregations again for the first time.

I am thrilled at how many folks seem to be following along with these ruminations. Thank you. We spend much of tomorrow in the air and at airports. This is good as I get my best reading done there...and today I managed none. As we travel from Greensboro to Portland, Maine please send along your prayers.

Quantum Science and Cycling

God was smiling on today's cycling event. It was a rare, dry, cool Carolina July morning and the cyclists turned out by the hundreds at Lowe's corporate headquarters in the town of Mooresville (NASCAR capitol of the world), about a 35-minute drive from the farm. Wanting today's event to provide more fun than challenge, I converted my goal from miles to kilometers...i.e. from 100 miles to a metric century of 65 miles. The last-minute change failed to remove all of the challenge.

Some of the basic tenets of Margaret Wheatley's work (my current 'read'), applying quantum science to organizational dynamics, was realized during today's event. It is certainly beyond the scope of this blog to convey a broad reporting of this "new" science (assuming I understood itto begin with), but a thread that runs through quantum approaches is the significance of relationships. One does not study systems, organisms, structures or organizations by dissecting and analyzing their parts, but always by examining the whole and the manners in which the parts of that whole relate.

If you have followed the coverage of the Tour de France you have likely done so from above, i.e. from aerial views. I have noticed the fluidity of the movement of the pelaton (the large, main group of racers). They move like a flock of birds, all relating in some way to one another. Though we moved today with a fraction of the grace and skill of these professional riders, all of our movements somehow related to other cyclists or to some impending threat to the group. If one cyclist moved left, the rest in his sphere of influence also moved left. "Car back!" a cyclist in the rear of the group might shout, and we would all respond accordingly. If the cyclist in front slowed, the by golly those behind him had better follow suit. We were in relationship for the good of the whole.

I picked up a rider at mile 28 who was content to stick to my back wheel for the rest of the ride. Just as in racing cars, cyclists draft upon each other to reduce the work that they expend. Though I never learned his name, we were in relationship...which obviously benefited him a great deal more than me!

When I take even a cursory examination around me these days I see that our culture is defined by its need and yearning for relationship. This is why "community" is the most frequently used word in church titles. It is relationship that prompts guests to darken church doors. They are searching for connection, ...with God and with the people of God. I suspect that this is also true for most who are reading these words. The primary reason that we belong to churches and organizations is the relationships that we maintain there.

Wheatley's work has been a bear to read. But I know that when I return to the highlighted sections and review there will be marvelous insights and truths to apply to ministry, to the way we structure staff and programming and outreach. More later.

I found myself proclaiming today, "Well, I ain't in Kansas any longer." The terrain around the lake was hilly and challenging. I finished the 65 miles in just over three hours, averaging around 19 mph, a decent pace for me. It was a well-sponsored event with tents of food, music, smiles and southern hospitality. A good day.

I returned to the farm to finish Wheatley's book, now with a little deeper appreciation for her insights having experienced them firsthand.

Tonight I shared supper with my two brothers. It is the first time we've been at table together in years.

I will miss being around the Lord's table with you Atonemenites this weekend. But reemmber that this is a meal that transcends time and geography. So as I feast with the Lord and upon the Lord here tomorrow, I shall feast with you as well. And you remain in my prayers.

A Quantum Leap in Reading

I have always been a scientist at heart. Perhaps I owe this to the hours I spent in my father's laboratory (a research chemist by trade) observing, though rarely understanding, his experimentation. Maybe it's part of my DNA to approach the world mathematically. All I know is that early on in my collegiate quest to become a a mechanical engineer...to completely apply myself to the Newtonian conviction that the world can be best understood by dissembling it, studying its various parts and then putting it all back together again...the Holy Spirit grabbed and rerouted me.

Today I consider the irony that Margaret Wheatley has introduced me to the world of quantum science in order to better understand the life and dynamics of organizations (I believe she might say "organisms"). This is heavy reading. Mired in this mixture of philosophy and the new science my decision to pursue ministry (or have it pursue me) has been heartily reaffirmed. I trudged through half of this book today, paying most attention during the commercials of the Tour de France coverage. I really didn't mind putting it down late this afternoon. (If interested in exploring, see the link on this page.)

(Bob and Pat Schroeder...I am thinking that you might enjoy this. Perhaps you could give a quick run through ...borrow my copy if you wish... and then give me some coaching.)

It's a wonderful feeling to truly believe that you are following God's intended path!

Back on the Farm

We pulled out of Ocean Isle Beach much later than expected last evening. The attendant at the OIB McDonald's drive through stared at the fork-mounted bike atop the car, pondered for a moment and said, "I love your bike. But how do you ride it with one wheel?" Later, around midnight, the policeman at a local license checkpoint asked, "What'dya do, hit a bicyclist or sumpin?" Go figure. Only in the South. It was a quiet, peaceful, late-night drive through country highways and old backroads shortcuts. I used the high beams more last night than I have in the past six years.

It's been a low-key day on the farm. I mostly stayed inside out of the 96-degree heat and read, completing both The Missional Church and Practicing Greatness. The latter was a quick, interesting read that I paid particular attention to given the author will be this summer's course instructor.

The heat is supposed to subside a bit over the weekend so I have one less excuse not to participate in the organized bike ride Saturday at Lake Norman. I haven't asked my bike about her interest. I am surprised she hasn't rebelled, what with being bolted to the top of the car for 1400 miles of interstate driving and sandblasted at the beach. But she's been pretty compliant thus far. Good natured, she is.

I was surprised that my younger brother has a weekend off of training in Washington and will drive down tomorrow evening. Some more unexpected time with his family will be a treat.

I have sneaked away this evening to my older brother's house for some computer time. We are lucky on the farm to have phone service, much less dial-up computer service. No cell service there in the valley either. Sort of nice being disconnected.

Thanks for the travel prayers. They, together with God's angels, have seen us safely over this segment of our travels.

Once again....Blessings.

Saying "Adios" to the Beach

Today is a pack up-and-relocate day as we travel inland 200 miles to our extended homes. We will spend the weekend with family...reading. There is a possibility that I will explore an organized bike ride on Saturday, depending upon weather and disposition of my spirit. Even now I am watching the completion of Stage 10 of the Tour de France and am inspired. It is curious that these racers talk about a stage that is "only 100 miles". Imagine.

Missional Church - A Vision for Sending the Church in North America is a stimulating read which I intend to complete this evening. Much of this work I have outlined in yellow. It is worthy of revisiting...heady, theological work for the most part, a nice change from the business leadership books of earlier this week.

There is much traveling over the next week. We ask for prayers for safety and joyous reunions.

Rightly "Anchored"

Several Septembers ago we made a trip to this beach house. A former member and young man that I had confirmed had asked that I marry him and his bride on the beach just west of here. It was a joy to be involved! (Though I must confess that I may be a little less thrilled when that same invitation comes from a child that I have baptized!)

The morning before the wedding was to take place I sat in the cottage considering what the preacher might say for this event, eyeing Weather Channel reports that were tracking an incoming hurricane and listening to the winds beginning to pick up outside...when there came a frantic knocking on the front door. A neighbor from across the channel reported that a cleat had pulled away from the dock and the family boat was drifting and threatening to damage the other boats. Together we managed to quickly secure the boat vy walking it up to the next dock where we tied it off in preparation for the coming storm.

I used that image in my sermon on the beach the following day. I mentioned how our human love for one another is never enough to sustain us, but together with God's blessings our relationships can flourish and grow and honor our Maker. God needs a place to attach and anchor His blessings so that we can withstand the storms that are sure to come. God, being a God of covenant, looks to our promises as that place of attachment.

As I look at that same boat this morning my thoughts shift from relationships to the current culture in which we live. Many of us, most assuredly the Gen-Xers, live a largely individualistic existence. Our spirituality is pondered and explored internally. We have no allegiance to or trust of institutions, especially the church. We claim not to understand the complicated dynamics of world politics but don't think we can support our policies abroad, so there is little patriotic allegiance. Our increasing technological capabilities allow us to exist with less and less face time with others. And, as I mentioned earlier in this blogging experiment, there is no meta narrative for younger persons today. We are not connected to any larger story. There is no outside authority, biblical of otherwise, that we turn to for counsel or direction.

When ministering during times of grief Christians often ask, "What do persons do at times like these when they don't have their faith?" Our culture is adrift and in need of anchoring! ...in need of someone to tether it to something (someOne) of eternal value and meaning ...and not just in times of grief. Our way of living is largely disconnected.

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I am now well into the reading of The Missional Church, written by a conglomeration of marvelous authors. I have left the business world now and am back squarely in the realm of theology and ecclesiology. This work is engaging, but a slow 'go.' I look forward to reporting back on it soon.
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After a 55 minute and 10 second conversation with Dell Customer Service on Saturday we determined that the problem with the laptop is a bad read switch. A new palm assembly has been overnighted to the local service tech who is supposed to call my by 11:00 this morning (it is now 11:20) to arrange to come and repair this afternoon. Of course we are operating on "Southern Time" here. Tuesday can often mean "next Tuesday" or "four weeks from Tuesday."

Our plans are to head inland to the family farm outside Salisbury, NC as soon as the repair happens, hopefully today. Then on Monday our itinerary takes us north to a cabin in Maine, a visit with some friends there and more hours of reading. Finding Internet connections becomes a little more challenging at that point, but as I mentioned to Pastor Stephen in an e-note this morning, I suspect that Starbucks has even managed its way to Moosehead Lake.


Blessings and more blessings to you! Thanks again for following along.

"The Myth of Measurement"

As you plod along, Leadership on the Line gets better... slightly. Regardless, it's been read, replaced in the book box and the required reading list has registered one more check mark.

In the final chapters I was struck by what the authors call "the myth of measurement." In regards to effective corporate leadership they suggest that "trying to take satisfaction in life from the numbers you ring up is ultimately no more successful than making survival your goal." There has to be more to meaningful business (or life) than the numbers. And yet, isn't this the way we evaluate our success?

It seems to me that we measure that which we most value. In the church we complete each year by submitting a parochial report to the synodical offices accounting for the numbers of new members, transferred members, deaths, baptisms, type of curriculum that the Vacation Bible School folks employed and the number of students learning from that curriculum, etc.. I have declared in the past that one of the best indicators of congregational health is worship attendance and have (falsely) prided myself on the fact that in eighteen years of ministry the worship attendance in the congregations that I have served has always risen from one year to the succeeding year. It hasn't always risen significantly, but it has risen. But then, what is "significant"? Again, we measure what we most value.

As the story goes, there was once 100 sheep in the wilderness. The Great Shepherd of those sheep left 99 of them where they were and went in search of the 1 that was lost. If we were to ask that Shepherd which measurement was of greatest value to Him he would have replied, "One." We measure what we most value.

What if for this year's parochial report we sent to the synod not the average number of members we had worshipping at Atonement on the weekend but rather the number of persons who didn't make it...who were still somewhere "out there" waiting to be sought? What if the measurement that was most valuable to us was not the count of club members that decided to show up but the number of those who were yet to have relationship with God through Jesus Christ? What if we came to consider the church not as the destination but the instrument by which God reached out to that which He values the most... i.e. the world? After all, "God so loved the Church that He gave His only Son." NOT!

Rick, the staff and I are planning a worship and educational series for early this fall entitled, "Reformation Reloaded." It is this sort of rethinking that will lie at the heart of this study, will serve as the foundation for the emerging, missional church and will occupy me for the upcoming weeks.

Each evening the sunset has elected to hide behind the clouds. So for now, I've borrowed someone else's image of an Ocean Isle Beach evening.

Peace!

"Leadership on the Line"

Well, so much for yesterday's intended reading goal...i.e. to read in order to explore and discover and not just to complete. I chose from the box Leadership on the Line. Written by two Harvard Business School professors, this book explores the perils of leadership in general, especially through times of change. It is second business-related book that I have encountered this week, and I believe I'd rather have my eyebrows plucked than trudge through another 100 pages today. I am sure that for some this is stimulating material. For me, it is invitation to slumber.

Part of the concern is that after 18 years of ministry I find myself attaching church faces and images to the scenarios and truths they present and repeatedly saying, "Yep. Know that. Common sense." But I shall pull out the toothpicks, prop open the eyelids, and plod along this afternoon. Friends are coming this evening for shrimp and cards, so I have motivation to 'get this done'. And given that it is another cloudy, rainy day at the beach, at least the surf isn't distracting me.

Several times today I have booted the computer to no avail. It took a little wiggling and cajoling before the screen would respond. So...if you do not "hear" from me for several days, you'll know that my little lap companion is en route to Dell Customer Service for some attention and I am in search of a library or other computer station. Hopefully this was a quirk.

Blessings on this weekend. Once again, I shall miss being with you.

"Balance"

I am still sweaty from this morning's ride. Today's cycling goal was not distance, nor was it time. It was detail.

Last evening a friend asked me about the routes I had been taking for my rides. In answering him I realized that, while I could give him the road and city names, I could describe little about the world around these roads. I suppose this is of little surprise when one tucks his head and pushes pedals, looking up only to survey traffic ahead. It occurred to me that somewhere along the way I had lost the real purpose of cycling.

Another passion is hiking. I confess a frustration in sharing this passion with others who want to talk about nothing but hiking. "How many miles do you think we've done?" "My legs are really feeling pretty good"...or "pretty bad." "How much farther?" This is frustrating because...well...hiking isn't really about hiking. It's about exploring God's good creation in a new manner. In the same way, cycling isn't really about pushing pedals or getting from point "A" to point "B".

So this morning, I picked a 10-mile loop and rode it four times, each time looking for something new in the surroundings that I had missed on the previous loop. Low and behold, there were actually people out in their yards! Beautifully sculpted yards at that. There were motorists that waved and seagulls that had ventured inland. I noticed golfers missing give-me putts and other cyclists warming down from their rides (who didn't notice me...poor guys don't get it). I finished this ride marvelously renewed.

My daily routine is often about pushing pedals. It may look like staff meetings and hospital visits and team meetings, but it can easily become like head-down pedal pushing. Tasks get accomplished, sometimes quite well. But along the way we often fail to recognize the beauty of the One we serve and the beauty of His creation around. It's more than 'stop and smell the roses.' It's a way of living.

On the way back onto the island, I noticed a young, decked out cyclist ahead of me...a 19ish-year-old, head down and pumping hard. In other words, "a target." I couldn't resist leaping out of the saddle and reeling him in just before the top of the bridge. I wondered if he noticed the 43ish-year-old blue blur that passed him. I noticed him. In fact, even said "Good morning!" All right. Pumping hard is fun at times.

I don't know which book I shall dive into this day. But I know that I shall not read it only to complete it. I shall read it for discovery of something new.

God's blessings!

Q - "How Many Typical Mainline Protestant Christians Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?"

Answer: "Change?! Why would we want to change? We've always had that light bulb and we like it just the way it is! Why...my great Aunt Dorothy gave that light bulb to the church!"

I have spent a good portion of the last two days working through John Kotter's and Dan Cohen's The Heart of Change. Written from a corporate point of view, this piece chronicles imaginative and extraordinary change within rather rigid organizational structures. The premise of the work is simple... "People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings." The book is then filled with corporate stories of transformation.

The instructor of my present course on Missional Leadership must have felt that these mechanisms of change were transferable or applicable to the church organism. I tend to agree. Regardless of our typical consideration that "change" is a four-letter word, the Holy Spirit constantly calls us to it. After all, Jesus' first sermonic words to us were, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Translated, "Change our heart in order to encounter Jesus." Perhaps The Heart of Change has something to teach us about changing our hearts. I commend it to you. (Note link on this page.)

I continue to appreciate the comments, encouragements and notes. It is touching how many blog followers have become interested in my cycling. My last several days have been filled with 'other matters,' so the cycling has not happened. Perhaps tomorrow. I had forgotten how incredibly sandy everything gets around here, so I had to make a trip into town this afternoon for the drive train cleaning equipment that I left at home...lest my bike become completely sandblasted.

Yet another day before I can capture the sunset. As the great fire ball fell over the marshes this evening and I reached for the camera some dear friends showed up with a box of food and good spirit (note...not "spirits"). It has been a joy to feast and fellowship with them. The sunset will wait.

Much peace to you this day.

Rethinking

There is a thin, slimy film that covers everything today. It is like living in a sauna. My intentions were to grab a long, early-morning ride that would put the legs to a test, but plans changed quickly. First challenge...power interruption during the middle-of-the-night storm caused the alarm clock to misfire, so I was an hour late "out of the gate." Secondly... the humidity registered in at 85% (hence the film). Finally...we were in the mid-80's even at 8:00 this morning. I rethought my epic ride and altered it into a usual 40-miler, though spiced up a bit by exploring some new routes around the countryside outside the town of Shallotte, NC.

I have finished Don Kimball's The Emerging Church, though I am quite sure I am not finished with Kimball. Like this morning's sauna, he has encouraged me to do some rethinking...of the way we typically do ministry. Kimball has a heart for the younger generation, i.e. our high schoolers, collegiate students and young adults. For years the church's mantra has been, "Sow the seeds in our children. They will leave for awhile, but will come back. Save them a place at the table." However, this current generation of younger, maturing Christians is the first American generation to grow up without "the seeds." They have no connection with the Judeo-Christian worldview that we have taken for granted. There is nothing for them to return to. The church, therefore, has a real challenge. And if this challenge is not engaged, the vitality of the church in this country will suffer.

Again, to capture a flavor of Kimball's work through what he calls the "Vintage Church," I have attached a link to this blog. I commend this book to you, if you are ready for a challenge. But don't read it late at night. It is an "eye-opener."

I ventured to the inlet this evening to capture the sunset, but all I got was more of that persistent slimy film on my lens. I am committed to sharing this natural beauty with you. Perhaps tomorrow.

God's peace to you...the kind that passes the world's understanding.

The image above was taken a few days ago. It is a piece of metal artwork displaying a little girl feeding the sea gulls. I believe that Kimball would be drawn to this image. His greatest desire is that the church of Christ emerge is such a way that it will embrace her generation.

Another Cloudy Day "Emerges"

We awoke this morning to the rumbles of yet more thunder. Another rainy day at the beach. I set to reading quickly as I knew this evening would be spent in North Myrtle Beach helping to celebrate the 40th birthday of a dear friend.

The Emerging Church, by Dan Kimball, occupies me this day. It is an engaging and challenging examination of current cultural trends and realities and the implications for the ministry of the rapidly diminishing Christian Church in this country. Consider this excerpt...:

"The unchurched population in the United States is so extensive that, if it were a nation, it would be the fifth most populated nation on the planet after China, the former Soviet Union, India and Brazil. Thus, our unchurched population is the largest mission field in the English-speaking world and the fifth largest globally.

...As we approach ministry to the emerging culture - a post-Christian mission field - we need to use the same approach we would employ entering a foreign culture. We cannot go on seeing ourselves simply as pastors and teachers; we need to see ourselves as a new kind of missionary."

I have completed the theory and background section of Kimball's work. Now it's on to the methodology and implications section. I commend this to you, as I do his website (linked on this blog).

Enjoy today's brevity! However, I suspect that digging more deeply into this reading is going to produce more than lengthy blog postings. I am convinced that Kimball is on to something that might serve as the solid foundation of a much-needed reform in the church of Jesus. But then, our particular tribe has a colorful history of leading church reformations.

God's richest blessings to you this day!

The Sun Finally Showed Itself This Evening

Cloudy Days at the Beach are for Reading

There is a rather unassuming, white, six-foot cross that has been placed in the sand just to the west of the pier on Ocean Isle Beach. It marks a spot of worship on Sunday mornings...at least when it is not raining...as it was this morning. It would (and should) shock Atonement's Hospitality Team to learn that one cannot find times for this worship service anywhere on the Internet. I looked in vain last evening, just before riding the golf cart down to the pier in search of a sign that is almost as unassuming as the cross. Yet I "hear" that about 100 or so vacationers gather there at 8:30 am every Sunday morning between Memorial and Labor Days...that is, when it's not raining...as it was this morning.

The drizzle lifted long enough for a quick 20-mile bike sprint to Calabash (on the North/South Carolina border and within sight of my former home) and back. If you have been following my blog (a sure cure for insomnia) then perhaps you have noticed some intentionality to my riding. Indeed. The family is encouraging me to consider another organized century this year, i.e. a 100-mile ride. Such a beast has been planned around Lake Norman (just north of Charlotte, NC) a few weeks from now, the time that we intend to be in that area (I'll attach another link on this page). So I am training in the event that I might be ready for this challenge. You'd think that one could add just a little "umph" to the 60-mile ride of Friday and have the century nailed. Not the case, at least for me. And every year requires more training...and more Advil. I'll keep you posted.

The rest of this cloudy day has been spent in the recliner reading "The Jesus Creed," by Scot McKnight (again, note the link). It is a marvelous compilation of a world of theological truths with which I am quite familiar, but presented in a fresh and engaging manner. The reading has gone quickly. But I can't enthusiastically recommend your running out to purchase. Will be glad to loan out my copy.

I realize that the daily postings have seemed a bit "home movie'ish." I suspect that I will begin to wax more theological as I venture more deeply into the reading. I sincerely appreciate the comments on the site, the prayers and support. Phyllis Kemper even added me to the cyber prayer vine. Thanks, Phyllis! Know that you were missed dearly this morning and that I experienced a slight tinge of withdrawal. Those along the bike route in Calabash likely thought it odd when I passed them and proclaimed, "Good morning! Welcome to worship!" It was a good fix.

I trust that all were on 'best behavior' for the bishop this weekend. I may listen in on the website tomorrow.

Blessings!

The Wisdom of Sabbath

Friday morning began with my pondering "Off-Road Disciplines" while...on road. This day's 60-mile bike ride took me inland over some routes that I had only previously explored by computer. Although I started early, barely after the sun showed itself, my loop into Loris, SC and back quickly turned the sort of "hot and humid" that set Kansans (and this Southerner) to complaining and brow-wiping.

I had forgotten how flat it is here! Again, climbing over the inter coastal waterway bridge is the only time I was out of the saddle all morning. One might think that flat land is easily traversed land. Not always so. When one cycles over undulating terrain then the legs have time to rest, to climb and then descend. On this terrain one cycles constantly or one stops! This sort of cycling is deceptively tiring.

So it was about mile 45 yesterday morning that I began to ponder "sabbath." It occurred to me that my schedule and ministry have become too "flat," always pedaling, praying, serving. Times of descent or rest are too few and far between. There is a reason that God commanded rest. At mile 45 the wisdom of obedience to such commands gains a certain clarity that tends to escape my daily routines.

_________

I have sought to capture pictures of the sunset here, but for the past two evenings it has been obscured by the untimely appearance of the clouds. I will venture out again tomorrow in hopes of finding something to share with you.

I have finished "Off-Road Disciplines" and can commend it heartily. A good read. I am 100 pages into "The Jesus Creed" today and am somewhat less excited about this work. Bit it is 'required reading,' so...I shall read on.

I find myself faced with a rare decision this night. "How and where shall I worship tomorrow?" There is a service held each week on the beach here. Perhaps I shall explore this. Each week in the chapel at Atonement we pray for those persons who are at that point rising from slumber and deciding whether they will come to God's house or not. I am not often faced with such discretion. I have a new appreciation for those who are and who elect to bring themselves to holy ground for prayer and praise.

My thoughts will be of you tomorrow morning and Bishop Mansholt who shall bring the Word. In fact, the Saturday worship service is now complete and it crosses my mind for the first time. Perhaps this sabbatical deal is working. "Houston, we have decompression."

"Off-Road Disciplines"

I am discovering that decompression and relaxation don't come naturally for me. It shall take a few days...or perhaps a dozen.

The extended family left this afternoon and the cottage is quiet for the first time since arrival. It is not an altogether welcomed quiet as I know that it shall be quite some time before I see my brother again, and when that reunion occurs it will likely be in Argentina.

After "good-byes" I settled in again with Earl Creps and his book on missional leadership. If interested in acquainting yourself with this author, visit his blog/site at http://www.earlcreps.com/article/off-road-discipline-infomercial . I chose this work first from my "box of books" basically because I like the cover. But it's proving to be a great read.

I see that at least a few folks are visiting this blog. Thanks for sharing the journey!

The Three "R's" of Sabbatical - "Reading," "Riding" and "Relaxing"

RIDING - This morning began early with a 50-mile bike ride over some of the familiar 'ole routes' that I cycled when serving in this area prior to our move to Atonement. After climbing over the bridge that spans the inter coastal waterway I headed inland past tobacco and soybean fields, roads like "Sand Castle Lane" and "Sandpiper Bay Blvd." and the little white-framed Thomasboro Free Will Baptist Church. Returning to the island I was immediately swallowed up by dozens of red, white & blue golf carts joining in an Independence Day parade. A slice of coastal Americana.

READING - I began to engage Earl Creps and his work, Off Road Disciplines - Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders. However, I spent more time loading software and studying the manual for my latest device, a pen scanner. Instead of using the typical yellow highlighter to mark significant portions of my reading, I will scan the text into this pen and then download into the laptop. In a few years as I begin my dissertation work, instead of sifting through a table of highlighted books, I will have the information catalogued on computer.

RELAXING - As the sun dropped this evening and all the sun-bathers gathered their chairs and towels and children and headed for their cottages, I rode the family golf cart to the beach for a walk. There are few places where one is more convinced of God's presence than here, i.e. watching the sun drop into the ocean. And there are few places on the east coast where one can witness this phenomenon. This is one.

God's blessings to all on this Independence Day.

(The picture is a view off the back deck of my folks' cottage.)

A Successful Beach Landing

Sabattical 07 is officially underway. Twenty one hours after leaving Overland Park on Monday afternoon we pulled into my folk's cottage on Ocean Isle Beach in southern North Carolina. It seems that half of the population of the southeastern U.S. has decided to vacation here for "The Fourth." But the weather is ideal, the crowds will soon thin, and the box of reading material is being unpacked even now. A few winks will gain victory over road fatique and I'll set to studies.

I very much appreciated the expressions of support offered this past weekend. I left Kansas somewhat conflicted...i.e. eager to study but somewhat less-than-eager to be away from Atonement for such an extended period. I expect withdrawal to set in soon. I'll keep you posted.

An added benefit of this trip...my brother and his family from Moscow are visiting at the beach while in transit to their next state department assignment in Buenos Aires. Nephew (Sean) and Niece (Sydney) served as a welcome committee when we arrived.