Integrative Project Presentation

The official conclusion of my seminary experience was marked a few weeks ago with the presentation of my master's thesis, my Integrative Project. Here is a video of the presentation I delivered. Enjoy!

Officially On Break

Christmas break has come, and not a minute too soon. I turned in my last homework assignment for the term on Wednesday and officially concluded my penultimate trimester at the Seattle School. Only one more trimester left. Only 3 more classes. Only 6 more credits. Graduation is just around the corner.

The assignment I finished this week was my Integrative Project. This is the comprehensive project that all M.Div. students must complete in their final year at my school. It is a 25-35 page paper that serves to summarize and 'integrate' your entire seminary experience. Mine ended up at 26 pages. I was initially unsure as to what to write about and I changed my topic about half-way into my research, but I am glad I did. My first idea was fine, but was essentially a mini-dissertation. What I settled on was effectively an integration of all I had been learning through the past 3 years.

INSERT 'THEOLOGY' FOR 'MATH'!

Throughout the last number of years, I have kept a constantly growing list of ideas that would one day be the foundation of the church I lead. For my project, I collated these thoughts into 5 foundational principals and unpacked each one according to its theory and practice. The five concepts are:

1. Worship as 'Denouement'
2. Social Justice/Missional Living
3. A Willingness to be Evangelized
4. Holistic Living
5. The Priesthood of All Believers

Throughout the next semester I will spend some time blogging about what I mean by each of these phrases...but not now, because I need a few weeks off from thinking and writing. I am extremely proud of the work I have done on this and think this document, and the ideas it contains, will be extremely beneficial in my ministry. This is a document that I can pass on to my regional pastor to let her know exactly what I believe and am passionate about. These thoughts will help me be concise and articulate in job interviews when explaining what sort of pastor that church would be employing. And more than anything, I believe that if churches were to take these 5 foundational principals seriously, they would radically transform their neighborhood, city, and world.

Summer Is Over

It's been a good summer, full of travel, adventure, and rest, but I fear it may be drawing to a close. Although the good weather has not disappeared quite yet, as the title suggests, it seems like summer has essentially come and gone. I was reminded of the temporal nature of our outstanding summer weather yesterday during a mountain bike ride, when I suddenly realized that I was riding over fallen leaves.

FALLEN LEAVES! WHAT?!? WE JUST STARTED SEPTEMBER!

The biggest signal of the conclusion of summer, however, has been the beginning of fall classes. This past week I officially began my fourth and final year of seminary at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology (formerly known as Mars Hill Graduate School). This will make eight years of post-high school education. That's too much! I need to be done! My pre-graduation tasks remaining include a few classes and a huge writing/research assignment. This fall I only have one weekly class, on Paul's letters to the Corinthians, but will be spending a huge amount of time reading for and writing a 35-page capstone paper, my integrative project.

I also hope to re-establish a rhythm of blogging throughout this coming year. This craft has been quite important to my intellectual and spiritual growth at various times of my life, including the first two years of seminary, but I have let the practice of blogging slip from my regular routine of late. I both miss it and need it as a part of my life. As this next year brings a plethora of change and difficult decisions in my life, blogging will be a helpful part of the discernment process. I am sure I will write about a myriad of themes this year, but you can definitely expect to read about two specific topics: my research for my integrative project and my progress in securing employment post-graduation. Here's hoping that most of my writing will include good news of much success.

All Truth is God’s Truth: Finding Wisdom in Places You Never Thought to Look

I think I grew up assuming that when Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” this meant that the only place that we can find truth is in his actual words, the Bible. While I have not strayed from believing that the Bible is an incredibly wise, helpful, truth-filled text, I have come to see that truth and beauty and wisdom can be found in a myriad of other places as well. And when we arrive at this truth, we can know that God is involved...because all truth is God’s truth. With this in mind, we can honor these other places of truth, rather than fear or avoid them. Regardless of where this truth arrives from, if it allows us to better live into the way of Jesus, it can be freely embraced without fear or xenophobia (fear of the other).

These thoughts arise out of the class that I am current taking called ‘Our Religious Impulse’ (basically a world religions class). I was reading about Buddhism this morning and came across some beautiful thoughts from Thich Nhat Hanh, a famous Zen Buddhist thinker and writer. When I have approached world religions in the past, it has typically been a quest to know a plethora of data so that I can disprove that faith tradition, thus validating Christianity. I have come to see these actions as quite fruitless, however, so it is exciting to study these other forms of spirituality with the intent of learning from my brothers and sisters around the world. If my primary posture as a Christian is to love my neighbor, then this sort of interest in, and curiosity about, my neighbor seems like a healthy undertaking. While I still see Christianity as the best possible way of living, and Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, I want to maintain a posture of openness and invitation, a freedom to absorb the truth of God wherever I may find it. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy these words of wisdom from a Buddhist brother.   

There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, "Where are you going?" and the first man replies, "I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running, and it has become a habit. We struggle, all the time, even during our sleep. We are at war within our selves, and we can easily start a war with others.

We have to learn the art of stopping--stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm, we have no peace. We turn on the TV and then we turn it off. We pick up a book, and then we put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger, and craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy.

A New Name for the Same Great School

For those who didn't know, I am about a year away from graduating with my Master of Divinity degree. Yesterday it was officially announced that I will graduate from a different school than the one I began at, all without ever transferring. I began my graduate education at Mars Hill Graduate School, but we have now changed our name to the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.

I find myself a little ambivalent about this change. On the one hand, it was DEFINITELY time for a name change. There is a mega-church here in Seattle that goes by the same name, so it has been incredibly confusing to explain to people that my school is in no way connected with the church. Mars Hill Church is undoubtedly doing many good things here in Seattle, but their theology is very, very different than ours and I don't always agree with the things they teach or the actions they take, so it has been frustrating to constantly be connected with them. I find myself repeatedly defining my school based on what we are not, rather than being able to gush about the things that we are, the real reasons I love my institution. It will be refreshing to tell people what school I attend and not immediately need to qualify that statement.

On the other hand, I LOVE our old name (and am not crazy about our new one). I love what it stands for. I love that Mars Hill was a place that Paul went to engage genuinely with his culture, a place of knowledge and wisdom and philosophy. I love how cool Mars Hill sounds. Maybe that sounds trite, but I don't care. Mars Hill Graduate School just rolls off the tongue a little better than the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. I love that the initials don't sound like a sexually transmitted disease. SSTP sounds like I've caught something just one step down from chlamydia.

So I begin my time at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with both joy and resistance, both excitement and hesitation. I am sure it will take me a little while to adjust to the new name, but I am excited for what it means for our institution. It definitely feels like a new chapter in our story, one I am glad I get to be a part of. The following videos were produced by the school, and were both incredibly helpful for me in this time of transition. The first was just released last night following the official name change, a look forward to life in a new era. The second is a video from our founder and former president, Dan Allender. It is a helpful look back at why Mars Hill was chosen as the first name and why it will always be special to me and so many others.

The Renaming of Mars Hill Graduate School from Mars Hill Graduate School on Vimeo.

Learn more about our name change at mhgs.edu/home/name-change

Dan Allender on the Name Change from Mars Hill Graduate School on Vimeo.

Being a Therapeutic Presence in a Multi-Cultural World

I am currently in a class called "Developing an Intercultural Competency." Last week we had 4 guest speakers in class who are all doing multi-cultural work here in Seattle. They were fascinating to listen to, but I was most intrigued by what was said the waning minutes of class. Our professor asked them to each make a few closing comments on how one might go about becoming a therapeutic presence in a multi-cultural world. These are their responses, which I thought were brilliant.

1. Immerse yourself in uncomfortable learning communities
2. Don't do anything out of guilt
3. Become a part of a community - let the neighborhood teach you
4. Ask "How can I be sustainable in this community?"
5. Be okay with who you are
6. Be bold in what you can offer that community
7. Be comfortable with chaos
8. Create liminal space for conversation and learning to happen
9. Be proactive in learning about other cultures

Decision Making Questions

The other day, in my Life Together class, we were using a case study from a church to discuss pastoral ethics. This was a really helpful exercise and conversation, one that I hope we have more of in the future. My friend Jev had some very insightful thoughts at the end of the discussion that I thought I would share with you. These are three questions he tries to ask himself when he is making a decision, especially one of an ethical nature that involves other people. I always appreciate Jev's wisdom, and I hope you do too.

Decision Making Questions

1. How can I treat this person (or these people) as real people?
2. How can this work out to be a transformational experience for everyone involved?
3. How can this issue be an opportunity to learn to love God and love our neighbors?

Living in a Multi-Cultural World

Today in my class (Developing Intercultural Competency) we had four guests join us to talk about their lives and ministries. Three of the guests were people of color, the fourth was a young, white woman, and all four are working in intercultural jobs. It was fascinating to hear their stories and words of wisdom about how to navigate the racial, ethnic, and cultural differences we each butt up against every day. As the class session ended, our profession invited them to each share a few words of advice for how we might live into these differences well. Their words were very helpful, so I thought I would share them with you. Hear all of these thoughts within a multi-cultural context. Here are their responses:

1. Immerse yourself in uncomfortable learning communities
2. Don't do anything out of guilt
3. Become a part of a community (let your neighborhood teach you)
4. Ask "How can I be sustainable in this community?"
5. Be okay with who you are
6. Be bold in what you can offer that community
7. Be comfortable with chaos
8. Create liminal space for conversation and learning to happen
9. Be proactive in learning about other cultures

Craziest Week in a While

The title probably speaks for itself, but this last week has been INSANE!! And I don't say that very often. But this week truly was the busiest week I've personally had in over a year. It started in normal fashion, with my typical schedule of work on Monday morning and then one class per day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But that's where the normality stopped.

On Thursday I began a 3-day intensive class on the art of the sermon, with Rob Bell as the professor. While every moment was incredible, I was still exhausted at the end of each day as we spent 27 hours in class during the 3 days.

In addition to the 6 straight days of classes, I had a 4-page paper due on Wednesday and a 5-page paper due on Thursday. I also had my duties at church to tend to, including preparing music for worship and preparing my sermon that I am preaching twice tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm tired. And ready for Sunday afternoon. And heading to bed now before I fall asleep at the keyboard.

A Different Sort of Dis-Interest

It's no secret to those who know me well that I am not a great student. Never have been. Never will be. I procrastinate terribly, even to the point of turning in assignments late. I rarely read what is assigned. I struggle to be interested.

This has been the case for much of my time in seminary as well. While I have learned an incredible amount and am so glad to be able to get my Masters, I still hate school and cannot wait to be done. Lately, however, I have been telling people that I have a different sort of disinterest in school, a new reason I am ready to finish. I'm ready to pastor.

For my first 2 years I was anxious for graduation because I would no longer be told what to read and write and would finally be done with formal, higher education. Now, I find myself ready to be done so that I can finally be a pastor. I'm ready. I'm excited to help shepherd a community of faith toward new life. I'm excited to enter the pulpit weekly with the opportunity of shaping and guiding our group through my words. I can't wait. But I must. Two more years, unfortunately, before this dream will finally become a reality. I hope I can make it.

A Few More Days & I'm Done

After quickly glancing at my latest blog post, I am realizing that this will now be 2 straight posts where I am informing you as to my insane amount of writing I have to do before an impending deadline. By Tuesday I need to have another 5500 words written for my class on the book of Romans. Once this one major research paper and 3 small reflection papers are written I will officially be finished with my second year of seminary.

Mandy and I are leaving for our cabin in Glacier National Park next Wednesday, where we will be hanging out with both of our families for a week of needed vacation. I can't wait to relax all week, do some hiking and rafting, lay in the hammock, and sit by the campfire. Sounds like heaven. But for now...back to writing.

Be Back Next Week

Just when I had redeveloped a rhythm of blogging regularly, life happened! I'm busy finishing up all my papers from this summer term, so I have barely had time to breathe, let along blog, this week. Just to give you a little perspective...I've got 4100 words due tomorrow at 5pm. I've got about 3000 down, but still have a ways to go tonight and tomorrow to finish by the deadline. Wish me luck. Talk to you soon.

Rob Bell Teaching at MHGS

*I originally wrote this post for my school's Experience.MHGS blog. I bring it here to let you know of my incredible excited about Rob Bell coming to teach this fall.

When Rob Bell visited Mars Hill Graduate School in January while in Seattle for his ‘Drops Like Stars Tour,’ he created quite a buzz around campus. When it was announced a week later that he would be teaching a class at our fair institution in the near future, excitement and anticipation erupted within the MHGS community. Needless to say, Rob Bell is highly respected at our school, myself included. He’s sort of a big deal!

Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of four books, including the widely popular Velvet Elvis. He was also the face of the first segment of short films in the Nooma series. His love for the biblical text, awareness of 1st century and contemporary culture, and unparalleled communication style make him one of the leading voices in the church today. Time Magazine has even gone as far as calling Bell ‘the next Billy Graham.’

For many MHGS students, Bell has been a voice of hope in the midst of personal doubt, questioning of faith, and uncertainty about the future of Christianity. Many of us came to this school out of disillusionment with the church, having been burned by the trappings of religion. We love the church but still desire more for her, and Bell has been a guiding light, helping lead us down paths of reclaiming and restoring her for the good. For me and my wife, at various times of difficulty in our life, Rob has served as my pastor in more ways than any local pastor with which I was in relationship, speaking truth into our lives through weekly podcasted sermons and periodical pilgrimages to his faith community in Michigan.

Bell will be a teaching a class this fall on homiletics, the ‘art of the sermon.’ He hosted a conference in Grand Rapids this past summer called ‘Poets, Prophets, and Preachers,’ where he explored the lost art of preaching for three days with thousands of pastors from across the country and around the globe. I was privileged to be there and will be forever grateful for the immense wisdom he shared with us. I cannot wait for Rob to grace MHGS with his presence and to be able to explore these profound ideas further with my fellow students. What a blessing this course will be.

A Growing Awareness of Me

"Whatever I don’t like in somebody else is something I don’t like in myself. I’ll go to the bank on that every time."

~O'Donnell Day

HT: Hilary Golden

A New Read

I have just embarked on a new book and already find myself needing to stop and blog about its importance. We were tasked (for a class) with reading and reporting on a spiritual classic. For some reason, however, we were allowed to read Eugene Peterson (I would think the author would at least need to cease breathing before they can be a 'classic'...but I digress). I have always heard great things about Peterson's book "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction," so I have cracked its cover this evening. So far it is amazing. I am sure I will be blogging about it and including quotes for the next few weeks, so I hope you can enjoy it with me. Here's one quote to get us started:

It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest...Religion in our time has been captured by the tourist mindset. Religion is understood as a visit to an attractive site to be made when we have adequate leisure.

Who's Welcome at the Table?

The follow is a post I wrote for my seminary's blog. I am one of the new editors of the site so I will be writing for them as well as on here. You can visit the MHGS blog HERE.

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In our culture, we have learned to operate under a paradigm of boundaries. Some people are IN and some people are OUT. We are quick to create rules and regulations about who belongs in Christian fellowship and who does not, about who is saved and who is not. Of course these are unwritten, unspoken rules, but they exist nonetheless. Everyone who is part of the ‘in-group’ knows well who does not belong within the community, who is not invited to the table of communion. Most often, our words will ring strong with inclusive language, yet all can sense the unsaid ‘boundaries of belonging.’

I am reminded of my time as a youth pastor. We used a myriad of inclusive language, strongly emphasizing that everyone belonged and all should feel welcomed in our group, but everyone could sense this was not true. We had one student who was a self-described ‘Goth,’ and it was clear early on in my ministry that this student did not feel welcomed in our ‘normal,’ straight-laced meetings. As much as my words spoke of inclusiveness, our attitudes of exclusivity were clearly seen in this student’s quick departure from our community. He was not welcomed to the table.

We create these divisions out of a spirit of necessity. When you operate within a ‘some are in, some are out’ system, in order to be ‘in,’ some must be ‘out.’ In order to prove our own belonging within the community of faith and the realm of salvation, we must operate within a system where some people are not invited into the life of faith. This way of thinking has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is a place where everyone is welcome at the banquet table, where none are excluded from the table of fellowship. Throughout the gospels Jesus is constantly telling stories where the people who would never be invited into fellowship are the very people who are the honored guests. Jesus continually challenges the assumed ‘boundaries of belonging’ within his own culture, asking his followers to be boundary-less people, welcoming all to the table of communion. I wonder what it would look like for individual Christians and communities of faith to be places where everyone is welcomed, where no one is excluded. Would it be possible to address the unwritten, unspoken rules of our communities in an effort to allow everyone access to the Kingdom? I pray we will have this boldness.

HT: Experience MHGS

A New Gig

Since beginning as a student at Mars Hill Graduate School I have been interested in finding my niche at the school, the place where my interests and abilities can best serve and be utilized by the school. There are plenty of ways to be involved in areas like student council, but that has never really interested me.

Recently, however, a great opportunity finally arose. I was contacted by the editor of our school's blog and asked if I would volunteer my time as a co-editor of the site. He had seen my own blog and had asked me to write a post for the school's site once before, and was interested in my services in this role. I jumped at the opportunity.

My responsibilities in this role will be to write posts for the site (maybe once every week or 2) and find other students and faculty to write for the site. Already I have become more aware of the things people are saying and writing in classes, asking them to write posts for me based on their thoughts. Many of the posts I write for the MHGS site will also be included here on this blog, but please visit this other blog HERE.

A Guy's Talk

Click HERE for Pete's talk at MHGS.

Finally Done...Bring on Pete Rollins

I just got home from my second-to-last class of the semester and now am done with all of my work for this term. What a relief. This semester has been a bear for some reason. It should not have been that bad because I only had 3 ongoing classes throughout this fall, but I never quite found my rhythm and really struggled my way through the past few months of finishing up procrastinated projects and papers.

Now I can finally get excited about Peter Rollins coming to Seattle tomorrow. Pete is an Irish theologian/philosopher whose writings I have come to love. My friends and I have been in contact with him on Facebook for a few months and asked him if he would be willing to come out to Seattle and hang out with us and lecture at my seminary, Mars Hill Graduate School. So tomorrow afternoon he is flying in and my friends and I will be hanging out with Peter all evening. Thursday afternoon he will be having a conversation with the M.Div. students at the school and Thursday night he will be lecturing to anyone who comes to see him. The title of his lecture is "When God Doubts God: some thoughts on belief, metabelief, and doubt." I have no idea what he is going to talk about, but I am sure it will be brilliant, provocative, and challenging of normal theology and spiritual thought. I can't wait! Click HERE to see the Facebook event for his Thursday night lecture.

Overwhelmed & Out of Rhythm

I'm in a funk. I'm sure you get those days...or weeks...or months. I'm there. My fall semester started over a month ago and I still haven't settled into a rhythm of life. I can't quite put my finger on why either. I find myself unmotivated in nearly every aspect of my world and badly want to work my out of this conundrum.

For weeks now I've realized my desire to read and write and blog but have failed to do much of any of those things. I've had things to say and stories to tell but lacked the energy to make them public. I keep telling people that since we didn't have any break after summer semester, my mind took its own break to rest and recover. I'd say its time to snap back into intellectual action though.

I've got a huge paper due Thursday for my Church History class and then a week and a half off for Reading Week. The 2nd weekend of Reading Week I'll be heading to Oregon for four days of rock climbing, so hopefully this relaxation will snap me out of my funk and back into a desire to learn and grow and experience the fullness of life that was so present last year. Lord help me.