Pastor in Christiana, PA. The community is diverse made up mainly of entrepreneurial blue-collar people. When he as 28 he became senior pastor of the AG church in Christiana.
"Meritocrat" One who bases everything on the merit: right or wrong. You won't be in your position long because everything has a political aspect. I most definitely agree. Most people don't understand this until they learn it the hard way. I'm mildly impressed that he was able to learn it by observation at only 28.
"Cultural relevance is not optional"
He has spent a long time talking about his church and it's organizational structure. He also talked alot about the business side of a church. This is a great thing to know, but I personally have had to suffer through this type of things in another class and thus, it was not that fulfilling.
Concerning the funeral he did. He did the funeral of a girl from a parishioner's neighbor. At the funeral there were many unsaved people. The message he gave was not cliche, it was culturally relevant. It reached the people where they were.
"Comedy is of high value, so we should use it."
"Irrelevance is irreverence." He spoke to a woman that had never heard the story of Adam and Eve. There are many people in the world who, if spoken to under the assumptions that Christians make, would simply be confused and feel rejected and therefore never be changed by God.
He, like many others, emphasises the family relationship over every other relationship. No matter what has happened or how involved int he church or ministry a person is, his or her relationship to their spouse and children is most important.
Overall, he is a very genuine, if not overly so, man who is really concerned with reaching the lost at all costs. My only question is how well he could adapt, culturally, to the discipleship of someone who has been in the church for many years. The "old fogies" have their own culture, and you must not leave them behind in the attempt to be culturally relevant tot he ever changing culture of now.
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1 comment:
good thoughts...sam's a buddy of mine (and my pastor), so i's interesting to see how others perceive him. you're right that his heart is for the lost and in the right place. he's also willing to make mistakes and learn from them, which is something i appreciate. he also married out of his league, which is something i can relate to. :) good luck in school, mr. blogger person.
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