Relevance X 2012 and Relevance LEAD 2012

I'm posting to invite you to two events...IN VEGAS! Both events take place at the same time, so you choose the event that fits your needs.


Relevance LEAD 2012: Create. Innovate. Transform
Thursday, February 16 - Sunday, February 19, 2012
University United Methodist Church, Las Vegas, NV

LEAD is a gathering of one hundred participants that includes young clergy, young lay leaders, and others who are working with young adults in the United Methodist Church. LEAD will bring together the collective wisdom of those that want to transform and grow young adult ministry in the church for the ultimate transformation of the world with the love of Jesus Christ. 

• As of December 6, 2011, there were about 30 spaces left.
• Registration to Relevance LEAD includes access to Relevance X. 
• Press Release about Relevance LEAD 2012 available here. (PDF)

or....

Relevance X 2012: Immerse yourselves. Love hard. Care for those who persecute you.
Friday, February 17 - Sunday, February 19, 2012
University United Methodist Church, Las Vegas, NV

More than an event you attend, this conference is a movement that focuses on empowering young adults (18-35) through worship, service, uniting our voices, and actively creating change in our communities. While no shortage of commentary continues to address the exodus of the under 35 crowd in today's mainline denominations, those who plan and gather at Relevance will be creating and telling a different story.

• 20% off discount code available here.
• Article about Relevance X 2011 event available here. 
• Press Release about Relevance X 2012 available here. (PDF)

Relevance Ministries is the official young adult ministry of the Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Full disclosure: I will be speaking at Relevance Lead with @pastordj about a new project scheduled to be made public by February 1, 2012. I will be sure to post about the project here on the blog once final details are in place. Full speaker list posted here.

I'm excited about these conferences. It will be a breakneck weekend...because I will be flying back to Ohio on Sunday night in order to be back at MTSO in time to meet the MTSO Harding Scholarship participants on Monday afternoon. Good stuff - days full of leadership cultivation, conversation and recruitment. Pretty happy.

We Are Thanking the Lord

Matins

Now we are awake
and now we are come together
and now we are thanking the Lord.

This is easy,
for the Lord is everywhere.

God is in the water and the air,
God is in the very walls.

God is around us and in us.
God is the floor on which we kneel.

We make our songs for God
as sweet as we can

for God's goodness,
and, lo, God steps into the song

and out of it, having blessed it,
having recognized our intention,
having awakened us, who thought we were awake,
a second time,
having married us in the air and water,

having lifted us in intensity,
having lowered us in beautiful amiability,

having given us
each other,
and the weeds, dogs, cities, boats, dreams
that are the world. 

What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems by Mary Oliver

From A Place For Prayer, November 25, 2011

New Year

It's been quite the fall. This fall was full of travel, memories, work, conversations and fruitful service. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving felt like a sprint towards the closing of the season and preparation for a new rhythm of work and service.

This Thanksgiving has been bittersweet in some way. One relative passed away on Thanksgiving morning after a long battle with cancer. I am watching another relative slide away from awareness of the present time, and that has been very difficult to watch. (For the record, I was the kid who cried when reading Flowers for Algernon in the sixth grade.) But every Thanksgiving season - for all of us - can hold in tension the joyful and the difficult.

I've preached before about how living one's faith takes practice - practicing being in community, practicing spiritual disciplines, practicing prayer. It is funny to think about our faith this way. I remind myself sometimes that while Sundays come up over and over again, each and every week (imagine that!), holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas arise just once a year. Therefore, even as we sink into familiar rituals and actions, we encounter layers of experiences from years past....and these experiences only come around once a year.

I received a Common English Bible in the mail this week; it was an unexpected surprise. I received it in return for filling out an online survey a couple of weeks ago. I flipped it open at random, and was confronted with Luke 8:40-56. This is the story of the bleeding woman who touched Jesus' cloak. In the middle of this story, we are interrupted by Jairus' daughter's miraculous healing. In both instances, there is an undercurrent of trust, and faith. A good theme to lean on.


This coming Sunday marks the start of a new year - the beginning of Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary, and the first Sunday of Advent. It is a season of renewal, and a fresh start, and I look forward to seeing what lies ahead. Advent is a time of waiting, of being present, of anticipating the familiar while also being ready for the fresh, new murmurings of the Spirit. O come, O come, Emmanuel.

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Thankful: This year, I am thankful for deep and abiding friendships with colleagues across the conference and across the connection. I did not expect to deepen so many friendships over the past few months, and I am thankful for the movement of The Divine within our lives, surprising us when we least expect it.

An excellent article about Claremont Lincoln University's interfaith work.

Two Schools, Three Religions (So Far)
Claremont Lincoln University is a collaboration between two established schools: the Claremont School of Theology and the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, which trains future rabbis, cantors and chaplains from all branches of Judaism, although Orthodox Jews do not accept the academy's ordination. A Muslim institution, Bayan College, is in the works: it will be part of Claremont Lincoln, established through a partnership between the Islamic Center of Southern California. Administrators say it will be one of the first schools to train Sunni and Shiite imams entirely within the United States.

It is helpful to read an article written from a secular perspective. Also, there is a helpful statement about diversity initatives in the school:

Claremont is trying to attract more conservative students, not just liberal believers who frequently sign up for interfaith efforts. In doing so, both students and faculty are confronting the fact that no religion has one set identity.

It also references the Association of Theological Schools how individual schools are responding to needs in the world:

...says (Dan) Aleshire (executive director of the Association of Theological Schools): “A lot of theological schools are perhaps ahead of some of the thinking in their respective denominations or ecclesiastical communities,” he says. “They are more ready for this kind of intellectual and pastoral engagement, where the people in the denominations are less sure about it.”

 I find it interesting that so many of our prospective students are asking questions about our Master of Divinity with a specialization in Interreligious Contexts. I appreciate students' understandings that we live in a diverse world...

Question and Answer

Today's email questions (and answers):

Yes, you can delay enrollment. Yes, you will need to update some documents next year. I am sorry that that makes you frustrated.

Yes, you can enroll in theological school. No, you cannot pursue a shorter degree because it is more convenient; if you want to follow career goal X, career goal X requires a different degree. Also, school will take time and energy. I understand you are busy. But school will take time, too. Degrees = working for something, and learning, and thinking, and all sorts of other neat stuff. If you want to enroll in theological school just to jump through a hoop, you are shortchanging yourself. Learning is fun. Hard, but fun.*

No, you cannot pursue an all-online program at our school. You cannot get a fully online theological degree that is also accredited. Thanks for asking, though. (Not being snarky...don't intend to come across that way...)

Sometimes, I think that my specialized ministry is email. That's legit.

*I didn't send the last couple of sentences. Obviously.

Theology After Google

So I've been talking with friends and colleagues about the future of the church (that sounds ominous and heavy and dark, but hey - asking tough questions makes life worth living!) and there is a theme that keeps coming up in about five different projects/ongoing conversations/jobs I am involved in. It is the theme that young adults are not interested in traditional pulpit ministry. That is NOT to say that young adults do not feel called to leadership roles and ordination within mainline denominations, nor is it to say that young adults are not interested in serving the church and/or serving within a church. But there little or no interest to simply slip into the role or job that existed before without making any changes.

I'm not talking about simple updates of how we lead within our local churches - I am talking about an awareness of what it means to be church - and what we need in our leaders who want to move the church forward.

Read this article. It is long, and substantial, and relevant, and worth reflecting upon: 
Theology and Church After Google | The Progressive Christian. 

And don't get hung up on the word "progressive." If you don't self-identify as liberal or progressive, don't simply dismiss this article as irrelevant to you and your ministry. This article is about the relevance of the church and how we are recruiting and developing leaders for work in the church and in the world. This article is about how we think about theology, discuss theology, and do theological reflection in the world.

A block quote...for illumination:

To pursue “theology after Google” does not mean to gleefully destroy all traditional Christian beliefs, to abandon the church, or to advocate a post-Christian worldview. On the contrary, it does, however, mean entering in good conscience into a new kind of open and exploratory discourse—a discourse in which one’s conversation partners are not committed in advance to landing where past theologians have landed. Many of them do end up with a vibrant Christian identity, but that’s no longer a pre-condition for theological dialogue. Theology after Google means navigating the treacherous waters of contemporary culture, religion, science, and philosophy—without knowing in advance that the harbor in which one finally drops anchor will be the same theological port from which the ships of old set sail. For those of us who live, work, and think in a Google-shaped world, such certainties about the outcome of the adventure are just not to be had in advance.

There. Thoughts?

On an unrelated note, this weekend includes presiding over a wedding (hooray! I love weddings!). Monday kicks off three solid weeks of major travel for several different projects and service for the school...and an admissions deadline. A bit apprehensive, but it should be a blast. An exhausting, whirlwind, life-affirming blast.

Update: another conversation about the same article, and what it means to think about vocation.

We long for peace, but....

Ferocious God, we fear your peace.

We say we want peace, but we confess that war and violence capture our imagination and our spirits.

Violate our violence with the transforming power of your love.

Wrench us from all hatreds and loves that are the breeding ground of our violence.

We cannot will that your peace come,
        but through the Spirit you make it possible for us to live in your peace.

So fire us with that Spirit
       that the world might be flooded with your reconciling kingdom.

Amen.





Hauerwas, Stanley. Prayers Plainly Spoken. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999. 80.

Source: RevGalBlogPals

College Students and Vocation

We were in class listening to Dean Lombardi (Twitter) share about his experiences as the Dean of Students. In response to a student question, he started to share about what a typical day would look like. It doesn't sound like there is a typical day...but what sucked me in is some of the stories he shared about individual students and the things they are struggling with as they are working on getting an education.

It brings to mind the fact that being an 18 to 22 year old college student is hard. It's an age when you have a lot of responsibility (whether you are in a college setting or not), and this is the season of one's life when challenges from childhood and adolescence just really can come to a head. He shared about students that are working very, very hard to stay sober. Young adults who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse and/or assault, and are dealing with the ramifications now. College students who are caught in a culture that glorifies pulling all-nighters, whether it is to study or to party, and high achievers with the general challenges of academic work while worrying about their prospects for the future.

There is a great article from Inside Higher Ed called The Myth of the College as a Fairy Tale - it is worth a read. The article pushes back against the view that college students have a life isolated from trial and tribulation:

Young Americans don’t go to college to avoid work. They work hard in college so they have a shot at earning a modestly rewarding living...The students I teach are professional jugglers who make a Cirque du Soleil show look like a barn dance. Among them they’re balancing academic course loads, community service, part-time or even full-time jobs, loan debt, athletic training and competition, transient housing situations, along with some of life’s other gems like a sick parent, a sibling in Afghanistan, or an unplanned pregnancy.

Yes, being a traditional age college student implies access to a lot of privilege (did you know only about 27% of Americans have a college degree, and the traditional, straight-out-of-high-school, residential college student is just one model of who may be sitting in a classroom or on a computer). But within the life of a college student, there is a lot of anxiety:

• How is my academic performance?
• Will financial aid and/or scholarships keep working out so I can keep attending?
• Am in in the right program? The right school?
• What should I do with my life?
• What is going on with my family right now? 
• How do I handle all of this transition?
• What are my job prospects?
• I'm an Engineering/Accounting/English major, but what I *really* want to do is...

I think these topics hit home because a lot of the people I know tend to care deeply about young adults, and oftentimes those young adults are in college settings. There is so much free-floating stuff floating around in their lives, and oftentimes the best way we can help care for them is to be present with them, and to offer services and reflection on how to make meaning out of their experiences, while supporting them as they move into an authentic expression of self that is integrated with vocation and professional and academic identity. It is a counter cultural view, and one that is embraced by campus ministry, student services staff, and those who work directly with these young adults.

Being Present

We are in the second to last quarter of classwork for our cohort. There are fourteen of us in this higher education executive doctoral cohort (wow, that makes us sound super important) and we are all kind of ready to be done. The classes are interesting, the conversations with colleagues are great, the classroom content is relevant. But we've been in class every other weekend since January 2010. Long time.

Sometimes I get too focused on the end result, the push towards the end, that I tend to not enjoy the journey. Or, I am too concerned with getting to the goal and I don't give myself permission to sit and be present with the actual event, or what we're working towards.

In the past couple of weeks, there has been an explosion of projects, visioning projects, inquiries at the school, prospective student visits...some of these programs and tasks were expected, and some were not. But even in the midst of meetings and conversations, I feel as if I am being told to be present. Not slow down or to cut out, but to be present. Be open to what's going on in that time and that place, and be open to the common threads and themes across these conversations, meetings and visions.

I think that today I am also thankful for relationships with colleagues across the connection. A simple email connection, Facebook post or Twitter conversation can make distance feel like a non-issue. But I also value the face to face connection. This week's meetings included face to face conversations with close friends and colleagues. I was astonished at how life restoring that was (...says the introvert). I feel as though I am being reminded to continue to nurture these relationships, too. 

Finally...it's fall! While the rain makes the world a little dark and wet, the rain is adding a level of freshness. The leaves are turning, there are pumpkins and gourds available for sale on roadside stands, and the air smells of wood burning stoves. I love this season.

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt on Flickr - Creative Commons License

Good Dog.

Today was a good day.

This morning began at the conference office, meeting with other West Ohio deacons and talking about community, vision, reaching out to those still in the candidacy and ordination process, and articulating what it means to build community when colleagues are spread out over the conference. Then I popped by to say hello to a couple of friends in their cubicles. Good times.

After our meeting, I headed up to the school. I had about a million things on my mind, and I was not feeling very thankful about the lovely weather or the traffic-free drive up 23 to campus. So I parked and was schlepping (yes, I think that is a word?) the laptop bag, purse, coffee (decaf because I am twitchy) and water bottle (you'd think I was moving in with all of this stuff) up the steps to the front doors of the main building. And what do I see?

A very relaxed, giant golden dog. He was laying on the steps, and his (I was guessing it was a he) leash was loosely tied to the bannister outside of the front doors. I walked slowly towards him - I mean, you're not supposed to interact with strange dogs, right? But this was a dog who was just chillin' and looked as if he belonged there, greeting visitors. I said hi to him, his tail started to wag, and I leaned over to say hello and pet him.

He started licking my hand. He was a good boy who just wanted to say hi. I found out that he belonged to a student; I saw the dog and the student a little while later, strolling up the hill on our campus. It was a restful image.

Sometimes it's the simple things. Sometimes we just need a big ol' dog to greet us and slow us down as we try to rush into our next set of tasks.

Today was a very full day. There was work that needed to be done, and there is homework and other tasks that need to be completed tonight. This fall has been a very full season - travel, meetings, conversations, visioning, tasking, preparing, ending old projects to make way for new ideas. But today I met a good dog who just wanted to say hi.

Passion and Possibility: Exploration 2011

Exploration 2011 is a discernment event for 18 to 26 year olds thinking about ordained ministry within The United Methodist Church. The event takes place Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13 at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Attending Exploration is one of the best places to go to (spiritually and physically!) to be present with God and with community as you discern how to authentically respond to the call God has placed upon your life. 

A lot of “nuts and bolts” resources will be at Exploration, which is great for “Type A” people who like to know what will be available. At the event, you’ll be able to:

• Visit the seminary fair, where all thirteen United Methodist seminaries and theological schools will have tables and admissions staff available to answer your question
• Engage with your peers in a small group led by a current seminarian 
• Attend workshops on the topics that interest you: ordination options, understanding the differences between deacon and elder, being a young adult in ministerial leadership, ministering to youth, funding your theological education, endorsement, chaplaincy, ministry in the local church, cross-cultural and cross-racial ministry, and more
• Attend worship, where you will have the opportunity to think, listen to God, and mull over what it is that God is asking of you
• Be in fellowship with hundreds of other United Methodist young adults who are grappling with the same questions you are

I serve at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, one of the thirteen United Methodist seminaries. As the Director of Admissions, I have the privilege of hearing many, many stories from people about what they feel called to be and to do. As an ordained deacon, I feel privileged to be present with people as they discern what their vocation – or vocations – may be in the next stage of their lives. 

If you are thinking about ordained ministry (or thinking of a life of vocation as an intentional layperson) and you are between the ages of 18 to 26, we’d love to see you at Exploration. I have heard from previous attendees that it is a formational event, and one that shaped their self-understanding and opened their eyes to ministry options they never even could have imagined before attending.

Want to read more first-person accounts about Exploration? Here are posts by some of my friends and colleagues from across the connection:

Anastasia Kidd – Exploring Your Calling…via The Scientific Method

Anna Guillozet – Passion and Possibility in St. Louis

Ashlee Allee – Praying for Exploration 2011
Daniel K. Dawson - Day of Prayer and Blogging (talks about extension ministry! woo!) 

Juan Huertas – Passion and Possibility: Exploration 2011

Melissa Meyers – Passion and Possibility

Jeremy Smith – Passion, Possibility and Shoeless People