After speaking to me for more than a few minutes, you will discover that I love soccer. I am passionate about the sport, and especially about my team, Everton Football Club (in Liverpool, England). Soccer really is the "beautiful game." At its best, everything comes together to make soccer beautiful. Scoring may not be frequent, but it is amazing when it happens. Rarely is there just a fluke scoring play. Instead, soccer goals are created by multiple small, even unnoticed movements across the pitch. The goal belongs not just to the striker that shot the ball, but the defender who made a great interception to start the play, the midfielder who put himself in an attacking position, the winger who made the great final pass--even the midfielder on the other side of the pitch, who never touched the ball, but put himself in a position to make the opposing goaltender hesitate for just one crucial second, allowing the striker to shoot the ball. Everything comes together. A goal is the work of eleven players, often over the course of the entire game, coming together for one crucial moment.
It is easy to feel isolated across our connection, but we are a connection nonetheless. No church or pastor is a lone ranger. We all stand on the shoulders of others, learn from others, and if we are lucky, influence others. Realizing our indebtedness to others is not a sign of weakness, or an acknowledgement of our inability to do it on our own power. Rather, it is a realistic sign of gratitude to all those who have come before us, serve along with us, and will carry on after us.
I serve at Montpelier First UMC in lovely, Montpelier, Ohio. Montpelier is a small town in the most northwestern county in Ohio. Even here, I take advantage of the many who came before me to lead the church to where it is. In my own life, as a third-generation pastor, I follow in the footsteps of my father and his father. I am a second-career pastor, who made the transition from the finance industry to ministry only because others pray for me, influence me, pastor to me, and help me along the way. And none of us are here without the Holy Spirit transforming our lives first. The idea that any of us are here on our own is laughable.
The great B.B. King was asked in an interview if he had any advice for aspiring musicians. King responded that every young musician should find someone else who inspires them. Find a musician who does something they love and wish they could do. Then steal mercilessly from them. After you steal all you can from them, find someone else to inspire you to steal. When you've stolen from enough people, you will have something unique and amazing to offer yourself.
As cynical as I can be, and as critical as I have sometimes been of Refresh and other forms of United Methodist connectionalism, they are the tools that allow us to fellowship. They allow us to form relationships in a system where our context is constantly changing. And they give us the opportunity to steal mercilessly from each other. Refresh, at its best, gives us an opportunity to support each other in prayer, in friendship, and in resources.
Years ago, I gave a short talk at seminar orientation at United Theological Seminary. To summarize my glorious speech (which undoubtedly brought tears to many students' eyes and inspired them to become greater, or something like that), I shared with them that seminary afforded them many opportunities if they were only willing to take advantage of them. Our connectionalism is the same. We are only limited by our refusal to take advantage of the tools in front of us.
So let us not shy away from connectionalism, or speak of it like it is a four-letter word. Instead, let us embrace our connectional spirit. Let us embrace Refresh as much as it helps us to grow, fellowship, and even--dare I say it--refresh. We are only limited by our own refusal to take advantage of the tools in front of us.
It is easy to feel isolated across our connection, but we are a connection nonetheless. No church or pastor is a lone ranger. We all stand on the shoulders of others, learn from others, and if we are lucky, influence others. Realizing our indebtedness to others is not a sign of weakness, or an acknowledgement of our inability to do it on our own power. Rather, it is a realistic sign of gratitude to all those who have come before us, serve along with us, and will carry on after us.
I serve at Montpelier First UMC in lovely, Montpelier, Ohio. Montpelier is a small town in the most northwestern county in Ohio. Even here, I take advantage of the many who came before me to lead the church to where it is. In my own life, as a third-generation pastor, I follow in the footsteps of my father and his father. I am a second-career pastor, who made the transition from the finance industry to ministry only because others pray for me, influence me, pastor to me, and help me along the way. And none of us are here without the Holy Spirit transforming our lives first. The idea that any of us are here on our own is laughable.
The great B.B. King was asked in an interview if he had any advice for aspiring musicians. King responded that every young musician should find someone else who inspires them. Find a musician who does something they love and wish they could do. Then steal mercilessly from them. After you steal all you can from them, find someone else to inspire you to steal. When you've stolen from enough people, you will have something unique and amazing to offer yourself.
As cynical as I can be, and as critical as I have sometimes been of Refresh and other forms of United Methodist connectionalism, they are the tools that allow us to fellowship. They allow us to form relationships in a system where our context is constantly changing. And they give us the opportunity to steal mercilessly from each other. Refresh, at its best, gives us an opportunity to support each other in prayer, in friendship, and in resources.
Years ago, I gave a short talk at seminar orientation at United Theological Seminary. To summarize my glorious speech (which undoubtedly brought tears to many students' eyes and inspired them to become greater, or something like that), I shared with them that seminary afforded them many opportunities if they were only willing to take advantage of them. Our connectionalism is the same. We are only limited by our refusal to take advantage of the tools in front of us.
So let us not shy away from connectionalism, or speak of it like it is a four-letter word. Instead, let us embrace our connectional spirit. Let us embrace Refresh as much as it helps us to grow, fellowship, and even--dare I say it--refresh. We are only limited by our own refusal to take advantage of the tools in front of us.
