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George Carlin once observed that you just don’t see quicksand in movies as often as you used to.  It’s funny because it’s true.  But you do see quicksand in real life, and you see it all the time.  Okay, not literal quicksand, but metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic quicksand is everywhere.  And it’s rampant in my field.  

The armed forces use a slogan that our churches should adopt – “Complacency kills.”  Churches become set in their ways, stubbornly refusing to change or experiment with worship, mission, or new (to them) ways of being in ministry.  Ecclesiastical complacency leads to what we might call lazy church syndrome, a church that sinks further and further into the sofa, covered in Dorito dust, and refuses to even reach out for the remote control to change the channel.  A church that is not doing anything new can never grow.  The quicksand of complacency and laziness can swallow a church or a pastor inch by inch, little by little, until all that’s left is counting the days to retirement or closing the church doors.  

Complacency can manifest itself in many ways in a pastor’s life.  A pastor can become lazy in sermon preparation, mistaking his ability to preach 20 minutes for his ability to preach a really good sermon.  She can become lazy about her accountability to the denomination, turning in Charge Conference paperwork and Annual Statistical Reports with fudged numbers and guesses that look about right.  He can become lazy at pastoral care, addressing conflict in the congregation; complacent about stewardship of her own body; become complacent in regard to her spiritual life.  

The one that makes me the most cranky is academic quicksand.  Pastors have this strange tendency to complete the educational requirements for their jobs, and then become academically lazy.  They preach sermons without a scratch of exegesis or research, openly dismiss and downplay seminary education, and their laurels develop bedsores from being rested on for so long.  Worst of all, some stop reading.  Or when they do read, they get as far away from seminary-level theology as they can and read fluffy faithy stuff.  

My denomination (United Methodist) requires that our pastors receive continuing education throughout our careers.  This is supposed to help move us away from academic complacency and foster lifelong learning.  It’s a great treatment, but it’s not a cure.  I see two obvious reasons it sometimes fails: one, its success or failure depends upon the motivation/complacency of the pastor; two, some workshops are better than others.  I’ve seen pastors walk into dynamite workshops with an “I’m only doing this because I gotta” attitude, and the chief benefit they get walking out is the continuing ed credit they report at Charge Conference.  Other workshops present excellent, well-researched information that has little practical impact on the day-to-day life of the church.  Others present business-like insights for church growth and congregational management without getting terribly theological.  And some, let’s face it, are just not put together very well at all.  

In my previous career as a counselor, I attended a ton of workshops.  I can think of two that really changed the way I did my job.  That’s two workshops in nine years.  And one of those workshops actually confirmed some of the insight I present here.  

In the movies, someone generally got out of quicksand because someone threw them a vine to hold onto, and pulled them out.  That’s the cure for us, too.  We United Methodists ought to know this.  We develop our brain cells by first deciding that we’re going to develop our brain cells.  Then we make a plan and execute it.  And the real key is the buddy system.  We’re not terribly good at doing it on our own. (An insight we all need to be reminded of because pastoral ministry has the quicksand of a kind of inherent loneliness embedded in it).  We need someone (a partner or a group) to whom we are accountable.  The early Methodists got this right.  Pastors tend to do better when they have groups (especially groups of other pastors) with whom they meet: book study groups, lectionary study groups, Bible study groups, Covenant Discipleship groups, Emmaus or Cursillo Reunion groups.  When we do the hard work of lifelong learning outside of day-long workshops, and do the hard work of brain cell development and accountability, we get better and avoid the quicksand of complacency.  We find ourselves throwing the vine to our colleagues, and we end up having the vine thrown to us.  We keep each other out of the quicksand.  

Make no mistake, complacency kills.  Look out for quicksand – it’s everywhere.  Just not in the movies so much. 

On Tuesday I attended, along with three laymembers of the church I serve, the E3 workshop led by Doug Anderson of the Bishop Rueben Job Institute.  E3 stands for “Equipping, Empowering, Evangelism.”  I strongly recommend any workshop by Doug.  His material is great.

As I reflect, the chief insights I got from the conference are pretty basic and simple, but far too important to be overlooked or taken for granted.

1. The spiritual life of the congregation, specifically the lay leaders of the congregation, MATTERS.
2. The Wesleys formulated a great way of growing spiritual leaders in the church, and the chief problem is that we ain’t doing it.

Now, we in the United Methodist Church have heard this song and dance before – small groups, specifically Covenant Discipleship, Disciple Bible Study, and Emmaus Reunion groups, are the panacea for our ills.  So why is it, then, that when we’ve started small group ministries they either became cliques within the church or simply piffled out?  “We tried that once, pastor, and it didn’t work.”

Anderson and I would argue that the problem is simple.  We’ve done those things without having a clearly defined goal in mind.  What’s the purpose of the group?  How does our group stay focused on its goal?  How do we structure the group so that it addresses our goal directly?  The reason some small groups fail is because they don’t have a clearly-defined purpose that drives them, or a process that drives them toward their goal.

Anderson spoke of having a small group ministry specifically designed for evangelism, and the intentional process for getting there.  In a far-too-oversimplified nutshell, the group meets to:

1. nurture one another in their daily walk with Christ, training them to look for God in their everyday lives and giving them language for sharing their faith within the group;
2. discern faith stories that can and should be shared with the wider church during Sunday worship; and finally
3. make the group members so comfortable talking about faith that they can give powerful answers to the question, “why should I come to your church?”
4. and going one step further, to encourage the members of the group to become leaders of other small groups in the church, broadening the base of ministry and mission.

This is a PROCESS, not something that takes 6-10 weeks but perhaps a couple of years.  But the point is well-taken: without a stated purpose and clearly defined goals, a small group ministry is bound to become a spiritual kaffeeklatch, a an exercise in clique formation.  With a stated purpose and clearly defined goals, a small group ministry can be a powerful force in helping the church achieve its mission.

So my plan is to start an evangelism-directed small group ministry in this church focused on faith-sharing, and moving that faith-sharing from the group to the sanctuary to the sidewalk, to the town and beyond.  And I’ve got good people on board with me!  And with a goal and a process in mind, I’m pretty sure we have a far better shot at succeeding.

This is the text of an article I wrote for the local newspaper.  This was my first of what will be monthly reflections published in the Altamont paper.  Nothing controversial here, just getting established. 

 

I love the Olympics.  It’s not just about the sports.  I love the narratives we impose upon them.  The Olympic Games are always rife with stories of people overcoming adversity in order to participate.  The world records are always overshadowed by the human milestones that are achieved.  It isn’t just that Michael Phelps is perhaps the greatest Olympic athlete we’ve ever seen; it’s also that he once was a fidgety overactive kid with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder whose mom took him to the pool because she didn’t know what else to do with him.  Oscar Pistorius became history’s first Olympic runner on prosthetic limbs.  David Boudia took home Olympic gold for the 10 meter platform dive, but he first had to overcome his fear of heights to even climb the ladder.

But the interesting narrative to me was that of American gymnast Jordyn Wieber.  If you remember, Jordyn is a member of the US Women’s Gymnastics team, who now call themselves “The Fierce Five.” Going into the Olympics she was the world champion in women’s All-Around gymnastic competition.  But on the Olympic stage with seemingly the whole world watching, she failed to even qualify for the All-Around event.  She had every reason to enter the qualifying round expecting gold, and ended up excluded from the competition.  A lesser soul would have been crushed, but when the time came for the team competition she performed like a champion and made a massive contribution to the Olympic Women’s Gymnastics team gold medal.  The Jordyn Wieber story became one of putting aside her own feelings in order to make a selfless contribution to her team.  She gave the best performance she could, not for her own glory, but for that of her friends and teammates. What a great narrative!

As a new pastor in this community, I think there’s a lesson to be learned from Jordyn Wieber and the women’s gymnastics team.  The church I serve is only one member of a fantastic team of churches in this community.  The idea that the Methodists are in competition with any other denomination is false.  We are in competition together, seeking not a gold medal for ourselves, but rather victory for the Kingdom of God.  I strive for success, not purely for my own ministries or my own church, but for God’s Kingdom right here in Altamont.  And as I work to make my own contribution, I root for the success of my teammates of every denomination as well.  Yes, my goal is to be a great pastor for the First United Methodist Church, but my greater goal is to be one of several great pastors in service to the living God for the people and community of Altamont.  We’re all part of the same team with the same goal.  I look forward to working with my new teammates in this great community.

That’s my narrative and I’m sticking to it. 

So I decided I should blog again.

And as I sit here composing at the keyboard, I can’t help but wonder, “What in the Sam Hill for?”

I quit blogging when life got more complicated than I had anticipated.  I was okay with claiming a prophetic voice regarding the ordination process in my denomination and conference.  I’m still not sure whether the Board of Ordained Ministries voted to ordain me in spite of or because of my critiques and public venting of my frustrations.  I genuinely worried that they would continue me for a year or two, postponing my ordination until they deemed me penitent enough.  But it was a risk I was willing to take.

And I got ordained.  All I really heard back was, “He’s good.  He’s met all the requirements.  He’s done everything we’ve asked of him,” and “Welcome to The Orders!”

Then life got REALLY complicated.  My marriage of nearly 21 years ended.  I wound up physically sick and emotionally wrecked.  I experienced ungrace from places and people I never expected.  And I experienced love and support from equally unexpected places.  I was busy grieving the loss of hopes, dreams and expectations I had held dearly for so many years.  I was busy rebuilding my life, reconnecting with God, and healing my spirit.  I was busy doing my job, even on days that it meant proclaiming hope while feeling utterly hopeless.

I was also busy falling in love.  Just as I began to envision my life as a perpetually single (divorced) man, a stranger from Seattle sauntered into my life and became my best friend, my buddy, my (as much as I resist this term) soul-mate.  We just had to figure out how to make a 2,000-mile long-distance relationship work, and the cell-phone-and-Skype thing wasn’t cutting it. So we found a way to close the gap, and I became her husband.

I quit blogging because I needed my life to become private again.  My divorce, my new relationship, my feelings of abandonment, my new set of hopes and fears and dreams and terrors, my struggles to redefine my relationship with my kids due to the changes in our living arrangements, my feelings of abandonment, depression, shame, recovery and ultimately my rebirth were – to be blunt – nobody’s business.

Some parts of life are too private for a blog.  And I needed those parts of my life to BE private.  So I disappeared.

Now I have a new life.  I can honestly say that I’m not the same man I once was.  I’m softer.  (I have a theory that divorce makes some people more bitter, cynical and hard, and it makes some people kinder, less bitter, more sensitive and somehow softer.  I went the latter way, though I could just as easily have gone the former.) I’m a better husband than I was before.  I’m a better father than I was before.  I’m a better pastor than I was before.

So here I am.

Since I haven’t figured out what this blog IS, I suppose I could reflect a moment on what it is NOT.

• This blog is not “an inspirational moment with Pastor Willie.”  That kind of writing is simply not one of my gifts, and I suspect that well would run dry pretty quickly.
• This blog is not “a short course in systematic theology with Willie Deuel, M.Div.”  I’m not really interested in flexing my intellectual muscle in some self-aggrandizing way.
• This blog is not “why the UMC is superior to other denominations.”  Nor is it “what’s wrong with the UMC and why those who disagree with me need to get out in order to fix it.”
• This blog is not a place for political rants.

Is there a chance I’ll post about the UMC?  Absolutely.  But it’s not to defend or to indict the church.  When I post, it’s just one guy’s opinion.

Is there a chance I’ll post deep theological thoughts?  Sure. But that’s more “me working out my thoughts” than an attempt to convince you (or anyone) to believe as I believe.

Is there a chance I’ll post some opinions that others will disagree with?  You’re darn tootin’. But I’m not out to court controversy for the sake of page hits.

This is just me.  An ordinary guy with a call to an extraordinary vocation. I come here to reflect on the theology and practice of ministry.  I come here to post about random stuff I find interesting.  I come here as an outlet for my musical passions.  Like a journal, this blog will chronicle my growth, my progression, my formation as a pastor, as a person, as a child of God.

Anyway, that’s enough of an ice breaker.  Welcome back to my world.

I think I will!