Okay! Quick! What I have promised to post on...

What I've promised to post on in the past 20 or so posts...

(running log: UMHB day, camp, review of Your Jesus Is Too Safe, DMV)

I've been thinking/talking with other people about ministry lately. That sounds really generic, but I do have specific thoughts/questions, which I may blog soon.

1. UMHB Day - Something really encouraging happened afterward; my mom, dad, and I met with the Norvell's (Beth Bennett and her husband Will, for those of you who remember her from way back when, along with their two adorable children) at Fuddruckers. Will is the Worship Pastor at Vista Church in Temple, TX, which is right by Belton. We had a great talk about their ministry up there, and they encouraged me so much, telling me about all the great churches around. And Beth basically gave me an open invitation to come over anytime, and I then voiced my desires to dive into a small group with other college girls in the area. She said that she would be happy to take me in and help me start something like that. I'm so excited! I feel a lot more comfortable now with that stuff. I'll definitely make a point to be intentional about all that stuff. I want to go all out. In any case, they are wonderful, and I thank the Lord for providing a family nearby to take me under their wing and mentor/encourage me up there in Belton!

2. Camp - Okay, I don't know if I'll be able to adequately sum up what I wanted to post on with this one :). Basically, camp was awesome. Luke Johnson brought some solid Gospel preaching, and the Lord really showed us Truth through him. It encouraged/challenged me so much. And of course leading worship was an absolute joy. I was on the Black Bengal Goats, and we rocked it. We called ourselves the BBGs :). It was basically a great last camp for me!

3. Review of Your Jesus Is Too Safe - I honestly don't know how to write a review. If I were to, the review would be 80% caveats disclaimers, 20% actual review. I just don't feel qualified to have an opinion on things that matter! :) In any case, I read the book very quickly (it was really engaging, clever, and interesting, which is always a plus for people my age), and I absolutely loved it. Jared is obviously an amazing writer, and knows how to get his point across in an efficient, effective way. He says some things that a lot of people wouldn't have the guts to say. The book was oozing Truth and Gospel, and, obviously, Jesus. I want to give this book to all my friends to read. Not to say that this book can save anyone, of course, but I think that we all (especially "church goers") need to reexamine/evaluate who we think Jesus is, or how we treat him often. This book is definitely an avenue for that; at least, it was for me. It's all about Christ; thinking about, reading about, or talking about anyone or anything else more than we do Jesus just doesn't make sense. And this book is all about Jesus (and points to Scripture over and over again, emphasizing its importance). I loved it :). I might read it again soon!

4. DMV - I'm just going to start out by saying this again: I'm not really liking this whole 18 thing - I just plain don't want to be independent! Being at the DMV a few weeks ago was mental torture, because there were, of course, about a thousand complaining people in there, all of them put out and feeling extremely inconvenienced. I forgot to bring a book, so I didn't have anything to read. All I could really do was people-watch. In any case, the torture comes whenever I realize that I may not have anything that I need. The lady up front was seeming miffed because people kept coming up to the desk unprepared; "Please hold in your hand everything you need to make this quicker. Have every form of identification on you right now - your driver's license, social security card, passport...", she said, over and over again, in that slightly annoyed tone people take on when they are working a monotonous job in a government-run, public setting. All the sudden I would realize that all I have with me is my driver's license - Am I supposed to have my social security card and passport? - So, by the time that I convince myself that I must have these things, I'm about three people from the front of the line. Stink.  I just remember thinking, They are going to crucify me. They, being the people all around me who swore under their breath at every unprepared person, and complained the whole line about how they could be doing about a thousand things that would be more enjoyable than this. (Which, by the way, is really annoying. I'm just like, suck it up! We're all in the same boat here - noone likes standing in a line to take a silly picture; why don't we just all agree to not complain about it, and maybe even attempt to make this fun? In any case...) So, I get to the front desk and very timidly walk up to the lady. I give her my driver's license, looking for any kind of signal in her body language that says that I don't have anything. She asks me for my social security number, and not the card, and I rejoice very loudly inside my mind. I proceed on to the next line. The same thing basically happens again, except with the cost. So, I had $20 in my wallet, and I get up to the cost-explaining paper thingie and see that it will cost me $24. CRUD. So I call mom, and she sends Andrew with more money. Of course, he's about a minute late, and I have to do that thing where they give you a "quick pass" and you get to feel like a jerk because you just cut in line whenever you have all you need. But, in the end, it all worked out :). Though, I still haven't received the license in the mail. That is fishy. But whatevs. Oh, DMVs. Don't have to go to another until I turn 25! :)

5. Ministry - Okay, I wouldn't be able to sum up my questions efficiently enough. But I suppose I could try. I've basically been thinking about how to "balance" ministry. Yeah, that's basically it. Balance, whenever you have to preach to both non-believers and the most mature Christians in the room (solution: Gospel, as Jeremy Wilson says. We all need to hear it. Of course, non-believers do, and if Christians are "over" the Gospel, there's something wrong); Balance, when you want to draw people in, but at the same time disciple the flock (my thoughts: I think that instead of trying to get lost people into the church, why not train the Christians inside the church to go get 'em, share the Truth with them outside the church, and then bring them in whenever they are saved? I haven't done much research on this, but did the early church gatherings ever involve lost people? Not to say that I would say that we should block them out, of course, or make it exclusive, but I think that maybe we've gotten to the point where we consider inviting our friends to church witnessing to them, trusting that the pastor will share the Truth with them. At least I know that I've felt that way before. Acts does say that the number of people who were being saved were being added to them every day, but what if that means that the Church - the body of Christ - was a light, and took to the world the Love, Hope and Faith (song reference, anyone?:). I still have a lot of questions about this stuff, and would love to discuss it all more...). That's basically it, in a nutshell.

Whew. Hope that satisfies you nay-sayers :) (or, rather, nay-sayer. Andrew has voiced his doubts on whether or not I willl fulfill my promises often :)