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Top of the morning to you!
Today’s quote is from a minister:
“Leisure and I have parted company. I am resolved to be busy till I die.”
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back to top24 Comments to “Whirled Views 3.15”
I am very familiar with the way Baptist select pastors. But I know nothing about how Presbyterians find pastors. I say that, to say this if anyone is interested.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church at 120 Seventh Ave., in Hendersonville, NC is looking for a pastor. It is a small congregation in a pretty, restored church building in downtown Hendersonville.
They presently have an interim, Rev. Wilfred Bellamy.
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Good morning all!
This morning my mom, older daughter, & I are going to a newly-starting monthly Ladies’ Bible Study at church.
For my praying friends out there, I have 2 requests.
1. Please pray that my mom, Kay, who has terminal ovarian cancer (perhaps a year or 2 left), will finally be able to fully trust & believe in Jesus.
She believes somewhat, but has a distrustful nature. However, she is open to believe the charlatans who claim to talk to the dead & such.
There have been certain good things that have happened to her, which I see as God’s blessings, but she attributes to my dead father looking out for her. (My husband says she has made Dad her “god”, & I think he’s right.)
2. Please pray for my 18-(almost 19)-yr. old daughter, Emily. She still claims to believe in & love the Lord, but is “living in sin” & somehow rationalizing it to herself, not realizing how much spiritual danger she is in. (The boyfriend is not a believer.)
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The quote is by John Wesley who either didn’t completely understand what leisure means or was about to die quite soon when he said it.
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Chas, the way our church did it, they appointed a “Pastor search committee” that consisted of generally trustworthy and active members (mostly people with some sort of official function: elder, Sunday School teachers, etc), who sat down and listened to thousands of sermon tapes from other pastors. When they found a pastor they seemed to like, they would recommend him to the session (elders), and if the session agreed, they would invite him out to preach one Sunday. Actually meeting the candidates weeded things out pretty severely. When it came to two candidates they really liked, they invited each one down to spend 8 days, to preach 4 sermons and have dinner at practically everyone’s house. After that, they picked the one they liked best, and held a congregational meeting to vote, and he was pretty much unanimously elected. We just hired a new pastor about a year ago, and it took two years of searching etc.
Ok, I realize you weren’t really asking for all that, just putting something out there. Oh well. Free lesson in Presbyterianism.
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Karen O: I am praying for your mom and daughter. One of my daughters rejected much of what she was taught for awhile. She is now a very strong Christian after the Lord brought her back in some wonderful ways. Our relationship was strained for awhile, but is wonderful now also. God is so loving and faithful.
I pray for open eyes and ears for them both; for wisdom for you in your relationship with both; for a true view of evil and the righteousness given by God through Jesus Christ for both of them.
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And the virtual cappuccino goes to Adios! Enjoy!
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Yesterday, nine year old son gave himself a slight concussion at school (headache, pupils goofy, no unconciousness, irritable). Today he had a basketball tourney to play in. We were debating the potential harm if he got another blow to the head and wondered if we would let him play or not or just have him rest for a few healing days. We are snowed in and can’t go, whew.
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Kristin: Who got yesterday’s quote right? There were several guesses: Piper, Swindoll, CS Lewis, Lucado, Yancey. Inquiring minds want to know!
PS- If it was Yancey, give Cheryl D a prize as well. I know how frustrating it is to be logged out when posting. I think I’ll download Firefox to the home computer, as I never have that problem at work.
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So I was thinking about the last thread of yesterday, and what a waste it seems to be to run as a third-party candidate.
Does it seem ludicrous to anyone else that we are so tied to a two party system? Or maybe, is polarization natural for people? We always want dichotomy?
After all, there are so many t-shirts “there are two kinds of people in the world…”
(Incidentally, my favorite one of these is the one that says “there are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t.”)
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Thanks Peter for the reminder. Yesterday’s quote was from the Rev. J.D. Eppinga.
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Chas,
That’s our denomination–Associate Reformed Presbyterian! Yep, they’ll have a search committee, they’ll let the folks in our administrative offices in Greenville know, they’ll take a pastor’s version of a resume, they’ll look around at our annual business meeting in Flat Rock this summer, etc.
Rev. Bellamy is excellent, so they’re in good hands for now!
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Chas:
Like Cameron says, there’ll be a search committee formed. I should know; I was just recently chairman of such a committee, and it took us nearly three years to call a pastor. But we’re the second-largest congregation in the denomination (we’re ARP, too, in Greensboro), and we were replacing our beloved founding pastor who decided to step down.
Although there were times when I thought the Methodists have a better idea (letting the bishop assign one to you), it was a blessing for us to get from where we were to where we are now.
The search, or “nominating,” committee can also lean on their Presbytery’s Minister & His Work Committee. Ours was extremely helpful during the process, and it was that committee that helped lead us to the man God eventually called.
And I agree with Cameron, in the meantime, the church in Hendersonville is in good hands with Dr. Bellamy. I once had the pleasure of interviewing with him a few years ago for a job I had applied for within the denomination. He certainly knows his stuff!
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Mickey McClean’s church is likewise in good hands: they have the Rev. Bill Marsh, and he’s a great guy!
My favorite story about Dr. Bellamy (he is from England, Liverpool I believe, so he has this great English accent!) is back when I was a Student of Theology in his presbytery. I had to preach a sermon before the presbytery (a lot of “heavy hitters” in that presbytery, since the administrative offices and the seminary are both in that geographical region), so I selected Acts 6:1-7. The theme was unity in the church, even in the midst of potential trouble. Of course, Acts 6:1-7 is also a “deacons” passage (even though the text does not specifically call the seven servants by that official name), and the issue of ordaining women as deacons can be somewhat controversial in some ARP circles. Of course, not being completely stupid (just mostly), I did not touch that hot button issue. Dr. Bellamy came up to me afterward, and in his English accent, told me that when I read the text, he though I was going to start talking about female deacons, and said to me, “I thought, oh dear, what has this young man gotten himself into.” Oh well, it sounds much better with the English accent!
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Mickey,
Do you go to Synod?
In a denomination our size, we’re bound to run into each other sooner or later!
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Cameron: I haven’t, but now that I’m an elder I may in the future.
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Karen O,
Just wanted to let you know some things and ask how the Bible study went (is Emily older daughter?)
You probably already know this but it does not hurt to be reminded. KI already mentioned it, but you are not alone! Many of us did what we did to raise up our children in Him only to find them doing things totally contrary to their training. I have one there now, the oldest. I can blame it on my faulty rearing abilities, or the school he went to, or any number of things. But the decisions are his to make and I have to trust the One Who loaned him to me. His plan for older son evidently includes letting older son have some less than best in his life, probably so he will be better able to help others when he comes back. I am confident that He knows what He is doing, though it breaks my heart to watch son make foolish decisions and hurt himself (if only he would listen to his mother!) But the fact of it is, he must learn for himself and we must pray, letting God do the persuading. And, as you know, parents don’t listen to their grown kids all that well.
Anyway, I have been thinking of you and praying for you throughout the day.
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Don’t know if anybody else came across this.
Finally, some common sense.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3559486.ece
The Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends updating abortion information leaflets to include details of the risks of depression. “Consent cannot be informed without the provision of adequate and appropriate information,” it says.
“Several studies, including research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry in 2006, concluded that abortion in young women might be associated with risks of mental health problems”.
The long term effects are often ignored in abortion “counseling”.
The more women know, the less appealing abortion is.
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Mumsee,
That’s difficult isn’t it? I’m watching both of my sons make choices that I would not make. I know that they will come to regret those choices, but I cannot make their choices for them anymore. Both are of legal age, and they must make their own way now. I worry about them at times. I can’t spend all my time doing that, but it sure is hard to watch…
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This just in . . .
TIME Magazine has an article this week about how schalors are now saying in order to really understand Jesus you have to understand His Jewishness.
Can we welcome these schalors onto the boat that sailed long ago?
It’s like the Jesus seminar spending three intesive days together to come up with the profound statement . . . wait for it . . . “Jesus was a poor, itinerant preacher.” Yep, figured that one out the first time I read the gospels.
I think this kind of schalorship comes from those who are just newly aware of a subject and don’t really bother to read those who have gone before.
It is like the grand scientific study they did to determine that pregnant women get moody. Really? None of those scientists must have a) ever been pregnant themselves, or b) never been married to a pregnant woman:)
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MiM,
I am just glad we never did that to our parents…
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Adios,
Or like the study that spent millions to determine that women and men really are different….
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Karen O, did you see my reply to your question on Mar. 13?
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KI & Mumsee – Thanks for your prayers. Yes, I’m sadly aware that I’m not alone in this. In fact, this has spurred me to pray more for the other prodigals I’ve known.
Joel Mark – Yes, I did see that. Thank you for your response.
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MIm,
That really is the classic of all time.
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