Back to studies again...

Well, J-term is complete and now the second semester begins. More Hebrew, which has proven challenging to me, and some exciting classes like preaching and the theology of the congregation await. I look forward to getting back at it, but even more to learning of my assignment for internship. I also anticipate the day that my Clinical Pastoral Experience begins, that being Tuesday, May 29th.

I'm getting ready to fly down to Tampa, FL to represent the Center for Youth Ministries and the seminary at the ECLA Youth Ministry Extravaganza. This is a fun event that draws together tons of youth workers in one place for continuing education, networking, and self-care. I look forward to meeting up with friends like Erik, Steve, Faye, Sue and many others.



I hope all is well with you as you read this blog and that you might find time to pray for an upcoming event that I will be speaking for, the Metro Confirmation Retreat, held in Florida each year. This is a great event that draws young people in confirmation along with their pastors and confirmation teachers to a camp facility. This year I will talk about living in the Mountaintops and Molehills of life, Christian vocation and spirituality during the good, bad and normal times of life. Please pray for the youth, their leaders, the event planners, and for me as I continue to prepare.

peace,

Paul :o)

So, I'm in Seattle and you should see how they do church

I'm in Seattle for J-term and what an experience it is! This is my cross-cultural immersion for seminary and at first I thought "how is this cross-cultural?" Well, now I know. The people here are very nice, but the way they do ministry is off the charts for most of my experience.



They really live into the idea of ministry in context and do everything they can to be relevant to the culture. For COTA (Church of the Aposltes) where I'm living for a couple of weeks, that means serving as a commnity art center in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle. They have one of the few spaces large enough to fit the need and by golly they've made it work. As I type this we are preparing for "In the Round" which is essentially an open mic event for the community to share music, drama, other artistic outlets, etc. Apparently a couple hundred people come in for this each week! Worship was cool, I kept feeling like it was a youth group event if that tells you anything.



We've also journeyed to Portland Oregon to experience other "emerging churches" and see what it means to be culturally relevant in their place. We went to The Bridge, a church that feeds the culture by being punk and edgy.







They hold services in a public space that they rent, everything during the week happens in peoples' homes.





I suppose taking an offering in a Spiderman trick-or-treat bucket seems relevant to the culture.....hmmmmm. Important to note here, it's not about ME or about how I think the Gospel should be shared, it's about God using people to change lives and give new life to those who are on the fringes and probably would be passed by on the street by most of us without a word.

Pizza Night should be Memorable!

Shana is coming over for pizza and to install memory in her laptop. This is very exciting and should be quite memorable. I'm really only posting this so that Shana might find inspiration to post a new and whitty bit on her blog. I really enjoy reading her blog!!!

On another note, I've been working away on my Metro Confirmation Retreat materials (I'm going to be the keynote speaker for a weekend retreat in Florida!!) and have found time to do some cooking at home. I asked Lorice what the gang will eat while I'm in Seattle and though she had not answer, I'm pretty sure it'll be chicken mcnuggets or frostys and french fries from Wendy's. Hopefully I've equipped them with the skills necessary to make wise choices.

Speaking of choices, how do you like my choice of pictures? Pretty sweet, eh? Oh, also of note, Lorice is taking a cat nap with Friskette the cat licking her nose, it's really pretty funny/cute.

Speaking of cute, isn't my sweetie pie cute in our picture? Yup, hard to believe she's been putting up with me for almost 18 years (well, closer to 17 than 18 right now). That's all for now, this is just a way to get Shana to post after all, so let's all giver her a cheer.....ready? ONE............TWO..............THREE! POST SHANA, POST!



Oh yeah, that's my buddy Christian and me goofin' around in the library with PhotoBooth, a nifty Mac application. Well, peace out y'all!