Amanda Pelser… Ramblings of a Communications Director …

Southbrook has a team on a mission trip in Mexico this week. They’ve had issue after issue in starting their trip: canceled flight, missed flight in Atlanta, waited on stanby for several flights, and had to spend the night in the Mexico City airport.

Their ordeal reminded me of the flexibility required on mission trips. I went to Zambia on a mission trip when I was in college. One thing from the preparation for that trip that stuck with me was something that Pastor Walt said over and over again.

It went something like this: Be flexible no matter what happens. We’re going to be like Paul. If our ship wrecks, we’ll build a church!

No matter where we end up, the goal is still the same. Serve and share Jesus.

The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg is the first book of John’s that I have read.  As the title suggests, the book is about becoming the best you.  It is about becoming the you that God intends you to be.  Life is about flourishing.  What helps me to grow and experience God is different from what will help someone else grow and experience God.

The book became very personal for me as I was reading.  I started reading it for content and knowledge, but I found myself really personalizing the information.  I know a lot about myself regarding my strengths, my spiritual gifts, etc.  The problem for me has been that I’m a perfectionist.  And being a learner / achiever who is a perfectionist, I get caught up in what I’m “supposed” to do regarding spiritual formation and disciplines.  I do what I think people expect of me rather that doing what I love most and what really connects me to God.  “Perfect” example: I’m not able to spend extended amounts of time in prayer.  My mind wanders.  I think of all the things that I need to get done.  This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want me to spend time in prayer.  Of course he does!  But prayer for me looks different from prayer for someone else.  Prayer for me involves reading, learning, observation, and note taking / journaling.

I feel like reading this book gave me permission to be “me” and the encouragement to continue to discover who that “me” really is.

Conclusion: It is an easy, fast read.  I’ll be processing on this one for a while.  Excellent. Highly recommended read.

The latest book in the Thomas Nelson Ancient Practices Series tackles the topic of tithing.  Tithing is a subject that many churches and many Christians often shy away from discussing.  Douglas LeBlanc shows, through a series of interviews, why people tithe and what God has done in their lives because of their practice of tithing.

Like many churches and non-profits around the United States, our church has recently been affected by our nation’s economic downturn.  If Christ-followers understood and practiced tithing, churches wouldn’t be short on funds and we’d be able solve many of the world’s poverty related issues.  I believe and practice tithing.  As a church staff, we’re trying to help our church members take that step of faith.  When I saw this book on Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze site, I thought it might be a great resource for teaching our members more about stewardship.  Although I was not thrilled with all of the interviews and stories, I liked the concept.  I would liked to have seen more discussion relating directly to the scriptural basis for tithing leading into or as a follow up to the testimonies.  Unfortunately, this book is not the resource that I’d hoped it would be.  It isn’t a bad book.  It is not what I was looking for or needed.

*** This book was review for Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze.  This book was supplied to me for free through this program in exchange for a review of the book.  My review was not influenced by Thomas Nelson or the fact that the book was provided for free. ***

I’ve had a low-grade fever most of the weekend.  Despite having no energy to physically do much of anything, I still accomplished a lot.  Earlier in the week, I had set some goals for February for my reading and writing.  Those goals that I’ve already completed are crossed out.

• Write a review of my pre-release copy of Switch by Chip and Dan Heath.
• Finish reading The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg.
• Write a review of The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg. (Edited 2/12 to show completion.)
• Read Tithing from the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze program. I read this whole book yesterday, Saturday.
• Write a review of Tithing for BookSneeze. (Edited on 2/8 to show completion.)
  
• Read Linchpin by Seth Godin. (I did buy this one for my Kindle so I can start soon. Edited 2/12: I’m in the middle of this book now.  Wow!)
• Write a review of Linchpin.
• Update the template on my blog. (Take a look if you’re reading this through a feed reader or email.  I’m almost done.  See next item…)
• Add custom header image that Josh is creating for me.

Not bad for having a 100 degree fever.

I was never taught what to say to someone lying on their deathbed. I never learned anything about hiring and firing church staff. Seminary didn’t teach me anything about managing a church budget.

- Geoffrey Janes in his blog post What You Need to Know…

Go read Geoffrey’s full post.  While you’re at it, subscribe to his RSS feed or make it a point to visit his blog regularly.

Like Geoffrey, there are so many things that I didn’t learn in seminary that I deal with on a regular basis.  Now, that’s not to say that seminary wasn’t worth it or didn’t teach me anything.  And even though my Greek and Hebrew are very rusty right now, it was even worth the time spent learning those languages.  But you see, there are some things that even if my profs had tried to teach me that I still wouldn’t have understood until I’d been in ministry in the real world and experienced it for myself.  Nothing like on-the-job training…

But here’s the real point of Geoffrey’s post:

I want you to know that you have a lead pastor who cares deeply about the people in this church. I want you to know that he is a man called by God to lead this church who wants nothing more than to see people’s lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

I’ve been on staff at Southbrook for four and a half years.  I’ve learned a lot in that time and in three different roles.  I’m thankful to work with Pastor Rob and the rest of the team at Southbrook Church.  When we go through trying times like Geoffrey referred to in his post, I’m even more thankful for the solid leadership of our pastor.  I’m thankful for his vision for Southbrook and his desire to see those far from Jesus come to know Jesus and be transformed into growing disciples.  I’m also thankful for his spiritual sensitivity and care for our church.  Pastor Rob has exciting study in the works for Wednesday nights beginning in January.  If you attend Southbrook, clear your schedule for Wednesday nights.  Make it a priority to be here for this series!