Category: church

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Most Influential Ministers in My Life

This week while listening to a podcast I heard the following statement: “You are the sum of the five people closest to you.” I thought it was interesting thought and it got me to thinking of the ministers who have influenced how I minister. So here’s a list of the ministers who I believe have most influenced how I minister.

  • Mike Nuss – Mike was Pam’s and my campus minister when we were working on our undergraduate degrees at the University of South Alabama (Go Jags!). Mike is the type of minister that you would name your child after because of the influence he had on your life. Pam and I didn’t but he seriously is that type of minister. Mike taught me a lot of things but probably the most important lesson that I learned from him was that ministry involves equipping and enabling others to serve. Mike was a background guy. He was the one getting others to do things that they didn’t think they could do. I don’t really remember him doing anything “upfront”, though I am sure he did. He was always getting other involved in ministry. Obviously this is still true because Mike is now the head of Baptist campus ministries for the state of Alabama. College was almost 30 years ago for me and I still quote Mike in many of my conversations concerning ministry. Mike & Judy’s relationship have also influenced much of how ministry works within Pam’s and my relationship. Judy supported Mike’s ministry, and was involved in the student ministry, but she didn’t have to be at everything he did because had a different calling. She wasn’t ministry lagniappe that arrived just for hiring Mike.  She was, and is, her own person with her on gifting and call. So maybe the name on this point should have read “Mike & Judy Nuss”.
  • Rochelle Davis – Rochelle was the first pastor that I worked with as a youth minister, even if it was only for Summer. The Summer after my Freshmen year of college I went to Detroit and served for the Summer at the Temple of Faith Baptist Church. Rochelle taught me a lot about want it meant to be a pastor who cares for issues of justice and also to fall in love with whatever is true in the culture in which you live while confronting what is false. So much of what I do on a daily basis comes back to being a Summer youth minister at a black Baptist church in inner-city Detroit. This is also a shout out once again to Mike Nuss because I went to Detroit because of Mike.
  • Frank Morrow – Frank was the third pastor I worked with as a youth minister at the First Baptist Church of Covington, Texas. This was in the smallest town that Pam and I have ever lived in, around 150 people. Nobody cared if Frank was a good preacher or not because he was probably the best servant I have ever been around. “Hey the city of Covington needs some work, let’s organize a community day of service.” If there was a need to be met Frank was making sure it was being met. Old mister big stick himself Theodore Roosevelt said “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I’ve often heard this used in reference to preaching. Frank lived it out. Frank could have stumbled through ever message he ever preached and nobody would have cared because he undoubtedly had been super busy during the week caring for the people of our community.
  • Kevin McCallon – Kevin was the second pastor that I ever worked with as a youth minister at Grove Hill Baptist Church. I only worked with him around a year so his influence isn’t day to day ministry. He was a very good pastor but his influence on me really comes down to one thing he said to me. One day he told me that ministry could either be the easiest job I ever had or the most difficult and I was the one who determined which it would be. I could go and play golf with the deacon once or twice a week and visit the “important” people every now and then and basically float through the rest of the week. Many ministers do this and they have nice cushy jobs with plenty of prestige. The other option was that I could allow Jesus to show me all that needs to be done and all that needs to be challenged. This option would lead to more trouble but a better ministry. There would never be enough hours or hands for the work, and there would always be something else to do or someone to visit. I had to choose which the job would be. I had to learn to add a focus on Sabbath to this but Kevin’s statement still influences me.
  • Paul Swadley – Paul was a long term interim pastor at First Baptist Carthage when I was there. Paul was probably one of the happiest people I have ever met. Seriously the guy smiled all the time. Of course, that smile had a strong amount of determination and grit that went with it. Paul used his time at First Baptist Carthage to take a healthy church and make it even better. He didn’t coast. He pushed forward. His year and a half at FBC Carthage was the best of my 6 years there. His preaching showed a great deal of love for the people he was preaching too. That love involved him calling out sin when he saw it because he believe that the sin was destructive to the people he loved. He did this, as he did everything, with a smile on his face and a great deal of love and grace for the people he was with.

There are other people I could throw into this mix like Pat Lee (who taught me a lot about delegating to others, she ran the best college Sunday School department I’ve ever seen), Andy & Elisabeth Leininger (who taught me a ton about missions and following your calling – the auctioning of all their worldly goods, including their dog, before they went on mission is a lesson that has stuck with me, in addition to teaching me to think creatively about culture and the gospel),My “suitemates” at Parkview Baptist Church in Baton Rouge (Jess, Meg, Alan, Clint, and Josh – I judge how effect ministry teams are based on y’al),  Bill Pruitt (who may well be the second-best pastor as a servant I’ve ever seen – Sorry but Frank wins first), and others. There have also been a few bad examples, who I won’t name, whom I wouldn’t trust Pam’s cats with, as well as a few bad mistakes (some doozies) that I learned from from some of the very same people I have mentioned as good examples. I am the ministerial sum of so many of these men and women, and for them I am thankful.

SIDE NOTE – the image associated with this post is of Billy Sunday who is not one of the ministers who has shaped how I minister.

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Two Of The Multitude Of Reasons That I Love Tapestry

Tonight was Tapestry’s regular Place of Peace (PoP) meal. As usual it was wonderful and now that I am home and I have eaten a little jambalaya I want to share a couple of photos that reflect some of the multitude of reasons that I love Tapestry.

First, the Glazes. I posted earlier about the fact that there have been a few guys at PoP asking each week about tuna casserole. The Glaze’s (specifically Natalie but rumor has it that Eric helped too) took over Project Tuna Casserole and made tuna casserole for the first time ever. They brought it tonight only to find out that, most likely due to the cold temp and snow, the guys who had been asking for tuna casserole didn’t show up tonight. The Glazes’ response? “Well we know how to make it for next time, then.” Just so you know our next time to serve the meal is March 29th.

The next photo is of Elizabeth and her harp (actually this is her travel harp). She brought it to the PoP meal tonight to play background music during the meal. Yep there is a harpist that is a part of Tapestry and Elizabeth plays beautifully. During all the conversations, laughter, and eating that were going on during the PoP meal, Elizabeth was playing soothing  background music. I greatly appreciated Elizabeth playing during the meal. She helped make the evening wonderful.

These were just two of the many reasons that I was reminded of tonight concerning why I love the “threads“.  I am so honored to be a part of these wonderful people. Y’all are the best.

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Advent = Waiting, Waiting = Preparation

Advent is about waiting. We get our English word “advent” from the Latin “adventus” which means “arrival”. Because of the focus on arrival the waiting of Advent isn’t the type of waiting that produces laziness. This waiting isn’t about wasting time and naps (though naps during the Advent season might be excellent preparation for celebrating Christmas when they come from a mindset of trust that we can depend upon God). Instead it is the type of waiting that leads to preparation. Expectant parents know that anticipating an arrival leads to preparation during the time of waiting.

My dog knows this too.

Ehem! We’re waiting!

Clive may be Pam and my newest dog but he can already pick up on certain preparations and non-verbal cues leading to things he likes. If I walk in a certain manner he expects that I will be heading to a vehicle and therefore starts his “happy dance” while waiting for me to get his leash and my keys. Clive’s predecessors, Montana and Roux, had figured out that certain cooking preparatory actions meant that I would be cooking jambalaya, and me cooking jambalaya would mean lots of scraps for them. They got SUPER excited anytime I started preparing to cut celery (one of the three ingredients of the cajun trinity). They hated celery but that loved what it led to. The preparation pointed to what was coming and the dogs got very excited while waiting for the jambalaya’s arrival.

The waiting of Advent should lead to preparation out of excitement, which is why the message of John the Baptist opens the Gospel According to Mark. “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3) for we expect the arrival of the One we have hoped for.

Bonhoeffer reminds us that the Advent of the Jesus is something we should constantly prepare for.

The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “God Is In the Manger“, p. 2.

We prepare to celebrate the yearly remembrance of Advent as a way of reminding ourselves to constantly prepare for the last Advent, when the kingdom of God is finalized and all will be right.  That is why it is so important that we celebrate Christmas in a manner that glorifies Jesus. When we celebrate Advent yearly in a way that glorifies Jesus we prepare ourselves for the last Advent.

I, Nicholas – AKA Santa, am making a list and checking it twice of who is waiting expectantly.

The problem is that often we wait in a manner that doesn’t actually prepare us for the anticipated arrival. We might actually even do wrong things in preparation, things that don’t help and may actually hurt our preparation. Kind of like expecting company to come over to your home and needing to get things ready, but choosing then to change do your taxes or change the oil in your car. That type of work isn’t actually preparation for the expected arrival and probably hurts the expectation and preparation. I believe a lot of the stuff done to “celebrate” Christmas is like this. Wrong use of our expectant waiting and and thus it hurts our preparation.

In Tapestry we join thousands of other churches in using Advent Conspiracy to remind us to:

  • Worship Fully
  • Spend Less
  • Give More
  • Love All

We believe focusing on these four things help us to wait in a preparatory manner far better than Christmas is often celebrated. I like what Walter Brueggermann writes about the Advent as preparation.

Advent is not the kind of “preparation” that involves shopping and parties and cards. Such illusions of abundance disguise the true cravings of our weary souls. Advent is preparation for the demands of newness that will break the tired patterns of fear in our lives.

Walter Brueggemann, “Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent“, p. 5.

Wait in a manner that actually prepares for His arrival. Celebrate Christmas in a manner that prepares for His arrival. Otherwise, our waiting is wasted.

SIDE NOTE – a great way to wait in a manner of preparation during Advent is to use a devotional designed to be used during Advent. I quoted above from two that I like, but there are tons of others. Find one that is works for you. I know Advent started Sunday and you might not have thought of it till now, but don’t worry about that. Use the days you have to prepare and forget about the days you didn’t. The books I referenced are:

SIDE SIDE NOTE – if you want more info concerning Advent Conspiracy visit their webpage. It is simple and wonderful. The video below is a nice summary of what Advent Conspiracy is all about.

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Why Does The Baby Jesus Have Horns?

I know I should never change something about my sermon at the last minute. I know that usually when i do change something at the last moment (which I should never do) it leads to a mistake. That’s why I try to remind myself to never change anything in the message at the last moment.

Still last night while I was falling asleep I thought, “I should add an image of the baby Jesus after the slide saying ‘We Become What We Worship'”. So this morning I went to Google Image search on my computer and did a quick reuse usage rights imge search. Up popped this image.

I’ll assume that you instantly see the horns that have been added the the baby Jesus’ head. They are really pretty obvious. I should have seen them instantly. I, however, did not see them.

I didn’t pay as much attention to the image as i normally would for the images in my message PowerPoint. After all, this was a minor point that i just wanted to add an image to briefly reinforce. Without seeing the horns the image looked fine to me and, therefore, I quickly added it to my message PowerPoint without thinking anymore about the image.

At least until some “threads” asked during the message what was behind the infant’s head. I said “it is just stained glass”. Then someone said “no … why does the baby Jesus have horns?” I turned around to look at the big image projected behind me and was completely confused. Yep, those are horns. I hadn’t seen them at all before, but they were blatantly clear now.

Well, that killed that point.

This is why it is important to remember to never change anything about your message or message PowerPoint at the last minute. It also helps to be a part of a very gracious community of faith who just laugh with you at your mistakes. Thanks “threads”.

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Practical Community

I’ve been thinking a lot about community lately because I’ve been asked several times recently why Tapestry is named Tapestry. Since, I have mentioned it I should probably explain here why Tapestry is named Tapestry.

  • A tapestry is woven together. To separate it is to destroy it – kind of like what I hope (and believe) the community of Tapestry is like.
  • A tapestry is beautiful when seen from above but a mess of tangles when seen from below – kind of like what I hope (and believe) the community of Tapestry is like.
  • Karl Barth described the imago dei as coming from the fact that humanity is male and female (i.e. we are the image of GOD in community and to separate us is to deny that image). As a tapestry we best display GOD’s image together – kind of like what I hope (and believe) the community of Tapestry is like.

So, community is why Tapestry is called Tapestry.

Then while thinking about community I was talked with Adam (my favorite eldest son) about something he liked that his pastor in Eau Claire said. Both Adam and Noah (my favorite youngest son) go to a church named ekklesia in Eau Claire. His pastor was talking about community and offered the following practical suggestion “come to ekklesia early and stay late”. Very practical advice for developing strong relationships with the people in your church. i like practical advice.

So I thought I would throw out a few of my own thoughts on practical ways to develop strong community around you.

  • This month have someone over to your abode for a meal, dessert, and/or coffee.
  • This month go to someone’s abode (it is important to let other people host you as you host them).
  • When you hear a conversation around you that you find interesting jump into it (Just make sure you aren’t taking the conversation over – jump into it as a participant not a dominator). Most importantly ask a lot of questions and show a great deal of interest.
  • Begin to ask people about the things that they are excited about right now and share what you are excited about (personally I like to ask people what is floating their boats at the moment).
  • Find out something that is going on in the lives of your neighbors and begin to pray for them regularly.
  • Ask a few people to craft with you.
  • Yes, this is my favorite game and I would gladly play it with you (though it doesn’t have a multiplayer mode).

    Ask a few people to play your favorite video game and discuss why it is your favorite video game (mine is Bioshock and I love it because it confronts the messed up thought of Ayn Rand while also allowing me to shoot creatures).

  • Ask someone you don’t know as well in the church to go to Emy J’s, Zest, or the Mission and play a board game together.
  • Show up for your church and stay late (if it is good then why reinvent it?)

If you have some wonderful practical suggestions please share them. i would love to hear them. Also I believe the most important thing is just that you do something purposeful. Just do something. I feel that often it doesn’t matter so much what we do but that we do something. Developing community is like that. Regularly makes yourself vulnerable and do something with people and community will often just develop on its own.

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Please Do Some Advent Traditions With Your Kids

The Tapestry Advent Wreath minus the center lamp, which we replaced with a candle since we were at my house instead of the school (and thus able to use open flames).

The Terrell family is a family of traditions. Pam has a coworker who often jokes that if we do something once we turn it into a tradition. She’s not far from wrong.  We love traditions. What I like about traditions is that they are a good way of reinforcing beliefs and behaviors that we, as a family, want to encourage.

The pastor in me probably looks like this.

The church has known this for millennia, and therefore developed many such traditions. Several of the traditions from our church practices can be adapted  to use during family time. The pastor in me (who often decides that he must take control) wants all of our “thread” parents to regularly do some wonderful traditions with their little ones to help them grow up experiencing more of Christmas than just gifts.

Here are a few classic Advent traditions that I recommend for adjusting to family use:

    • Advent Calendar – Pam and I used an advent calendar with the boys. our was a story book advent calendar (this one right here).  Growing up we would read the boys two stories before bed each night – one Bible story and one children’s book. During Advent the Bible story would be the story book from the Advent Calendar. We loved the calendar and the story of Advent that the storybooks told each night. It was an easy way to make sure we focused on Jesus each night during the Christmas season.
    • Chrismon Tree – Basically a Christmas tree where are the decorations are based off of religious symbology. My first experience with a Chrismon tree was at First Baptist Church in Carthage, Missouri. Every year FBC would decorate a Chrismon tree on Christmas Eve as a way to talk with the kids about the Christmas story and early Christian history. It was always a wonderful worship service. You could setup a small Chrismon tree in addition to your family Christmas tree and allow your kid(s) to make different Chrismon ornaments to put on the tree. Thanks to Pinterest you can find Chrismon ornaments here.
    The Jesse Tree I used when I was a Youth Minister at Parkview Baptist Church.
    • Jesse Tree – This is what we will be using during our last worship gathering before Christmas. Our kids will help us do this by creating and decorating some ornaments to hang on the Jesse tree. The Jesse tree is very similar to a Chrismon tree but it starts with the Old Testament (the root of Jesse – Isaiah 11:1) and remembers all the messianic prophecies pointing to the Christ. You can get a free Jesse tree kit at this link.
    • Advent Wreath – we’ve been doing this in Tapestry with our lamps for years and will do it again this year. You can easily adapt an Advent wreath to  family use. Put it at the center of your dinner table and explain the meaning of each candle each week. Then maintain the correct candle for each meal time of the week. An added benefit of this is that it will encourage your family to eat at the table (if you need to encourage that behavior). You don’t have to buy an advent wreath. You and your kids can make it yourself. Here’s an instructable describing how to make several different types of advent wreaths.

There are plenty of other Advent traditions that you can adjust to working within your family. What is important is not so much what you do but that you make a conscious effort to help your kids to understand Who Christmas is all about.

Advent starts Sunday, December 3rd (not this Sunday but next Sunday) so now is the time to thing about such preparations.

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Houston Harvey Relief

I’ve contact some of my friends who serve in various churches in the Houston area, first to make sure they were okay and second to find out what we as Tapestry can do to help. As I paraphrased Shakespeare to my friend J.T. (blessed be his name) “Tapestry may be small but we are fierce”. In other words, we may be a small church but we give wonderfully.

When you see the yellow hats yellow shirts you are seeing the SBDR

Thus far the pastors I have messaged have said they are in the rescue phase and what they really need are boats and places for people to stay after they were rescued. The rebuilding won’t begin till the waters recede. Therefore, my number one recommendation is still that you give through the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief agency. You can do that here (https://missionaries.namb.net/projects/full/hurricane-harvey-response). When you give to the SBDR you will be providing immediate help as well as resources later on. The SBDR will stay in the area for a long while and will feed a ton of people. In addition, they will help with mudout work, chainsaw crews, laundry facilities, shower trailers and more. If you are interested the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention (of which we are a part) is already planning on sending some SBDR groups down. Some of us have been trained by the SBDR and more of us can be for the future.

Next I am going to recommend that a list some local organizations. Giving local is a great avenue because the local groups will be there once the immediate emergency need recedes. The national groups will leave. The local groups won’t. These local groups are the ones who will be dealing with the long term repercussions of the flooding.

Here’s the list”

Galveston County Food Bank: http://www.galvestoncountyfoodbank.org/

Corpus Christi Food Bank: http://www.foodbankcc.com/

Houston Food Bank: http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/donate/

Texas Diaper Bank: http://www.texasdiaperbank.org/

Austin Pets Alive is a no-kill shelter taking in Harvey pets: https://www.austinpetsalive.org/hurricane-harvey-evacuatio…/

Portlight is a local grassroots organization that provides disaster aid to the disabled specifically: http://www.portlight.org/home.html

The Coalition for the Homeless is an umbrella organization coordinating shelters and orgs across the city: https://www.homelesshouston.org/take-action/donate/

https://www.unitedwayhouston.org/flood/flood-donation

HT to  Chad Schoonmaker via Megan Kelly for the list.

Some of these local groups will begin to put out wishlists of what they need. When I see them I will post them. If you see any please pass them on to me.

Let me end with a plea to not give to just anyone who calls you. It saddens me to acknowledge the fact that when some are in serious need there are others who just see the need as an opportunity for their scams. There are going to be people who use the misery of the people of the Houston area as an opportunity to scam those who like to help people in need. Don’t give money to groups you don’t know or ot that isn’t recommend to you by someone one you trust. There are phone calls and emails going out now pleading for money to help Houston, and some of phone calls and emails are just scammers taking advantage of the fact that we like to help our fellow human when we see genuine need. Don’t stop helping, but be wise. Never let the scammers keep you from giving because it is better to be scammed than to turn your back on a genuine need. Still I would rather our money and resources go to the right places so be smart. Gentle as doves and wise as serpents.

The Tapestry Leadership Team will be discussing what we can do as an organization, but there is no need for you to wait on us. Give and give well … my small but fierce friends. 🙂

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Don't be a Sucker

The U.S. War Department thought it was pretty important in 1943 for U.S. Citizens to be able to spot fascism when they saw it. So they created this film to remind people not to be a sucker. Seems pertinent today.

We human beings are not born with prejudices. Always they are made for us. Made by someone who wants something. Remember that when you hear this kind of talk. Somebody is going to get something out of it. And it isn’t going to be you.

Don’t be a sucker.

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Shibboleth

The messages I deliver during Tapestry’s Sunday morning gatherings are usually structured around one book of the Bible at a time. We don’t usually go topical, but it does happen every now and then. This morning I thought it was important to address acting like a follower of Christ in the midst of the results of Friday’s executive order affecting immigration/refugee. Loving our neighbor is supposed to be a shibboleth of the Christian church.

The audio from the introduction to this morning’s gathering is below. Please forgive two things: 1) the audio quality is poor because it is from the room mic, not my mic, and 2) I realized while I was reading from Judges 12:4-6 that I initially mispronounced “shibboleth” as “sibboleth” and decided on the fly that it would cause confusion with two words that sound very similar if I stopped and corrected myself mid-reading. Therefore, I continued the passage swapping “shibboleth” with “sibboleth” and vice versa.

“Threads“, several of you asked “what can we do?” The answer is we’re working on that and we need your creativity. At present we are contacting UWSP to see about extending love to the international students and faculty at the university. You will hear more concerning this. We are also trying to contact some international communities in our area to also spread love. For now I encourage you to do two things: 1) Do as  Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us and be a good and loving neighbor – that’s why He ends it with saying “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37), and 2) contact your senators and representative to let them know your thoughts as a follower of Christ concerning how we treat the foreigner. Your senators and rep if you live in the Point area are:

Senator Tammy Baldwin, 717 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, (202) 224-5653, Online Contact twitter

Senator Ron Johnson, 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-5323, Online Contact twitter

Representative Ron Kind, 1502 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-5506 Online Contact twitter

No matter your politics, whether you are conservative, liberal, libertarian, or, like me, a mutt please get involved and let vales of followers of Christ be heard concerning the “strangers” in our midst and at our doors.

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The Apostle's Creed

This past Sunday I asked all the “threads” to consider praying the Apostle’s Creed during the day. Just in case you didn’t know where to look for it I thought I would post it here.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the church universal,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Amen.