Education, Politics, & Angus T. Jones helped to make November 2012 the most “visited” month in the history of this blog w/ more than 2300 people stopping by this site to have a look.
So here are the top 10 posts for the month of November, 2012.
- Adventist Education: It is “Something Better” this was the second most popular post in the history of this blog nearly catching In Defense of Ted. It also was one of two Adventist Education posts that made the top ten this month. Which I guess means my readers are passionate about Adventist Ed.
- Faster Pastor: Episode #4: God & American Politics is our second most popular post this month. This fourth episode in our web series “Faster Pastor” I believe was the best of the series thus far. In part because of the content & special guest, Dwight Nelson; but also because the three of us, Albert, David, & I are getting used to talking to one another over a computer screen. Stay tuned another Faster Pastor will be released early in December.
- Angus T. Jones’ Testimony Part 1 & 2 : What can we say? Angust went viral everywhere. I think we all need to pray with for his journey with Jesus right now as I’ve heard he won’t even be able to attend church this Sabbath due to the media presence.
- The Superiority of Adventist Education our second post on Adventist Education in our top ten list was actually something I wrote in May of 2011 but just decided to repost this month & like the first time around it found it’s way into the top ten list.
- Jesus Would Endorse…Doesn’t the Presidential election seem like forever ago? Yet it was this month & thus three posts on politics made it to the top 10 for the month.
- Entitled Lakers’ Fans, Entitled Worshipers I had the idea for this blog while driving back from Union Executive Committee meetings. I actually pulled out my phone and recorded the idea on the dictaphone app. It addresses a problem I think is very prevalent in our society.
- We Can’t Change for Our Kids another dangerous trend within the society of “Christian” parents.
- Faster Pastor: Episode #2: Unity in Diversity this episode of Faster Pastor has remained in the top ten for three straight months now. It addresses the delicate issue that has been floating around Adventism this year, Women’s Ordination.
- Donkeys, Elephants, & a Lesson Learned at Chick-Fil-A has been in the top ten for four straight months holding the #2, #1, #5, & now #9 spots respectively. I think that the political season is now over I’m assuming it will fade away.
- The Ordained Women Pastors of China is holding the number 10 spot by one viewing over another Faster Pastor episode. This is a great video that as I shared last month made me cry the first time I viewed it!
I hope if you missed any of these posts this past month that you will be blessed or at least enjoy the time spent catching up!
Here are the top ten for the month of October. If you haven’t read/watched have a look now. Be blessed and share with a friend!
It seems from this video that the female pastors see themselves a lot differently than the administration of the church explains them to be, “Ordained simply to meet government policy.” They see themselves as Adventist leaders with a mission! I shed a few tears at the end of this video. Please watch it is only 8 mins 52 secs.
As I head into an important meeting August 19 I am in great prayer for the Spirit of God’s leading. Since I always believe in being honest on this blog and in life, I thought I would share the struggle I am having.
My position on the issues of the day are pretty clear, if you read this blog you know I am in support of Women’s Ordination. I believe the day our church took the position to allow women pastors, we should have also taken the position of ordaining. Otherwise it feels like saying “you get paid .75 cents on the dollar” or “here is the title with none of the authority.”
I am disappointed that the current movement is not being lead by our General Conference, and I am finding it hard to trust that things will be different in the future.
**Quick side note, the current administration is getting all the blame, but let us not forget that the previous administration spoke of moving forward on this issue and took a silent survey of the World Division Presidents and pulled back, the current admin is just vocal and so “He” and they get the brunt of our angst, but is an impediment any different whether vocal or silent?
So what is my struggle? My struggle is this: I still believe in the authority of Ellen White in my life as a Seventh-day Adventist, and since she is sleeping in the ground ’till Jesus comes, all I can go by in regards to her counsel are the words we have on the written page. Thus when my friend Pastor Shawn Brace posted two quotes on his Facebook page my struggle has been increased. I have seen the quotes before, but maybe as I am in a great season of prayer over this issue and our church I saw them with new eyes.
I will share those quotes below, but first I want to share one other thing that has increased my struggle. A conversation I had with a fellow pastor, a female pastor, and she said,
“Chad I very much want ordination without regard to gender to happen, but if it happens apart from the General Conference, then I am only recognized in one or two Unions as ordained & if I leave those Unions it has no value. Then all we have essentially done is release the tension a little, much like when certain conferences voted to change ordination policy a few years back, or certain churches voted to ordain their female pastors, it did not really change the issue, women still are not recognized on equal status in the EYES (GC) of the church. If we do this now, will it only release the pressure off the General Conference for a season and in actuality further delay what ultimately needs to happen, equal ordination for all?”
Twice Paul told us that, “Everything is permissible–but not everything is beneficial.” (1 Cor. 10:23 & 1 Cor. 6:12). So I am praying, not what is most permissible, but what will be most beneficial to the cause of God & to the cause of recognition for women by ALL the church?
May we all pray, and may God give us wisdom.
EGW Quotes Pastor Shawn posted that stirred my struggle:
“. . . I have been instructed that there is a great work to be done in America. . .
“The world is filled with strife for the supremacy. The spirit of pulling away from fellow laborers, the spirit of disorganization, is in the very air we breathe. By some, all efforts to establish order are regarded as dangerous–as a restriction of personal liberty, and hence to be feared as popery. These deceiv
Over the last four years of parenting, especially the last two as a parent of not just one but two boys, I have realized something: my response is many times the greatest component in defusing or amplifying a situation. Oh how many times my boys have been fighting and I’ve come in like a bull in a china cabinet, and now rather than two petulant children, there are three.
Right now in Adventism the children are having a ‘bit of tustle over the issue of women’s ordination. On both sides I’ve seen various degrees of incivility from the mild quip to downright meanness. I have mourned at the disrespectful dialogue in which I have heard of folk speak against our world church leaders, moving beyond disagreements over positions to personal attacks. I have blushed, no cringed to see magazines distributed around camp meetings & online that have images that provide the subtle indication that a woman who desires to be a pastor is thus desiring to be a man or a lesbian. So much of it is very shameful and petty!
We are at many levels petulant children in a squabble.
And our parents the General Conference it seems have in their response raised the temperature rather than cooling things down.
In the moments when my kids are fighting I want to remind them that they are brothers. I want to remind them of how to treat each other and how to respond to each other. It is very important then in those moments for me to be mindful of my response towards each individual child. It is important for me to be mindful of the words I speak towards them. It is EXTREMELY important that I don’t make one of them feel less than the other!
It seems our parents have struggled in all these areas. We were not immediately reminded that though we were having a disgreement, we were really on the same side and hopefully fighting for the same cause, we were initially reminded of policy. There has been a failure to draw our minds to our brotherhood and sisterhood. The words that have at times been chosen to represent the world leadership have not provided a sense of calm, but at many times have seemed threatening, even to the point where the statement, “this is not a threat” has needed to be made. Finally, through the language that has been spoken it has most definitely felt like there was a superior child and a less than child, even though as we have seen both sides have been unruly.
Let me give an example (this is only an example the two individuals to be spoken of are only representative of the children, not actually the squabbling children) We had two well recognized preachers, two friends whom have worked together in the past on common causes. Two individuals that have at the bequest of the world church stepped forward and provided spiritual guidance to the masses. They preached opposing sermons. Both sermons were against the stated General Conference position: The first against women as pastors, a position out of line with that of the General Conference. The second in favor of women’s ordination a position also out of step with the General Conference.
Our parents though in response to the latter position have used words like “position of dissension” which means “a disagreement that leads to discord.” I don’t believe either individual in preaching their sermons were seeking discord, both were simply expressing their views and interpretation of scripture that BOTH went against the official church stance. The latter position has also been viewed as a position of “ego & desire for supremecy.”
This type of language makes one child feel much less than the other. That both children being out of step with the parents directed points of views, yet one is getting a mighty slap on the wrist while to the other there is silence. Now I know one could argue that, “well one child only called for a different stance, but nothing happened. The other called for a different stance and a whole whirlwind has happened.” And I guess again I would refer to my short experience of parenting do we only deal with a situation when the outcome of wrong committed is bad, or do we deal with wrong even if there is no evident consequence.
Right now the children of our church are in a squabble and we need our parents–our 1 President, 9 Vice-Presidents, & 13 Division Uncles to see us through it, not join in the fray.